🔺NATO’s here: The expansion of NATO towards Russia's borders causes trouble and anxiety for the country's security
🔺’All out’: None of 54 African countries joined Biden’s proxy war on Russia
🔺Macron met with the world’s peacekeeper, asking for help to end the conflict: China’s ready to cooperate with France in calling for peace talks in Ukraine

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The United States must develop the ability to attain and maintain air superiority to avoid a "bloodbath" situation similar to the one in Ukraine, Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs Lt. Gen. Richard Moore Jr. said on Thursday.

"We've got to get to the ability ... to attain and maintain air superiority and we don't want the kind of bloodbath that's going on in Ukraine right now, and so, therefore, we have to get to the advanced capability that it takes to change the battlefield," Moore said during an event held by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

According to Moore, the main reason why the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is a "war of attrition" is because neither side has managed to establish air superiority.

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Africans 'Know Which Direction to Take' in Multipolar World, Mauritius Ambassador Says

The African International Congress (AIC), a platform for Russian-African business cooperation, is taking place in Moscow from April 5 to 6. On the sidelines of the event, Sputnik sits down with the ambassador of Mauritius to discuss the recent global economic and financial upheavals, which are driving forces for change

"We are witnessing big changes in the world, especially in the economic world. So we have to review everything because it's not the same as before, 50 or 60 years ago," Kheswar Jankee explains

👉 READ THE FULL STORY

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🛳 The Russian Northern Fleet frigate Admiral Gorshkov, equipped with Zircon hypersonic missiles, has arrived at the port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The ship is accompanied by the tanker Kama. The visit is a part of a trip across the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.

The ships will resupply with fuel, fresh water and food, the Russian Defense Ministry says.

The last stop of Russian Navy warships in the ports of the kingdom was 10 years ago

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🇬🇧UK King Charles III has for the first time openly supported the study of the monarchy's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade during the 17th-18th centuries by providing access to the royal archives, a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace told British media.

The announcement comes after a UK media report, which released an exclusive document revealing the transfer of shares worth 1,000 pounds sterling ($203,167) in the slave-trading Royal African Company by its Deputy Governor Edward Colston to King William III in 1689.
"This is an issue that His Majesty takes profoundly seriously … As part of that drive, the royal household is supporting this research through access to the royal collection and the royal archives," the Buckingham Palace spokesperson was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

The Historic Royal Palaces, a charity which manages some of the UK's unoccupied royal palaces, is a partner in the study that was launched in October 2022, the spokesperson added.

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Is Japan Plunging Ever Deeper Into NATO?

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is convinced that it is time for his country to deepen its cooperation with NATO. At the same time, Tokyo is determined to take the lead in maintaining and strengthening the free and open international order.

Sputnik discussed with experts how such statements and its increasing militarization amid prospects of joining and becoming a full-fledged participant in NATO's strategy to militarily confront China in Asia fit in with Japan's pacifist constitution.

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🇨🇳🇺🇸 The Chinese authorities have sanctioned two US entities, namely the Hudson Institute and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, for violation of the one-China principle

▪️ According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s statement, the entities provided Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen "a platform and convenience to engage in separatist activities" on the territory of the United States, thereby "seriously violating the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiques." These actions seriously damaged China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the ministry said.

▪️ Starting Friday, Chinese universities, institutions, and other organizations and individuals are strictly prohibited from concluding agreements and exchanges, cooperating and carrying out other activities with these entities, the statement read. Four heads of the entities are barred from entering China and prohibited from obtaining Chinese visas. Chinese organizations and individuals are prohibited from engaging in activities with sanctioned individuals whose assets in China will be frozen.

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🇮🇱 The Israeli Army said that it attacked 2 underground tunnels and 2 weapons production facilities belonging to the Hamas group in the Gaza Strip.

🇵🇸 The military wing of Hamas, in turn, said that their air defense is working on Israeli aircraft in the Gaza Strip.

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China to Build Out Satellite Network Amid Worries About Starlink's Military Use

China will launch 12,992 satellites into orbit to rival SpaceX’s Starlink constellation amid calls from the military community to speed up the creation of a national network, after Elon Musk’s project revealed its military capabilities in the Ukrainian conflict, US media has learned.

"The Starlink constellation has finally shown its military colors in the Russia-Ukraine conflict," a Beijing academic familiar with Beijing’s project, was quoted as saying anonymously to the US newspaper.

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Sweden-Hungary Ties at a Low Amid Stockholm's NATO Bid, Orban Aide Warns

Relations between Sweden and Hungary are at a low, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff Gergely Gulyas has warned, calling on Stockholm to take steps to boost Budapest's confidence to gain acceptance for its NATO bid, which is still under consideration.

Sweden and neighboring Finland filed a joint bid to join the US-led bloc last year, putting behind decades of formal non-alignment and originally intending to "walk the NATO path" together. However, as Sweden's application was held up by alliance members Turkiye and Hungary, Helsinki decided to proceed on its own, ultimately becoming the bloc's 31st member earlier this week.

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🇷🇺🇹🇷 Talks between Russian FM Sergey Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu are about to start, a Sputnik correspondent reports

▪️ The foreign ministers will discuss bilateral issues, a grain deal, the situation in Syria, Karabakh and Ukraine.

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Ukrainian agent and his assistant have been detained for spying on the number of Russian armed forces in the Kherson region

💬 "The FSB has detained an agent of the Ukrainian special services and a person who collected information about the locations and the number of units of the Russian armed forces in the Kherson region at his instructions," the Russian Federal Security Service said in a statement.

▪️ Data on the routes of movement and types of military equipment and weapons used in the special operation with reference to maps of the area and geographical coordinates were sent to the staff of the Security Service of Ukraine via internet messengers, the statement added.

▪️ Kiev used the obtained information to transfer it to representatives of the paramilitary formations of Ukraine in order to correct artillery and missile and bomb attacks on the positions of the Russian forces.

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🇷🇺🇹🇷 Russian-Turkish talks in Ankara

China Warns Australia Against Treating TikTok ‘Differently From Other Social Media Platforms’

The Chinese Commerce Ministry has lashed out at Australia over its move to ban TikTok from all federal government-owned devices, adding that the decision affected the interests of both Australian businesses and the public.

Earlier this week, Australia banned use of the Chinese video-sharing app TikTok on government electronic devices, following similar measures undertaken by Western countries over security concerns.

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