"The world needs a Central Asia that is stable, prosperous, harmonious, and well-connected"

Chinese President Xi Jinping made these remarks while delivering a keynote address at the China-Central Asia Summit held in the city of Xi'an, in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Noting that the world needs a stable Central Asia, Xi said the sovereignty, security, independence and territorial integrity of Central Asian countries must be safeguarded, the development paths independently chosen by Central Asian people must be respected, and the efforts made by the region to pursue peace, amity and tranquility must be supported.

Stressing that the world needs a prosperous Central Asia, Xi said such a Central Asia will meet the aspiration of people of different countries in the region for a better life, and inject a strong impetus into world economic recovery.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🥴 Non-binary former Biden administration nuclear official arrested for stealing women's clothes at an airport… AGAIN

Samuel Brinton, 35, was taken into custody at his home in Rockville, Maryland. The charges relate to an alleged theft of property at Reagan National Airport that was reported to police in February, after Brinton had been arrested in Nevada and Minnesota on similar charges. 

The non-binary drag queen was fired after admitting to taking a stranger's suitcase from the luggage carousel during a work trip in Minnesota. 

Brinton faced up to 15 years total for the two alleged thefts. However, in both cases, the presiding judges ruled jail time wasn't necessary.

🤔 Will Samuel Brinton be lucky this time as well?

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

It could take the US less time to train Ukrainian pilots to operate F-16s than previously thought

Citing US Air Force documents, US media reported that Ukrainian pilots could be taught to operate American-made fighter jets in substantially less time than expected previously.

"Given the current skill set demonstrated by the Ukrainian Air Force pilot ... four months is a realistic training timeline,” the documents were quoted as saying in the report.

The documents contain detailed assessments from February and March of this year at an Air Force base in Tucson, Arizona, where Ukrainian pilots with experience flying Su-27s and MiG-29s but not any experience with F16s were tested in simulators and assessed by qualified Air Force instructors.

With only a brief familiarization and no formal training, the two Ukrainian pilots were able to execute complex maneuvers in their simulated environments over the course of the assessment, the report said. Some of these maneuvers required very technical skills, including landing the aircraft after simulated engine loss and executing mock attacks.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇵🇰 Ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan speaks to reporters inside courtroom

Khan suggested the current situation in Pakistan is the "worst" in the past 35 years, and that civil rights are infringed on, but adds that he will "fight to the end."

Subscribe to @sputniknewsindia

📹 Russian air defense forces shot down an American MLRS HIMARS missile in the Zaporozhye region overnight

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Argentina is keen to use Russian technologies and develop mutually beneficial cooperation in nuclear, shipbuilding and aviation industries

"We would like to take advantage of the Russian technology in the field of nuclear energy. We are also keen to cooperate with Russia in shipbuilding and aircraft industries," Argentine Ambassador to Russia Eduardo Antonio Zuain told Sputnik.

The diplomat noted that Argentina sees Russia as a great partner and a friendly nation.

"Our countries have signed a strategic development agreement. Russia has high-tech technology. You are advancing in different areas and spheres and you are ready to share your technologies with others," he said.

The ambassador also recalled that Argentina was one of the largest economies in Latin America with vast natural energy resources, as well as export-oriented agriculture and animal husbandry. Despite the fact that the country has significant opportunities in some manufacturing sectors, its innovative enterprises are not developed enough and require high-end technologies, he added.

"We need to develop industry more actively, for this, we need to adopt technologies, including from Russia," the ambassador concluded.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 Tornado-S MLRS crews of the Russian Armed Forces in combat action

They leave the dangerous area as quickly as possible after the strike, thanks to the crews' well-coordinated operation, and can strike again from a different firing position within a few minutes. They never work in the same spot repeatedly, and they never use the same hiding area for their vehicles.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Moscow exports significant volumes of military products and pays attention to modernisation despite sanctions and unfair competition from the West, Vladimir Putin says, adding that Russia retains its status as one of the leaders in the global weapons and military equipment market

Satanists have filed a lawsuit alleging Chicago is barring them from saying “Hail Satan” at City Council meetings

The lawsuit says the city violated the religious group’s First Amendment rights by “excluding disfavored minority faiths” from giving an invocation at the start of City Council meetings.

More than 50 local religious groups have given invocations in front of City Council since The Satanic Temple Illinois first inquired about giving one in December 2019, said Minister of Satan Adam Vavrick, citing publicly available meeting minutes.

The Satanic Temple is a federally recognized religion with congregations across the United States and more than 14,000 members in Illinois, and Vavrick insists it should be allowed to offer prayers at the City Council just like any other religion.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️The murder of Russian war correspondent Tatarsky and the explosion of the car of author and politician Prilepin were committed by Kiev with the direct coordination of Washington, Russian top security official says

📹 Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu inspects a forward command post of the Russian Armed Forces in the combat zone

At the command post, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry received reports by the commander of the Vostok Group and staff officers on the current situation, the nature of enemy operations, and the combat tasks performed by Russian troops in the main tactical areas.

Sergey Shoigu met with the commander of the grouping at the Group's headquarters, where he praised the grouping's excellent effectiveness in identifying and neutralizing hostile military hardware and troops.

The minister ordered the Group's leadership to continue to actively carry out comprehensive reconnaissance to uncover the enemy's plans in advance and prevent their implementation.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Catch our Fault Lines show, where we provide updates and analysis on all the most vital stories! Here's our line-up for today:

🔺To kick things off, we’ll be discussing the G-7 Summit and the return of Syria to the Arab League
🔺Next, we’ll speak about the FBI whistleblowers’ testimony to Congress
🔺Finally, we’ll focus on Congressman Schiff’s staff threatening experts to force them to find “connections” between Trump and Russia

More trending stories coming your way! Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 7am EST|4am PST|1pm CET via the website or app!

📻Also in the United States at 105.5FM, 104.7FM, 102.9FM, 1390AM, 1140AM

❗️ Margarita Simonyan, Editor-in-Chief of Sputnik and RT, said that a parcel with traces of explosives arrived at her work in her name. Police are currently investigating.

❗️Growth of radiation recorded in Poland after the destruction of ammunition with depleted uranium in Ukraine, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev has said, noting that the radioactive cloud is moving toward Europe

Americans have “helped” countries by supplying them with depleted uranium more than once in history. They also “helped” Ukraine, making Washington’s satellites supply ammunition with depleted uranium to the Kiev regime. Their destruction led to a radioactive cloud heading toward Western Europe. In Poland, an increase in radiation has already been recorded, Russian top security official added.

In March, UK Minister for Defense Annabel Goldie said that the country would provide Ukraine with depleted uranium tank ammunition, including armor-piercing shells for the 14 Challenger 2 battle tanks the UK is planning to supply to Ukraine. The Kremlin has repeatedly warned against further escalation of the situation.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Margarita Simonyan said that it was figured out that there was no explosive device in the parcel sent to her from Hong Kong

🌍🕊African countries' Ukraine settlement plan has no preconditions, mediator says

🗣"There are no pre-conditions I can assure you. [...] Those people [African leaders] are not going to spare 4 days, because it is the minimum to do the 2 countries, and go back to their cities empty handed. We really sincerely hope we will get some results out of these visits, if not we wouldn't do it," the founder of the Brazzaville Foundation and initiator of the mission, Jean-Yves Ollivier, told Sputnik.

▪️Earler, French news outlet Jeune Afrique claimed that a ceasefire in Ukraine is a precondition for the African peace initiative.

▪️Ollivier also noted that the African countries' mission to Ukraine is the first to be accepted by Moscow and Kiev.

▪️ On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said an African mission with a peace initiative on Ukraine plans to visit Russia in mid-June or early July, This followed an announcement made by South African President Ramaphosa that both Russia and Ukraine would accept a peace mission consisting of six African leaders

Subscribe to @sputnik_africa

🔸 Sputnik Africa | TikTok | Odysee | Twitter 🔸

The UK and Norway have signed a security partnership in undersea domain

The agreement, announced by the defense ministers of both countries, includes the prevention of attacks on infrastructure, including gas pipeline and cables.

Britain and Norway have also pledged to exchange intelligence, counter mine threats and improve the detection of submarines from hostile nations.

"The growing use of the seabed for energy and communications purposes has resulted in increased opportunities for adversaries to threaten Western subsea critical national infrastructure, as seen through the damaging of the Nord Stream pipeline, where the UK and Norway have jointly increased security patrols in the region," a statement by the UK Defence Ministry said, citing "shared interests in the North Sea" and promising to simplify the process for allies and partners to "join or complement" the UK-Norwegian cooperation.

The references to the Nord Stream blast sounded rather uncanny as a series of revelation pieces published by US veteran journalist Seymour Hersh earlier this year specifically uncovered Norway's alleged role in it.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Key statements made by Vladimir Putin at the Interethnic Relations Council meeting:

▪️ The organizers of provocations against Russia do not understand that national diversity only makes the country stronger.

▪️ We see what aggressive external pressure is directed at Russia.

▪️ The level of all-Russian identity in the last year has grown in direct proportion to the pressure on our country.

▪️ Attacks on Russia's culture and spiritual values do not stop; there are continuing attempts to drive a wedge and foment interethnic disunity.

▪️ Provocations are organized within the ethnic minority communities in Russia; one announces the 'decolonization' of the country, while another proposes to divide Russia into dozens of small entities.

▪️ The Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, DPR and LPR are multinational in their composition.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Russian MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️ In the Lvov region, a fuel storage facility for Ukrainian military equipment was destroyed;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces destroyed up to 130 Ukrainian soldiers in the DPR;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces delivered a strike with long-range precision weapons at the points of deployment and training centers of units, as well as warehouses of the Ukrainian Army;

▪️ During the day, Russian troops destroyed more than 85 Ukrainian military and Gvozdika self-propelled guns near Krasny Liman;

▪️ Assault detachments are fighting in the western part of Artemovsk;

▪️ The units of the Russian Army hold back the Ukrainian Armed Forces, covering the flanks of the assault detachments in the battles for Artemovsk;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces destroyed a warehouse of missile and artillery weapons of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the DPR;

▪️ Russian Armed Forces destroyed up to 120 military units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the south of the DPR and in the Zaporozhye region;

▪️ Russian troops destroyed up to 65 Ukrainian soldiers near Kupyansk in a day;

▪️ As a result of the strike with high-precision weapons, the supply, training and formation of reserves of the Ukraine Army were disrupted;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces destroyed an ammunition depot of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the DPR;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces destroyed more than 70 Ukrainian military and mercenaries in the Artemosvk area in a day.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

US-made air defense system Patriot lost all of its 32 missiles trying to intercept a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal

An international portal, dedicated to military analytics, has reported that Kinzhal missiles were specially designed to avoid and destroy air defense systems, which is why the US-made Patriot had no chance. They add that Patriots are rather easy prey since their radars give out powerful electromagnetic waves and Russian Armed Forces have no problem locating them. The American air defense system is static and it takes a great effort to relocate it.

Previously Russian MoD stated that Kinzhals destroyed a multifunctional radar station in Kiev as well as five launchers of Patriot surface-to-air missiles interceptors.

Earlier, US officials said they were "still assessing" damage dealt to the Patriot air defense system by a hypersonic Kinzhal missile.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt