MMA fighter Jeff Monson has given up his American passport and ceased to be a US citizen

Key statements made by Jeff Monson after giving up his American passport:

▪️ In the USA, you are not a patriot if you say something against the USA. You must support everything that the States does, ask no questions, cover your eyes and mouth even to the worst things.

▪️ The USA is a superpower, but the USA is also the main peddler of death in the world right now.

▪️ I think Putin wants the best for Russia.

▪️ The US is the main imperialist right now. They control the world economy at the expense of the dollar and military bases on all continents, they use sanctions. This is the world hegemon that Russia is trying to appease.

In 2018, Monson was granted Russian citizenship.

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Chinese yuan may replace the US dollar as the world's reserve and settlement currency in the next 10 years

"China is now the world's second-largest economy and will soon become the first. There is every reason to expect that the Chinese yuan will replace the US dollar as the world's main reserve and settlement currency as early as the next decade. In fact, the Central Bank of Russia is already investing its reserves in yuan, and more than 70 percent of trade turnover between Russia and China is settled in yuan together with the ruble," the chairman of Russia's VTB Bank, Andrei Kostin, said at the Russian-Chinese business forum in Shanghai.

According to him, the monetary and financial system that has predominated for decades ensures the hegemony of the US and its Western allies, and the dollar and the euro account for three-quarters of global settlements. Kostin added that the dollar is the world's main reserve currency, but having announced a course of containment of Russia and China, the collective West, and the US in particular, have been actively using their currency as a weapon.

In March, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said it was necessary to promote the practice of mutual settlements between Russia and China in national currencies.

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❗️ Moscow court extends the arrest of the WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich for three months

What can replace US dollar as world reserve currency?

The NATO-Russia proxy war in Ukraine has served to hasten a global realignment, demonstrating from its earliest months that the United States no longer has the power to marshal its economic, political and military muscle to bully other countries into submission. This process has included renewed talk about alternatives to the dollar.

Moreover, the ongoing drama in Washington about the debt ceiling and the prospects of the federal government running out of money and defaulting on its obligations has renewed debate about the dollar’s status as the world reserve currency – and whether its position is sustainable.

The question on everyone’s minds is now no longer ‘can the dollar be dethroned, but ‘what could replace it’?

Find out the answer here.

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The EU needs to reach an agreement with Russia on the future of European security, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at the economic forum in Qatar.

▪️ Orban also commented on the situation with Ukraine. According to him, without the direct participation of NATO troops, the country has no chance of winning. The Hungarian PM noted that instead of escalating the conflict, it is necessary to move towards a peaceful solution to the issue.

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🇷🇺 "The Russian Knights" Aerobatic Team has arrived in Malaysia to participate in the 16th Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition

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🗣️”This is just meant to be more propaganda to try to whitewash away and paper over the fear that Zelensky obviously feels both domestically and abroad from having lost his, as he called it, 'great fortress city’”: Moscow-based international relations and security analyst Mark Sleboda discusses how Western media and pro-Ukraine cover the fact that Russian troops have taken the city of Artemovsk (Bakhmut)

🎧Listen to more of Sleboda’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

📹 Putin explains why Russia is conducting its special operation in Ukraine

💬 The future of Russia depends on what is being done in these difficult times, Putin says.

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❗️LIVE NOW: Putin meets with Republika Srpska leader Dodik
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Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev demands compensation from the United States for Artemovsk (Bakhmut) and Mariupol

The United States must compensate Russia for the destruction of Artemovsk, Mariupol, and a host of other places, said Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev.

Medvedev was asked whether the United States should compensate Russia for the damage caused by blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines.

"And not only this damage. Let them return the funds, or at least allocate funds, for the restoration of Artemovsk, Mariupol, and a host of other places that were destroyed with their help and support. With their money," Medvedev replied.

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🎧 In today's episode of the AfroVerdict podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa, meet Dr Anthony Ajayi, a researcher with the African Population and Health Research Center in Kenya, who explains how "community driven" approaches could help in the fight against HIV in Africa.

The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing the remains of a Ukrainian sabotage group force after heavy fighting with Russian troops

Dozens of Ukrainian saboteurs attempted to slip across the border into the Russian region of Belgorod on Monday. On Tuesday, the Russian military reported that the formations had been blocked and eliminated, with over 70 Ukrainian saboteurs killed, and four armored fighting vehicles and five pickups destroyed.

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Paratroopers destroy enemy armoured vehicles on right bank of Dnepr

The Airborne Troops self-propelled artillery units conduct daily combat work to destroy the enemy manpower, hardware and fortifications on the right bank of the Dnepr River.

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🥴 Josep Borrell confuses Belgorod with Belgrade

▪️ Journalist asked the 76-year-old head of EU diplomacy what he thought about the attack on the Russian Belgorod region. He asked in response: “Tell me, what happened in Belgrade?”

▪️ Borrell's assistant had to explain in more detail the difference between the Russian region and the Serbian capital, but even after that, he could not give a clear answer to the question.

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🔺 Zelensky's visit to G7 Summit was a success: US-Approved Military Aid to Ukraine 'Will Soon Be Tapped'
🔺Turkish President Erdogan accuses Biden of attempting to topple him
🔺China hits out at Japan over G7 Summit, accuses US-led bloc of ‘camp confrontation and cold war mentality’

The Critical Hour will cover these and more stories! Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 6pm EST|3pm PST|12am CET via the website or app

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

An attempt to ban users in the US state of Montana from accessing the TikTok social media app is sure to fail one way or another

TikTok announced it had filed a lawsuit against Montana’s recently-passed law banning the social media app from the US state starting on January 1, 2024. The suit argues that the law violates several aspects of the US Constitution, including the Commerce Clause, which blocks states from interfering with interstate trade, and the First Amendment, which protects the right to free speech.

The law is just the latest attempt by US politicians to ban TikTok and other Chinese social media apps, which they have argued pose a security risk due to their supposed connections to the Communist Party of China. Beijing and TikTok owner ByteDance have both denied the accusations, and ByteDance has taken significant steps to separate the data of US-based TikTok users from the rest of its users in an attempt to assuage US critics.

Barbara Lazarotto, a PhD researcher in law and a Marie Curie Actions fellow at Belgium’s Vrije Universiteit Brussel, told Sputnik that while the lawsuit’s outcome is unpredictable due to its legal complexities, the law is likely to be impossible to enforce nonetheless.

"I believe the outcome of this case is unpredictable, due to the complexity of the case which evolves apart from a legal (and constitutional) analysis, a geopolitical and societal one. Users are already protesting against the ban at the same time the world is already settled in a cold war against Chinese tech companies," he said.

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The European Union's defense ministers failed to agree on a new package of military assistance to Ukraine

"We have proposed what will be the eighth package [of aid] in the amount of €500 million, on which negotiations are continuing. I hope that we will overcome any obstacles one by one to approve assistance at a technical level from this week. Right now we have not reached an unanimous decision on this issue," EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said, speaking to reporters after a meeting of the European Defense Agency.

"The next weeks, the next months will be strategically decisive for the war in Ukraine. We are all in agreement on this. It is precisely for this reason that the European Defense Agency has focused ninety percent [of our funds] on our military support," Borrell said.

The diplomat did not elaborate on what's holding up the aid talks. However, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto indicated last week that Budapest would not support an additional €500 million in aid so long as Hungary's OTP Bank remains on a list of 'sponsors of war' over its refusal to leave the Russian market.

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📹 Artillerymen continue to carry out firing tasks within special military operation

In cooperation with unmanned aerial vehicle crews, artillerymen of the Russian Armed Forces neutralise identified targets, as well as conduct counter-battery warfare against the enemy artillery.

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