🇮🇷⚓️ Iran has deployed warships with 600 km range missiles on board during snap Gulf drills to ensure the security of the country’s Persian Gulf islands, IRGC Navy commander Ali Azmaei said, referring to surprise exercises off an Iranian-administered Gulf island which is also claimed by the United Arab Emirates.

The commander further said that a standout feature of the drills was the use of unmanned aerial vehicles and naval drones equipped with “advanced artificial intelligence.”

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🇷🇺 Ocean Shield 2023 drills kick off in Baltic Sea

Over 30 warships and boats, 20 support vessels, 30 aircraft, 6,000 military personnel to participate in the drills in the Baltic Sea, the MoD said.

In total, more than 200 combat exercises are planned, including live fire drills, the ministry added.

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❗️Key points of Putin-Erdogan talks on Black Sea grain deal:

▪️Putin confirmed Russia’s readiness to return to the deal as soon as the West fulfills all its obligations to Russia;

▪️Prolongation of the deal is meaningless due to the lack of progress towards implementing Russia’s side of the agreement, designed to ensure the real exemption from illegal unilateral Western sanctions on Russian agricultural products and fertilizers;

▪️Options for supplying Russian grain to countries in need are being worked out, including free of charge;

▪️The issue of grain supplies to countries in need was discussed at the Russia-Africa Summit;

▪️Putin expressed willingness to cooperate with Turkiye and other interested countries on grain supplies.

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❗️LIVE NOW: Putin presents state awards in Moscow

Join the live stream here!

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❗️Ukrainian forces failed miserably in a late night botched attack using an unmanned boat against Russia’s Navy ship escorting civilian maritime transport in the Black Sea, the MoD says

The ship destroyed both boats, and there were no casualties, the ministry said.

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💬 “I've shed all unnecessary baggage, and gained experience”

🇷🇺 Today marks Russian Airborne Forces Day

A Sputnik correspondent asked a Russian paratrooper to share his experiences on the battlefield, where the Airborne Forces are considered to be among the most dangerous among all military professions.

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💬 “This is a new era”

🇷🇺 A Russian paratrooper tells a Sputnik correspondent how drone technologies changed the face of modern warfare

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

▪️ On the night of August 2, Kiev tried to attack a Russian Navy ship with an unmanned boat that was escorting civilian sea transport in the Black Sea;

▪️The Russian Navy ship destroyed an unmanned boat that tried to attack it in the Black Sea;

▪️ Russian forces repelled four attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Zaporozhye direction;

▪️ Russian forces repelled attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the LPR;

▪️The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost over 220 military personnel, a tank, two infantry fighting vehicles, and two cars in the Zaporozhye direction;

▪️ Russian forces in the Donetsk direction successfully repelled 12 attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces;

▪️Ukrainian losses in the Donetsk direction amounted to 295 servicemen;

▪️Russia’s Ministry of Defense for the first time reported the destruction of a Bogdan self-propelled howitzer in the special operation zone;

▪️Russian air defense systems intercepted 12 HIMARS missiles and destroyed 28 Ukrainian drones;

▪️ Ukrainian losses in the South Donetsk direction amounted to more than 210 servicemen

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Exclusive: 'Very Rewarding': Nigerian Media Heads Praise Russia-Africa Summit, Spotlight Positive Impression

In an exclusive interview with Sputnik Africa, senior Nigerian media executives expressed admiration for the warmth and development they witnessed in Russia during their first visit.

🇳🇬 Salihu Dembos, Director General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), and Mansur Liman, Director General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), shared their thoughts on the Second #RussiaAfricaSummit, stressing that visiting Russia in general was "very, very rewarding"

👉 Read and watch the full interview!

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🔸 Sputnik Africa | TikTok | Odysee | Twitter 🔸

“The Biden administration, through the American Central Intelligence Agency and British MI6, has succeeded in taming the press,” Judge Andrew Napolitano, former New Jersey superior court judge and host of the Judging Freedom podcast, told the New Rules podcast, commenting on how the mainstream media silences foreign policy dissent.

👉 Biden’s total lack of strategy in Ukraine, Trump’s potential role as a peacemaker, the US government’s hidden expectations that Ukraine will lose: You can find the full interview on YouTube or Rumble

🇷🇺📹 On the occasion of the Russian Airborne Forces Day, a Sputnik correspondent visited the location of the elite division of the Airborne Forces and talked with paratroopers

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📹🇷🇺 How it happened: the crew of a Russian tank that stopped a Ukrainian column of armored vehicles has revealed details about the battle. The servicemen themselves only saw the video that made them famous almost two months after it happened, as they are constantly on the front lines.

Their real names are not allowed to be published yet, so here are their call signs: "Laska" - tank commander, "Lionya" - tank gunner, and "Monolith" - driver/mechanic.

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🗣️On the US attempts to drain Russia through Ukraine:

“[Nuland, Blinken, Sullivan are] believers that somehow Ukraine can be used to drain the Russian military and thereby drain President Putin's political standing with the Russian people. What they don't understand is that President Putin is enormously popular, that he's fighting a patriotic war for a return of land, for which there is a valid legal argument,” Judge Andrew Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court judge, author, and host of "Judging Freedom" podcast on Youtube, told Sputnik.

🎧 Listen to more of Napolitano’s analysis in our podcast New Rules

👉 Watch the full episode of our show on YouTube or Rumble