🇷🇺📹 Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu presents state awards and firearms to servicemen of of the Russian Armed Forces in the zone of the special military op

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📹 Russia has launched the production of its new Gastello kamikaze drones, which were developed to meet the demands of the participants of the special military op

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⚡Imran Khan Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

🇵🇰 Pakistan's former PM Imran Khan was sentenced to three years in prison by the district and sessions court in Islamabad on Saturday.

He was accused of not fully declaring the gifts received by other heads of state while he was in office.

Khan was arrested from his home in Lahore and taken into custody.

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⚡ Russia’s Fleet has found a surface drone in the Sevastopol sea zone; measures are being taken to destroy it, the city governor said

The Russian and Turkish presidents may reportedly discuss energy projects, namely a gas hub project, during Putin's planned visit to Turkiye in August

On Friday, Erdogan said he expected Putin's visit to Turkiye to take place in August. Earlier in the week, Erdogan's office said the two leaders had agreed on Putin's visit to Turkiye during a telephone conversation.

During the meeting in Turkiye, Putin and Erdogan are expected to discuss renewing the grain deal and turning Turkiye into a gas hub, as well as other energy projects, the report said.

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More than 150 service members of the UK have participated in the largest military exercise between the armed forces of Australia, the US and the UK, the UK Defense Ministry said

The ministry added that over 34,000 troops participated in the exercise, which involved forces from Australia, Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Tonga, the UK and the US.

The exercise tests joint capabilities across land, sea, air, space and digital domains," the ministry said on the website.

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

▪️The Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) lost more than 210 soldiers in the South Donetsk direction in a day;

▪️ The UAF lost more than 175 soldiers in the Zaporozhye direction, as well as two Krab artillery installations, four D-20 howitzers and one D-30 gun;

▪️ Air defenses intercepted eight HIMARS rockets and destroyed 22 Ukrainian drones;

▪️Russian forces successfully repelled three counterattacks of the UAF in the Kharkov region;

▪️Russian forces successfully repelled ten UAF attacks in the Donetsk direction

▪️The Russian Army successfully repelled three attacks by assault groups of the UAF brigade in the Krasny Liman direction

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🇺🇸🇳🇪 The United States is temporarily suspending certain foreign assistance programs to the government of Niger amid the ongoing military takeover, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press release.

"The US government is pausing certain foreign assistance programs benefiting the government of Niger," Blinken stated, adding that US government activities in Niger continue where feasible to do so, including diplomatic and security operations, for the protection of US personnel.

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🔎West Unlikely to Take Military Action Against Niger Rebels, Expert Says

🗣"I am pretty sure France will not intervene in Niger militarily, though Paris is now actively trying to organize indirectly the ousting of the junta in Niamey, with the help of several other former colonies of West Africa," German geopolitical expert Armin-Paulus Hampel told Sputnik.

The expert said France and the US must have played a very active role in getting ECOWAS to issue an ultimatum to Niger's junta to relinquish power, but he argued that the West's "proxies" in West Africa were unlikely to take broad military action - beyond imposing sanctions on the impoverished nation, which depends on its neighbors for basic supplies

👉Read the full article!

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🗣️ On Joe Biden’s strategy to win the upcoming elections:

“They think they can use Ukraine as a battering ram to drive President Putin from office. They're crazy. It's not going to work. Joe Biden does not have an off-ramp… His internal goal is to run for reelection as a wartime president, like his hero Franklin Delano Roosevelt did in 1940,” Judge Andrew Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court judge, author, and host of the 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

The US has said that it heeds NATO security, but that the use of the NATO Treaty's Article 5 is not under discussion, after a recent incident with Belarusian helicopters allegedly crossing the Polish border amid Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

What is Article 5 and how it pertains to Kiev’s push for the allaince?

Sputnik explores

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🇧🇫 "Will to Be Free From French Colonialism": Activist on Value of Burkinabe Independence Day

This Saturday, Burkina Faso celebrates its Independence Day, marking 63rd anniversary of gaining independency from the French colonial rule.

Independence Day is an expression of the nation's will to liberate itself from French colonial rule and to stand on par with the other countries, Ludovic Tapsoba, Deputy Secretary General of the Association of Former Students and Trainees of the former USSR, told Sputnik Africa.

🗣"Through this independence, we wanted to be free, equal and fraternal with all the other peoples of the world,"said the deputy general

👉 Read the full interview!

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📹🇷🇺 The Russian Defense Ministry published footage of the battle in the Kupyansk direction, during which the settlement of Novoselovskoye in the LPR was liberated.

During the battle, Russian troops captured 11 strongholds and eliminated more than 100 soldiers.

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🇸🇪 Sweden pledges to address ties with Muslim Countries amid Quran-burning scandals

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom has held a meeting with ambassadors of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries and said he would pay special attention to relations with Muslim countries, the Swedish government said on Saturday.

"I will devote a substantial part of this term to strengthening relations with Muslim countries. I intend to travel to OIC countries, and Sweden will host discussions and dialogues in connection with the UN General Assembly in New York in September," Billstrom was quoted as saying in the government statement.

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🇺🇸⚖️ The latest criminal charges brought against former US President Donald Trump are politically motivated and will have a detrimental effect on US institutions, experts opined in comments to Sputnik.

"In my view the indictment is a disappointingly political act and will not increase confidence in the independence of the Justice Department. These are not happy days for faith in our legal institutions, but perhaps the courts can set things right," Stephen Presser, the Raoul Berger professor of legal history emeritus at Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law, said.

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🇷🇺🛫 A Russian Su-30 fighter jet was scrambled on Saturday to intercept a US MQ-9A Reaper drone as it approached Russian waters in the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry's National Defense Control Center (NDCC) said.

The drone changed its course after spotting the Russian jet and did not violate the country's airspace, the statement added.

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🇺🇸 US Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, 90, has relinquished power of attorney to her 66-year-old daughter Katherine, local media has reported.

The oldest member of the US Congress is still expected to continue serving as a senator despite calls for her to step down.

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🇺🇸⚔️ DeSantis' pledge to 'slit throat' of 'Deep State' draws ire of Federal Employee Union

“Governor DeSantis’ threat to ‘start slitting throats’ of federal employees is dangerous, disgusting, disgraceful, and disqualifying,” the American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley said in a statement released on Thursday.

“Federal employees – over a third of whom are veterans now wearing their second uniform in service to their country – have dedicated their lives to serving their fellow Americans” he added.

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🇺🇸 Trump to withdraw US from NATO if reelected, stated warhawk Bolton during an interview to a conservative US media outlet on Thursday.

Besides, in his op-ed, Bolton opined that “despite increasing defense spending in his first term, Trump could freeze or slash military budgets next time,” cautioning that the ex-POTUS may prefer to focus on “civilian infrastructure projects” instead.

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🇷🇺 Russia plans to maximize its diplomatic ties with Africa

Russia plans to ensure maximum representation in Africa, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik on Saturday

🗣 "At a time when Russia's attention to Africa is steadily growing, Putin has set the task of increasing the diplomatic presence on the continent, which implies opening new facilities or increasing the staff in existing Russian foreign institutions," she said, commenting on Moscow's plans regarding diplomatic presence on the continent.

The spokeswoman also noted that Russia's diplomatic missions in Burkina Faso and Equatorial Guinea are due to open before the end of the year, adding that Russia is ready to provide any assistance to African friends in establishing the work of their diplomatic missions in the country

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🇬🇧🌪 Storm Antoni can lead to "injuries and danger to life from flying debris are possible," the UK Met Office said, warning of "large waves and beach material being thrown on to sea fronts, coastal roads and properties."

British weather reporter earlier cautioned that the storm would bring "potentially disruptive" weather in England and Wales, with Northern Ireland likely to see "some of the highest rainfall totals."

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