📹 Former US Embassy informant Robert Shonov was instructed to "collect information on the progress of the special military operation, mobilization processes in the regions of Russia, on problematic moments and assess their influence on the protest activity of the population on the eve of the presidential elections in Russia in 2024" the FSB said

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📹 Russia’s artillery destroyed (0:07) a NATO-manufactured 155-mm FH-70 gun in the course of counter-battery combat in the zone of the special military op, the Russian MoD said

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🇿🇦 SA Chamber of Commerce Head names greatest advances of country's BRICS presidency

South Africa's greatest accomplishments during its chairmanship of BRICS this year are increasing the bloc's significance as a multilateral organization and raising Africa's profile as "an economy of the future," the president of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the chairperson of the BRICS Business Council's Trade and Investment Working Group, Mtho Xulu told Sputnik Africa

🗣 "So our biggest achievement was to raise the profile of BRICS and also the profile of Africa as an economy of the future," he noted

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📹 😧 Railway service between France and Italy interrupted due to landslide in the French department of Savoie

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The Chinese began to import salt from Russia’s Primorye Region amid the discharge of water from Fukushima

China has banned imports of Japanese-made marine products since Thursday, and also said it would tighten customs controls on other types of Japanese products.

Last Thursday, water began to be discharged into the ocean, which had previously served to cool the damaged reactors of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, and then was cleaned.

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Ukraine’s attempt to hit targets in Russia with cruise missile thwarted, missile destroyed by air defense off Crimean coast, the Russian MoD says

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👴 Joe Biden is seen as ‘too old’ for the presidency, an AP-NORC poll finds

The AP-NORC survey asked respondents to tell them what word they associated with the president.

In those visceral responses, 26% mentioned the president’s age and an additional 15% used words such as “confused” or “slow.” One Republican thought of “potato.”

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'Target locked... and eliminated'

📹 Russia's crews of Ka-52 helicopters destroyed (0:10) armored combat vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a guided missile strike

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Vladimir Putin is interested in everything that happens in the zone of the special military op

The president continues to communicate not only with the army command, but also with soldiers and junior commanders who are fighting directly on the battlefield, the Kremlin said.

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Representatives of Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and Mongolia invited as observers to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) exercises in Belarus

The use of drones and ways to counter them is one of the topics on the agenda of the drills, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov said.

The joint operational and strategic exercise of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) "Combat Brotherhood-2023" will be held on territory of Belarus from September 1-6.

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The Russian MoD’s latest statements on the Ukraine crisis:

▪️ The Russian Navy launched a long-range group maritime high-precision strike at a Armed Forces of Ukraine depot loaded with foreign-made aircraft ammunition tonight. The goal of the strike has been achieved. The facility has been eliminated.

▪️ Up to 160 Ukrainian troops, two armored fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, two U.S.-made M777 howitzers, one AS-90 Brave Heart self-propelled artillery howitzer, one U.K.-made FH-70 howitzer, as well as two D-30 howitzers have been neutralized in the Zaporozhye region.

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces repelled two attacks by Ukrainian assault groups in Donetsk People's Republic. Over 185 Ukrainian troops, three armored fighting vehicles, two motor vehicles, one Polish-made Krab self-propelled artillery howitzer, as well as one Grad MLRS combat vehicle have been neutralized.

▪️ Up to 30 Ukrainian troops, two armored fighting vehicles, three motor vehicles, and one D-20 howitzer were destroyed near Kupyansk.

▪️ Up to 60 Ukrainian troops, two armored fighting vehicles, two pick-up trucks, one Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, and one D-30 howitzer have been eliminated near Krasny Liman.

▪️ Up to 35 Ukrainian troops, three motor vehicles, one U.S.-made M109 Paladin artillery howitzer, and two D-30 howitzers have been eliminated in the Kherson region.

▪️ Russian air defense forces have intercepted three JDAM guided bombs, as well as one HIMARS MLRS projectile during the day.

▪️ Some 466 airplanes and 247 helicopters, 6,179 unmanned aerial vehicles, 433 air defense missile systems, 11,538 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,146 combat vehicles equipped with MRLS, 6,095 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 12,480 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.

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🇨🇳🇸🇬 China and Singapore will hold a joint military exercise from late August to mid-September to boost military cooperation

During the exercise, sniper fire as well as melee combat techniques, jumping from helicopters, hostage rescue operations will be practiced, according to the Chinese Defense Ministry.

The drills are designed to strengthen practical cooperation between the armies of China and Singapore and increase the level of real combat training of the troops, the ministry added.

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Fire support: Russia’s paratroopers in action

📹 Ussuriysk-based paratroopers equipped with small hand-held anti-personnel flamethrowers delivered precise strikes on Armed Forces of Ukraine troops and hardware attempting to hide in the woods and in a abandoned private house.

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Western instructors admit they have difficulties in training Ukrainian commanders who have already received basic training in Soviet times, a British news agency reported, citing Western military officers

One of the German instructors told the newspaper he had friction sometimes with senior Ukrainian commanders, who have received training in the Soviet Union and therefore "think they know better."

Western instructors also say the age and abilities of the Ukrainian military arriving for training vary dramatically. One of the Ukrainians who was sent to Germany was 71 years old, the report said.

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💬 "Translators are the number one problem"

German, Dutch and Danish officers gathered in Germany to train Ukrainian military personnel "did not expect that the lack of competent translators would become the main problem," an English newspaper reported

Language problems have apparently hampered the training of Ukrainian soldiers.

Western media pointed out that the language problem is encountered not only in training conducted in Germany, but also in Denmark, where about eight Ukrainian pilots and dozens of support staff are being prepared to operate F-16 fighters.

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🎙 Daily translations of Russian and Ukrainian TV : Subnoscriptd & Dubbed into English with precision

📝 Expert analysis of the economic, political and social situation — operatively translated.

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Ukraine Watch: Facts without the fluff.

📞 Summary of Putin-Modi phone call on Monday:

▫️Putin and Modi exchange views over upcoming #G20 summit in New Delhi;

▫️Putin and Modi note importance of #BRICS agreements, including BRICS enlargement;

▫️Putin and Modi intend to implement large-scale energy projects, expand logistics infrastructure;

▫️Putin and Modi confirm intention to develop space 🚀cooperation.

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💬 "The prospects for the resumption of the grain deal directly depend on the substantive fulfillment … of those promises and those obligations that were made towards the Russian side"

The passage of the second ship along the ‘grain corridor’ is unrelated to talks with Russia on the resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said 

Ukrainian media has reported that the second ship which was docked in Odessa since February 2022 left Ukraine and is on the way to Bulgaria.

In July 2022, Russia, Ukraine, Turkiye, and the United Nations reached an agreement that established a humanitarian corridor for vessels to export food and fertilizers. However, while Moscow has been performing its part of the deal, obligations to lift sanctions on Russian ships engaged in grain and fertilizer exports were not fulfilled.

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Republican Congress leader Kevin McCarthy has condemned the "culture of corruption" shot through President Joe Biden's family

In a TV news interview on Sunday, the House of Representatives speaker laid into the Democrat chief over the long list of revelations about how his son Hunter's foreign business dealings — including alleged influence-peddling — linked back to the former senator and vice-president.

The Republican pointed out that Biden's repeated claim that he had no involvement or even knowledge of his son's business dealings was now exposed as a lie.

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🇨🇳🇺🇸 US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo embarked on a trip to Beijing on Sunday to stress the importance of Sino-American economic ties in the aftermath of new curbs against the People's Republic introduced by President Joe Biden earlier this month.

"We share $700bn dollars of trade and I concur with you that it is profoundly important that we have a stable economic relationship," the US commerce secretary asserted to her Chinese counterparts. "It’s a challenging relationship, we will of course disagree on certain issues, but I believe we can make progress if we are direct, open and practical."

Why US Commerce Secretary's visit to China unlikely to break ice?

Check out this Sputnik's article to find out

❗️Court in Washington has scheduled the beginning of Trump's trial in the case of the storming of the Capitol on March 4, 2024

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