Answering a question from Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Sputnik’s parent company the Rossiya Segodnya International Media Group and RT, regarding the fate of Karabakh, Putin said that he does not agree with the idea that Pashinyan was brought to power by external forces to “give up” Nagorno-Karabakh, saying that it was the choice of the Armenians.

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Putin responded to the question of Margarita Simonyan, Sputnik's and RT's head, about where to stop during the special operation: It’s not about territories, but about guarantees of the safety of our people.

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🇷🇺 Putin: The greatness of Russia today lies in strengthening its sovereignty. And sovereignty is based on self-sufficiency. In technology, in finance, in the economy as a whole, in the field of defense and security.

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"The strengthening of the Multipolar World is inevitable"

With these words, Putin concluded his conversation with members of the Valdai discussion club.

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🗣️ F-16s to Ukraine Could Spark Major Escalation

“I think that F-16s will be deployed on the territory of Poland, Romania… In this case, of course, according to all international laws, if an aircraft takes off from an airfield and delivers strikes against other forces, it becomes a natural and a lawful target for a return strike. And in this case, I think that the United States will have to decide whether to invoke Article Five and say, as President Biden's constantly saying, "We'll defend every inch of the territory of our allies", or he will say, "Okay, Poles, that's your bilateral business with Russia, so please fight, we'll support you,” Evgeny Buzhinsky, retired Russian lieutenant-general, told Sputnik.

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

💬"Right now, everybody who is against Western imperialism, and I would guess that there's like 7 billion people on the planet, has to be supporting the Russian troops that are under heavy pressure," Miodrag Zarković, a Serbian war correspondent covering the Donbass conflict, told Sputnik.

👉Follow this link to watch the full interview conducted by Russell Bentley @TXDPR

🇺🇸💸 McCarthy's ouster signals the US 'preparing the populace at large' to defund Ukraine

Kevin McCarthy lost the House speakership this week after his GOP colleague Matt Gaetz tabled a motion to remove him over alleged "side deal" talks with President Biden and the Democrats on Ukraine funding.

The shock ouster comes amid growing weariness among Americans over the proxy war, and possible preparations to dump Kiev, experts told Sputnik.

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💬"If Russia wasn't really the number one military force on the planet a year and a half ago, I mean, I would think that even then it probably was. But even if it wasn't back then, now, it definitely is," Miodrag Zarković, a Serbian war correspondent covering the Donbass conflict, told Sputnik.

👉Follow this link to watch the full interview conducted by Russell Bentley @TXDPR

💰Never mind funding, West has no more arms to give to Ukraine

Even NATO's most senior military officer has admitted that the bloc has nothing left to give to Ukraine. Former US Marine Brian Berletic, an independent geopolitical researcher and writer, said the battle over the US budget merely masked the West's failure.

💬 "The United States has plenty of money just printed out of thin air. I don't think that that is really the problem," Berletic said. "The main problem regarding support for Ukraine is weapons and ammunition, they are simply out of it. And there's no possible way to manufacture, produce it in any timely manner."

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🇷🇺🇩🇪 Russian Kinzhal, Iskander missiles to make short work of German air defenses in Ukraine

Berlin is preparing to send additional air defense weaponry to Ukraine, ostensibly to 'protect grain shipments' to Europe in the wake of the collapse of the Black Sea Grain Deal in July. Russia will dispatch with the German deliveries, and Berlin’s rationale for their transfer is designed only to fool ordinary Germans, observers told Sputnik.

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🇪🇺Ukraine is 'corrupted at all levels' and 'not eligible' to join the EU, says ex-bloc head

Ukraine in its current state is corrupt to the core and absolutely ineligible to join the European Union, former European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has said.

💬 "One mustn’t make false promises to the people of Ukraine who are up to their necks in suffering. I am very angry about the presence of some voices in Europe who are telling the Ukrainians that they can become members immediately," Juncker said in an extensive interview with German media on Thursday.

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♿️ Ukraine nixing 'disability' concept to slash payments to conflict victims

Ukraine will replace the concept of "disability" with the "assessment of loss of functionality" starting from 2025, according to Ukrainian Minister of Health Viktor Lyashko, as quoted by the country’s media.

Per Lyashko, Ukrainians are seeking "disability" benefits instead of restoring their productivity. He argued that this approach is a relic of the post-Soviet era that Ukraine should discard.

💬 "This means that the Kiev regime is cutting back all social programs under the plausible pretext that it is a Soviet relic," Alexey Leonkov, military analyst and editor of the Arsenal Otechestva (Arsenal of the Fatherland) magazine, told Sputnik.

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🌍 🇺🇸 African Nations' Use of US Dollars Limits Their Ability to Address Internal Challenges, Expert Says

The use of the US dollar by African countries lessens their ability to control their own monetary policy, Ronney Ncwadi, Professor and Director of the School of Economics, Development studies and Tourism at the South African Nelson Mandela University, told Sputnik Africa.

🗣 "As always, as this expression says, when the US sneezes, everybody catches the fever and depending on the US dollar currency exchange rate does dampen the growth in our African continent," the professor stressed.

Moreover, the expert emphasized that reliance on the US dollar puts Africa "at risk of a lack of currency sovereignty," "limits" the countries' sovereignty and hampers regional economic integration.

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🇺🇸 New poll suggests even Democrats are starting to sour on Ukraine aid

A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that only 41% of respondents agreed the US “should provide weapons” to Ukraine, while 35% disagreed. Another 24% were unsure.

When asked that same question in May, 46% agreed, while only 29% disagreed and 25% were unsure.

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🇺🇸 US' SEC sues Musk to force him to testify in Twitter probe

The case relates to an ongoing investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding potential violations of various provisions of the federal securities laws in connection with Musk’s 2022 purchase of Twitter and statements and filings related to it.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Russia's parliament will discuss withdrawing ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), Russian parliamentary speaker Vyacheslav Volodin says.

This response will mirror that of the US, which has not yet ratified the CTBT, Volodin explained.

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