Steadfast Defender 2024 military exercise meant to prepare NATO troops for “military missions into Ukraine, Belarus or Moldova” - a former Swedish officer

NATO’s military exercises on Russia’s doorstep, like the upcoming Steadfast Defender 2024 that will involve some 90,000 troops, are a “part of an ongoing escalation process, which is bad for the security of Europe,” says Mikael Valtersson, former Swedish Armed Forces officer, defense politician and chief of staff with the Sweden Democrats party.

“When both sides are high-strung and look for potential aggressive behavior from the other side, one mistake could quickly lead to escalation. If you really want to de-escalate tensions, you should avoid large-scale exercises near the borders of your adversaries,” he notes.

According to Valtersson, one of the goals of the Steadfast Defender 2024 is preparing NATO troops “for the eventuality of military missions into Ukraine, Belarus or Moldova.”

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Join #AfroVerdict in the new episode where the host joins a South African political expert to give an analytical takeaway from Russia's FM Sergey Lavrov's first presser of 2024.

https://news.1rj.ru/str/sputnik_africa/12734

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, at the UN headquarters in New York, during which the parties discussed the schedule of upcoming bilateral contacts, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

"The schedule of upcoming bilateral contacts was discussed," the ministry said in a statement, adding that the parties also touched upon bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

The statement added that the diplomats also discussed the progress in the implementation of key Russian-Turkish projects in the energy sector.

Lavrov and Fidan confirmed at the meeting the need for coordinating the steps of the two countries in the interests of finding mutually acceptable solutions to acute regional problems, primarily regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip, Syria, the Middle East as a whole and in the Black Sea zone, as well as in the Transcaucasus, the ministry said.

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Portugal to Take Part in EU Mission in Red Sea

Portugal will take part in the European Union mission to establish maritime security in the Red Sea, Foreign Minister Joao Gomes Cravinho said on Monday.

On Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that EU foreign ministers "agreed in principle" to establish maritime security operations in the Red Sea.

"Portugal will support this mission … Of course, it won’t be a frigate or a ship, but there will be some kind of participation on our part," Cravinho was quoted as saying by Portuguese newspaper Renascenca.

On the same day, Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar said that Slovakia will also support the EU security mission in the Red Sea. He noted, however, that Bratislava does not have a fleet, but is interested in ensuring that international rights are not violated.

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Russia is finalising tests of anti-drone missiles, which are soon to enter service with anti-aircraft missile systems in the special operation area, source told Spuntik.

The mini-missiles will be used as part of the modernised Pantsiri. The new missiles have a standard layout for the "Pantsir" - upper stage plus marching stage, but with significantly reduced dimensions both in the diameter of the product and its length.

As a result, one Pantsir-SM combat vehicle can be equipped not with 12 standard missiles, but with 48 anti-drone missiles.

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🇪🇬🇷🇺 Egypt’s El-Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant: What’s special about it and what does Russia have to do with the most advanced NPP in North Africa?

Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi are attending a ceremony via videolink where the first batch of concrete will be poured into the foundation of the 4th power unit at the El-Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).

This marks the end of the prep phase and the launch of the main stage of capital construction of all NPP units.

Here are some key facts regarding Egypt’s new nuclear marvel:

▪️ El-Dabaa is not just Egypt’s very first NPP, but the first one in North Africa as a whole;

▪️ El-Dabaa is being built in the city of El-Dabaa (Mediterranean coast), approximately 300 km North-West of Cairo;

▪️ The NPP will consist of four power units, 1200 MW each, with VVER-1200 reactors (pressurized water reactor) of generation III+;

▪️ Under the contract, Russia’s responsible for constructing the NPP, delivering nuclear fuel for its entire lifecycle, assisting in staff training, and supporting the NPP’s service for the first 10 years of its operation;

▪️ Russia will also build a special storage facility and deliver casks for storing spent nuclear fuel;

▪️ 17,000 people are expected to work at the construction site by the end of 2024;

▪️ The number of the NPP staff will peak in 2025, reaching 32,000 workers;

▪️ Under labor localization agreements, Egyptian companies will carry out up to 30% of construction work (infrastructure and road building).

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🇦🇷 A group of opposition lawmakers in the Argentine parliament has sent a request to the government to justify the decision not to join BRICS. One of the signatories to the document told Sputnik that all Argentine provinces export products to BRICS member states, and a refusal to join the bloc would cause "economic damage to the regions."

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What were the targets of the Western coalition's new strike against the Houthis?

Revealing the true purpose of Steadfast Defender 2024 military exercises

What did Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov discuss with his Turkish counterpart Fidan?

Watch Russian Army storming a Ukrainian Armed Forces stronghold

How does Russia improve its anti-drone military capabilities?

Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will attend a ceremony via videolink where the first concrete batch will be poured into the foundation of the El-Dabaa NPP’s fourth power unit.

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❗️ Air raid alerts go off across all the territory of Ukraine

Ukrainian media reported explosions in Kiev and Kharkov

Biden, at a White House event, saw Health Secretary Xavier Becerra in the room and thanked him for his work to protect women's reproductive rights.

Except Becerra wasn't there, he was connecting via video link.

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🇩🇪 Germany preparing for war with Russia... again

Germany must understand the potential of a military conflict with Russia, so it needs to arm itself, the country’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in an interview with ZDF.

“We must reckon with this possibility. And when we reckon with something, we need to prepare ourselves for an unknown danger, whether or not it will come. It is necessary to arm ourselves for this eventuality - this is exactly what we are doing now together with our NATO allies. And this is necessary," he said.

His statement comes just days after the German newspaper Bild published an article speculating about Russia “attacking NATO’s eastern flank,” citing a classified document from the German military. Commenting on the publication, the Bundeswehr later said that it was “considering various scenarios, even if they are extremely unlikely,” which constitutes a daily routine.

Russia has consistently stated that it poses no threat to any NATO member state, but wouldn’t ignore actions that threaten its interests. Moscow has stressed that it remains open to diplomacy, but on an equal basis, and cautions that the West must desist from militarizing Europe.

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Israel proposes Hamas leaders to leave Gaza Strip as part of broader agreement – report

Israel has proposed that senior Hamas leaders leave the Gaza Strip as part of a broader, multi-phase ceasefire agreement, CNN reported, citing two officials familiar with the discussions.

Israeli authorities understand that the proposal is unlikely to be accepted by Hamas, the report said. However, it has been discussed at least twice in the past 30 days - last month in Warsaw by the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, David Barnea, and in January with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Doha, the network reported.

On Monday, Axios reported, citing two Israeli officials, that Israel had offered Hamas a two-month pause in fighting in Gaza in exchange for the release of all remaining hostages.

The deal would include the release of all remaining hostages who are alive and the return of the bodies of the dead in several phases. The first phase would include the release of women, men over 60, and hostages in critical medical condition, officials said. The next phases would be the release of female soldiers, men under the age of 60 who are not soldiers, male Israeli soldiers, and the bodies of hostages.

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French mercenary Alexis Drion, whose name appears in the list provided to us by the SOS Donbass organization of those who were in Kharkov during a Russian missile strike, has said on social media that he is alive.

According to Drion, who has been posting photos from Ukraine with weapons in his hands for several months, he is now in France.

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 Trump called the leaders of Russia and China “very intelligent and powerful men” who want their countries to succeed.

He also compared them to current US President Joe Biden, who Trump believes is "grossly incompetent" and "can't put two sentences together and walk off the stage."

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❗️ Russia does not attack the population or civilian objects, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked whether the explosions in Kiev and Kharkov were a “response” to attacks on Donbass

“Our military does not hit social facilities, residential areas and civilians. This is what fundamentally distinguishes our military from the military of the Kiev regime,” Peskov said.

🇷🇺 Russian T-80BV tank crews wipe out Ukrainian strongholds and dugouts in Kupyansk suburbs

Tank crews of Battlegroup Zapad continuously perform tasks on the front lines and support Russian motorized rifle units by carrying out powerful strikes against the enemy.

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🇷🇺🇪🇬 Vladimir Putin will participate via video link at the ceremony of pouring concrete into the base of power unit No. 4 at Egypt’s first nuclear power plant, El Dabaa. Sputnik's correspondent reports that everything is ready at the construction site.

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