Slovakia interested in good relations with Russia, Fico declared

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said in an interview that Slovakia should have normal relations with Russia and promised to take steps in this direction.

"As head of government, I want to say: yes, I will start taking steps to standardize relations with Russia," Fico said in an interview with the Teraz news agency.

Earlier, Fico said that he considers a dialogue between Bratislava and Moscow necessary and rejects the idea that it is necessary to pretend that Russia does not exist because of the conflict in Ukraine.

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Today marks the 80th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) from the Nazi blockade that lasted almost 900 days.

The blockade of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) was carried out by German troops from September 8, 1941, to January 27, 1944, in order to break the resistance of the city's defenders and seize it. However, the German invaders were confronted with the military might of the Soviet Army and the steadfastness of the citizens of Leningrad.

After the interruption of navigation routes, the road across the Ladoga Lake was the only military and strategic road connecting the besieged Leningrad with the country, along which supplies were delivered. For this reason it was called "the Road of Life".

The siege of Leningrad became the bloodiest blockade in the history of mankind: more than 641,000 inhabitants died, only 3% of them from bombing and shelling, the rest perished from starvation.

The lifting of the blockade and the liberation of the people became possible thanks to the heroic actions of Soviet soldiers who bravely repelled the Nazi invaders.

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Ukraine flip-flopping: Kiev admitted that on the day of the Il-76 crash, 65 Ukrainian soldiers were to be exchanged

On the day of the crash of the Il-76, 65 Ukrainian military personnel, whose names were previously published by Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT and Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group, were actually supposed to be exchanged, Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters confirmed.

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Putin also visited the Piskarevskoye cemetery. In one of the mass graves lies his brother Victor, who died during the Siege of Leningrad in the winter of 1942.

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❗️In the Donetsk region, the Russian Army repelled two attacks by Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian losses amounted to 250 soldiers eliminated and wounded.

🇷🇺🪖 More statements from Russian MoD briefing on progress of special military op in Ukraine:

▪️In the Kupyansk region, the Russian Army repelled five attacks by Ukraine troops. Ukrainian losses amounted to 25 soldiers.

▪️In the Krasny Liman region, Russian forces repelled two attacks by Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian losses amounted to 100 soldiers.

▪️The Russian Army hit the S-300 air defense system in the Cherkasy region, as well as fuel warehouses and aviation weapons in the Kirovograd and Dnepropetrovsk regions.

▪️In the South Donetsk region, four attacks by Ukrainian troops were repelled near Priyutnoye, strikes were carried out against the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Makarovka. Ukrainian losses amounted to 115 military personnel and two self-propelled guns "Akatsia".

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🇧🇫 🇷🇺 Grain to Burkina Faso is "the expression of Russia's strong and active solidarity with Africa," Burkinabe Minister of Foreign Affairs says

"Like most countries around the world, we are also a consumer of wheat. And Russia is a country that understands the situation [...]. So this gesture comes as a relief to our needs in terms of grain," Burkinabe Minister of Foreign Affairs Karamoko Jean Marie Traore told Sputnik Africa.

The minister praised all the promises kept by Vladimir Putin at the time of withdrawal from the grain deal "in terms of quantity, in terms of delivery deadline, in terms of beneficiaries."

"We did not buy this wheat, it was given to us. So, it is really an act of recognition towards the government, the Russian people and the President of Russia," he indicated.

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Vladimir Putin laid a wreath at the Motherland monument, visiting the Piskarevskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg in honor of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad.

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As today marks the 80th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade, the German Foreign Ministry said that the country takes full responsibility for the crimes of Wehrmacht troops.

"Germany is committed to ensuring that the memory of the atrocities of German war crimes in the Second World War is maintained and expressly acknowledges its historical responsibility for the crimes committed in Leningrad by the German Wehrmacht."

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Joe Biden decides to hit the US' southern states

The US president announced a suspension of LNG export licenses to study the impact of supplies on US energy security.

The response from the southern states was not long in coming:

“This reckless decision is a gut punch to the hard-working men and women in the energy industry. It also could cause some countries to rely upon dirty coal as opposed to cleaner burning natural gas,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said.

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❗️Latest statements by Vladimir Putin at the opening of a memorial for the victims of the Nazi genocide:

▪️The tragedies of Leningraders during the siege and prisoners of Nazi concentration camps will remain evidence of the monstrous essence of Nazism;

▪️The crimes of the Nazis have no statute of limitations, they were not committed on the battlefields, but were punitive actions;

▪️Nazis and their satellites during the Great Patriotic War did not fight against the regime or ideology, their goal was the resources and wealth of the USSR;

▪️The blockade of Leningrad was unprecedented in cruelty and cynicism;

▪️Investigations will be conducted into all crimes committed by the Nazis during the Second World War against citizens of the USSR;

▪️The Kiev regime continues to kill civilians; in European countries, Russophobia is promoted as official policy;

▪️Russia will do everything to eradicate neo-Nazism.

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