Russia's FM Sergey Lavrov arrived in Rio de Janeiro for the meeting of G20 foreign ministers.

He is expected to meet with ministers from Mexico, South Africa, Bolivia, Brazil and possibly Turkiye.

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Trident II and the woes of Britain's nuclear deterrent

The illustrious British Royal Navy has once again demonstrated its standards of excellence by messing up a submarine nuclear missile launch test last month.

While HMS Vanguard did manage to launch the Trident II intercontinental ballistic missile (equipped with a dummy warhead) into the air, the ICBM’s first stage boosters apparently failed to ignite and the missile promptly crashed into the sea right next to the sub.

This cock-up did not deter the UK Defense Ministry from proclaiming that the British nuclear deterrent remains “effective,” with the launch failure simply being attributed to an “anomaly.”

Trident II ballistic missile: What can it do?

The UGM-133 Trident II is a submarine-launched ballistic missile made by famous US defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
These three-stage solid-fuel missiles, which can carry several nuclear warheads and have an operational range of about 12,000 kilometers, serve as integral parts of both the US and the UK nuclear arsenals.

The February 2024 mishap was not the only incident to occur during UK tests involving Trident II missiles. In 2016, a malfunction during a Trident II launch off the coast of Florida caused the missile to fly in the direction opposite to where it was supposed to go in accordance to the Royal Navy’s plan.

As one British media outlet helpfully pointed out, the UK has not performed a successful nuclear missile launch since 2012.

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The Polish Foreign Ministry is concerned that protesting farmers have started using anti-Ukrainian slogans and phrases "glorifying Putin."

The ministry believes that "actions of this type put Poland in a bad light" and allegedly compromise the organizers of the protest.

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Cybersport is making waves in Russia! Vladimir Putin launches Games of the Future

What are the Games of the Future?

At their core, the games reflect the ‘phygital’ concept, which is a combination of traditional sports, digital sports and technologies.

The word ‘phygital’ itself is an abbreviation that merges the words ‘physical’ and ‘digital’. This means that phygital games bring together both classic and digital sports, assessing the participants in both realms.

Which disciplines are included?

Games of the Future in Russia's Kazan will have athletes compete in 21 innovative disciplines. Eleven of these fall under the ‘phygital’ category. This is why the organizers divided the disciplines into five separate challenges (categories).

▪️“Sports” challenge includes phygital-football, phygital-basketball, phygital-hockey, phygital-martial arts, phygital-racing, phygital-skateboarding, and phygital-BMX.

▪️“Tactical” challenges include CS2 + laser tag, Warface + laser tag, Standoff 2 + laser tag.

▪️“Battle” challenges merge phygital MOBA, Dota 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and Battle Tanks Simulator.

▪️“Speedrun” challenges pit competitors against one another in a classic speedrun video game, as well as a real-world obstacle course.

▪️“Technical” challenges will see athletes compete using drones and robots, controlled in a dance simulator. This challenge also involves virtual reality (VR) games, cybathletics and sports programing.

2,000 top-tier athletes and cyber sport professionals are to compete in the games.

The total prize fund stands at $10 million.

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It destroys traditional families and perpetuates a particular ideology that is really destructive to society, Larry Johnson, retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official, on the most devastating impact of the Western-organized Maidan coup on Ukraine.

"This marriage between this Jewish president and the neo-Nazis, people who actively, enthusiastically embrace Nazi symbology and Nazi ideals, it's just, it's shocking. So, and, you know, sort of underlying all of this, it's part of the Western push," he said.

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What’s behind Israel’s push to buy domestically made assault rifles?

Revamping domestic manufacturing is one of the ways in which Israel is trying to ensure that its supply of light weapons remains uninterrupted, Mehran Kamrava, a professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, told Sputnik.

He recalled that historically, Israel has relied on the US to provide its weaponry and that all weapon sales in America are subject to congressional approval. Israel does not want to go through that process although it has robust support in the US, Kamrava said.

The pundit cited the Republican Party’s opposition to “continued military support for Ukraine and the fact that the Biden administration has at times had a rather difficult job getting its weapon request for Ukraine through Congress.”

The Israeli Defense Ministry earlier announced plans to buy “tens of thousands” of assault rifles from the AR-15 family, similar to the M4 carbine, from local companies, such as Israel Weapon Industries and EMTAN Karmiel.

“The defense leadership already understands that the State of Israel cannot afford to depend on others in terms of armaments,” Retired Israeli Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi pointed out, referring to the experience of the October 7 Hamas attack and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

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Persecution of Assange shows 'totalitarian mood' is prevalent in West – ex-UN expert

"The persecution of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden has had a significant 'chilling effect'," Alfred de Zayas, former UN independent expert on international order, told Sputnik.

"Potential whistleblowers have good reason to fear that their careers, freedom, even their lives are at risk. This is a form of state terrorism – a manifestation of totalitarianism," argued the ex-UN expert.

Assange, who published classified data revealing US apparent war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq provided to him by Chelsea (born Bradley) Manning in 2010, is facing up to 175 years in prison if extradited to the US. Edward Snowden is facing up to 30 years in US prison for unveiling a US intelligence program, codenamed Prism, to collect vast amounts of data on Americans, foreign citizens, and Washington's allies alike.

Western elites are also "canceling" journalists and "silencing" inconvenient truths. Sy Hersh's Nord Stream bombshell has been completely ignored by the West. US blogger Gonzalo Lira, a Kiev regime critic, was abandoned by Team Biden and died in Ukrainian custody. US journalist Tucker Carlson came under tough criticism from US politicians and pundits and was even accused of "treason" over his interview with Russian President Putin.

"This is additional proof of the undemocratic, totalitarian mood prevalent in the West," stressed de Zayas.

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WATCH NOW: Vladimir Putin's speech at the opening of the "Games of the Future" in the Russian city of Kazan

Follow the live stream in our telegram channel!

📹 Footage of Vladimir Putin's arrival at the opening of the "Games of the Future" in the Russian city of Kazan

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They tried to create the myth that Russia was trying to attack Ukraine, Larry Johnson, retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official, delved into the West's strategy on Ukraine right after the Maidan coup.

"After 2014 Ukraine, even though it was not a formal member of NATO, was regularly featured in these joint annual exercises and that meant that Ukraine then became a proxy for a Cold War. Became a proxy for the West to fight against Russia. And I think that's why they were slowly building up Ukraine," he explained.

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Don’t shoot the messenger: How West's manhunt for Julian Assange continues

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is facing up to 175 years in prison if extradited to the US.

🔻In July and October 2010 WikiLeaks released documents relating to the US' apparent war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

🔻August 2010. Sweden issued an arrest warrant for Assange over alleged sexual offenses against two women. Assange denied wrongdoing and moved to the UK.

🔻December 2010. The WikiLeaks founder surrendered to UK police and was released on bail.

🔻February 2011. A British court ruled Assange should be extradited to Sweden.

🔻June 2012. Assange hid in the Ecuadorian Embassy over fears he would be eventually extradited to the US. The British police vowed to arrest Assange for breaching bail. Ecuador President Rafael Correa granted him asylum in August 2012.

🔻February 2016. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated his deprivation of liberty was arbitrary and recommended his immediate release.

🔻April 2017. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions stated Assange arrest is priority for the US.

🔻November 2018. Existence of US criminal case against Assange was revealed.

🔻April 2019. Ecuador President Lenin Moreno stripped Assange of asylum. British police detained the WikiLeaks founder.

🔻May 2019. The US government indicted Assange on espionage charges.

🔻November 2019. Sweden dropped investigation into Assange's alleged sexual offenses.

🔻January 2021. A British court ruled Assange cannot be extradited to the US. UK High Court ruled to the contrary in December 2021.

🔻June 2022. UK government ordered Assange's extradition to US, his legal team appealed.

🔻February 2024. London's High Court to seal Assange's fate on extradition to the US.

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Vladimir Putin's gave a speech at the opening of the "Games of the Future" in the Russian city of Kazan

"Our country has always been one of the world's leading sports powers, the homeland of great athletes, victories, and records. We have always promoted sport and its high humanistic values. The Games of the Future are our gift to the global sports community", Vladimir Putin said.

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