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

▪️Persecution of Assange shows 'totalitarian mood' is prevalent in West

▪️Ukraine’s bloody Maidan coup: See how it started

▪️Battle for Donbass: What comes next?

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

▪️Trident II and the woes of Britain's nuclear deterrent

▪️Israel’s economic downturn ‘ultimately direct or indirect implication’ of Gaza war

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

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US nuclear missiles ‘do not fly,’ pundit says in the wake of a failed Trident II launch

The Trident II missile that failed to launch as intended from a British Royal Navy submarine last month was actually not made in the UK but in the US, a country that has not made “a single new nuclear warhead since 1991,” says Alexei Leonkov, military analyst and editor of Arsenal Otechestva (Arsenal of the Fatherland) media outlet.

“Since then, the maintenance of both seaborne and silo-based missiles was conducted more on paper than in reality,” he claims. “And here is the expected result – the American missiles do not fly.”

According to Leonkov, the Trident II missiles in the UK arsenal also lack the new warheads that were supposed to be developed by a US laboratory, and the current state of the old Trident II warheads may not be as good as advertised.

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The State Department claims that Putin's gift to Kim Jong-un violates UN Security Council sanctions.

UN Security Council resolutions require all member states to ban the supply of vehicles and luxury goods to the DPRK, the head of the US State Department's press office, Matthew Miller, said.

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Ukrainian military doubts that their retreat from Avdeyevka was even planned, the Washington Post reports

"If the retreat from the city was even planned at all... it was planned very badly,” a commander of one of the platoons of the Ukrainian 53rd brigade told the newspaper, adding that the surrender of Avdeyevka "broke the boys a little bit psychologically... A lot of guided aerial bombs, a lot of aviation. Honestly speaking, most people are in shock by all of this."

He noted that the situation at the positions where his platoon withdrew is also "very difficult."

"The situation was not saved systematically, but by randomly throwing in units,” one soldier said. "They did not unlock the pincers that formed around Avdeyevka in time … and it gave the enemy an opportunity to form a bridgehead."

Ukrainian military was badly exhausted "after serving without rotations for two years", sometimes even received orders, for example, to "take positions that were already either lost or destroyed," the newspaper notes.

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The International Monetary Fund does not confirm that it is ready to allocate a new tranche of aid to Ukraine, as it is still reviewing the financing program, a representative of the fund told Sputnik.

Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Ukraine is allegedly close to reaching an agreement with the IMF to receive $900m.

'Germany is doomed': bleak future of EU's biggest economy

Germany was able to recover after two world wars but unlikely to recover from Olaf Scholz’s energy policies.

High energy costs incurred by Berlin’s shift to renewable power sources along with the anti-Russian sanctions policy will likely result in further decline of Germany’s industry and “living standards,” says Dr. Gunnar Beck, a member of the European Parliament for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

“We already see the German industry is moving production to Eastern Europe and America. This trend will continue. And the result can only be a further erosion of living standards in Germany. Rising unemployment, inflation will continue to be high. I think Germany will be caught in the spiral of stagflation for many years to come,” he predicts.

“I would even go so far as to say the following. Yes, the German economy and Germany as a country managed to recover from two world wars. My own estimate is that Germany is very unlikely to recover from the policies of this government, and also the Merkel government, as a result of the combined effect of mass migration and a totally, totally ludicrous and unrealistic energy policy combined with various other follies imposed on Germany by the European Commission, and of course reinforced by the economic effects of the Ukraine conflict,” Dr. Beck remarks.

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US Congressman Andrew Ogles suggested to "kill all" Palestinian children

"I think we should kill them all, if that makes you feel better," stated Ogles.

That's how he responded to a journalist's question about why American taxpayers' money is being spent on killing Palestinian children.

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Biden trains daily with a physiotherapist in order not to fall down, Daily Mail reports, citing sources.

The publication gives details of the US president's routine: waking up at 7 a.m., at this time in the bedroom only Biden and his hungry cat, which acts as an alarm clock (where this information comes from, is not specified); further 45 minutes of exercise with a physiotherapist, aimed at maintaining balance and improving Biden's gait.

Biden’s workday begins at 10 a.m. with a briefing with the national security team and ends at 5 p.m., during which time Biden calls his family and sometimes lawmakers. He usually has a soup and a salad for lunch, pasta for dinner, and ice cream - always.

Biden reportedly spends much of his presidential term at country and beach residences. During the 3 years of his presidency, Biden spent 254 days in Delaware, while Trump spent 259 days in New Jersey and Florida. But if time spent in official residences and other unofficial and semi-official travel is added in, Biden spent 408 days outside the White House, while Trump spent 291, the Wall Street Journal counted.

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❗️ Russian air defense destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Klintsovsky district of the Bryansk region, governor Bogomaz said, adding there were no casualties or damage