❗️ Russian President Vladimir Putin's key statements from a message on Defender of the Fatherland Day:

▪️ We will always remember that it was the Soviet people who defended the freedom of our country, the whole Europe and the world;

▪️ Taking into account the combat experience, we will continue to strengthen the Russian armed forces in every possible way and ensure their constant re-equipment and modernization;

▪️ High combat readiness of the army and navy is a guarantee of Russia's security and its free sovereign development;

▪️ Four Tu-160m missile carriers were recently handed over to the Russian armed forces in Kazan

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❗️ Armenia is "suspending" its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said

Russia will support foreign companies placed under state management

Russia's Finance Ministry will address the issue of granting the right to state support to foreign companies that are placed under the management of the Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo), Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said during a meeting convened by President Vladimir Putin.

At the meeting that took place in Russia's Chuvash Republic, the region's leader, Oleg Nikolaev, brought up Baltika, one of the largest Russian beer producers, saying it could not receive state support, as the company remains a foreign company, although it has been placed under Rosimushchestvo's management.

"I get it, absolutely right. Because the companies are managed by the Russian Federation. In fact, Rosimushchestvo manages and hired managers, so it is fair to raise the question. Of course, we will make the necessary decisions in this part so that such companies, which are managed by Russia, can receive support on a par with Russian enterprises," Siluanov said.

Putin agreed, saying, "For sure, they [the companies] should be given support."

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US Pentagon has interest in free speech online no more

The US security state was the staunchest supporter of free speech online while they fomented discontent around the globe, but the mood changed once it turned against them, syndicated columnist and political cartoonist Ted Rall told Radio Sputnik.

“There are outfits like Freedom House that were co-founded by the CIA, these sort-of NGOs [Non-Government Organizations] that have helped precipitate color revolutions, among other things, overseas, always in the interests of the US empire, and they promoted this kind of [free speech online] ideology a lot,” Rall explained.

Rall compared it to the US support of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan in the 1980s “some of which became radical Islamist groups like Al-Qaeda*.”

The censorship of Hunter Biden’s infamous “laptop from hell” also showed how media outlets assist the government in their censorship campaigns.

“I would be very interested in knowing what percentage of American voters still believe that the laptop isn't real,” Rall said of the FBI disinformation campaign against the laptop. “There's been no evidence whatsoever that it's even been modified or edited in any way. But these narratives, they catch on and they stick.”

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*Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization banned in Russia and other states.

The roots of Western hysteria about alleged Russian space weapon lies in Western media

The story exploded because “the media” will print anything it is told about Russia, Mark Sleboa, a foreign relations and security expert told Sputnik’s Fault Lines.

“Russia's the gift that keeps on giving, propaganda-wise. Because you can accuse Russia of anything, no matter what you said about them [before], about shovels, and microchips or washing machines. And, generally, people will believe it. Or at least the media will print it,” he explained, referring to previous Western propaganda claims that Russian soldiers were fighting armed only with shovels and that their missiles used microchips from stolen Ukrainian washing machines.

Last week US Rep. and House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-OH) released a document cryptic warning that called on US President Joe Biden to declassify information on a “serious national security threat.”

US media outlets began reporting that the mysterious threat was a Russian program to put nuclear weapons in space, an accusation vehemently denied by Russia.

“The details aren’t important as much as the scaremongering factor,” Sleboda continued. “It’s the same thing with this continual octogenarian fantasy about linking Trump and Russia… all the powers of the US investigative bodies were unable to prove any connection… but that doesn’t stop an enormous number of the American people from believing in it because they want to.”

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Czech Republic will contribute to EU mission in Red Sea with 2 soldiers

The Czech armed forces said on Thursday it would send two military personnel to take part in the EU's naval mission to secure shipping in the Red Sea amid ongoing attacks by Yemen's Houthis on civilian vessels.

"In early March, we will send two of our military personnel to participate in the EU Aspides naval mission," the Czech army said in a statement on Telegram.

The army added that its delegates would work at the headquarters of the operation in the Greek city of Larissa.

Sweden said earlier that it would send four servicemen to participate in the operation, while Denmark said it would send only one. Participants in the mission will not strike Houthi positions in Yemen, as the operation will be purely defensive, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said earlier in February.

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Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu hands state awards to military personnel at Joint Group of Forces

“Russian Defense Minister, General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, at the headquarters of the Joint Group of Forces, handed state awards to military personnel who distinguished themselves in performing combat missions,” the ministry said.

The Russian Armed Forces have to work hard to achieve victory, Shoigu said while handing awards.

“Dear friends and colleagues! I sincerely congratulate you on these awards. I am sure the awards will not be the last ones. We have a lot of work ahead. You fight with dignity, and for this you were awarded state decorations. The country has duly appreciated your... military service. Only forward, only to victory!” Shoigu stated.

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Russian soldiers dodge Ukrainian drone

A group of Russian fighters on a buggy noticed a kamikaze drone flying towards them. The driver sped up and maneuvered. Then an explosion was heard next to the car, and thanks to the driver's skill, the fighters escaped with only a slight concussion.

Soon two more drones were shot down with small arms fire nearby. After the flight of the Ukrainian forces, Ukrainian drones began to appear frequently in Avdeyevka, said a Russian soldier with the code name "Vesna".

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▪️President Putin's message on Defender of the Fatherland Day

▪️NATO troops are already fighting in Ukraine – Sputnik correspondent in Donbass explains why it is so

▪️How Western media created hysteria about alleged Russian space weapon

More stories:

▪️What is Czech Republic’s contribution to the Red Sea mission?

▪️Pentagon is no longer interested in free speech online

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Tank Major Ivan Dodosov suggested a plan to break the enemy's defense near Popasnaya in the Lugansk People's Republic. Under his command a tank crew, facing an unequal battle, destroyed seven enemy tanks and two more were taken as trophies. Dodosov returned victorious with the captured tanks to his unit. For this feat, the president of Russia awarded him the hero's gold star.

On Defender of the Fatherland Day, director general of Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group, Dmitry Kiselev talks about the hero of the special military operation.

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Russian troops destroyed a US-made M1150 Assault Breacher engineering armored vehicle that had been "secretly" transferred to Kiev by the US in quantities of several units, Forbes columnist David Axe reported, calling the loss "particularly painful" for Ukrainian forces.

Axe was referring to a video shot by a Russian drone and posted online that shows the crew throwing their "rare" M1150, after which the armored vehicle is hit, "presumably severely damaging if not destroying it."

According to Axe, the Assault Breacher is one of the safest and most versatile defense-breaking machines in the world. "It's the first confirmed loss of a Ukrainian Assault Breacher," he said.

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Alexander Potapov is an officer of the Russian Guard's Special Forces “Vityaz”. In the summer of 2022, he saved two civilians during shelling of the city of Izyum by Ukrainian militants. Alexander died. He was posthumously awarded the noscript of Hero of Russia by presidential decree.

On Defender of the Fatherland Day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova talks about the hero of the special military operation.

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❗️At about 10:20 a.m. Moscow time, an attempt of the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack using an airplane-type drone against objects on the Russian territory was stopped, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

Air defense systems destroyed two drones over the Kursk region.

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Why did Polish farmer use pro-Putin slogan during protests?

The fact that slogans calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to "put things in order" with Kiev, Brussels and Warsaw can be heard at Polish farmers' protests reflects the "extreme fatigue" of ordinary Poles with the Ukraine aid issue, Mateusz Piskorski, a political observer and columnist for the Mysl Polska (Polish Thought) newspaper, told Sputnik.

"People are simply tired of what state media and politicians say on the matter, of all these slogans related to [Poland’s] unconditional support for Ukraine,” Piskorski said. “All those who protest are trying to stress that they are using slogans that run counter to Warsaw’s political line and that of state-run media," he added.

Polish farmers are well aware that what their country is now receiving as part of the imports from Ukraine can hardly be defined as Ukrainian products. They know that these products belong mainly to Western corporations, which control practically the entire agro-industrial sector of Ukraine, the expert concluded.

Earlier this week, tractors flying Polish flags blocked highways and major intersections at the country's border crossings with Ukraine as part of protracted protests in which farmers spilled Ukrainian grain on the road to protest unchecked Ukrainian food imports. Similar protests have taken place in Germany, Italy and France.

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According to Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, the vast majority of the new sanctions were developed against the Russian defense industry to fill gaps in previously imposed restrictions.

She added that the package would include "hundreds and hundreds" of measures.

One of them is closing beaches:

US sanctions have closed European beaches to Russians, Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said, threatening that Russia's middle class "will no longer be able to visit beaches in Europe."

The West launched a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Russia after it launched its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. But these measures haven't stopped Russia's economic growth. Putin has repeatedly stressed that Western sanctions against Russia have failed.

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Vladimir Putin lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Defender of the Fatherland Day

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The 13th package of EU sanctions against Russia included 194 individuals and legal entities, sanctions have now been imposed on more than 2,000 individuals, the EU Council said in a statement.

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"It's a mess, I mean all created by Joe Biden and his blundering in foreign relations"

Sen. Tommy Tuberville criticized Biden's foreign policy at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), saying that Donald Trump will end the Ukraine conflict as soon as he "gets in."

“Donald Trump will stop it when he first gets in. He knows there’s no winning for Ukraine. He can work a deal with Putin,” he said.

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Senior Lieutenant Nur-Magomed Gadzhi-Magomedov became the first participant in Russia's special operation to be posthumously awarded the noscript of Hero of Russia. He was 25 years old.

On Defender of the Fatherland Day, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT and Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group, talks about the hero of the special military operation.

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Two years of anti-Russian sanctions in numbers

The EU introduced a 13th package of sanctions that targeted Russia's military-industrial complex today after the US announced additional sanctions earlier this week.

Since 2022, Russia has withstood over 15,000 sanctions in various sectors. The vigorous restrictions cut Russian banks off from international payment systems, restrict tech imports, and have major corporations abandon the Russian market.

Check out Sputnik’s infographics to see an illustrated layout of the number and origin of sanctions Russia has withstood in the past two years.

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Biden says he will announce more than 500 new sanctions against Russia, including export restrictions on nearly 100 entities.

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