Russian air defense systems destroyed one Ukrainian drone over the territory of the Belgorod region, and three drones were intercepted over the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The pace of Russian economy's growth

Russian President Vladimir Putin noted in his 2024 address to the Federal Assembly that in 2023 Russia's economy was growing at a rate higher than the global economy, outperforming not only the leading countries of the EU, but also all the G7 states.

According to the President, a colossal role in this was played by the fundamental margin of safety, which was made over the past decades, and the Russian economy itself has become more complex, technological, and therefore much more sustainable.

To find out more details about the growth rates shown by the Russian economy in the last 10 years, see Sputnik's infographic.

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📹 Su-25 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed the stronghold of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Avdeyevka region.

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▪️Russia is ready to hand over to Ukraine the bodies of PoWs killed in the Il-76 crash in Belgorod region

▪️US arms race against Russia will backfire and lead to self-destruction - expert

▪️White House does not reciprocate Russia’s calls for dialogue on nuclear weapons in space

▪️The US army is spending more money than it's permitted to do by law in their efforts to maintain weapons systems

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▪️Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov arrives in Turkiye to participate in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum

▪️Check out the growth rate of Russian economy which has outperformed both that of the EU and the G7 states.

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Macron's idea to send NATO ground troops to Ukraine 'made him look very foolish' - analyst

"There has long been a certain antagonism between French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the issue of aid to Ukraine has only exacerbated the existing contradictions," Dr. Gregor Spitzen, German political analyst and independent journalist, told Sputnik.

"France's ill-considered initiative to send NATO ground troops to Ukraine made Macron look very foolish. The initiative was not even supported by NATO's main anti-Russian hawks - the United Kingdom and Poland," Spitzen remarked. "Most soldiers in European armies are not eager to take part in modern warfare, where the risk of dying in a missile attack without even seeing the enemy is high," he added.

Spitzen's views were echoed by Gilbert Doctorow, an analyst of international relations and Russian affairs, who believes "the Germans were outraged by Macron's audacity to publish a new initiative that can easily lead to an escalation of the war and to Germany being targeted by Russian missiles."

On the question of whether European countries will avoid further confrontation with Russia after Macron's statement, Doctorow argued that they "will probably continue their confrontation with Russia, but in less risky places," and that if Donald Trump comes to power in the US, "they will have to come to terms with Russia over a new security architecture for the continent."

Macron earlier refused to rule out the deployment of troops to Ukraine, an idea that was rejected by Scholz, who said that "there will be no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there" by European states or NATO members.

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Is Germany preparing strikes against Russia?

Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT and Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group, said she had obtained an audio recording of high-ranking officers of the German Bundeswehr discussing "how they will bomb the Crimean bridge".

The recording lasts 40 minutes, Simonyan writes. The German officers also mention colleagues from the United States and Britain, "discussing that these people have been directly involved in the conflict for a long time".

"What does this mean? Isn't it time for Russia to actively remind Germany of what happened last time when Russian bridges were blown up? I would like to see the answer, as is customary for all requests from your media, by noon today," Simonyan wrote on her Telegram channel.

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European nations fear Russian economic retaliation for assets’ confiscation - report

France, Germany and the European Central Bank executives fear that using Russian assets to fund Ukraine will trigger Russia to target European assets on its territory, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.

Another concern is that such a move could undermine trust in Western currencies with nations of the Global South deciding to avoid dealing with the European financial system.

Earlier, Russian officials, including Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, vowed a harsh response if Russian assets frozen abroad were somehow used.

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Scholz refuses to supply Taurus due to lack of trust in Ukraine - report

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's refusal to supply long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine is linked to his mistrust of the Kiev regime. This opinion was expressed by Fabian Hoffman, an expert at the University of Oslo, in the material of the news portal Focus-online.

"The refusal to supply cannot be explained by the technical characteristics of the Taurus cruise missiles and the peculiarities of their operation. The real problem lies in the Chancellor's mistrust of Ukraine. ... In fact, Scholz fears that the Ukrainians will use Taurus missiles not only on Ukrainian territory but also against targets in Russia," despite Kiev's repeated attempts to convince its (alleged) Western allies of the absence of such intentions.

Earlier, speaking at a conference organised by the DPA agency, Scholz opposed supplying Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, arguing that refusing them would risk his country being drawn into the conflict. The chancellor said he was "very annoyed" by the "lack of balance" between what Kiev really needed and the discussions about Taurus.

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France will not send its troops to Ukraine to conduct military operations, the French will not die for Ukraine, said the foreign minister of the republic.

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Biden cannot hold a conversation without teleprompter cards

Commenting on Biden's ability, former US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said

"He would read from the cards... And if you go off the cards, he can't go on without them."

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It is necessary to send a request to the Bundestag to investigate the information about the recording of German officers discussing plans to attack the Crimean bridge, said the Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin.

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📹 🪖 A Russian sniper from a central group of troops has neutralized a number of Ukrainian servicemen in the Avdeyevka region who attempted to rotate during the night.

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Throwback to 2001: Senator J. Biden compares Putin to Peter the Great

"I'm almost amazed at how far Putin seems to have come in throwing his lot in with the West... I don't think anyone since Peter the Great has made such a significant, at least initial, move," Ol' Joe said.

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US President Joe Biden is trailing former leader Donald Trump in all seven swing states that are likely to decide the outcome of the upcoming presidential election, according to the results of a poll published by Bloomberg.

According to the poll, nearly twice as many voters say Biden, 81, is too old compared to Trump, 77.

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The German Ministry of Defense refused to comment on Sputnik's request for answers regarding the recording of a conversation between the German military on the attack on the Crimean bridge.

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