The Russian intelligence received information about Ukraine’s possible attempts to infiltrate the Russian Belgorod and Kursk regions two weeks ago, the Rossiya 1 broadcaster reported.

After Russia received information about potential attacks, President Vladimir Putin instructed to replace connoscripts in border areas with contract soldiers and special forces, according to the broadcaster.

Ukrainian units were ambushed during their attempt to enter the Belgorod and Kursk regions, Rossiya 1 reporter Pavel Zarubin said.

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US President Joe Biden once again insulted Russian President Vladimir Putin, this time trying to convince Congress to pass a stalled bill with new aid to Ukraine.

"I'm sure the vast majority -- I'm sorry to say this -- but I think the majority of members of Congress are ready to do their part. And I continue to urge everyone in this room to stand up to Vladimir Putin. He is a thug," Biden said.

Russia has previously responded to such statements with the adage "he who calls names is called names."

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🇷🇺🗳 "What an honor": Boxer Kevin Johnson on his first vote in the Russian presidential election

🥊 The Russian-American athlete, who was granted the Russian citizenship in January, told Sputnik Africa that the voting process was "pretty easy."

"The voting was pretty easy. You know, you get your paper, you give [them] your passport, you go into your booth, you fill out the ballot for who you want to select, and you drop it in the box," Johnson said.

Furthermore, the overall experience was also excellent.

"Everything, from the moment I touched down in Samara [a city where Johnson voted], everything was 15 stars. How can you go past seven stars? You got to come witness this. It's not just a normal day," he added.

Lastly, talking about the opportunity to vote electronically, Johnson reckoned that the virtual ballots can encourage young people to "get out and vote."

"It supports young people to get out and vote. If you take a young person's schedule between the hours of 9 to 5, that's their busiest time of the day but if they could just take 20 minutes out and do it virtually, not even 25 minutes out and do it virtually, that's everything," the boxer concluded.

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🇷🇺 Russian presidential elections: Insights from the first day of voting

🗳 The first day of voting in the Russian presidential elections has concluded, marking significant participation across the regions. Here’s a detailed roundup of key points from the day:

🔹 Overall Voter Turnout: As of 22:00 Moscow time, voter participation has exceeded 36%.

🔹 Participation by Region: Early voting saw over 2 million ballots cast in new regions, including the Donetsk (1,171,849 voters) and Lugansk People's Republics (326,379 voters), Zaporozhye (242,046 voters), and Kherson regions (280,566 voters).

🔹 Online Voting: Russian voters have been harvesting the fruits of Russian technological progress with over 1.7 million people engaging in online voting, showcasing a significant digital turnout.

🔹 Military Voting: Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu participated in early voting alongside servicemen in the Southern Military District, with the army concluding its early voting process by March 14.

🌏 International Observations:

🔸 Dr. Marco Marsili underscored efforts to accommodate all voters, including those unable to visit polling stations, through home and hospital visits.

🔸 Ezekiel Kanagi Mutes from Kenya praised the Russian electronic voting system for its convenience compared to other countries.

🔸 Christian Roll from France expressed his impression of greater democratic participation in Russia compared to France, noting the positive atmosphere at polling centers.

🔸 Andrea Lucidi from Italy reported observing no violations, indicating a smooth election process in Lugansk.

🔸 Mathias Faravelli from Uruguay commended the organization of the electoral process in Zaporozhye.

🔸 Alex Muigai Njuguna from Kenya supervised the election in Perm, Siberia, and was satisfied with the smooth voting process.

🔸 Jesus Faria Tortosa of Venezuela spoke of the election as a battle between truth and lies, criticizing the West's influence.

🔸 Gelase Daniel Ndabirabe of Burundi was impressed by the election process and the security of E-voting, calling it a great success.

💠 Foreign Ministry Statement:

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova addressed challenges faced by Russian voters abroad due to actions by "unfriendly countries." Despite reduced polling stations internationally, efforts to disrupt the voting process were not successful, she said.

“But in terms of the number of [polling] stations, there are indeed significantly less this time. For one simple reason: these are precisely the actions of those very unfriendly regimes that are doing everything in order to prevent, disrupt, intimidate our citizens, and exert political pressure but they see no success,” Zakharova emphasized.

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Russian air defenses destroyed two Ukrainian drones over the Kursk region, the local authorities reported.

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Russian air defenses have shot down a third Ukrainian drone over the Kursk region tonight, Governor Roman Starovoit said.

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Patriot missile systems too complex and expensive to be sent to Ukraine without US chaperones - ex-DoD analyst

The US government may be lying, “by omission and also directly,” while claiming that no US personnel were sent to Ukraine to maintain and operate Patriot complex weapon systems provided to Kiev by Washington, says retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, a former analyst for the US Department of Defense.

“Given the vulnerability and the expense and the limited number of these systems, I find it difficult to believe that the US contractors and US operators are not involved and monitoring day-to-day activities in each of these areas of operation,” she notes. “Maintenance of these systems requires over a year of training, and I expect major maintenance is being monitored and done by US contractors and servicemen.”

Noting that the Patriot missile systems that were supplied to Kiev were provided by Germany and the US, along with “some missiles and parts from the Netherlands,” Kwiatkowsky argues that “contracted US support connected directly to those countries may also be in the country,” thus “providing deniability for the Pentagon.”

She also suggests that, given the cost of the Patriot systems and missiles, and “the extensive training required for all aspects of this expensive system, the predictions last year of these systems being largely a political statement of support rather than a significant system of air defense for Ukrainian cities, seems to be valid.”

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US Democrats signal disagreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but will change follow?

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) engaged in sharp criticism of Netanyahu during a speech on Thursday, which former US defense department security analyst Michael Maloof said is a signal of President Joe Biden’s displeasure over the Israeli prime minister.

“I think it's a sign that policy is definitely changing not only for this administration, but also of the flavor of dislike of what is going on over there in the United States Congress,” said Maloof. “If Schumer comes out – being Jewish, as he says, and a major supporter of Israel – if he's laying that gauntlet down, I think that is a signal.”

The Biden administration may prefer someone more moderate in tone like Benny Gantz to lead the country, according to Maloof, as Biden bleeds support from younger voters and Arab Americans. But he said the US president would need to be willing to consider withholding military aid to Israel to succeed in changing the country’s policy

“If he [Schumer] can be successful in cutting off the funding, that's going to be the key from the congressional standpoint, [and] then the administration doesn't have to take the hit for it,” he said. “But something's got to be done and, as we approach the elections even closer, I think that's why you're seeing Schumer speaking out now.”

“We see overkill in a dramatic way, in the way that they have absolutely leveled and carpet-bombed Gaza,” concluded the analyst.

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Effort to ban TikTok shows bipartisan US fear of China, influence of Zionist lobby?

The last several years have seen increasing debate throughout the Western world over the role of social media. Now Washington’s move to ban or force the sale of the video sharing app TikTok demonstrates the fragility of modern US imperialism, according to author and historian Gerald Horne.

“It reflects the hysteria about the People's Republic of China and its growing role in the political economy of planet Earth,” said Horne on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program Friday. “It also represents the fact that the United States is finding it difficult to compete with China. And so, therefore, it's going to basically try to kneecap China.”

Horne noted that the effort against TikTok undermines US mantras of free expression and free competition. The author also responded to speculation about the role of the Zionist lobby in pushing for the app to be banned. In recent days leaked audio of Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt reemerged revealing Greenblatt’s concern over pro-Palestine content on TikTok, which is popular with young Americans.

Horne acknowledged the connection but claimed the controversy signals something much broader.

“By seeking to crack down on TikTok, Washington is looking at future confrontations with China, future confrontations with regard to who is in ultimate control of the means of communication,” said the professor.

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A Ukrainian kamikaze drone attacked a car in the village of Glotovo in the Belgorod region. As a result of the explosion the car caught fire and five people were injured, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

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IDF kills at least 20 Palestinians waiting for aid, says Gaza Health Ministry

According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 20 people were killed by Israeli forces while waiting to receive aid. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have called the reports “erroneous” and claimed that the Palestinians opened fire on their own people, adding that some civilians were run over by aid trucks. The attack left more than 150 people injured and came just hours after eight people were killed in an airstrike at the al-Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

But the Ministry of Health wrote on social media that what happened at the “Kuwaiti roundabout points to hidden intentions of the occupation to commit a new, horrible massacre.”

Gaza officials said the attack occurred at the Kuwait roundabout where a crowd had gathered to receive aid. Three people who spoke to a Washington, DC journal said they saw an Israeli helicopter and drones randomly firing on Palestinians who had gathered to receive aid. The witnesses also said they saw armed Palestinian officers as well, but added that they were some distance away. They said the officers had fired their weapons into the air to control the crowds.

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Before the liberation of Mariupol by Russian forces, Western companies commissioned a drug trial for rheumatoid arthritis at Mariupol Hospital No. 7's psychiatric ward, exposing patients to significant risks without their full awareness of the dangers. An experimental drug dubbed SB4 aimed to suppress the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), which is associated with joint inflammation and improper immune function. However, the drug carries a potential side effect of promoting the growth of malignant tumors in the lymphatic and hematologic systems.

Documents discovered during a hospital basement reconstruction revealed that SB4's impaired TNF-α function could lead to the development of various cancers, including lymphomas, leukemia, melanoma, and non-melanoma skin cancer. The risk was notably pronounced in children, adolescents, and young adults under 22 years of age, with some cases proving fatal. Pharmaceutical companies Biogen Idec Denmark Manufacturing ApS, Belgium's Catalent Pharma Solutions and Fisher Clinical Services UK Limited, and Samsung Bioepis of South Korea were identified as involved entities, with Samsung Bioepis sponsoring the tests.

The investigation unearthed evidence of the drug being tested on uninformed patients and even infants less than one year old from 2008 to 2016.

Findings also included boxes with numerous envelopes from logistics companies and containers for biological materials with recipient addresses of laboratories in Switzerland, the UK, and the US.

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Next proxy war: US positions special forces one mile from Chinese mainland

One might assume that two unpopular wars in Gaza and the Donbass are enough for any president. Not so, say analysts Steve Poikonen and Jim Kavanagh, who joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program to discuss President Joe Biden’s recent act of saber rattling thousands of miles away from the United States.

“This is as if China put a permanent presence of Chinese special forces troops on Long Island,” said Kavanagh in response to Taiwan’s confirmation of the presence of US special forces. The US troops are stationed on Taiwan’s Kinmen Islands, located only about a mile away from the shore of the Chinese mainland.

“They are de-facto trying to create, posit and position Taiwan as an independent country, and that is against the entire one-China policy that's supposed to have been in place since 1972 when Nixon went to China,” the analyst emphasized.

Poikonen called the idea of war with the Asian country “counterintuitive to anything other than a nationwide suicide mission.”

“We've known that there are US soldiers in Taiwan since they talked about sending training officers,” he added. “That's what they originally said about Vietnam… That's how all of these conflicts usually start.”

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📹💥A Russian Army aviation strike group attacked Ukrainian fortifications in the Kupyansk area.

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