🇷🇺 Russian President Vladimir Putin requested that Bakytzhan Sagintayev, the Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Board, explore options for collaborative efforts between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries and the BRICS association.

"Russia is chairing BRICS this year," noted President Putin during his meeting with Sagintayev. "Our other countries (EAEU) are not members of the association, but there are significant opportunities, especially considering the plans of our Chinese friends – 'One Belt, One Road.' We have always said that these projects are compatible – our Eurasian development and Chinese ideas. The BRICS leaders are coming to Kazan. I earnestly request that you work with your Russian colleagues on how we could involve the economies of our association's other countries in joint efforts with the BRICS countries. There could be many joint projects and areas for development in general."

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🇷🇺 Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Russia could offer the BRICS countries options for the cooperation of banking systems, taking into account the interests of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries.

"The operation of the financial systems of the banking sector... as you know, created within the framework of this association, BRICS, contains various ideas on how we could enhance its functionality. It would be great if we, on behalf of Russia but considering the interests of the member countries of our organization, offered our colleagues some proposals," Putin said at a meeting with Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Bakytzhan Sagintayev.

He emphasized that Russia aims to coordinate any actions in these fields with all members of the Eurasian Economic Community.

"Of course from your position, from the perspective of the commission, we could prepare these joint proposals. It would be interesting for everyone," Putin added.

He noted that Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus already cooperate with BRICS countries in some capacity.

"And if we could offer our colleagues some proposals – we will discuss this in more detail, there are some ideas – especially if presented as our joint steps, it could have promising prospects," the Russian president concluded.

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Boeing: commercialization at the expense of safety?

The inner windshield of an Alaska Airlines' Boeing 737-800 cracked mid-flight on March 17, with 159 passengers and six crew onboard.

The incident added to the recent litany of Boeing’s troubles, which - among others - includes:

▪️ An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 blew out a window and a portion of its fuselage shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, on January 5, 2024.

▪️ On February 19, the right wing of a Boeing 757-200 fell apart on a United Airlines San Francisco to Boston flight.

▪️ On March 4, United Airlines Flight 1118 from Texas to Florida had flames bursting from one of its engines 20 minutes after takeoff.

▪️ On March 7, a United Airlines flight lost a piece of its landing gear during takeoff in San Francisco.

Boeing has suffered numerous setbacks since two fatal crashes involving the manufacturer's 737 MAX 8 planes in 2018 and 2019 killed a total of 346 people. The MAX fleet was grounded for two years, with Dennis Muilenburg resigning as the CEO and board director.

Multiple experts agree that Boeing went off course soon after the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger in 1997. The deal has been criticized for supplanting the legendary company’s focus on innovation and quality with a bureaucratic “defense contractor culture.” Once driven by engineers, the company reportedly became governed by finance. Activity in manufacturing contracted for the 14th consecutive month in December, as per the Institute for Supply Management. Furthermore, the woes plaguing Boeing - an aerospace company pivotal to the US manufacturing industry - reflect the overall decline in this sector.

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US President Joe Biden confused Finland with Norway, claiming that Norway is a new NATO member along with Sweden.

Norway was one of the founding members of NATO in 1949.

"You've increased NATO and the border of NATO from bringing in Sweden and Norway," Biden mumbled at an event in Nevada broadcast on US television.

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The United States conducted a test of a fully operational hypersonic missile prototype of the All-Up-Round AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon in Guam on Sunday, the US Air Force said in a statement.

“A B-521H Stratofortress conducted a test of the All-Up-Round AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon. This test launched a full prototype operational hypersonic missile and focused on the ARRW's end-to-end performance. The test took place at the Reagan Test Site with the B-52 taking off from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam on March 17, 2024, local time,” the statement said.

While the statement did not disclose whether the test was successful, it noted that the test acquired valuable, unique data and was intended to further a range of hypersonic programs.

Meanwhile, Russia and China are the first countries to field strategic hypersonic weapons systems, with Moscow putting the Kinzhal (lit. "dagger") missile into operation in late 2017, and the People’s Liberation Army following suit by unveiling the DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle in 2019.

Russia got a head start on its hypersonics program thanks to Soviet-era research in the field starting in the early 2000s, after the Bush administration unilaterally scrapped of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty – a 1972 Soviet-US agreement which placed severe limitations on the creation of anti-ballistic missile defenses and intended to stop the arms race.

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Abandoning historic friendship: Greece won't invite Russian representatives to national celebrations

Greek Foreign Minister Yorgos Gerapetritis has issued a directive to all Greek diplomatic and consular bodies abroad prohibiting them from inviting representatives of Russia and Belarus to events commemorating Independence Day on March 25, Greek media website newsbreak reported. March 25 marks the start of the country's national liberation revolution of 1821-1829.

The letter, dated March 15, was published by the media outlet, and states, "In connection with the National Holiday on March 25, we ask you not to extend invitations to representatives of the diplomatic and consular departments of Russia and Belarus for your events."

Greek Independence Day is celebrated with a military parade in Syntagma Square in Athens and events in Greece and its diplomatic missions abroad. The role of Russia in Greece's independence is considered crucial by Greeks.

The "Filiki Eteria" (Society of Friends), a secret society founded in Odessa in 1814 aiming for Greek independence, played a key role in preparing for the revolution. Greek officers serving in the Russian army were among the leaders of the national liberation struggle, including General Alexander Ypsilanti.

Following the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, the Adrianople Peace Treaty between Russia and Turkiye resulted in the Sultan recognizing Greece's autonomy and, later, its independence in 1830. Russia was the first country to establish official relations with Greece and recognize its independence.

John Kapodistrias, who had served as the Russian Foreign Minister, became Greece's first ruler post-independence.

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Israel must be treated like ‘pariah’ state, ended ‘forever’ – Jewish activist

Israeli-American activist Miko Peled, who is the son of a prominent former Israeli general, had strong words for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a discussion on Sputnik’s Political Misfits program.

“I think he's a servant of the Zionist state, of the state of Israel,” Peled said of Blinken. He insisted Blinken should force Israel to fund efforts to rebuild Gaza, noting Israel is “the party that created this catastrophe.”

“Israel has never had any problem with the most right-wing, antisemitic fascist regimes,” added Peled. Throughout the Cold War Israel retained cordial relations with apartheid South Africa, even offering to sell nuclear weapons to the white supremacist regime.

Israel was also a key ally in the United States’ Cold War campaign of violence and state terror in Latin America known as Operation Condor. For decades Israel helped train police, militaries, and death squads in the region to repress popular movements. Israel was once even praised by American neo-Nazi activist Richard Spencer, who views the country’s “Jewish nation state” law as a model for his desired white ethnostate.

“[Israel] is an insane state, an insane regime that's been involved in torture and genocide and all kinds of crazy, sadistic policies for 76 years,” he added. “And it's time to stop it and forever, not to bring it to the table, but to bring it to a point where it's over, it's ended.”

The next time someone implies you are antisemitic for criticizing Israeli policy, share Peled’s words of moral clarity with them.

❗️ The European Parliament extended suspension of duties on exports of Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU until June 2025, the statement said.

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😶‍🌫️ Russian soldiers successfully advance under the cover of a smoke screen

The aerosol countermeasures unit of the Southern group of Russian Armed Forces uses the TDM-2k thermal smoke generator to make Russian infantry and armored vehicles invisible to the enemy.

The TDM-2k can generate a concealing aerosol continuously for about four hours. The smoke screen, which is harmless to people and animals, spreads in a thick layer for several kilometers, disrupting enemy visual reconnaissance activities.

If a sudden assault has to be conducted at the front line, smoke bombs are deployed at the chosen area beforehand and then activated remotely at a distance of up to 7 km with the RPZ-8 command-transmitting device.

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The European Parliament and the European Council reached an agreement to extend the temporary suspension of duties on exports of Ukrainian agricultural products to the European Union until June 5, 2025, and the European Commission can take any necessary measures if Ukrainian imports will lead to significant disruption to the EU market or the markets of one or more EU countries.

"The temporary suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU will be renewed for another year, until 5 June 2025," the European Parliament said in a statement on the website.

The European Commission "can take swift action and impose any measures it deems necessary should there be significant disruption to the EU market or the markets of one or more EU countries due to Ukrainian imports," the statement said.

"The regulation also provides for an emergency brake for particularly sensitive agricultural products, namely poultry, eggs, and sugar," the parliament said, adding that European lawmakers "secured the expansion of this list to include oats, maize, groats and honey" and also "attained firm commitments from the Commission to take action if there is a surge of Ukrainian imports of wheat."

The lawmakers of the European Parliament also "ensured that the Commission would act faster - within 14 days instead of 21 days - if trigger levels for the automatic safeguards were reached."

The current suspension expires on June 5, 2024, and the new regulations will go into effect immediately after the said expiration date, the statement read.

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Russian air defenses shot down two Ukrainian drones over the city of Engels in Russia’s Saratov region, Governor Roman Busargin said.

No injuries or damage were reported per preliminary information, according to the governor.

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Russia has warned Japan via diplomatic channels of consequences in the event of transferring missiles for the Patriot missile defense systems to the United States, which could end up in Ukraine, the acting director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Third Asia Department, Sergey Zhestkii, has told Sputnik.

"When in December 2023 the administration of [Japanese Prime Minister] Fumio Kishida achieved a legislative relaxation of national rules for the export of military products - for the sake of supplying Patriot missiles assembled in the country under license to Washington - we directly warned the Japanese side through Ambassador to Moscow Muto that we have no doubt about the ultimate beneficiary of such a decision - the Kiev regime," Zhestkii said.

He added that "such an assistance in further pumping up the Ukrainian armed forces with weapons will be unequivocally regarded as Tokyo's complicity in Kiev's criminal actions, which only lead to an increase in the number of victims."

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British public has spent £19m in missile costs for UK’s Yemen war, a report suggests

The UK has reportedly poured millions into protecting Israeli ships in the Red Sea since the Palestine-Israel conflict first began in October, with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak becoming Britain’s ninth prime minister to use the Royal Air Force (RAF) to bomb Yemen.

A report published to Declassified UK claims that the British public has spent up to £19m in missile costs alone for airstrikes over Yemen. As many as 53 missiles—some of which costs over a million British pounds each—have been fired by the Royal Navy and Air Force, the report said.

The report also found that UK Secretary of State for Defence Grant Shapps is being forced to borrow money from other departments in order to pay for the war including from the Treasury’s Contingencies Fund after having “requested funding from the Special Reserve for [the] Red Sea”.

“There’s always money to wage war abroad and never funds to fight poverty at home,” Kenny MacAskill, an Alba MP for East Lothian told the report.

Schnapps said in parliament that so far the Royal Air Force (RAF) has struck 40 targets across Yemen in four waves of air strikes since January. The RAF used Paveway IV missiles which cost about £70,000 each in 2014. If 40 of those missiles were fired, the approximate cost would be £2.8m, the report writes.

“The economic cost to us of launching air strikes against some of the poorest people on the planet compounds the environmental damage to our planet of flying thousands of miles to do so,” MacAskill added. “Meanwhile, folk here go hungry and our planet burns. The elite are enriched but the rest pay the price.”

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International observer compliments transparency, smoothness of Russian elections

“It's a very transparent process,” said attorney and CEO Steve Gill after returning from a trip to Russia where he served as an international observer for the country’s presidential election. The former director of intergovernmental affairs for the US Trade Representative joined Sputnik’s The Final Countdown program to share his thoughts after watching voting take place in the southwest Russian city of Samara.

“I've probably visited in this trip 20 different polling stations, watching as people cast their vote,” said Gill. “First of all, they've got livestream video cameras in every precinct around the country, thousands of them… It is all livestreamed when the voting is taking place and then livestreamed when the counting is taking place.” Gill noted that election observers were allowed to be present at each polling location.

“It's a very visible process. Nobody was being forced at gunpoint,” he added, calling the election results a “super mandate” for Putin. “My advice to the West, to the US and Western Europe and Britain: pay attention to what the Russian people have said, not to what you wish they would say.”

Gill noted Russia’s substantial economic growth under Putin and said both the US and Russia would be better served if they were able to trade and cooperate economically as major world powers.

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“Losing a war is no fun’: West ignores their “biggest political disaster”

Russia’s economy has survived Western sanctions “far better” than predicted, recent reports show. Meanwhile, the European Union’s (EU) economy has been suffering drastically, causing working class voters to turn against aid for Ukraine.

“This is not a faraway war for [the EU],” noted independent journalist Daniel Lazare on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program. “It's a faraway war for America. But it's a war on the doorstep of the EU. And the prospect of a Ukrainian collapse would cause panic in Poland, but also in Berlin and Paris, and Macron has been making crazy noises about sending troops to Ukraine, which is completely nuts.

“The US thought it would win that war easily,” he continued. “But now the war is going very poorly. And it turns out that the US really had a very poor idea of what it was getting into. Now, the problem is that the US will not suffer the consequences anywhere near to the degree the Europeans will.”

The loss of cheap Russian gas due to Western sanctions has battered European countries’ economies, with Germany hit particularly hard. The economic growth forecast for Germany was cut to 0.2% in 2024 from a previous projection of 1.3%, according to a recent report. Germany’s Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeckhas said the country is performing “dramatically bad.”

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❗️ Russian special forces reached the US-made Abrams tank that was knocked out in the village of Berdychi and filmed a video from the inside.

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▪️ WATCH: Russian forces reach the US-made Abrams tank and film it from the inside

▪️ EU extends Ukraine’s duty-free agricultural imports until June 2025

▪️ Why would French forces in Ukraine collapse European security?

▪️ ‘Losing a war is no fun’: West ignores their ‘biggest political disaster’

▪️ NATO Chief's visit part of effort to pull Armenia out of Russia's orbit

More stories:

▪️ International observer compliments transparency, smoothness of Russian presidential election

▪️ British public spends £19m in missile costs for UK’s Yemen war – report

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Trump's son-in-law suggests bulldozing Negev Desert for Gaza civilians – 'I would try to move people in there'

Jared Kushner, a relative of former President Donald Trump, was recently heavily criticized for his remarks during a March 8 event at Harvard University, where he suggested that "Gaza's waterfront property could be very valuable ... if people would focus on building up livelihoods."

"If Jared Kushner sees what's happening in Gaza as an opportunity for real estate development, why doesn't he look at the widespread destruction of Minneapolis the same way?" conservative journalist Arthur Bloom wrote on his X page.

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