🚜 Farmers are protesting in Brussels: hundreds of tractors are on the streets of the city, dumping manure and hay on the roads. The police are using tear gas and water cannons.

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⚡️The Ukrainian special services facilitated the terrorist attack and it was prepared by radical Islamists, Russia's Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov has said.

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⚡️The Security Service of Ukraine should be recognized as a terrorist organization, the FSB director noted, adding that the terrorist threat in Russia remains.

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❗️Key statements of Russia's Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov regarding the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack:

▪️The beneficiary of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall outside Moscow has not yet been identified, but we see who organized and who recruited, and we will do everything to establish the organizers.

▪️The information transmitted by Washington about the preparation of a terrorist attack was of a general nature and the Russian special services reacted to it.

▪️We know that Ukraine trained militants in the Middle East.

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The head of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate Kyrylo Budanov is a legitimate target for Russia, like everyone who commits crimes against the Russian Federation, Bortnikov said.

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⚡️An investigation is being carried out in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, into the relatives of the accused in the case of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, a source in the republic's law enforcement agencies told Sputnik.

The President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon has assumed personal control of the investigation, the interlocutor stressed.

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❗️Western intelligence and Ukraine needed the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack to create panic in Russian society, Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov has said.

"To shake up the situation, create panic in society," Bortnikov told reporters, when asked about the West’s and Kiev’s interest in the attack.

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WATCH: Julian Assange's wife holds presser after London court's extradition ruling

Watch the livestream here or follow the link to the Sputnik's website

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Many elements indicate that Ukraine is behind the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, Russia's Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev has said.

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Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov comments on whether the US, the UK and Ukraine are behind the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall: "We think that it's so."

“In any case, we are now talking about the facts that we have. This is general information. But there are already certain developments.”

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President Putin, like me, did not sleep those 24 hours [of March 22] - when it was necessary to speak, he came out and spoke [to the nation], Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko about Putin's alleged "long silence" after the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall outside Moscow.

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Court ruling on Assange extradition seen as triumph for free press

Independent investigative journalist Taylor Hudak welcomed the recent court ruling on Julian Assange's extradition. "This is what we were hoping for," she told Sputnik.

She highlighted the victory for the defense and the importance of the decision for those advocating free speech and press freedom. Hudak noted that the judges favored the defense due to the evidence presented, adding, "I was quite sure that they were going to allow for permission to appeal."

While Assange can appeal on only three of nine grounds initially sought, there's an opportunity for the US to provide assurances addressing other grounds.

Expressing optimism, Hudak said that the decision will be widely welcomed, as "the majority of people and people in positions of leadership and power oppose his extradition."

She emphasized bipartisan support in the US for dropping charges against Assange, viewing him as a journalist deserving First Amendment protection.

With the US given three weeks to issue satisfactory assurances, the case continues to draw international attention.

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🤔Freudian slip?

Alexey Arestovich, ex-advisor to Zelensky, "slipped" on Ukraine's responsibility for the terrorist attack on the Crocus city hall outside Moscow.

While commenting on the attack, he claimed that Russia was trying to gain sympathy from the West, even though a comparable number of civilians are allegedly dying in Ukraine.

"[Russia is shouting] 'Hey world, you have to take our side, you must sympathize with us, we are victims of radical Islam and ISIS*,' and so on, forgetting that they kill as many people in a single day as we do..."

Then Arestovich caught himself and corrected his statement: "Well, not us - but as many as those killed in this terrorist attack."

*Terrorist groups banned in Russia and many other countries.

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⚡️Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations has completed emergency rescue work in the Crocus City Hall, the ministry said.

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⚡️Zelensky dismissed Alexey Danilov from the post of secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine

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Chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Service Oleksandr Litvinenko was appointed the new secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine after Danilov's resignation

During the presidency of Petro Poroshenko (2014-2019), Litvinenko was deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

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Blow to US authority: Assange extradition battle continues

”It is, of course, good news that Julian Assange after this High Court ruling is able to challenge his extradition to the United States. His was, surely, one of the most spectacular leaks in history. However, the battle is yet far from over and the United States authorities will not relinquish their efforts to get hold of Assange and see him imprisoned for the 175 years they have promised him. It would be, as we all recognize, a death sentence,” Dr. David William Norris, a political commentator and former teaching fellow at a college in Birmingham told Sputnik.

“It is a blow for the US in that it demonstrates they cannot just go around the world picking off people they do not like and carrying them off to die in their jails,” Norris added.

He criticized the one-sided nature of the extradition treaty between the UK and the US, noting that no US citizen can be extradited to Britain from the States. "It is the US government that decides who is dangerous," he states, casting Assange as a political prisoner.

Norris questions the motives behind keeping Assange in Belmarsh prison, calling for his release to prevent further deterioration of his health and to safeguard press freedom. In conclusion, Norris urges a fair resolution to Assange's case, emphasizing its broader implications for democracy and press freedom.

“In a genuine democracy criticism should be allowed. To allow the United States to have their way, not only would it be a personal tragedy for Julian Assange, but would bite deeply into every understanding of press freedom,” Norris highlighted.

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Putin's remark on Assange and US democracy: the pot calling the kettle black

Delve into the words spoken by Vladimir Putin in 2010 addressing the controversy surrounding the WikiLeaks website and the American diplomatic service. Putin questions the pristine image of the US diplomatic service and challenges the notion of democracy when discussing the imprisonment of Julian Assange. Putin likened the situtaion to the "pot calling the kettle black."

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