French President Emmanuel Macron is creating a distraction with his statements about sending troops to Ukraine because domestic issues seem to be unimportant for him and it is necessary to divert attention from existing problems, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"It seems to me the French activity on this 'front' is designed solely to distract in a situation where 'at home' he has unimportant affairs and it is necessary to create some diversion in the form of calls to "get Russia," said Lavrov in an interview with newspaper Izvestia.

The minister recalled that France was one of the parties that guaranteed an agreement between Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition in 2014. "The morning after, it [the agreement] was trampled on. All administrative buildings were seized and, contrary to the creation of a government of national unity to prepare for snap elections a 'government of winners' was announced. This is when a 'wedge' was driven into Ukrainian society," Lavrov said.

The foreign minister said Paris had previously promoted many agreements on conflict resolution, "which at that time no one was going to implement."

"And we are told about non-negotiability... If we are to talk about contractual capacity or about who has what authority, it is probably not the French or other members of the European Union, who were engaged in these 'cases' and then simply proved their uselessness," the minister said.

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USAID: US imperialism’s most cynical regime change tool - analyst

“USAID has never been a benign institution. It's never really been an aid institution,” anthropologist Adrienne Pine told Sputnik’s Political Misfits program. The analyst discussed an article on MintPress News by researcher Alan MacLeod breaking down Washington’s priorities in instituting online censorship.

Pine explained the Cold War origins of USAID as a tool of US “soft power… so that the US can establish its hegemony post-World War Two.”

A recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request surfaced a 97-page “disinformation primer” authored by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

USAID’s article relates to “misinformation, disinformation and mal-information,” notes host Michelle Witte. “Malinformation'' is the most controversial among the terms, referring to true information presented in a way to allegedly harm or manipulate.

“People who are going into that work [with USAID]... don't understand that they are an important part of the propaganda machine that is justifying the existence of this heinous and incredibly dangerous tool of imperialism,” Pine emphasized.

USAID operates by funding “civil society” groups purportedly focused on “democracy promotion,” labor rights, and other anodyne causes. Such non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can play a role in strengthening opposition to movements and figures perceived to work against US interests. In more extreme cases these groups promote civil unrest that creates an environment for US-backed regime change.

"So, the US, is using 'civil society' as its weapon to prevent sovereign and democratic processes from taking hold in other countries and pretending through this sort of propaganda machine that it has that they are, in fact, the real democracy in those countries, and that gives them a justification for orchestrating coups. So it's, tremendously cynical," the analyst stressed.

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Russian air defenses shot down 15 air targets near Russia’s city of Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

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

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The Israeli army has seized strategic assets of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip and is preparing to enter Rafah in the south of the enclave, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a meeting with the families of kidnapped soldiers.

The prime minister said he is personally involved in the efforts to release all hostages from the Gaza Strip, adding that this process is ongoing around the clock. Netanyahu recalled that 123 hostages out of about 250 abducted on October 7, 2023 have already been released.

"Only the continuation of the powerful military pressure that we have exerted and will continue to exert has brought back our abductees and will return everyone. In addition, we have seized Hamas' strategic assets. This is another key to the release of our sons and daughters. We control the north of the sector and Khan Yunis, We have cut through the sector and are preparing to enter Rafah,” he said.

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Does the ‘rules based order’ apply to the law of the sea?

The United States often asserts the significance of the “rules-based international order,” but Washington's signature is curiously absent from one important compact on maritime law. The observation was made by political science professor Nicolai Petro, who joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program to discuss the controversy created by the US’ recent unilateral extension of its continental shelf claims in the Arctic.

“There is the issue of the precedent being set and what role international agreements… should play in such matters,” said Petro. “Whereas China and Russia are signatories to these treaties, the United States is not. And so both of those countries are asking the question of whether the United States should benefit from the provisions of the treaty, which it has not signed.”

The US is claiming the right to extend its territorial claims in the Arctic under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which it has not signed. China and Russia argue it’s unfair for the US to claim protection by virtue of the agreement while not participating in upholding any of its obligations.

“What role does the United States or the West have claiming that it's upholding a rules-based order?” asked Petro.

“Well, it is because it is imposing its own rules and maintaining its order,” noted host Wilmer Leon wryly.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said proposals from the United Nations and Turkiye related to shipping issues in the Black Sea have so far led to nothing.

“There were such conversations. We heard about them. The UN Secretary General mentioned this. We explained on what conditions we are ready to consider these proposals - on the terms of reciprocity, of course. Because the memorandum of understanding between the Russian Federation and the UN Secretariat, which should be valid for another 18 months, is not being implemented in any of its parts," Lavrov highlighted.

He said the memorandum guarantees that the Secretary General will seek from the West the lifting of sanctions on Russian exports of fertilizers and grain.

“Our position is well known. There were messages and public statements from both the Turkish leadership and the UN. Without going into details, I will say that they did not lead to anything,” the minister said.

United Nations Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Sputnik that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in February sent letters to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the safety of commercial shipping in the Black Sea.

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Zionists have hold on US executive branch – ex-CIA analyst

“There is a hold on the US executive branch led by self-proclaimed Zionists,” said former CIA analyst Ray McGovern. The 27-year veteran of the US intelligence agency made the startling claim on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program where he discussed the latest developments in Israel’s ongoing US-backed assault on the Gaza Strip.

McGovern noted he has difficulty breaking down the politics of the operation given the harrowing humanitarian impact; “I can't get away from the fact that 90 to 95 children are killed each day,” the analyst lamented.

“There is a hold on the US executive branch led by self-proclaimed Zionists, starting with the president and then [Secretary of State Antony] Blinken and then [National Security Advisor] Jacob Sullivan, [Under Secretary of State Victoria] Nuland and the rest of them – and the US Congress, which is held hostage by a group called AIPAC, which is the Israel lobby,” added McGovern.

“People who are in Congress, both the House and the Senate, can be easily dislodged, removed, if they thwart what Israel wants to do. Israel, their lobby, has the money to do that. They've shown that in several cases, even recently, even in primaries.”

McGovern recounted the history of Israel’s influence on US politics, going back to its 1967 occupation of Palestinian territories and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which he now believes was undertaken primarily for the benefit of Israel.

“What we're dealing with here is a situation where Israelis are running this particular foreign policy of Joe Biden,” said McGovern.

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📹 Russian specialists have for the first time shown the inner workings of an Anglo-French Storm Shadow missile. The video was shot by Sputnik’s correspondents. Data obtained during the dismantling of the missile is being passed on to various agencies, including for the improvement of air defenses.

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Russian push for UN cybercrime treaty puts western digital hegemony on the line

An international convention to counter the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for criminal purposes could potentially “undermine the digital hegemony of the West” if approved, the Russian Foreign Ministry has told Sputnik. A final version of the document may be agreed upon in May-June.

Russia led the creation of a UN Special Committee in 2019 to develop the first-ever global convention on countering cybercrime. Supported by 79 UN members, the committee held a briefing in Moscow on March 27 attended by delegates from 50+ countries and 100+ diplomats, to discuss the final stages of negotiations.

Moscow is optimistic that negotiations will result in the adoption of the convention, despite Western opposition. The Foreign Ministry emphasized the importance of including crimes related to terrorism and extremism in the treaty.

"We insist on the need to reflect crimes related to the use of ICTs for terrorist and extremist purposes in the document," the Ministry said.

The Ministry further highlighted the significance of addressing such crimes, noting that "this is a strong argument" in favor of Russia's approach at the UN negotiations.

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▪️ Key points from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview

▪️ The Israeli army is preparing to enter Rafah – Netanyahu

▪️ The US House Oversight Committee has invited President Joe Biden to testify on his family's “pay-for-influence schemes” – letter

Check out more stories:

▪️ Zionists have hold on US executive branch – ex-CIA analyst

▪️ USAID: US imperialism’s most cynical regime change tool – analyst

▪️ Does the ‘rules based order’ apply to the law of the sea?

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Forbes columnist David Axe has criticized the Challenger 2 tanks that the UK gave to Ukraine, calling them useless.

He pointed out that Ukraine received the tanks without a set of additional armor, while the extra three tons of weight would have made the British armored vehicles even less mobile on the soft Ukrainian black soil.

The columnist also criticized its rifled 120 mm gun, which, according to him, has a barrel that wears out after 500 rounds, while a smoothbore gun has a threefold longer lifespan.

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Russian Joker drones force 60 Ukrainian fighters to surrender

Russian Joker FPV drones have forced a company of Ukrainian fighters to surrender, Dmitry Kuzyakin, general director of the Center for Integrated Unmanned Solutions developer, told Sputnik.

"Probably no one will be able to repeat this 'record.' It was not a Bradley, Humvee, or even Leopard 2, but 60 soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who had to surrender after seeing with their own eyes what the mass use of FPV drones means … In other words, one small drone 'captured' an entire company of Ukrainian forces," he said when asked about the most important target the Jokers hit on the battlefield.

Over the years, the company has developed a line of Joker combat FPV drones. The latest model, the Joker-10, carries a payload of up to five kilograms and reaches a speed of 100 kilometers per hour (up to 200 kilometers per hour without payload).

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