The thirst for revenge should not cloud the mind, it is still impossible to sentence to death those accused of the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall near Moscow, because the law is not retroactive, said Dmitry Kiselev, the general director of Sputnik's parent media group Rossiya Segodnya.

"The horrific terrorist attack in the city of Krasnogorsk near Moscow caused the whole society a terrible burn. There is no one who sympathizes with these scumbags. It is clear that retribution is wanted right now, but such a topic as the death penalty has reappeared in society. And caught terrorists must be sentenced to death. The thirst for revenge, however, should not cloud the mind. After all, even if the possibility of the death penalty is now returned, then the four who committed the massacre cannot be sentenced to death, since the law has no retroactive effect,'' he said.

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'Hostile reactions from the West': Why Russia didn't Join NATO?

On March 31, 1954, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov shocked his US, French and British counterparts with a diplomatic note expressing Moscow’s readiness to join NATO. If the USSR joined, the note said, NATO “would cease to be a closed military grouping of states” facilitating the creation of “an effective system of collective security in Europe, which would be of utmost importance for strengthening universal peace.”

This was the first time that Moscow would propose joining the Western alliance, but wouldn’t be the last, with Presidents Putin and Yeltsin voicing potential interest in joining the bloc in the early 1990s and early 2000s, respectively.

But the USSR and Russia never had any real shot at joining, says Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst at the Pentagon. Thanks to a combination of ideology, permanent state interests and even ancient blood feuds, the West has held and will continue to hold Moscow at arms length, if not try “chop up Russia,” Maloof believes.

“We had 50 years of practice in the Soviet Union, and you have a lot of bureaucrats in the intelligence community that [consider antagonizing Russia] to be more of their ‘sweet spot’, as it were, to be comfortable in their jobs. That’s what they’re good at. The change [after 1991] was totally alien to them. Even Putin wanted to join NATO at first, but he began to see increasingly hostile reactions from the West. So Putin began to look more toward a Eurasian movement,” the observer concluded.

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Worthy use of NASA budget: technology from the Mars program found in Ukrainian drones

Russian experts have identified batteries used by the US space agency NASA in the Mars program while studying captured Ukrainian drones, Dmitry Kuzyakin, general director of the Centre for Integrated Unmanned Solutions, told Sputnik.

"The first FPV drone we acquired had a battery similar to the one used by the US in NASA's Mars mission. It seems that Ukraine assembled FPV drones with its US 'partners', and these batteries were installed in order to use the drones in winter with severe negative temperatures," Kuzyakin explained.

He said that these batteries are extremely expensive to use in such makeshift devices.

The developer added that aluminum alloys similar to those used in the US space program were also found in the captured Ukrainian drones. According to Kuzyakin, the special properties of such an alloy are crucial in space, but useless in an ordinary drone.

However, thanks to such a "filling", Russian engineers can obtain "a lot of useful information" and data, Kuzyakin concluded.

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🚀 The Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying the Resurs-P High-Detail Earth Observation Satellite No. 4 was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

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Production of the Taurus cruise missile has been halted in Germany because there are currently no active orders for it, Thomas Gottschild, head of the MBDA arms company that makes the missiles, told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has previously ruled out supplying Kiev with long-range weapons systems that require the participation of the German military, even if they are located outside Ukraine. He has repeatedly opposed the transfer of the Taurus to the Ukrainian armed forces, despite pressure from the opposition and some members of the ruling coalition.

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New phase of wishful thinking: Biden claims Arab states are ready to recognize Israel

US President Joe Biden recently claimed that Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, are ready to recognize the Jewish state, but remained tight-lipped on the status of the Palestinian Authority. Riyadh has repeatedly made clear that it would not agree to establish relations with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.

"The crux of the issue remains Israel's reluctance to acknowledge a Palestinian state as per these terms. This impasse underscores the complexity of achieving peace and mutual recognition in the region," Dr. Imad Salamey, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at the Lebanese American University, told Sputnik.

He pointed to the 2002 Arab Summit in Beirut, which "highlighted the collective willingness of Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, to recognize Israel, contingent upon Israel's recognition of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Salamey added that while the US publicly calls for peace, it "continues to affirm its strategic alliance with Israel, as demonstrated by the new supply of bombs and fighter jets," an apparent reference to the Biden administration's recent decision to "quietly" provide the Jewish state with billions of dollars worth of military hardware and munitions.

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Russia's Soyuz-2.1b rocket has launched a Resurs-P high-detail No. 4 satellite into orbit after taking off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

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❗️Russian Aerospace Forces launched a group strike on energy facilities and gas production in Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense has reported.

The strike disrupted the work of defense industry enterprises producing and repairing weapons, military equipment and ammunition. All goals were reportedly achieved and the designated objects were hit.

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🇷🇺🪖 Other statements from the Russian Defense Ministry weekly briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Near Avdeyevka, the Russian Army improved the situation along the front line and repelled nine attacks by Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian losses amounted to 300 soldiers;

▪️In the Kupyansk area, the Russian Army repelled five attacks by Ukrainian troops near Sinkovka and Ternov villages;

▪️The Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 580 Ukrainian aircraft since the beginning of the special military operation;

▪️ In the Donetsk area, the Russian Army occupied more advantageous positions. Ukrainian losses amounted to more than 300 soldiers;

▪️Russia’s air defenses shot down 178 Ukrainian drones, as well as 23 rockets from the HIMARS and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems.

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Ukraine’s top general Oleksander Syrsky is living up to his ‘butcher’ nickname

Since taking command more than a month ago, Syrsky has lost Avdeyevka and committed a series of costly blunders. Despite these failures, however, the general enjoys strong support from Ukraine’s NATO patrons.

“He's not a good soldier from a military strategic or tactical point of view, but he's a good. murderer, pirate for the people that own and control Ukraine,” said Sputnik correspondent Russell Bentley (@TXDPR).

“He's willing to torture, kill, rape, rob anybody that he's told to that will advance his career. And so from that perspective, he's the perfect guy for NATO and the people who are fighting against Russia.”

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Pivot to NATO: How Japan is becoming the alliance’s outpost in Asia

Japan has made headlines in recent weeks for its efforts to increase its military capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region to the highest levels since World War II, as well as for speculation that it could soon join the AUKUS nuclear submarine and defense technology alliance.

These moves come amid a growing push to bring Japan closer into NATO’s orbit. Here are the most recent developments:

🔹Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attended NATO summit in 2023, a first for a Japanese leader. He inked the ITPP (Individually Tailored Partnership Programme) with NATO to extend collaboration beyond traditional security areas into cyber, emerging and disruptive technologies and strategic communications.

🔹Extended military visits to NATO members, and conducted joint exercises in the Pacific with forces from Canada, the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands in recent years.

🔹Participated in ‘largest deployment exercise in NATO’s history’ in European airspace in 2023, and joined AsterX (NATO’s annual space defense drill) for the first time in 2024.

🔹Discussed establishing a dedicated line for sharing security information with NATO to deepen intelligence cooperation with the bloc in 2024.

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FAB-3000: Russia’s new devastating bomb creates serious problems for Ukraine

The explosive power of the FAB-3000 will allow Russian forces to smash Ukrainian underground bunkers, which often serve as hideouts for senior Ukrainian officers and NATO advisors, explained Sputnik correspondent Russell Bentley (@TXDPR).

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Why has Taurus missile production been put on hold?

MBDA, a European missile manufacturer whose product line includes Patriot surface-to-air missiles and Taurus cruise missiles, has recently complained about the slow pace at which defense contracts are being awarded to them.

Thomas Gottschild, head of MDBA's German branch, has claimed that this situation and the fact that Taurus missile production has effectively been suspended because defense contractors cannot produce stocks without orders first being placed, according to German media reports.

"The arms industry needs a base load in production,” Gottschild said as quoted by Der Spiegel. "It's enough to make it worthwhile to maintain supply chains, keep test equipment state-of-the-art and maintain the competence of employees."

Germany has so far refused to supply Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, despite calls from Berlin's NATO allies to provide the weapons to Kiev.

Earlier this month, however, Die Welt revealed that only half of the roughly 600 Taurus missiles Germany currently has are operational.

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He who laughs last: Will Russia's Joker drone become new portable air defense?

Russia's “Joker-10” FPV drones have been adjusted to shoot down or ram hostile UAVs, the General Director of Center for Integrated Unmanned Solutions Dmitry Kuzyakin tells Sputnik. He explains that surface-to-air missiles that intercept drones might cost as much as a private house, while some drones are cheaper than bicycles.

“Thus we are having effective and cheap air defense systems to protect our oil refineries, as well as civilian and nuclear objects," he stresses.

Joker drones can fire a cloud of shards that obliterate hostile UAVs, and good old ramming is also always an option.

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