🔸Russia strongly condemns Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, calls for UNSC meeting

🔸US reportedly weighs selling Israel F-15s, JDAM bombs, air-to-air missiles

🔸Hidden in church icons: FSB blocks smuggling channel of explosives from Ukraine to Russia via EU

🔸‘A matter of time’: security analyst weighs in on NATO troops’ boots on the ground in Ukraine

🔸What’s the likelihood of Germany providing Taurus missiles to Ukraine?

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❗️Three drones attacked various objects on the territory of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, a representative of the emergencies services told Sputnik.

▪️Six people were injured in a drone attack on the Alabuga special economic zone, the authorities said. The health of the victims is not in danger, three of them have been hospitalized.

▪️The drone attack in Tatarstan was carried out on enterprises in the cities of Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk, the technological process was not disrupted, the authorities said.

▪️Two drones have hit a dormitory in the special economic zone "Alabuga" in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, leaving six people injured, the special economic zone said.

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Ex-CIA analyst: Russia's FAB-3000 bombs could be 'game changer' in Ukraine conflict

The Russian Ministry of Defense recently announced the start of mass production of the FAB-3000 high-explosive aerial bombs, a multi-purpose munition that can be used to attack a variety of targets, including fortified industrial facilities, underground structures and dams.

These "monstrous" three-ton bombs could prove to be a "game changer" in the Ukraine conflict, former CIA intelligence analyst Larry Johnson told the YouTube channel Judging Freedom.

In particular, Russia could use the FAB-3000 to destroy bridges, including those over the Dnepr River, Johnson said.

"These FAB-3000 kilogram bombs are such that they can actually destroy these bridges. And when you take out a bridge, you're gonna cut off the ability of Ukrainian leadership to supply troops that are east of the Dnepr River. So in a way it’s like surrounding the Ukrainian army without actually having to use military force with a direct confrontation," the former CIA analyst pointed out.

He recalled that the FAB-3000s are capable of "blowing holes in defensive emplacements, so no longer can Ukrainians just hunker down in the trench or a bunker and try to wait out of Russians."

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The Investigative Committee of Russia has announced that it will investigate the drone attack that resulted in casualties in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan.

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'Iran will give decisive and regrettable response' to Israeli attack 'at the right time and place'

"This action showed that Israel does not adhere to any of the principles, rules and international laws. This attack also demonstrates the aggressive nature of Israel, since representative offices, embassies and consulates are considered the territory of this country and this attack is a kind of encroachment on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Ibrahim Azizi, deputy chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told Sputnik.

"Iran will give a decisive and regrettable response at the right time and in the right place. The Commission on National Security and Foreign Policy of the Islamic Council of the Iranian Parliament intends to investigate the issue and send a delegation to Damascus," he added.

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"After repeated defeats and failures against the faith and will of the Resistance Front fighters, the Zionist regime has put blind assassinations on its agenda in the struggle to save itself," said Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, commenting on the Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

"Having failed to destroy the will of the resistance front, the Zionist regime (Israel) has put blind assassinations back on its agenda to save itself. It must know that it will never achieve its goals and that this cowardly crime will not go unanswered," Raisi said, according to state media.

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The Iranian National Security Council, with the participation of President Ebrahim Raisi, discussed the Israeli attack on the consulate in Damascus.

Tehran called the attack on the diplomatic compound a war crime. During the meeting of the Security Council, "appropriate decisions were made" (which were not reported).

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The Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus and the death of General Zahedi is one of the main topics in the world media:

The Washington Post:

Israel has carried out strikes in Syria against Iran and its allies for years and throughout its six-month military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. But Monday’s attack stood out both because of its location — in a diplomatic compound, traditionally exempted from hostilities — and because of the seniority of the apparent target.

Reuters:

Israel has long targeted Iran's military installations in Syria and those of its proxies, but Monday's attack was the first time it apparently hit the vast embassy compound itself.

The Jerusalem Post:

Removing Zahedi could be seen as a blow to the management of the Lebanese terror groups’ rocket attacks on Israel.

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Belarus is preparing for war, but does not want to fight, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in a statement quoted by the Belta news agency.

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❗️The Ukrainian Armed Forces have lost more than 80,000 troops, 14,000 weapons, including over 1,200 tanks, since January, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said.

Since the beginning of the year, 403 square kilometers of territory have come under the control of the Russian military, the minister added.

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Key statements by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu:

▪️Russian forces took control of five settlements in March;

▪️The Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to gain a foothold on certain lines after the failure of Kiev's counteroffensive, but they have not achieved their goals in any of the directions;

▪️The Russian Armed Forces carried out 192 missile and drone strikes on energy and military facilities in Ukraine in March in response to terrorist attacks by Kiev.

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This year, Russia's Black Sea Fleet will receive three ships of the Karakurt project, which are carriers of high-precision weapons, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

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❗️Russia's Federal Security Service received some information from the United States about the probability of a terrorist attack, but it was too general, said Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.

The information provided by the US did not allow Moscow to identify everyone who could have participated in the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall, he added.

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❗️The Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate in Syria is a terrorist attack, said Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.

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Why is NATO holding drills in Moldova?

The Joint Combined Exchange Training-2024 (JCET-2024) military exercises kicked off on April 1, with two battalions of special forces from the United States and Romania taking part in the drills, Moldova’s MoD has reported.

“Soldiers from Moldova’s national army will be getting their training together with their colleagues from Romania and the US in the framework of the JCET-2024 exercise,” the statement from the ministry said. “The drills will take place in the training centers of the Moldovan Army from April 1 to April 19 this year.”

“Moldova is a territory that now finds itself in a kind of grey zone between the West and Ukraine,” Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute of Humanitarian and Political Studies, told Sputnik.

“And the West is not going to leave Moldova in this zone… The aim of this exercise next to the conflict zone [in Ukraine] is to integrate Moldova into Western formats… In the opinion of the West, there should be no Russian assets in Europe, no positions Russia can defend.”

Both the US and Romania are NATO members, with a big US contingent on Romania’s territory. Bruter thinks that NATO set itself the aim of depriving Moldova of its neutral status, as the country’s Constitution says it can’t join military blocs. Since the end of 2020, when the current pro-Western President of Moldova Maia Sandu came to power, Moldova set itself on an anti-Russian course, openly supporting the regime in Kiev.

“Right now they [the West] are interested in strategic objects. For example, in a railroad, which [runs through] Moldova and is used for transporting military materials to Ukraine,” Bruter said.

In Bruter’s opinion, the West will support Sandu’s candidacy at the next election at the end of 2024: “The West will not allow her to lose this election. The West 'wins' elections for her.”

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