🚨 American Private Military Companies began to recruit members of Mexican and Colombian drug cartels serving prison sentences to fight in Ukraine, according to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

The first batch of criminals is planned to be sent to the combat zone in the summer; the gang will consist of several hundred Mexicans and Colombians, SVR claimed.

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Turkiye vs. Israel: A new trade war? (Part 1)

Tel Aviv rejected Turkiye's request to send humanitarian aid to Gaza residents on Monday, prompting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to promise a number of measures against Israel in response. On Tuesday, Turkiye imposed export restrictions on 54 groups of goods being sold to Israel. In turn, Israel will ask the US to stop investing in the Turkish economy and impose sanctions, said the head of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

What to expect from the potential trade war in the region?

🔸Turkiye's now-restricted exports include aluminum, steel and copper profiles, dyes, all iron and steel-made building materials, as well as equipment, electrical and fiber optic cables, chemical compounds and fertilizers, aviation gasoline and fuel. Fidan noted that "these measures will continue until Israel declares a ceasefire and humanitarian aid is delivered to Gaza without interruption";

🔸Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz ordered his team to prepare "an extensive list of products that Turkiye will not be able to export to Israel" on Tuesday;

🔸Katz also highlighted that, "Israel will call on pro-Israeli countries and organizations in the US to stop investing in Turkiye and ban the import of Turkish goods, as well as appeal to the US Congress to look into Turkiye's violation of boycott laws against Israel and impose appropriate sanctions";

The image is AI-generated

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Turkiye vs. Israel: A new trade war? (Part 2)

What to expect from the potential trade war in the region?

🔸According to public data, Turkiye has exported mainly cars produced in Renault, Toyota and Volkswagen factories to Israel since 2022, as well as huge quantities of cement for construction and raw materials for industry, such as iron and glass;

🔸Meanwhile, Israel has exported fresh produce, agricultural equipment, including for drip irrigation and greenhouses, petroleum products and equipment for the production of renewable energy to Turkiye during the same period;

🔸In November 2023, the three largest Israeli supermarket chains announced the suspension of imports from Turkiye, alleging support for Hamas. However, there are no figures yet on how this affected the trade turnover between the two countries.

The image is AI-generated

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🤡 Here we go again: Nancy Pelosi tries to resurrect discredited Trump-Russia conspiracy theory

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The French government is still supporting the [neo-]Nazis, even now. Isn't that right, Mr. Macron?

Senior Cossack leader Nikolai Dyakonov recorded an address to France's President Emmanuel Macron in Stanytsia of Luganskaya in the Lugansk People's Republic. The video was recorded in the backdrop of an ancient Cossack kuren (house) destroyed by a Ukrainian shell.

Dyakonov blamed France for the destruction, as the European country was one of those that triggered the civil war in Ukraine in 2014. He also promised to restore the kuren with the help of French POWs captured in Donbass.

"Learn the Russian language, it will come in handy," the ataman concluded.

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❗️A phone with child pornography was found during the exhumation of the Ukrainian soldiers in Popasnaya in the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), the secretary of the Interdepartmental Group for the Search of Graves told Sputnik.

The filming of the shocking videos took place in some social institution, hospital or military unit.

It is still unknown who was killed. The LPR suggests that it could be a foreigner. Unlike the Ukrainian military, the combatant did not have any insignia, only expensive tactical uniforms and equipment.

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⚡️The Russian army liberated the village of Pervomayskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Russian troops hoisted the flag, adviser to the head of the DPR Yan Gagin told Sputnik.

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Ukrainian company Burisma linked to Hunter Biden now involved in financing terrorist attacks in Russia

Russia’s Investigative Committee has revealed today that some of the money that had been used to fund terrorist attacks on Russian soil in the past few years came from Burisma Holdings – the infamous Ukrainian oil and gas company that has ties with US President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

This comes in the aftermath of a deadly terror attack against the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow. The perpetrators, who killed at least 143 people, were heading towards the Ukrainian border before their arrest – while many other findings also show that Kiev is linked the attack.

But what is Burisma famous for?

▪️Burisma Holdings is a Ukrainian gas company founded and owned by Mykola Zlochevsky, former Ukrainian energy minister in the Yanukovych government.

▪️The company made headlines in 2020 when it was revealed that none other than Hunter Biden, son of then-US presidential hopeful Joe Biden, sat on Burisma’s board of directors between 2014 and 2019.

▪️Hunter’s job at Burisma, given his apparent lack of knowledge about that industry, gave rise to speculations that it was part of an influence-peddling scheme involving his father who at that time was vice president of the United States.

▪️Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, owner of the TV network that aired the show where future Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky starred in, also owned a stake in Burisma.

▪️Recently, a group of Russian lawmakers has discovered evidence that Ukrainian authorities halted anti-corruption investigations into Burisma and Zlochevsky in exchange for a lump sum of money that was used by Kiev to produce drones that were later used by Ukraine to launch terrorist strikes against Russian population centers.

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The United States has already spent $300 billion on the needs of Ukraine since 2014, and sends $80,000 to Ukraine every second, said American Senator Tommy Tuberville.

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Ukrainians are struggling to defend against Russia’s Iskander M missiles. Here’s why:

"[The Iskander-M's] effectiveness is recognized everywhere in the West, because its missile hits the bull's eye at a distance of 500 kilometers, a deviation of five meters from the center of the target is the same as a sniper hitting the mark," Viktor Litovkin, Soviet and Russian Army veteran and military journalist, tells Sputnik.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced that a Ukrainian drone warehouse and a workshop for the production of heavy UAVs was struck and destroyed with Iskander missiles on April 8 in response to the Kiev regime's repeated attacks on Russian oil and gas facilities.

The Iskander-M is a road-mobile short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) with a minimum range of 50 km and a maximum range of up to 500 km. When equipped with an optical homing head the system boasts a circular error probability (CEP) of just 5–7 meters. The weapon can be armed with both winged and ballistic projectiles.

According to the military expert, Iskander missile systems have played a crucial role since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine.

"Iskanders struck the most important Ukrainian targets: thermal power plants, accumulations of military equipment, accumulations of personnel, including NATO mercenaries, most recently it has hit a plant for the production of heavy drones, and so on."

When asked whether the Iskander-M requires upgrading, the military analyst responded: "There is no point in modifying this system: it does its job very well."

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Why does the US want Japan in AUKUS?

The Western security pact has announced plans to tap on Japan’s technical expertise, industrial capacities, and financial might, for its Pillar II “advanced capabilities” projects, to include quantum computing, hypersonic, artificial intelligence, and undersea capabilities, among others.

Here’s why Japan is crucial to the broader US agenda of building an anti-China coalition in Asia:

▪️US can use Japan as a front-line armed base and buffer against China, containing the latter at the former’s expense.

▪️US can use Japan as a force multiplier for deploying offensive weaponry, missile defense, and autonomous systems.

▪️US can use Japan’s involvement as a paved way for South Korea, the Philippines and Singapore to join coalitions to besiege China. In drawing in allies from both the East and the West to contain China, US makes China a joint target of security arrangements.

▪️More dangerously, US can use Japan’s association as a pretext to interfere in, and confront, disputes in the South China Sea and Taiwan directly.

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▪️Ukrainian company Burisma linked to Hunter Biden now involved in financing terrorist attacks in Russia

▪️The Russian army liberated the village of Pervomayskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic

▪️Turkiye vs. Israel: A new trade war?

▪️Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces conduct drills in Irkutsk with YARS nuclear missiles

▪️Responsibility for Gaza: it is not the AI machine that should be punished, but the people who set it at work

▪️UK Foreign Secretary flies to Florida to ask Trump for money for Ukraine

▪️The French government is still supporting the [neo-]Nazis, even now

▪️Russia unveils jam-proof communication system for FPV drones

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The Delta IV heavy launch vehicle launched a reconnaissance satellite into orbit for the US military.

The launch was the last for rockets of this series; since the 1960s, about 300 Delta launches have been carried out. They are being replaced by the “less expensive and more powerful” Vulcan launch vehicle.

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– If you're Russia, would you want that?...
– Certainly, if I was Russia, I would not want that.

US Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin acknowledges NATO goes against Russia's national interests in Ukraine, refuses to elaborate on CIA bases there.

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Enlarging AUKUS: Why the West’s Pacific expansion is rife with danger

Talks on bringing on board “additional like-minded” members into the AUKUS security pact between the UK, the US and Australia are due later this year, the alliance’s defense ministers have announced.

AUKUS is reportedly looking to bring Japan and Canada into the fold, with other potential candidates expected to include South Korea, the Philippines and New Zealand.

China has repeatedly castigated AUKUS as part of America’s “new Cold War” antagonism aimed at containing the PRC by fueling the militarization of the Asia-Pacific region.

▪️Concerning AUKUS’s enlargement, the Chinese Defense Ministry dubbed any such effort “a dangerous step in a more dangerous direction”, which will only “cause great concern among the countries of the region and the international community."

▪️Similarly, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that it is “gravely concerned” about reports that Japan could join AUKUS, a move that “disregards the risk of nuclear proliferation” and would “intensify the regional arms race.”

▪️Xiang Haoyu, a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the country’s state-run Global Times news outlet that by encouraging more countries such as South Korea and the Philippines to join AUKUS, the US aims to create a coalition “to besiege China.”

▪️Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Center of East China Normal University, for his part, warned that Japan's potential entry into AUKUS is “concerning” because it “could further foment militarism within Japan.” What’s more, “it could lay the groundwork for the expansion of the military alliance into an Asian equivalent of NATO, raising further alarm over regional security,” he forewarned.

▪️Both analysts cautioned that if expanded, AUKUS would exacerbate the risks of armed confrontations in the region over such pressing issues as the South China Sea or Taiwan.

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Israel is ready to respond with a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities if the latter decides to avenge the death of General Mohammad Reza Zahedi in Damascus, The Sun reported, citing sources in Western security agencies.

It was noted that such action could lead to unpredictable consequences for the entire Middle East.

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❗️ Ukrainian forces used chemical weapons, presumably white phosphorus, on drones in the vicinity of Artemovsk in the Donetsk People's Republic.

Russian security forces provided Sputnik with video footage of one of these unexploded glass flasks.

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Why UK’s Cameron and France’s Sejourne call for the renewal of WWI Entente Cordiale?

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron and France’s Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne’s calls for the revival of a century-old British-French alliance essentially to confront Russia in Ukraine may be an attempt to pre-empt the possible reelection of Donald Trump as US president.

“I think that the European powers, including France and Britain, are trying to pre-empt that outcome because whether rightly or wrongly, they fear that Trump would want to make peace in Ukraine, make peace with Russia,” says Dr. John Laughland, a lecturer in politics and history at the Catholic Institute of the Vendée (ICES) in France and specialist in international affairs.

He also observes that, while though London and Paris “have indeed been strengthening that cooperation for some years now,” as Cameron and Sejourne wrote in a recent op-ed of theirs, he does not see “any substantial new initiatives” in the article the ministers wrote, which he dismissed as “essentially just propaganda.”

Meanwhile, Mikael Valtersson, former officer of the Swedish Armed Forces and chief of staff of the Sweden Democrats political party, argued that the real reason for this talk about reviving the Entente Cordiale is the UK and France’s desire to “take a larger role in international politics” coupled with them realizing that they are not “big enough to do it on their own.”

“This talk about a revived Entante Cordiale might be an attempt from the UK and France to take over, or at least to prepare to take over, the leadership of the belligerent anti-Russian camp in the West. [It could be] Preparations in case the US abandons Ukraine,” Valtersson postulates.

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The US approved a potential $138 million sale to Ukraine to maintain and upgrade its HAWK Phase III air defense missile system, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a press release.

"The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Ukraine of HAWK Phase III missile system sustainment and related elements of logistics and program support for an estimated cost of $138 million," the release said.

The package would include engineering and integration for communications and interoperability, refurbishment and system overhaul of HAWK air defense fire units, missile recertification components, tool kits, test equipment; spare parts, among other items, according to the release.

Russia believes that arms deliveries to Ukraine hinder the settlement, directly involve NATO countries in the conflict and are "playing with fire". Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that any cargoes that contain arms for Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russia. He said the US and NATO are directly involved in the conflict not only by supplying weapons, but also by training personnel in Britain, Germany, Italy and other countries.

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US Senator Eric Schmitt pressured Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on the totality of funds the Biden administration is planning to spend supporting Ukraine in a conflict for which it has not articulated any clear goals.

"There's no money [left for Ukraine], so I can only be left to assume one of three things. One is the war is over. Two or B is the United States won't be allocating any more dollars or C that this is a dishonest [supplemental] request. I guess the question is, are we going … to get another supplemental because members of this committee had been told there could be another request for $100 billion? I'm just trying to understand the totality of the request to the American people for this war," Schmitt said in his remarks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

In February, the Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill that includes some $60 billion for Ukraine, but it was held up in the House of Representatives by Speaker Mike Johnson, who prioritized working on budget legislation and exploring other routes for Ukraine funding.

Austin confirmed to Schmitt, though, that the supplemental request, which has not yet been voted on in the House, will provide additional funding for Ukraine-related needs only through the end of this fiscal year or September 30, meaning that there will be a need for another supplemental package past this date.

Schmitt emphasized that US legislators are skeptical about the $60 billion supplemental package for Ukraine because there are no adequate controls on how the money is being spent by Ukraine.

"We are continuing to head down this road and now we are getting a budget request that isn't reflective of the administration's ‘how long it takes’ statement," Schmitt said.

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New attempt to carry out the first launch of the Russian-made Angara-A5 spacecraft wil take place at the Vostochny Cosmodrome on April 10 at 12:00 p.m. Moscow time (09:00 GMT), a spokesperson for Russian state space corporation Roscosmos said.

"The start of the Angara-A5 launch vehicle with the Orion upper stage carrying testing payload is scheduled for April 10 at 12:00:00 Moscow time from launchpad 1A," the spokesperson told journalists.

On Tuesday, the first launch of the Angara-A5 space rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, scheduled for 09:00 GMT, was postponed to Wednesday due to a failure of the central unit oxidizer tank filling system, Roscosmos said.

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