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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Gagauzia to appeal to Russia among others if Moldova sends troops to region

If Moldova responds militarily to the declaration of independence of Moldova's autonomous region of Gagauzia, the autonomy will apply for help to everyone, including Russia, Gagauzia head Yevgenia Gutsul has told Sputnik.

Gutsul said last week that the autonomous region will declare independence if Moldovan authorities decide to unite with Moldova.

"I hope it will not come to this. I hope for the common sense of our authorities. But if it comes to this, we will appeal to all countries, of course, including the Russian Federation," Gutsul said when asked a relevant question.

Gutsul added that Gagauzia sees no prerequisites that Russia wants to attack Moldova despite statements being made by authorities in Moldova.

"The President of the Republic of Moldova [Maia Sandu], during international trips, discusses some kind of military conflicts, that Russia wants to attack Moldova, although we do not see such prerequisites," Gutsul said.

Moldovan authorities are doing everything to create a worrisome atmosphere in the country, she said, adding that residents constantly hear about some "call of connoscripts" and agreements with NATO.

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Switzerland's largest party in parl't demands Bern's withdrawal from Council of Europe

The Swiss People's Party (UDC), which holds the majority in parliament, has said in a release that it demands the country's withdrawal from the Council of Europe after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Bern was not doing enough to combat climate change.

"The ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is a scandal. Ideology and denial of reality clearly prevail in European courts. The task of the courts is to establish the law, not to engage in politics. Moreover, the judges in Strasbourg did not even take into account the fact that Switzerland is a model country for reducing CO2 emissions. UDC strongly condemns this interference by foreign judges and demands Switzerland's withdrawal from the Council of Europe," the party's release said on Tuesday.

Four women and a Swiss association, Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz, had complained to the ECHR that they consider that Switzerland's authorities are not taking sufficient action to mitigate the effects of climate change on their living conditions and health.

On Tuesday, the ECHR fined a state for its inaction on climate change in the first ruling of its kind. The court ruled that "the Swiss Confederation had failed to comply with its duties ... under the Convention concerning climate change" in terms of implementing the relevant domestic regulatory framework, including limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

The court ruled that there had been violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, including under Article 8 — a right to a state's effective protection from the serious adverse effects of climate change on lives. However, the court ruled that four women did not fulfill the victim-status criteria and declared their complaints inadmissible.

The court also ruled that Bern was to pay the association 80,000 euros (nearly $87,000) in respect of costs and expenses, the ruling said.

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‘Russiagate’ about seizing power as much as stopping Trump

The US establishment disproven conspiracy that former US President Donald Trump was controlled by the Kremlin is about seizing control of social media and the internet as much as it is designed to harm Trump’s political ambitions, Serbian-American journalist and columnist Nebojsa Malic told Sputnik’s Fault Lines.

Malic argues that the “completely fabricated” Russiagate conspiracy was “not just to sabotage the Trump presidency, but to literally take over these social networks, [which] all these big tech people thought was going to be this lovely garden of earthly delights and turn it into a prison.”

“Russiagate was the pretext that started this entire ball rolling, and it wasn’t even based on anything real. And now they want to do it all over again,” Malic explained.

People are asking “How is [giving weapons to Ukraine] helping freedom and democracy, exactly?” Malic contended. “And [the establishment’s] response is ‘shut up, Russian Agent.’”

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Israel will have to drop its demand that Hamas be destroyed because it is an “unachievable goal” to destroy something that is “essentially an ideology,” the host of The Left is Dead podcast, James Carey asserted on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour.

“As far as Hamas goes, we know they immediately flood back into areas that Israel leaves and they immediately start running the government, as they are wont to do, and as they were elected to do,” Carey observed. “[Hamas] may not be winning, but they aren’t losing, they’re still there. It’s going to be impossible to kill what is essentially an ideology in the first place.”

“I think the thing is, these are unachievable goals,” Carey added, referring to both Israel’s goals in Gaza and the goals of the US in Ukraine. “Clearly Hamas has done well enough that they’ve survived to this point.”

“I don’t think [Israelis] thought Gaza would last seven months,” he added later.

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Moldova's autonomous region of Gagauzia is suffering colossal losses from an economic war unleashed by Moldovan authorities against the region, Gagauzia head Yevgenia Gutsul has told Sputnik.

"In fact, [Gagauzia is suffering] colossal losses, but we are combating it. That is why we are here today so that, despite everything that authorities in Chisinau are doing, the residents of Gagauzia do not feel this pressure and these losses that Gagauzia's autonomy and our partners are suffering now," she said.

She recalled the draft law that the authorities in Chisinau had tried to pass, which would have provided for the independent payment of value-added tax (VAT) by the region to economic agents.

"They wanted to reduce the budget of Gagauzia by 200 million lei [$11.38 million]. This is a quarter of our Gagauzia's autonomy's own budget. This would mean a complete bankruptcy of Gagauzia's autonomy because we would be deprived of many social projects," Gutsul added.

The official said that, fortunately, lawmakers of the Moldovan parliament managed to defend the old order of payments in the country's constitutional court, but the law was still in force from November 1, 2023, to February 22, 2024.

"All the payments that were collected on VAT, we have to pay them, but we are working so that the tax office also reviews all the payments to economic agents so that everything is in accordance with the law and everything is paid as the law says. If these payments were from November 1 to February 2024, we will pay them all," Gutsul said.

Gutsul also stated that citizens of Moldova are against the country's accession to the European Union as they would like to live in a sovereign and neutral country that would be friends with its neighbors.

She said Moldovans will vote in a referendum in October on whether they want Moldova to join the EU.

"I can say [on behalf of] the majority of the Republic of Moldova that the people would not want this. We would like to live in a sovereign, neutral and independent country, where we will be friends with all our neighbors: with the Russian Federation, with Ukraine, with Romania and with the European Union," Gutsul said.

Moldova does not need any military blocs, including NATO, she said, adding: "We are opposed to this."

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The meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese President Xi Jinping, particularly right after Yellen’s visit, is a “message” to the West that China “will have the back of Russia” if the conflict in Ukraine is escalated by the West, lawyer and journalist Dimitri Lascarus told Sputnik’s The Critical Hour.

“The timing of announcements such as these tell you a lot,” Lascarus said, pointing to not only Yellen’s visit but the increasingly provocative attacks on Russia by Ukraine’s intelligence services such as the mass shooting outside of Moscow which Russia has blamed Ukraine and its backers in the US and UK for, among other provocations.

“I think [China is] sending a message that China will have the back of Russia if this escalates. And, no one should have any illusions about that,” Lascarus explained.

“Of course, we have this ongoing drama with little Napoleon in France [French President] Emmanuel Macron, talking about sending a few thousand French troops to their deaths in Odessa,” Lascarus recalled. “I wouldn't be surprised at all if it has been interpreted by both the Russian and Chinese governments as an attempt to provoke Russia into a direct attack on a NATO country.”

“Every day, Western governments are acting in a way which makes this partnership even more compelling to the Russian and Chinese governments,” he added.

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📹💥 Russian troops destroyed camouflaged Ukrainian strongholds near Kupyansk.

Assault units of the 1st Guards Tank Army struck the Ukrainian militants' positions with RPG-A "Shmel" hand-held flamethrowers. The camouflaged fortified strongholds of the enemy were destroyed.

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The Russian Armed Forces attacked a position of Ukrainian forces with about 300 military personnel on the coast of Ochakov, Sergei Lebedev, the coordinator of the Nikolayev underground, told Sputnik.

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📹 Russian Su-25 attack aircraft destroyed a Ukrainian military stronghold in the north of the Donetsk People's Republic.

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🥴 The Moon is made of gas?

During Monday's solar eclipse, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who once headed the House Science Committee's space subcommittee, told a group of students that the moon is a made up of gases.

"Sometimes, you need to take the opportunity just to come out and see a full moon is that complete-rounded circle, which is made up mostly of gases," she claimed.

The congresswoman also said that the sun's heat makes it impossible to get close to it, while the moon is "more manageable."

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The headquarters of NATO's ground forces in Northern Europe will be established in Finland, Norwegian Defense Minister Bjorn Arild Gram said in an interview with the Finnish newspaper IltaLehti.

The publication notes that the headquarters will be located in the Finnish city of Mikkeli, which is about 140 kilometers from the border with Russia. It will report to the North Atlantic Command headquarters in Norfolk, USA.

Russia has repeatedly pointed out NATO's aggressive course towards Moscow: the military bloc is aimed at expansion into the post-Soviet space and confrontation. Such a policy of the North Atlantic Alliance cannot bring greater security to the region, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

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