Statements made by Western politicians about a possible sending of their military contingents to Ukraine are "extremely irresponsible" and can be seen as an escalation of the conflict, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergey Naryshkin has told Sputnik.

"These are extremely irresponsible statements by Western politicians. And even the statements can be regarded as an escalation of the conflict on their part," Naryshkin said, commenting on the increasing frequency of statements about the possibility of sending Western militaries to Ukraine.

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China and Serbia form partnership after depraved CIA attack in Belgrade (Part 1)

May 7, 1999 is a date known across Serbia as the day the United States conducted a deadly bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. The strike in the capital city, the only one planned in its totality by the US Central Intelligence Agency, killed three Chinese citizens sheltering there and injured at least 20.

The bombing occurred amidst NATO’s 78-day assault on the former Yugoslavia, which killed hundreds. Decades later increased rates of cancer and birth defects are still observed in the country after the alliance’s use of radioactive depleted uranium during its operation.

Serbian-American journalist Nebojsa Malic joined Sputnik’s Fault Lines program as the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attack is observed, an occasion acknowledged during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s diplomatic trip to Serbia.

“The NATO bombing was super controversial,” noted Malic. “The people who were killed were Chinese journalists that had taken refuge in the embassy because a lot of journalists had previously been at Serbian television, but that was hit in April of '99 during the night, and NATO declared it a legitimate military target after the fact. And nobody prosecuted anybody for war crimes.”

NATO’s attack on the former Yugoslavia, conducted after the UN Security Council’s rejection of the proposal, was illegal under international law. The military alliance justified the assault under the pretense of “humanitarian intervention” amid ethnic strife in the region. The event, along with NATO’s 1995 attack in Bosnia and Herzegovina, signaled the unmasking of NATO as an openly offensive alliance after the end of the Cold War.

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China and Serbia form partnership after depraved CIA attack in Belgrade (Part 2)

“For 40 years… a clandestine intelligence and armed operations organization [has existed] in several member states,” read a European Parliament resolution in 1990 acknowledging the US Central Intelligence Agency’s Operation Gladio. “Military secret services (or uncontrolled branches thereof) were involved in serious cases of terrorism and crime.”

Modern observers draw parallels between Operation Gladio and NATO countries’ backing of jihadist organizations in the Middle East, demonstrating that Western powers are willing to covertly support violence and terrorism for political ends. But as the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s briefly left the United States as the world’s only superpower, the military alliance openly engaged in such acts of terror, leaving a deep impression upon those who remember 1999’s criminal attack on China’s embassy in Belgrade, Serbia.

“When president Xi actually wrote about it in the oldest newspaper in the Balkans he named the three people who died [and] he said ‘we will never forget and we will never allow this to happen again,’” Malic explained. “The entire op-ed was basically saying, ‘we have an ironclad friendship with Serbia, we agree on a lot of international issues, and we're going to work together for a more just, equitable and fair globalization in a multipolar world.’”

The two countries’ partnership has resulted in a strong economic relationship, with China becoming Serbia’s largest foreign investor. “The Chinese have been able to leverage some of the steelworks and mines that were abandoned by the West [during the 1990s] as being unprofitable whereas the Chinese have made them very profitable,” Malic noted.

Partnership with China promises to restore Serbia’s industry and infrastructure, with a Chinese-built high-speed rail line linking Belgrade with the city of Novi Sad recently being unveiled.

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The head of Moldova's Gagauz autonomous region Evgenia Gutsul and the leader of the Moldovan opposition 'Shor' party Ilan Shor took a piece of the Eternal Flame to be carried to Moldova.

On the eve of Victory Day, the politicians laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden.

“Today is a great day. Because today, together with my colleagues, we attended a very morally important event for us. Today we are taking a piece of the flame to our native Moldova. We will give it to absolutely every region where there will be a procession and honoring in celebration of Victory Day,” Shor said after the laying of flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

“We consider ourselves and we are descendants of the great victors, because it was the Victory of one big, great country. Yes, we had many different peoples and nationalities, but the Victory was one for all. Today, unfortunately, there are callous people in [Moldova] who try to rewrite history, but we will never allow this. For me personally this is a very important day, because both of my grandfathers reached Berlin. I am proud of this and I will always be proud of this and I pass it on to my children,” Shor emphasized.

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The Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to attack an oil depot in Russia's southern Krasnodar Territory with drones. Six unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) crashed on the territory of the facility causing a fire, the regional response center said in a statement on Telegram.

"Early on Thursday, the criminal Kiev regime attempted to attack a civilian facility - an oil depot in the village of Yurovka near the city of Anapa using unmanned aerial vehicles... About 6 UAVs were repelled, but a few drones fell on the territory of the oil depot. As a result, a fire broke out and several tanks were damaged," the statement said.

The center said 62 people and 20 pieces of equipment are involved in extinguishing the fire. No injuries were reported per preliminary information.

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The United States' defenses against hypersonic weapons are inadequate, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space and Missile Defense John Hill said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

“We have some systems to defend in the terminal stage, but we need more,” Hill said Wednesday, responding to a question about his response during a hypothetical launch of a "hypersonic missile from Murmansk at six thousand miles per hour.”

“Our hypersonic defenses are inadequate,” he admitted.

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Following the signing of a cooperation agreement with Russia's Promsvyazbank, Moldova's autonomous region of Gagauzia is negotiating cooperation with other Russian banks, Yevgenia Gutsul, the head of the region, told Sputnik.

"We are in talks, of course. We are working with Promsvyazbank only for now. We do not rule out that we can [work] with others as well," Gutsul said.

On April 9, Gutsul signed an agreement with Russia's Promsvyazbank aimed at establishing a long-term partnership and developing financial and credit cooperation, in particular, for the issuance of Russian Mir cards to retirees and public sector workers in the region to receive monthly financial aid. According to the plan of the local authorities, all retirees had already received access to Russia's Mir payment system by May 1, and some of them have already received the additional payment to their pensions in the amount of 2,000 lei ($113).

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Russian air defenses destroyed two Ukrainian airplane-type drones over the Bryansk region, Governor Alexander Bogomaz said.

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

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Hapless President Biden caught between unhappy base, unrepentant Israel

The US president has suffered politically while trying to satisfy both the Israel lobby and its critics, solidifying perceptions of his weakness and impotence.

“The United States is the only country perhaps in the world that has so much leverage over Israel,” noted international relations expert Hasan Unal on Sputnik’s Fault Lines program. “[Biden is] not a good juggler. He looks terribly confused as to what to do from the very beginning… Israel doesn't take the Biden administration seriously.”

“I think there is also the dimension of multipolarity,” he added, claiming that other global powers are now playing an unprecedented role in the Palestine-Israel conflict. “For instance, in the past we never had China taking so much of an interest in what is going on in the Middle East and particularly in the Israelis and Palestinians.”

Beijing brokered a meeting of Palestinian officials recently, attempting to achieve reconciliation between major political groups. Moscow hosted a similar summit in February, insisting on a solution to the long-running Palestine-Israel conflict with support from within the Arab world.

When Israel and Iran traded strikes against each other in April, the United States reportedly called for China to use its influence to prevent Tehran from retaliating for the attack on its consulate in Damascus. Observers noted that the incident demonstrates the rising influence of Moscow and Beijing as the United States’ hapless leader struggles to project power globally.

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An office of a non-profit organization (NPO) to promote cooperation with Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will be located in Moscow, Moldovan opposition politician Ilan Shor, the leader of 'Shor' party, told Sputnik.

Previously, Shor told Sputnik that he was creating an NPO to promote ties with Russia and the EAEU, adding that Russia is the only possibility for Moldova to recover from the severe economic crisis.

"Of course, there will be an office... It will be in Moscow," the politician clarified.

Shor explained that all organizational and practical aspects will be settled in the coming week, adding that programs are being discussed now, and a clear plan of action will be ready in the coming days.

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Hard Times for US soft power projection in Africa under Biden

New polling from Gallup suggests China is increasingly gaining favor across Africa as it invests in infrastructure projects throughout the continent as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. Russia also saw an improvement in perceptions of its leadership in the survey, with its median approval rating rising above 75% in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Chad.

Professor Linwood Tauheed suggested the decline in the United States’ favorability may be a response to heavy handed attempts by the Biden administration to convince countries to cut ties with Russia amid its special operation to defend the Donbass republics. Tauheed joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program to discuss the development and Washington’s historical policy towards the African continent.

“This idea of the US wanting to convince these African countries to embrace democratic norms is one thing that certainly leaps out of the page with the US, of course, violating democratic norms or at least the theory of democracy everywhere it goes, and nowhere more so than in Africa,” said Tauheed.

A recent analysis by Responsible Statecraft found that 15 African military officers trained in the United States took part in 12 recent coups across the continent. The US has been criticized for its role in overthrowing a number of prominent historical African leaders such as Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba.

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Russian air defenses shot down 15 Vampire MLRS shells and one UAV overnight over the Belgorod region, two UAVs were destroyed over the Bryansk region, and three more UAVs were shot down over the Kursk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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📹 WATCH LIVE: The Victory Day military parade in Moscow will start in 2 hours, at 7:00 GMT.

Russia’s premier mobile short-range ballistic missile system Iskander-M, premier air and missile defense system S-400 Triumph, and Yars mobile ICBM complex will take part in the parade.

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🇷🇺 Vladimir Putin will take part in the Victory Parade on Red Square today.

The leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Laos, and Guinea-Bissau will be honored guests next to him on the podiums.

A series of talks are scheduled for the afternoon, where Putin will meet with the presidents of Cuba, Laos, and Guinea-Bissau.

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