❗️Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to Iran over the death of President Raisi:

"Seyed Ebrahim Raisi was an outstanding politician whose whole life was devoted to serving the Motherland. He rightfully enjoyed the high respect of his compatriots and considerable prestige abroad. As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good-neighborly relations between our countries, and made great efforts to bring them to the level of strategic partnership," Putin said.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping sent his condolences over death of Iranian president

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🇵🇰Pakistan declared May 20 a day of mourning for the death of Iranian President Raisi.

🇱🇧Lebanon declared three days of mourning.

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👉LIVE: Broadcast from London's High Court, where Julian Assange extradition appeal is being heard.

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The Russian military attacked hangars in Ochakov, where Ukrainian forces were hiding HIMARS MLRS systems and long-range ATACMS, Nikolayev's underground coordinator Sergei Lebedev told Sputnik, citing his colleagues.

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❗️The funeral ceremony of the Iranian president and his delegation will be held in Tabriz on May 21.

Iran declares five days of mourning for late President Raisi, Supreme Leader Khamenei announced.

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Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has been appointed acting foreign minister following the death of former minister Hosein Amir Abdollahian in a helicopter crash.

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📹💥The Russian artillery crew of the Giatsint-B howitzer destroyed a US-made 155mm M-777 howitzer and a field ammunition depot on the right bank of the Dnepr in the Kherson region.

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A crowd in front of the house of the late Imam of the Friday Mosque in Tabriz, Iran.

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The strike on the outskirts of Lugansk was carried out using a French-made missile, security forces told Sputnik.

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📹 Kharkov border guards prepared engineering structures, dugouts, and trenches using improvised means, captured border guard Andrei Sholanki told Sputnik.

"The defense of the Kharkov region is null, it just doesn't exist. The conditions were subpar, there were no firing points, there were no shelters, there was nothing."

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"No signals have been received from Tehran," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said about the possibility of Russian special services participating in the investigation of the disaster in which the Iranian president died.

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Julian Assange's wife Stella arrived at the London court for the announcement of the final decision on the extradition of the journalist.

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📹 The aftermath of the Ukrainian shelling of a settlement near Lugansk using French-made missiles.

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❗️Russian troops have completely liberated the settlement of Belogorovka in the Lugansk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry announced.

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❗️The Tsentr battlegroup improved the tactical situation during the day. Ukrainian losses amounted to more than 330 soldiers, one tank, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, including two "Marder" and "Bradley".

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

▪️ The Zapad combat group improved the tactical situation during the day. Ukrainian losses amounted to 60 servicemen;

▪️ The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 340 servicemen and three tanks during the day as a result of the actions of the Yug combat group;

▪️ Units of the Vostok combat group repulsed the counterattack of the 72nd mechanized brigade assault group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the enemy lost up to 120 soldiers;

▪️ The air defense system shot down 45 Ukrainian UAVs, one Hammer air-to-air bomb, four HIMARS and Alder shells and one Neptune missile;

▪️ Russian troops destroyed Ukraine's IRIS-T radar complex and S-125 SAM launcher, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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Iranian President Raisi predicted NATO collapse in speech to Russian State Duma

On January 2022, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi addressed the Russian State Duma during an official visit to Moscow. He criticized the actions of the Western alliance and predicted that the current behavior of the bloc will lead to its eventual collapse.

"NATO is infiltrating the geographical space of various countries under various pretexts and covers, threatens independent nations, spreads the so-called 'Western model'. They oppose independent democracies, oppose the self-identification of peoples, cultures, traditions - all of this is on the NATO agenda, and this is a lie. We see the deceit in their behavior, and this behavior will ultimately lead to the alliance's disintegration," he said.

Raisi condemned the West's efforts to impose hegemony on other countries, including through sanctions, and called on independent states to unite against this aggression.

"Currently, we see that the strategy of dominance has failed and US is in its weakest position. The power of independent states is further developed. We are going through a historical period of development."

Raisi also stressed that the Western countries will not lose their intention to continue their expansionist policies. According to him, their aim is to weaken independent states by imposing economic sanctions and destabilizing the internal situation.

Iranian President Raisi died on May 19 in a helicopter crash in the province of East Azerbaijan. Iranian Foreign Minister Hosein Amir Abdollahian, Governor of Iran's East Azerbaijan Province Malik Rahmati, and Imam of the city of Tabriz Mohammad Ali al-Hashem also died in the helicopter crash.

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Fico assassination attempt ‘disgusting yet predictable’ Margarita Simonyan says

"Disgusting but predictable if you know the history of the 20th century and the history of how the West acts. This is the assassination attempt of Fico, who said that rampant Nazism in Ukraine led to the special military op and that Putin had no other choice. He said so publicly. There you go. [...] This is an act of intimidation. To kill him to intimidate others... to scare others," Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Sputnik's parent media group Rossiya Segodnya, said during a TV-program of a Russian journalist Vladimir Solovyov.

The public will try to be assured that the attacker was alone, as it already happened with other high-profile assassination attempts in the West, she stressed.

"And we will of course now be told that it was a deranged loner, as we are told in all such cases. Let's remember who killed [American President John F.] Kennedy? Everyone knows that Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald, and everyone knows that in fact he was not, or at least [Oswald] was not the only one. And how convenient it turns out - JFK's assassin was killed two days after JFK was killed, and the assassin of JFK's assassin died in prison afterwards. So what? 'Man is mortal'. Kennedy died, his killer died, his killer's killer died. Nothing will ever be found out, nothing will ever be known," Simonyan said.

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❗️Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone with Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber and expressed condolences to the Iranian people over the death of the president, the Kremlin said.

The two sides stressed their mutual commitment to further consistent strengthening of comprehensive Russian-Iranian cooperation.

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Late Iran foreign minister’s drive to bolster ties with Saudi Arabia was ‘thorn in Israel’s side’ – professor

In terms of the consequences of the passing of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister, “let’s not forget Hossein Ameer Abdullahian was a seasoned diplomat,” Dr Alexander Azadgan, US-based professor of International Political Economy and chief geopolitical counsel with the Serbian Center for Strategic Studies, told Sputnik.

Ameer Abdullahian was “quite instrumental in his shuttle diplomacy in bringing Iran and Saudi Arabia together, a thorn at the side of Israel,” Azadgan stressed.

“Many, perhaps, may not be aware of the tremendous hard work and diplomacy that Dr Ameer Abdullahian played in terms of avoiding war between Iran and Azerbaijan. It's so ironic that this helicopter crashed at the Iran-Azerbaijan border,” the professor added.

According to him, “It's fascinating, how important of a role this country [Iran] has in the grand geopolitical games. Iran is a signatory to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and it has just became a member of the BRICS”, which also includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

“Iran wants to be instrumental in the Road and Belt initiative of the Chinese. Iran has very close relationship with Russia. And we all know the tremendous tension between Iran and the US during the past 45 years,” Azadgan said.

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