What’s behind US Air Force’s snap Minuteman III test launch plans?

US Air Force Global Strike Command will conduct two test launches of its Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles from Vanderberg Space Force Base this coming week. The tests come amid raging tensions between Russia and NATO amid the escalating proxy war in Ukraine, but likely aren’t worth panicking over, observers have told Sputnik.

💬 “There have been over 300 [Minuteman III] test launches over the last 50 years. So it’s something that happens periodically and it’s a routine training type exercise. Nothing special and I wouldn’t read into this at all,” retired US Army Colonel and international and military affairs observer Earl Rasmussen said.

Aleksei Borzenko, a veteran Russian military journalist and deputy chief editor of the Literary Russia newspaper, agrees. “I think the US is conducting an audit of its nuclear warhead-launching missiles. The fact is that they have not conducted any tests for a very long time.”

Borzenko recalled that Russia tests its strategic missiles on average once or twice a year to ensure readiness.

“The Americans have been sitting on what they have,” the observer said, referencing the Minuteman III’s aging status. “Many of these missiles are very old, with these developments dating back to the 70s and 80s. Therefore, they just want to test this missile and gradually modernize their nuclear forces with new missiles.”

Asked whether the launches should be seen with apprehension by Russia, Borzenko said the answer is yes, at least to some extent, since it means the Americans have returned to a field they have not tinkered with in a long time and begun their arsenal’s modernization to “put their nuclear missiles in order.”

That said, Borzenko stressed that at the current stage, US strategic rocketry is lagging behind Russia, “because we have been working in this area for a long time, and have had no failures, with all the latest launches showing that our rockets work perfectly.”

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Hungarian FM Szijjártó: EU strategy on Ukraine has failed, but politicians are not ready to admit it because they ‘want to avoid responsibility’

"They (European politicians - ed.) would like to avoid responsibility. Because the failure of Brussels' policy on the war in Ukraine is not a philosophical statement. It is a fact," said the Hungarian minister in an interview with the Belarusian TV channel ONT.

He emphasised that "it is a fact because this failure has a tangible impact on the lives of ordinary people."

"And if European politicians recognise that they followed the wrong strategy, people will ask the question. OK, which politicians promoted these decisions? What were their motives? What were the consequences and what responsibility should they bear? That's the real question. That is why these European politicians want to avoid responsibility. That is why they are not ready to admit that the current strategy has failed," concluded Szijjártó.

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Poland, Lithuania block Italian goods going to Russia at border

Polish and Lithuanian customs officers are committing arbitrariness by illegally blocking cargoes coming from Italy to Russia at their borders, president of the association of Italian entrepreneurs in Russia (GIM-Unimpresa) Vittorio Torrembini told Sputnik.

"There is clear discrimination on the part of Poland and Lithuania. Their customs officers can, for example, simply block cargoes coming to Russia from Italy, even though the cargoes are unauthorized and all the documents are in order," Torrembini said, adding that "this is nothing short of arbitrary."

At the same time, according to him, they easily pass their own cargoes through the borders.

"Isn't it strange that Lithuania has become one of the main exporters of wine to Russia today? Does Lithuania have wine? Are they the smartest?" asked Torrembini.

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The West daily demands that the Republika Srpska support sanctions against Russia, President Milorad Dodik told Sputnik

"I can't be grateful to Americans who won't even listen to what we think, but try to decide. This is the essence of the problem - they don't talk to us, but they make decisions about us. Every day there is pressure on us to unblock sanctions against Russia," Dodik told Sputnik.

President Dodik also stated that Republika Srpska will not allow Bosnia and Herzegovina to impose countrywide sanctions against Russia.

"There is not a single decision at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina to officially impose sanctions against Russia. The best confirmation of this is my recent meeting with high-ranking Europeans, who said 'when will you impose sanctions against Russia already?'. This means that there are no sanctions, and we will continue like this, although it is a very difficult position," Dodik said.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived on a working visit to Guinea’s capital Conakry, where he is scheduled to meet with the country's leadership, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

Lavrov's previous visit to Guinea was in 2013 and this will be his sixth visit to the African continent in the past two years.

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Guinean Foreign Minister, Morissanda Kouyatéat, has personally greeted Sergey Lavrov at the airport of Guinea's capital Conakry.

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❗️Ukraine prepares provocation in Kherson with staging death of civilians

Ukraine is preparing a provocation in Kherson to stage the deaths of civilians, representatives of the city's pro-Russian resistance have told Sputnik.

"On May 28, a group of documentary filmmakers and war correspondents totaling 13 people arrived from Kiev to the city of Kherson for an operational staging of the Russian army's strikes on the city's civilian infrastructure. During the missile strikes of the Russian armed forces on the places of temporary deployment of the Ukrainian army units, a staging of civilian casualties in medical, educational and other social institutions of the city was planned with further accusation of Russia in the deaths of civilians," the spokesperson said.

According to the representative of the underground, those who arrived in Kherson were trained under the guidance of UK and US specialists.

The resistance member stressed that the group would take photos and videos of the previously destroyed civilian infrastructure and edit staged videos, which would then be published on the Internet, Ukrainian and foreign mass media.

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🇲🇽 Сlaudia Sheinbaum leads the Mexican presidential election with 58.4% of the vote, according to the National Electoral Institute.

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Poland reintroduces buffer zone on border with Belarus

Poland will reintroduce the buffer zone on its border with Belarus as of Tuesday, Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz announced.

"Starting June 4, the buffer zone on the border with Belarus will be restored. It will cover the Gainovsky and Bialystok regions," the minister said. He added that citizens will be prohibited from approaching the buffer zone closer than 200 meters.

Earlier, media reported that an illegal migrant who tried to cross the Polish-Belarusian border stabbed Polish soldier. After the incident, additional troops were deployed near the border.

In 2021, thousands of migrants headed for the EU gathered at the Polish-Belarusian border. Warsaw blamed Minsk for the migration crisis, but Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko denied the accusations, stressing that Poland itself was fueling the refugee crisis by expelling migrants from its territory. Nevertheless, the buffer zone was introduced, but abolished after last year's parliamentary elections.

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In pursuit of cash, distance is no obstacle: Zelensky flies over 9,000 km to beg Philippines for money

After attending the Singapore Security Forum, Zelensky flew to the Philippines, where he met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, whom he plans to invite to the Swiss "peace" summit.

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🔹 Ukraine prepares provocation in Kherson with staging death of civilians

🔹 Watch Russian foreign minister Lavrov starts his tour of Africa with Guinea

🔹 Сlaudia Sheinbaum leads the Mexican presidential election with 58.4% of the vote

🔹 What’s behind US Air Force’s snap Minuteman III test launch plans?

🔹 Why the EU can't admit their strategy on Ukraine has failed?

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Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told visiting Zelensky that the solution to the conflict in Ukraine should suit not only Kiev, but also the rest of the world.

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South Korea will fully suspend military agreement with North Korea

South Korea's National Security Council has decided that it is necessary to fully suspend the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement until trust is restored between Seoul and Pyongyang, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the South Korean presidential office.

Last year, in response to the DPRK's launch of its first military reconnaissance satellite, South Korea suspended a number of points of the inter-Korean military agreement, in particular the resumption of intelligence activities in the area of the Military Demarcation Line.

In response, North Korea announced that it would resume all measures suspended under the 2018 Military Agreement with South Korea, including the deployment of soldiers and weapons in the zone of the Military Demarcation Line.

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🇲🇽The candidate of the Morena party, Claudia Sheinbaum, wins the Mexican presidential election with 58.3% to 60.7% of the vote.

Sheinbaum, 61, was the longtime mayor of Mexico City and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

The current head of state has already congratulated Sheinbaum on her victory.

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⚡️Georgia’s Parliament Speaker signed the much-talked-about and adopted law on foreign agents thereby overturning the president’s veto.

Now, the Georgian Ministry of Justice and the national Public Registry Agency must create a list of organizations acting in foreign interests within 60 days.

After the register is introduced, all non-governmental organizations and media outlets that receive more than 20% of their income from other states will be required to register in it.

The law was adopted amid street protests that have persisted for several weeks, as well as statements from Western leaders warning of a reevaluation of relations with Tbilisi.

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Ukrainian field commanders 'waste a lot of time' on basic training of recruits

Ukrainian field commanders are bracing for an influx of poorly trained recruits to be drafted under a new connoscription law, the Washington Post reported.

The commanders complained that they used to spend weeks teaching new recruits basic skills, such as how to shoot, because most of them were poorly trained.

"We had guys who didn't even know how to take a rifle apart and put it back together," an assistant battalion commander with the call sign Schmidt told WaPo.

He added that commanders are "wasting a lot of time here [at the front] on basic training" of "new infantry" to avoid the looming scenario of connoscripts being sent to the battlefield "just to die."

In April, Volodymyr Zelensky signed a new mobilization law that lowered the draft age from 27 to 25, expanded the powers of draft officials, and introduced penalties for draft dodgers, including fines of up to $640.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian men are expected to be drafted under the document, which has been in effect since May 18.

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Claudia Sheinbaum, winner of the Mexican presidential election, spoke to supporters at her headquarters.

She thanked the Mexicans who came out to vote and her rivals who have already acknowledged and congratulated her on her victory.

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❗️Russia warns the United States against miscalculations that could have fatal consequences, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, commenting on the permission given to Ukraine to carry out attacks with American weapons deep into Russian territory.

Moreover, Moscow urges the United States to treat Russian warnings with the utmost seriousness.

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❗️"Ukrainian attempts to attack missile warning systems will be stopped, the response may be asymmetrical," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

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