Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized Russia's economic development and overall geopolitical situation in the world while responding to questions from foreign journalists.

🔸 Putin emphasized the special nature of Russo-Chinese cooperation in a wide variety of spheres, stressing that 90 percent of financial settlements between the countries are now carried out in their national currencies.

🔸 US sanctions against China are an example of unfair market competition and an attempt to hinder the People's Republic's development.

🔸 Russia develops and diversifies economic cooperation with Belarus and Azerbaijan with a total trade turnover of $48 billion and $4.6 billion respectively. The North-South Transport Corridor linking Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and the Persian Gulf has great potential.

🔸 Russia is enhancing energy cooperation with Turkiye by creating a gas hub in the country and developing Turkish civil nuclear infrastructure. Russia is protecting the Blue Stream and the Turkish Stream pipelines, which are targeted by Ukrainian saboteurs and drones.

🔸 The West's unprecedented number of sanctions backfired as Russia's economy continued to grow, reaching fifth place in the world by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) in 2023 and potentially fourth place, according to the GDP indicators, in the first quarter of 2024.

🔸 The US is killing the dollar with its own hands by cutting Russia off from the Western financial system and prohibiting it from using the greenback.

🔸 Russia condemns terrorism, but what is happening currently in Gaza, which came in response to the October 2023 attack by Hamas, amounts to the total elimination of a civilian population in the Gaza Strip by Israel. This is the result of the US monopolizing settlement of the Israel-Palestine issue and sidelining international efforts to solve the conflict.

🔸 Russia is interested in stability in Afghanistan. The Taliban is maintaining real power in the country and it’s important to establish political ties with Central Asian countries taking into account the reality on the ground.

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🇷🇺🇹🇩 Chad is interested in the development of security and economic cooperation with Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

"We are developing cooperation in the field of security, Chad is interested in this, given that terrorist threats still persist in this region, which is primarily associated with the destruction of Libyan statehood in 2011, and this was the main source of those terrorists and extremist manifestations that now persist and even increase in the countries of the Sahara-Sahel the zone, West Africa and other parts of the continent," Lavrov told a press conference following talks with Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby.

Chad will pass to Russia a list of spheres of areas for economic cooperation development, the Russian Foreign Minister added.

Lavrov told a joint news conference with Chadian Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah after the meeting that Russia awaits specific requests from Chad and is ready to send an economic mission to the country.

"We will await specific requests from our Chadian friends. We will be ready to send an economic mission here in order to discuss promising projects on the spot. This is the agreement that we have reached today," the Russian minister said.

Koulamallah, for his part, told the news conference that the visit of the Russian foreign minister to the country opens a new era in the Russia-Chad relationship.

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The conflict in the Gaza Strip would have been resolved if the United States had not vetoed the ceasefire proposals, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized during his meeting with the heads of international news agencies as part of the 2024 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"We have put forward initiatives in the UN Security Council on a ceasefire several times. The United States is blocking, vetoing. If we worked in solidarity, we would come to an agreement - that would be the right scenario. It has not been possible so far," Putin said.

Meanwhile, Russia's stance on the Gaza Strip is not subject to political circumstances and has not changed since Soviet times, given that the Soviet Union recognized the Palestinian statehood as far back as in 1988, the Russian president concluded.

#SPIEF2024

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🇷🇺🇧🇫 A group of technical specialists from Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom will travel to Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, in the coming days to study what capacity and where a nuclear power plant (NPP) would be built, Burkinabe Energy Minister Yacouba Zabre Gouba told Sputnik.

"We agreed with the Russian side that a group of technical specialists could arrive in Ouagadougou in the coming days to clarify the details and study what capacity and where this power plant will be located," the minister said.

On Wednesday, Russia and Burkina Faso signed three memorandums of cooperation on peaceful nuclear energy on the sidelines of the 2024 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). The documents were signed by Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev and Burkinabe Energy Minister Yacouba Zabre Gouba.

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The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum has become a full-fledged mechanism of Russia's national development over the years it has been held; its significance is already indisputable, Anton Kobyakov, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, told Sputnik.

The number of participants on the first day of this year's edition of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) was similar to the number of those who attended all four days of SPIEF-2019, Kobyakov highlighted.

"We have similar numbers for the first day of the St. Petersburg forum in 2024 as for the entire St. Petersburg forum — four days — in 2019. In terms of the number of participants, as many in one day as for the entire 2019 forum," Kobyakov said.

The Russian city of St. Petersburg is hosting the 27th edition of the SPIEF from June 5-8. Last year, the forum drew 17,000 participants from 130 countries and saw the signing of more than 900 agreements.

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🤡 ‘Pro-Russian’: The Financial Times offends Ukrainian Energy Ministry

The Ukrainian Energy Ministry, in a statement, accused The Financial Times newspaper of "working for Russia" after it published a report dubbed "Russia has taken out over half of Ukraine power generation."

The newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing Ukrainian government officials, that Ukrainians would be spending the vast majority of their days without electricity by winter and should "prepare for life in the cold and the dark."

“Such a statement is aimed at spreading fear and panic among the population," the ministry said.

*Image is AI generated

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Russia has become ‘economic role model’ to rest of the world – analyst

The emergence of the Russian Federation from a recent set of severe Western sanctions largely unscathed is seen as a landmark moment by Global South nations seeking to resist a tactic often employed by the West. International relations expert Mark Sleboda joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program to discuss why countries around the world increasingly see Russia as an economic model and partner.

“Isolation” was “the buzz word of 2022,” Sleboda noted, with observers predicting Russia’s economic demise in the face of denunciations from the West over its special military operation in the Donbass. But “out of 192 countries, plus or minus, in the world, 136 of them are going to have participants at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum,” the analyst noted, “including several heads of state.”

“In terms of GDP adjusted for purchasing power parity, during this time period of the existential economic war of sanctions on Russia by the West, Russia's economy has leapfrogged from sixth place to jump Germany for fifth place,” he added. “And now, in recent months – the World Bank has announced the new numbers – Russia has jumped Japan as well to reach the fourth-largest economy in the world… despite the West's best and most heated efforts to destroy Russia's economy.”

“Boom. That is the sound of the US-led Western global hegemony cracking. That is amazing,” the analyst added.

“Everyone wants to know how did Russia become the Teflon Don of global geoeconomics,” Sleboda explained. “Because they don't know when they might be put in the same position. Now there's a train coming and Russia is directing that train.”

The analyst noted that African countries, in particular, are seeking cooperation with Russia as they look to break away from patterns of dependency established after their independence from Western colonial rule in the 20th century.

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📹Footage of an attack by Ukrainian forces on the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, which was recorded by a security camera before the explosion of the power station and the subsequent flooding on June 6, 2023.

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Trump claims Israel lacks backing

"You know, Israel was the most powerful lobby in the country 15 years ago... [And now] they don't have the backing. Even Chuck Schumer has become like a Palestinian," Trump said.

He added that there are people who deny that the October 7 attack ever happened, and that pro-Palestinian activists protesting "at Columbia and many other places" do not believe in the attack.

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🔸 Putin’s interview with international media at #SPIEF 2024: check out the highlights

🔸 At least 27 dead, including women and children, in IDF’s strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip

🔸 Putin names the one to blame for unresolved Gaza conflict

🔸 Offended: Ukraine’s energy ministry calls the Financial Times ‘pro-Russian’

🔸 Why is #SPIEF more than just a forum? Putin’s advisor explains

🔸 ‘Economic model for the rest of the world’: analyst reflects on Russia’s success in withstanding sanctions pressure

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Dozens of US lawmakers reportedly targeted in Israel's $2 million disinformation campaign

Over 100 US lawmakers were targeted in an Israeli disinformation operation to spread pro-Israeli military content online, the NYT reported, citing sources.

Among those targeted were Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Whip Hakeem Jeffries and others.

The operatives posed as ordinary American social media users and regularly distributed pro-Israel posts by sharing links to fake news outlets.

The campaign was backed by a government body known as Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, the paper added, citing Israeli officials. But the ministry and the Israeli embassy in Washington have denied the allegations.

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❗️LIVE: "BRICS Goals in the Context of the New World Order" Plenary Session at SPIEF

👉 Watch the livestream here or on Sputnik's website

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🇭🇺Peace negotiations on Ukraine should begin now, because if the conflict continues, it is fraught with escalation, said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

"Our position is that peace must be achieved as soon as possible. Peace negotiations must begin and a ceasefire must occur immediately," Szijjarto told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), adding that the risk of escalation increases every day if the conflict continues.

He also added that the West can not prohibit him from participating in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF):

"You know, I am not the kind of person to whom it makes sense to tell what can and cannot be done. We made the sovereign decision of our government where to take part and where not to take part. I believe that diplomacy is talking not only with those with whom you agree on everything. Diplomacy is about talking to everyone," Szijjarto said.

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White House hits out at WSJ over bombshell piece that questions Biden’s health

The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) relationship with the White House is under serious strain following the newspaper’s publication of an article on President Biden’s physical and mental capacity, according to Politico.

The piece is based on interviews with more than 45 Democrats and Republicans, who paint the 81-year-old POTUS as a person who “shows signs of slipping”, arguing that Biden’s reputation of “a sharp and vigorous leader” has already diminished.

White House staff – who have highly appreciated the WSJ’s news operation for much of Biden’s time in office – described the piece as a sign that the newspaper “was reverting to partisan form” ahead of the November 2024 US presidential election, unnamed sources told Politico.

“There was some speculation that the paper’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, was showing his preference for a Donald Trump victory,” the sources added.

They were echoed by White House communications director Ben LaBolt, who tweeted about “Complete and utter editorial fail by the WSJ,” adding, “Makes you wonder who they’re taking orders from.”

The White House has repeatedly rejected Republicans’ and even some Democrats’ claims of Biden being unfit for office due to his poor health, despite polls showing that Americans are concerned about the 46th US president’s physical and mental acuity.

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"BRICS helps maintain the global balance," Dmitry Kiselev, Director General of Sputnik's parent media group Rossiya Segodnya, told the audience at the forum "BRICS Goals in the Context of a New World Order" held on the sidelines of SPIEF 2024.

"Our goal today is to outline ideas for the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, which will be held in October, today's forum is a kind of preparation," he added.

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