🤡 ‘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

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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.

#SPIEF2024

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹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.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔸 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

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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

👉 Watch the livestream here or on Sputnik's website

#SPIEF2024

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇭🇺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.

#SPIEF2024

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

"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.

#SPIEF2024

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

France has never directly trained Ukrainian soldiers in Ukraine, but sending instructors there is not taboo, the French prime minister said.

Earlier, the media reported that the French military are already in Ukraine, engaged in the maintenance of military equipment and training of Ukrainian soldiers.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

NATO is practicing an invasion of the countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries of the Security Councils of the organization.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Why does BRICS surpass G7? Jose Pio Borges, President of the Board of Trustees of the Brazilian Center for International Relations, explains.

#SPIEF2024

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹Mi-35M helicopter crew successfully hit Ukrainian strongholds and manpower in of the Russian Sever group of forces zone of operation.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇰🇵The first train with Russian tourists has left for North Korea after a four-year break, the Russian Federal Customs Service announced.

Railway communications with the DPRK were interrupted due to the pandemic.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt