🔸 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

#SPIEF2024

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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.

#SPIEF2024

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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.

#SPIEF2024

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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.

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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.

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

#SPIEF2024

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

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🇷🇺🇰🇵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.

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❗️LIVE: “The cultural basis of BRICS. Can BRICS become a common cultural market?” Plenary Session at SPIEF

👉 Watch the livestream here or on Sputnik's website

#SPIEF2024

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Why does India need BRICS?

🇮🇳Binod Singh Ajatshatru, Director of the BRICS Institute in New Delhi, explains why the BRICS New Development Bank is so important for India.

#SPIEF2024

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