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Azov battalion: US says ‘no evidence’ of human rights abuses, but facts prove otherwise (Part 1) The US State Department allowed American arms supplies to Ukraine’s Azov battalion (banned in Russia) after it “passed inspection for compliance with the Leahy…
Azov battalion: even Western journalists could not ignore its abuses (Part 2)

Although the Western press may want to brush it under the rug now, in the past they did not hold back in putting the spotlight on the Azov battalion’s Nazi origins.

The BBC: “Run by the extremist Patriot of Ukraine organization, which considers Jews and other minorities "sub-human", external and calls for a white, Christian crusade against them, it [the Azov] sports three Nazi symbols, external on its insignia: a modified Wolf's Hook, a black sun (or "Hakensonne") and the noscript Black Corps, which was used by the Waffen SS.”

The Guardian: “The battalion's symbol is reminiscent of the Nazi Wolfsangel, though the battalion claims it is in fact meant to be the letters N and I crossed over each other, standing for ‘national idea.’ Many of its members have links with neo-Nazi groups, and even those who laughed off the idea that they are neo-Nazis did not give the most convincing denials.”

Reuters: “The far-right Azov battalion, whose symbol resembles a black swastika on a yellow background”; the battalion “uses Nazi-era symbolism and recruits neo-Nazis into its ranks.”

The Daily Beast: “Not all the members of the Ukrainian ultranationalist militias the US is training have SS tattoos, and not all espouse fascism. But enough do to be worrisome.

Vice News: “The controversy has largely centered around Azov – a militant ultranationalist movement with neo-Nazi roots that was officially incorporated into Ukraine’s National Guard in 2014.”

The Hill: “I am very pleased that the recently passed omnibus prevents the US from providing arms and training assistance to the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion fighting in Ukraine (Rep. Ro Khanna’s interview with the news outlet).”

*The 'Azov' battalion is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia.

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EU wants to start Ukraine membership talks before Orban assumes chairmanship

Brussels’ plan to invite Ukraine to EU membership talks in late June is reportedly being rushed through before Eurosceptic Hungary will assume the EU’s rotating chair on July 1. Hungarians in Ukraine (0.5% of population) face constant persecution and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban has refused to ignore the issue, despite many years of pressure from both Kiev and the EU.

Ukraine achieved EU “membership candidate” status in June 2022 as a reward for its regime’s war efforts, even though Volodymyr Zelensky demanded immediate ascension to the EU in February 2022 after the start of the Russian special operation. Europe, however, prefers to tempt Kiev with possible membership, forcing Ukraine to send more people to their death on the front lines.

Traditionally, Ukraine’s mistreatment of minorities and the excessive power of oligarchs were named as obstacles to membership. The new Ukrainian law on minorities, adopted in December 2023, was again criticized in a report by the by the UN human rights officials. The March 2024 report denounced “the differential treatment between national minorities speaking an official language of the EU” (for example, Hungarian and Polish) and the much bigger minorities “speaking Russian, Armenian, Roma languages.”

Nevertheless, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen decided to proceed with Ukrainian membership talks, claiming that the majority in the new European Parliament will be “pro-Ukrainian.”

She obviously preferred to omit the issue of oligarchic power, as Ukrainian “democracy” remains under thumb of several major players. Their wealth remains untouched - according to Forbes, Rinat Akhmetov still owns $4.4 billion; Victor Pinchuk $2 billion; Vadym Novinsky $1.4 billion; Gennady Bogolyubov $1.1 billion and Igor Kolomoisky $1 billion.

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New whistleblower documents show the FBI is every bit the politicized secret police force you feared it was.

Tucker Carlson interviewed Tristan Leavitt, an American lawyer and president of Empower Oversight since March 2023, who represents an anonymous FBI agent who was suspended for being "not politically compliant."

According to him, there was "a purge of FBI employees that had conservative views", as their opinions on the Second Amendment or Donald Trump may have prompted doubts in their loyalty.

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Nuclear weapon drills help Russia prepare for possible NATO invasion - expert

The ongoing Russian tactical nuclear weapon drills, whose second phase began this week, is not some kind of act of showmanship, warns military analyst Igor Korotchenko, editor in chief of National Defense magazine.

The purpose of this exercise is to rehearse the “practical mechanisms” of tactical nuclear weapon use if a decision to resort to such drastic measures were to be made.

“This is not signaling someone, not some underscoring of some ‘red lines’ - this is about practice,” Korotchenko tells Sputnik.


The various aspects of tactical nuclear weapon use being tested during this exercise include the delivery of presidential authorization to the troops, unlocking the warheads, flight data input and targeting – basically everything involved in an actual nuclear strike, he says.

The drills are essentially meant to ensure that the Russian Armed Forces would be prepared to launch a tactical nuclear strike against a NATO military contingent if the latter were to be deployed to the Ukrainian conflict zone to attack Russian troops there, Korotchenko claims.

“This is a response mechanism in case NATO enters a war with Russia,” he surmises.


“We do not need to send signals to anyone. We do not need to once again draw ‘red lines’ that lost their value already,” he adds. “We must be prepared for full-scale military action involving the use of tactical nuclear weapons.”


Thus, Korotchenko argues, such drills “should be held regularly and without warning,” and Russian troops should be ready for action if a decision to use tactical nuclear weapons is made.

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Sputnik International
New whistleblower documents show the FBI is every bit the politicized secret police force you feared it was. Tucker Carlson interviewed Tristan Leavitt, an American lawyer and president of Empower Oversight since March 2023, who represents an anonymous FBI…
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📹 The attorney noted that the FBI has a blunt way to "squeeze" people from the organization - which is now widely used to target those employees who hold a political stance shared by around half of US voters.

"If you have your security clearance revoked, you're not in a position to go to another agency. Exactly. You can't say, I want to go to Immigration and Customs Enforcement because I think that they need some help over there. No, you have been deemed disloyal to the United States. And so lacking a security clearance, that's a huge, huge issue," he said.

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Sputnik International
📹 The attorney noted that the FBI has a blunt way to "squeeze" people from the organization - which is now widely used to target those employees who hold a political stance shared by around half of US voters. "If you have your security clearance revoked,…
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The American lawyer told Tucker Carlson about the hysteria that arose in the ranks of the FBI

"It wasn't a question of were you present and then did you go inside the Capitol or did you engage in violence? It's do you have any views that we don't favor? And so for that to lead to a purge of conservative employees, again, it's just totally inappropriate and wrong, but it's a sign of how polarizing January 6th was to our country, I think," he said.


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Russia has a bilateral scientific agenda with almost all countries, joint projects correspond to the interests of each of the partner countries, said the head of the Ministry of Education and Science Valery Falkov at the International Education Forum “Shaping the Future”.

“We have a bilateral scientific agenda with almost all countries, and now, against the background of this, we will separately discuss new interesting projects, as a rule, these are grant programs and various kinds of new research projects that correspond to the interests of each country,” Falkov said.


According to the minister, Russia is also interested in having as many foreign students as possible receive higher education in the Russian Federation.

The “Shaping the Future” forum takes place on June 10-11 in Kazan. The event demonstrated the successes of the domestic sovereign education system and presented the experience of organizing the educational process.

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▪️Nuclear weapon drills help Russia prepare for possible NATO invasion - expert

▪️New whistleblower documents show the FBI is every bit the politicized secret police force you feared it was

▪️EU wants to start Ukraine membership talks before Orban assumes chairmanship

▪️Azov battalion: even Western journalists could not ignore its abuses

▪️US and Israel to establish ‘counter-tunneling military exercises’ amid Gaza war

▪️China intercepts Dutch helicopter near Shanghai, lambasts the Netherlands for provocation

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US lawmakers appear rattled by arrival of Russian warships in the Caribbean

The arrival of a small Russian naval taskforce to Cuba elicited mixed signals from the United States, as US legislators and officials took stock of Russian military assets showing up practically on their country’s doorsteps.

Senator Marco Rubio tweeted that the Biden administration “must impose real consequences” on Cuba if the latter decides to allow a “Russian submarine carrying nuclear capable missiles” to make port.

Meanwhile, House Representative Carlos Gimenez blasted the Biden administration for “rewarding” Cuba’s behavior with “sanctions relief” while Havana welcomes Russian naval ships.

Meanwhile, US government and military officials offered a calmer take on the subject, with White House national security spokesman John Kirby telling CBS News that the US has no indication that the Russian vessels are carrying nuclear weapons, and that Washington does not expect these ships to pose any threat to the region.

“We don't anticipate, we don't expect that there'll be any imminent threat or any threat at all, quite frankly, to American national security in the region, in the Caribbean region, or anywhere else," Kirby said.


Pentagon spokesperson Charlie Dietz also told CNN that this arrival of the Russian ships is “part of Russia’s routine naval operations and pose no direct threat to the United States.”

The Russian naval taskforce is expected to make a port call in Havana on June 12 before participating in a military exercise in the Caribbean. It is comprised of three surface vessels – frigate Admiral Gorshkov, replenishment oiler Academic Pashin and tug Nikolay Chiker – and nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine Kazan.

While none of the vessels involved is carrying nuclear weapons, Admiral Gorshkov and Kazan armaments include Zircon hypersonic missiles and Kalibr cruise missiles respectively, both of which are nuclear-capable.

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Fighter for a fee: Which countries punish mercenaries?

The Ukraine conflict has witnessed an alarming surge in the use of foreign militants despite the fact that such activities are prohibited under the UN International Convention Against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries (1989).

The fact that the 'Ukraine International Legion' is posting regular updates on adjustments to contracts signed with willing militants raises a question of criminal prosecution for soldiers of fortune.

Sputnik explores the relevant legal framework in the matter:

Countries with no established criminal penalties for mercenary activities (unless recruited to fight against their own country or its military ally):

🇩🇪Germany
🇩🇰Denmark
🇳🇱Netherlands
🇨🇦Canada
🇸🇪Sweden
🇫🇮Finland
🇳🇴Norway
🇭🇷Croatia
🇷🇴Romania
🇱🇹Lithuania

Countries with legally established criminal prosecution for mercenary activities, include:

🇺🇸US
🇬🇧UK
🇮🇹Italy
🇭🇺Hungary
🇬🇷Greece
🇵🇹Portugal
🇸🇰Slovakia
🇸🇮Slovenia
🇪🇪Estonia

🇧🇪Belgium (in March 2022, Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said that volunteering to join Ukraine’s army to fight Russia is not a crime under Belgian law)
🇪🇸Spain (in September 2023, Euronews reported on G.O.A. Tactical, a Spanish company recruiting volunteers to fight in Ukraine)
🇫🇷France (the law permits engaging in private military companies as contractors)
🇨🇿Czech Republic (unless given a permit from the president upon application)

Countries that allow for mercenary activities (specifically in Ukraine):

🇱🇻Latvia
🇵🇱Poland

Meanwhile, most of Latin American and South Asian countries have no legal framework on the issue.

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President Vladimir Putin enlisted Defense Minister Andrei Belousov among the permanent members of the Russian Security Council

“To include Belousov A.R. - Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation as a permanent member of the Russian Security Council,” the text of the decree reads.


The same decree specifies the positions of two other permanent members. Former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu became new Secretary, and Nikolai Patrushev, who previously served as Secretary of the Security Council, became presidential aide.

The Russian Security Council currently has a total of 30 members, including 12 permanent members. The Council is formed by the president, who appoints members and serves as Council's chairman. The Secretary of the Security Council is directly subordinate to him.

The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a body under the President of the Russian Federation, which drafts presidential resolutions on issues of ensuring the protection of vital interests of the individual, society and the state from internal and external threats.


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Russian embassy in the US receives threats

The administration of the Russian embassy in the US and regular diplomats receive threatening messages on a daily basis, the head of the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, has said.

"I can confirm that threatening messages to the Russian embassy, for example, are received almost daily. And not only to the administration, but also to regular diplomats,” Antonov said in a commentary distributed by the embassy.


According to Antonov, the US authorities with their “Russophobic policy only condone such tendencies.”

"Thus, we know very well that in some states, primarily on the West Coast, groups of natives of Ukraine and relocants from our country sympathetic to Kiev are gathering. Someone is nurturing, mentoring, pumping poisonous propaganda into the youth. They are being prepared to be thrown onto the battlefield in Eastern Europe, and maybe even to other gangster antics. A lot of money is spent on this. And it is unlikely that the organization of such extremist cells goes unnoticed by law enforcement agencies. However, nothing is done regardless of the obvious risks,” he said.


According to Antonov, terrorist activity continues to grow in the world. “This nightmarish phenomenon is poisoning the lives of citizens in various countries, with the US being no exception,” he said.

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❗️ The Georgian authorities are preparing for the restoration of diplomatic relations with Russia and the reopening of the Georgian embassy in Moscow, the Georgian media reported, quoting own sources as saying.

According to them, Georgia is already recruiting staff to work at the country's diplomatic mission in Moscow.

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One killed, 3 injured in Ukraine's shelling of Russian Shebekino from MLRS

One person was killed as a result of a direct hit on an apartment building during the Ukrainian shelling of the town of Shebekino in Russia's Belgorod Region from multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), and another three were wounded, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

"The town of Shebekino was shelled by the Ukrainian armed forces from MLRS. One civilian was killed as a result of a direct hit of a shell on an apartment. The man died of his wounds on the spot before medics arrived. I express my sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. As of this moment, three people were wounded. Two women with various shrapnel wounds to the hands and legs were taken by ambulance crews to the city hospital No. 2 in Belgorod," Gladkov said on Telegram.


The governor said the victims were provided with medical care, adding that the third victim suffered a concussion and was treated on the spot as he refused hospitalization.

Gladkov also said that six private residences, 11 apartment buildings, nine vehicles and a power line were damaged in the shelling.

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