❗️The West has not contacted Russia about Putin's peace proposals on Ukraine, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said.

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The Serbian national team may withdraw from the UEFA European Football Championship due to offensive chants by fans of Albania and Croatia, the local football union announced. 
 
At the match between Albanians and Croats in the German city of Hamburg, fans of both teams shouted the slogan "Kill the Serb." The Serbian side demands that UEFA punish the national teams.

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New joint report by Russian and Belarusian Foreign Ministries reveals Western powers duplicity in human rights sphere

The Foreign Ministries of Russia and Belarus have released a report on human rights in a number of countries across the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Greece, Australia, Japan, Ukraine, Poland, Norway and others.

🔸 The facts in the report show that Western “model democracies” are prone to racist and neocolonialist views, Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Ambrazevich and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin stated in the foreword.

🔸 These democracies’ “desire to spread the ‘rules-based order’ invented by them and the opposition of this order to the international law” confirm this assertion, as this approach displays essentially racist segregation of countries into those who “have the right” to make the rules and those who must obey the rules without question.

🔸 The report also offers analysis of the human rights issues and problems that exist in the very countries that “undeservedly regard themselves as models in terms of the application of human rights standards.”

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova observed that Western powers show no intent to “abandon confrontational approachs in favor of constructive international cooperation.”

“Their efforts block the legal mechanisms operating within the UN, OSCE and the Council of Europe framework, that deny, condemn and prevent displays of glorification of Nazism, racism, xenophobia and the related intolerance,” she added.

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Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, accused of taking about $11 million in bribes, was sent to court, which should decide whether to extend his arrest period.

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Russia and Vietnam deepen ties in energy, nuclear and defense

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Vietnamese counterpart To Lam have agreed to strengthen their bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership during the former's visit to Hanoi on June 19-20.

Defense and security

▪️Russia and Vietnam agreed to increase defense cooperation within the limits of international law, and not to "enter into alliances and treaties with third countries which could harm each other’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity," according to To Lam.

▪️Russo-Vietnamese security cooperation is not directed against third countries and contributes to ensuring peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

▪️ Moscow and Hanoi have a long record in defense cooperation tracing back to the USSR's aid to repel the US invasion of Vietnam (1965-1975).

Nuclear energy

☢️On June 20, both sides signed a memo on the schedule for building the Center for Nuclear Science and Technology in Vietnam until 2027.

☢️Moscow and Hanoi can resume negotiations on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Vietnam, as per Rosatom head Alexei Likhachev.

☢️Moscow and Hanoi earlier had planned to build a nuclear power station in Vietnam until the project was suspended in 2016.

Oil and gas

🔹Russian gas firm Novatek signed a memo of understanding with Petrovietnam and is going to kick off liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in Vietnam. Novatek is already engaged in Ca Na LNG Power project, in Ninh Thuan province.

🔹On June 19, Russian oil and gas firm Zarubezhneft and Petrovietnam agreed to invest in production of new types of green fuels.

🔹Zarubezhneft has cooperated with Petrovietnam since 1981, running joint ventures Vietsovpetro and Rusvietpetro for geological exploration and oil and gas. Zarubezhneft has received a license to develop block 11-2 of the Vietnamese continental shelf.

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📹Vladimir Putin visited Grand Opera House in Hanoi, Vietnam

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🇷🇺🇻🇳Russian Aurus luxury automobile causes stir in Vietnam

During his visit to Vietnam, the Russian president was escorted by a motorcade of Russian Auris luxury cars, which attracted the interest of locals.

After the presidents of Russia and Vietnam began negotiations, locals began taking pictures with the Aurus, resulting in long queues.

Aurus is Russia's leading luxury car brand and a bold symbol of resilience and triumph over Western sanctions. It serves as a prime example of Russia's success in the face of adversity.

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🇷🇺🇰🇵Russia-N Korea partnership deal ‘one of most significant things to happen in region in 20 years’

A comprehensive strategic partnership agreement signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday “certainly shifts the geostrategic posture of the countries in the region,” Michael Madden, nonresident fellow at the US-based Stimson Center, tells Sputnik.

The document “also serves well to remove any ambiguity or guesswork as to how an escalation could play out on the [Korean] peninsula. If the DPRK feels its security is under threat, we don't have to imagine how countries will take sides,” Madden says.

The agreement “gives Russia a seat at the table for any potential negotiations with North Korea about security concerns or WMDs [weapons of mass destruction]. If fully realized, this agreement is probably one of the most significant things to happen in the region in 20 years,” the analyst stresses.

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❗️ Israel's military killed a Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon - Israeli Army's press service

Fadel Ibrahim, who was commanding Hezbollah operations in the Jouaiyya city, Tyre district, was killed in an airstrike in the area of Deir Kifa in southern Lebanon.

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Putin’s visit is ‘momentous occasion’ for Vietnam

The Vietnamese people's “delight and enthusiasm” over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s June 19-20 visit “underscored the strong political, diplomatic, economic, cultural and historical ties between the two nations,” Professor Anna Malindog-Uy, vice president of the Manila-based think tank Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, tells Sputnik.

The visit “can be considered highly successful and significant,” something that “marked a momentous occasion for Vietnam, reflecting its strategic importance and the mutual respect shared between the two countries,” Malindog-Uy notes.

“The visit signals a more strengthened bilateral relations between the two countries. It also indicated potential for enhanced cooperation in various sectors such energy, gas, and finance, among others,” according to the professor.

In this vein, Hanoi’s decision to brush aside Western criticism regarding its cooperation with Moscow can be attributed to several strategic and historical factors, the expert says, referring to the fact that Vietnam “has a long-standing relationship with Russia,” dating back to the Soviet era when the USSR supported the Southeast Asian nation during the Vietnam War.

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Do as I say, not as I do: Why Canada gets a pass from the West for foreign agents law while Georgia is punished

The United States and the European Union refraining from criticizing the foreign agents registry law recently adopted in Canada, while simultaneously blasting a similar legislation adopted by Georgia, is essentially a “problem of double standards,” Dr. Marco Marsili, who holds research positions in major civil and military institutions in Portugal, the UK and Italy, told Sputnik.

“It depends on the point of view of the proponents, the lawmakers, and of those who are their allies and assess the bill as just and fair, according to their geopolitical perspective,” Dr. Marsili explains. “Basically, is a Manichaean approach, according to which the world is divided in the good ones [nations] and the bad ones - figure out which are which according to a Western vision.”

Georgia merely seeks to protect itself from foreign influence exerted through the funding from abroad of local NGOs and “any other public outreach activity like media outlets,” basically following the example of the West, he notes.

The Western powers, however, insist that “Georgian politics must be influenced through Western financial support to local agents” but at the same time “reject any Russian funding.”

“That is really bizarre - it's not just double-standards, but also non-sensiczl,” Dr. Marsili remarks.

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