❗️Ukrainian Armed Forces hit Raduga substation, damaging the transformer — Energodar city authorities

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Why is the US fuming over China-Georgia Black Sea port project?

Washington's Ambassador to Georgia Robin Dunnigan has "crossed red lines" by criticizing Tbilisi for having awarded a contract to build a deep-water port in Georgia's Anaklia to a Chinese consortium, a group of Georgian MPs said, as quoted by Russian media.

🔸 Under the Anaklia port project, the state would own a 51 percent share of the port, while the remaining 49 percent would go to private investors. Georgia also considers establishing a "free economic zone" near the port.

🔸 The capacity of the first stage of the port is due to reach 600,000 containers, creating thousands of new jobs.

🔸 The Anaklia port is meant to become part of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) linking China to the EU. In 2023, the TITR handled 2.8 million tons of cargo, an 86% increase compared to 2022.

🔸 The construction of the deep-water port of Anaklia makes sense only if cargo from China will pass through it, given the almost $800 billion EU-China trade turnover, according to Paata Kvizhinadze, chairman of the Georgian parliamentary finance and budget committee.

🔸 After the contract was awarded to China in May 2024, the US groundlessly accused the Chinese contractor of being involved in financing "the Russian military".

🔸 The Georgia-US "Anaklia Development Consortium" won the 2016 tender to build the Anaklia port, but the contract was terminated in 2020 over non-fulfillment of obligations. US lawmakers immediately accused then Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia of the project's "politicization" and urged the Trump administration to "investigate" the "ties" of then chair of the political party Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, to Russia.

🔸 In 2024, Georgian Dream politicians were subjected to sanctions by Washington for adopting a "foreign agent" law which requires media and NGOs to inform the government about their foreign sponsors.

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📹 Houthis demonstrate successful test run of Tufan-1 unmanned boat

Capable of carrying up to 150 kg in munition, Tufan-1 "features enhanced speed, high maneuverability and stealth," the military group stated.

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📹 A history lesson for a State Dept spokesman

US journo Matt Lee attempted to clarify with State Department spokesman Matthew Miller how the White House feels it can criticize Russia for its presence in Ukraine given its own history in Vietnam...

👉 Check out the video to find out what happened next!

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Putin sends clear message to NATO by announcing changes to nuclear doctrine

The West is the major addressee of Russian President Vladimir Putin's remarks about possible changes to nuclear policy, according to Dmitry Kornev, the founder of the Military Russia portal. However, Kornev ruled out any dramatic corrections.

"There are no changes related to… strategic nuclear forces, the deployment of nuclear weapons, etc., in the basic documents," Kornev tells Sputnik.

There are four conditions determining the possibility for Russia's use of nuclear weapons, according to the Fundamentals of Nuclear Deterrence State Policy, which was published on June 2, 2020.

"A more detailed denoscription of these conditions may most likely follow," Kornev assumes.

At a press conference in Vietnam on June 20, the Russian president noted that the changes could be due to the West's attempts to lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. Putin particularly referred to the Western military experts discussing the idea of a limited use of low-yield nuclear arms.

Indeed, low-yield nuclear weapons with the range from 0.5 to 50 kilotons already exist, retired Lieutenant-General Yevgeny Buzhinsky, chairman of PIR-Center think tank and executive board and professor of Higher School of Economics, tells Sputnik. He added that he doesn't see any merit in "miniaturizing" nuclear arms.

For their part, American proponents of low-yield weapons speculated that their use could not lead to an all-out nuclear confrontation due to their limited impact.

According to Kornev, there should be no illusions about limited nuclear strikes:

"Nuclear weapons have no threshold. Everywhere in the world it is believed that the use of nuclear weapons is the use of nuclear weapons, no matter what power, no matter what targets," the pundit emphasizes.

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🔸 Putin sends clear message to NATO by announcing changes to nuclear doctrine
🔸 Is the US secretly upgrading its nukes in Europe?

🔸 Allied armies: How many soldiers do Russia and North Korea have?

🔸 Red Alert: Russian troops march on New York

🔸 FAB-3000: What is known about this deadly Russian bomb

🔸 Why is the US fuming over China-Georgia Black Sea port project?

🔸 US funding of Ukraine: Already more expensive than Marshall Plan – in all ways

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The high professionalism of a Russian Su-35 pilot prevented a collision with three MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance-attack drones of the US-led "coalition" in Syria, the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Enemy Parties said.

The incident took place Friday afternoon in Homs province at altitudes between 7,000 and 8,000 meters.

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S Korea's hint at supplying weapons to Ukraine: Nothing new for Russia

Seoul may reconsider its policy of not sending lethal aid to Ukraine following the strategic partnership agreement between Russia and North Korea, said presidential National Security Adviser Chang Ho-jin.

In reality, Seoul and Washington have cooperated in sending weapons to Ukraine, despite South Korea officially claiming it provided only non-lethal aid. Seoul likewise denies reports of arms transfers via the US.

Neither did it protest when President Putin said in October 2022 that “We know that the Republic of Korea decided to supply weapons” to Ukraine and warned Russia could restart cooperation with Pyongyang in response.

So, what did South Korea do?

🔸 Soon after Putin’s statement, on November 10, 2022, the WSJ reported a “confidential deal” between Seoul and Washington, under which “the US will purchase 100,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition that will be delivered to Ukraine.”

🔸 On May 24, 2023, the WSJ reported that the US had already provided “more than two million 155mm artillery rounds to Ukraine,” and that part of this number went through “a confidential agreement,” according to which Seoul transferred shells to the US, “which in turn has arranged for them to be sent to Ukraine.”

🔸 According to the WSJ, “routing the deal through the US allows South Korea to stick to the letter of its public commitment not to send lethal military support to Ukraine.”

🔸 South Korea also sold billions of dollars’ worth of K2 tanks and K9 howitzers to Poland. While South Korean military hardware is yet to show up in the Ukrainian conflict zone, these sales help Poland replenish its own arsenals, allowing it to send Polish arms and equipment to Ukraine.

🔸 In December 2023, South Korea also secured a deal to supply 129 Redback infantry fighting vehicles to Australia who also previously supplied military hardware to Ukraine. Whether this deal would help Australia send more military gear to Kiev remains to be seen.

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South African skateboarder praises BRICS' sporting opportunities

"One thing I must throw in here is skateboarding is constantly reinventing itself. All of us skaters from all corners of the globe are making it, [as] it is. For years I’d only look West but now there is a strong attraction for me to look to the East for work opportunities. In the last month having been to China and Russia, I can sense their economies are robust and their determined people have a strong admirable work ethic," South Africa's Olympian skateboarder Dallas Oberholzer said on social media.

The skater, who competed in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, said he was looking for partnerships with countries that saw his worth, and that Russia was one of those countries as it continued inviting him for skating events and saw value in his experience and vision for developing skateboarding.

"I clearly see the current shift of power to the East, it’s definitely happening now. Even my country South Africa puts the BRICS countries before the West while the rest of Africa continues to find infrastructure development through the East," Oberholzer said.

The athlete argued that there was no point denying the global power shifting to the East and suggested that the West should "stop fighting it."

Russia's Nizhny Novgorod hosted the BRICS Skate Cup from June 6-9. The competition drew athletes from BRICS member states and beyond, including from Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, and Senegal. The Skate Cup became Russia's largest sporting event last year by participant geography, with athletes from 41 countries competing in the event.

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Cuba joins South Africa's lawsuit against Israel at ICJ

Cuba has decided to join South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel’s alleged genocide in the Gaza Strip, the Cuban Foreign Ministry said.

"In accordance with a firm and permanent commitment to support and participate to the fullest extent possible in the legitimate international efforts to stop genocide against the Palestinian people, the government of the Republic of Cuba has decided to participate in the lawsuit of the Republic of South Africa against the State of Israel in the International Court of Justice," the ministry said in a communique.

On December 29, 2023, South Africa filed a lawsuit with the ICJ against Israel over alleged genocide in the Gaza Strip. On January 26, the ICJ ruled provisional measures ordering Israel to take urgent steps to prevent acts of genocide and ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to the enclave.

At the same time, the ICJ did not order an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. In early March, the African nation went back to the ICJ to call for additional provisional measures against Israel that would address widespread starvation among Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

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Russian cancer vaccine trials on volunteers will begin by mid-2025

Clinical trials of a cancer vaccine on patients with cancer are scheduled to begin by mid-2025, Alexander Gintsburg, the director of the Moscow-based Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, told Sputnik.

“I think that by the middle of next year we will begin clinical trials of the vaccine with the participation of patients with cancer,” Gintsburg said.

He noted that now the vaccine is being tested in preclinical studies on mice, and the technology is being developed to not just extend the life of animals with melanoma by 2-3 times, but to create such drugs that would allow for guaranteed destruction of both the tumor and metastases.

According to Gintsburg, if it is possible to work out this technology, the vaccine will help patients with non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, certain types of kidney cancer, melanomas. Moreover, in these diseases metastases appear at early stages, so this vaccine will be very relevant for these patients, the specialist explained.

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❗️Russian forces hit Ukrainian military facilities and depots in western Ukraine - underground network coordinator

Facilities and depots in the Lvov region of western Ukraine, where aircraft parts were stored, were hit, the coordinator of the Nikolayev underground network, Sergey Lebedev, told Sputnik.

Earlier, Lebedev reported damage to energy infrastructure in the Lvov region, as well as in the Vinnitsa, Khmelnytsky, Volyn and Ivano-Frankovsk regions.

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🔸 IDF admits Israel is unable to defeat Hamas

🔸 Why has US State Dep Assistant Secretary for Palestinian-Israeli affairs left his post?

🔸 Cuba joins South Africa's lawsuit against Israel at ICJ

🔸 Why is there nothing new in Seoul’s hint at supplying weapons to Ukraine?

🔸 No end in sight for the drama in French politics, analyst believes

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Biden reportedly fumbles US-Ukraine gas deal

US President Joe Biden's decision to suspend approval of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects has become an obstacle for Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Earlier, the Ukrainian company D.Trading signed an agreement with US Venture Global to supply US LNG to Ukraine and Eastern European countries to help them wean themselves off gas supplies from Russia and support "energy security" in the region.

However, there is a catch: the gas is to be purchased through Venture's CP2 terminal, which is now under Biden's moratorium.

This has created "enormous political uncertainty" over future US LNG supplies, because if re-elected, Biden is likely to make it permanent, the WSJ wrote, adding that Biden "surrendered to an army of [climate change] TikTokers" in deciding whether to allow the supplies.

Western nations have decided not to buy Russian natural gas since the Ukrainian conflict began, blaming Russia for cutting off gas supplies itself.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, insisted that the US was simply using European countries in its own interests by forcing them to buy its expensive liquefied natural gas.

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❗️ Russia will respond adequately if US closes visa centers in DC and NYC - Russian FM spokeswoman

Earlier, the United States notified Russian diplomats that the visa center with branches in Washington and New York would be closed, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said.

He added, however, that Russian diplomats and consuls would continue to provide necessary legal and consular support to compatriots.

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Russia reveals details of crimes committed by Ukrainian Nazi collaborator Hunka

Ukrainian Nazi collaborator Yaroslav Hunka, accused of genocide against civilians and tried in absentia in Russia, is involved with his accomplices in the murder of at least 500 Soviet citizens, including Jews and Poles, head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin told Sputnik.

Earlier, Canada, whose politicians greeted Hunka with a standing ovation in parliament, refused to extradite the 98-year-old ex-SS soldier, who fought on Hitler's side during World War II.

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❗️Work of infrastructure facilities of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant has been disrupted as a result of Ukrainian attack

A repeated attack on key infrastructure facilities in the Russian city of Energodar in the Zaporozhye area poses a threat to the city's life support, spokesperson for the plant said.

On June 21, Energodar city authorities reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces hit Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant's Raduga substation, damaging the transformer.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has laid wreath at Tomb of Unknown Soldier on 83rd Anniversary of Nazi Invasion of USSR

The annual ceremony, which commemorates the start of the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War, is traditionally attended by veterans and senior Russian politicians.

On December 6, 1966, in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi troops near Moscow, the ashes of an unknown soldier were transferred from a mass grave on the 41st kilometer of the Leningrad Highway and solemnly buried in the Alexander Garden near the Kremlin Wall.

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