❗️ Police officers inspected the territory of the university square in Russia's Makhachkala and no violations of public order were found, the Dagestan Ministry of Internal Affairs reported.

A witness reported sighting an armed man on the street in Makhachkala but the information was not borne out, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan said.

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❗️ The plane carrying Julian Assange has landed on the island of Saipan, where the WikiLeaks founder is expected to be released after a hearing, Flightradar data shows.

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The beach was not the intended target of the Ukrainian attack on Sevastopol that killed four civilians and the Kiev regime chooses targets itself, the Pentagon told Sputnik.

On Sunday, the Ukrainian armed forces attacked Sevastopol, the largest city on the Crimean Peninsula, using US-supplied ATACMS missiles with cluster warheads, killing four people, including two children, and injuring 153 others.

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North Korea launched an unspecified ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The launch has been detected by the South Korean military but there are no further details on the matter, the news agency reported.

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The US government's case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange brought to light the importance of protecting free speech and freedom of the press in the United States, Congressman Paul Gosar's office said in a statement to Sputnik.

“The case against Julian Assange brought to light the importance of protecting free speech and free press and the consequences of restricting them," the statement said. "Assange had been unjustly imprisoned for daring to expose government misconduct and the true nature of the United States military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and for releasing emails showing the Democratic National Committee colluded with Hillary Clinton."

Gosar's office added that although Assange will be free, he spent five unnecessary years in prison in the United Kingdom.

The US Justice Department expects Assange's guilty plea and sentencing to happen on Wednesday morning at a federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands, according to a court document provided to Sputnik.

Assange is expected to return to Australia at the conclusion of the proceedings, the Justice Department noted.

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US accuses China of saber rattling — but is the main trouble-maker in the region

Washington will try to prevent Russia's military-technical cooperation with the North Korea and Iran, and also expects to reduce China's economic ties with Russia, US State Secretary Antony Blinken told a joint press event with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

“So if China in particular, which professes to have a strong interest in ending the war – if it really means it, it will stop fueling the war machine, and we’ll continue to do everything we can to cut off the support that countries like Iran and North Korea are providing,” Blinken said.

His comments came a the US further stoked tensions in the Asia-Pacific region. As part of the swathe of joint military exercises, the Freedom Edge drills between United States, Japan and South Korea were agreed on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in June. The expansive US-Philippines Balikatan war games in April were held near the South China Sea, where both China and the Philippines have territorial claims.

In late June, the US State Department approved a potential $60.2 million sale of Switchblade 300 missile systems plus a possible $300-million-worth of ALTIUS 600M-V Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Taiwan.

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about Washington’s attempts to provoke Beijing into attacking Taiwan. Xi has repeatedly stressed that the Taiwan issue is a major red line in China-US relations that must not be crossed. Beijing has also urged Washington to stop sending “erroneous signals” to Taiwanese separatists.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrived at the courthouse on the US-owned island of Saipan, where he is expected to partially plead guilty and be released.

"Julian Assange has arrived on US territory at Saipan Island to formalize the plea deal that should never have had to happen," the organization wrote on its X social media account.

Assange's hearing will be held Wednesday on Saipan, the largest island in the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated Pacific territory administered by Washington.

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Court is in session in the case of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at the District Court of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Australian channel ABC reported.

"In the U.S. District Court on the island of Saipan, the long-awaited hearing in the case of Julian Assange has begun. Assange sits in the courtroom in a black suit. Behind him are Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd, Australian Ambassador to the UK Stephen Smith and human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson. All stood up when Chief Justice Romana Manglona entered the courtroom. Assange is expected to plead guilty to one criminal charge but will be released shortly with time served in a British prison," the outlet noted on its website.

Assange is accompanied in the courtroom by Australian Ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd, the Australian outlet 9News reported.

According to a schedule on the court's website, the hearing in the case of the US v. Julian Paul Assange will be open to the public, but online streaming as well as video and audio recording of the session is prohibited under US law. The schedule indicates Assange will appear in the courtroom, followed by his formal arraignment and the defendant's statement to the court.

The judge for the hearing will be Ramona Manglona, who has served as chief judge of the Northern Mariana Islands District Court since 2011.

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⚡️ Julian Assange has pled guilty to an espionage charge, The Washington Post reported.

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❗️ Julian Assange was ordered to instruct WikiLeaks to destroy information as a condition of the deal, The Guardian reported.

Assange told a US judge that no one tried to bribe or coerce him to plead guilty to one charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information relating to the national defense of the United States, the Guardian reported.

The report said that the US government is not pursuing any forfeiture from Assange.

The WikiLeaks founder will depart to the Australian capital, Canberra, in less than 3 hours, WikiLeaks has announced on X.

"Expected to depart in 2 hours, 58 minutes. To Canberra, Australia. Flight VJT199," the portal said and attached the link to the FlightAware portal that tracks the flight.

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"I believe the First Amendment and the Espionage Act are in contradiction," Assange said when asked to explain the charge against him in his own words, the Australian channel ABC reported.

"Working as a journalist I encouraged my source to provide information that was said to be classified in order to publish that information," the news agency cited Assange.

"I believed the First Amendment protected that activity. I believe the First Amendment and the Espionage Act are in contradiction," Assange insisted, the report said.

He explained he was pleading guilty because fighting the case in court would be challenging, according to the report.

US attorney Matthew McKenzie said once the sentence is pronounced the US will move to dismiss the indictment in the Eastern District of Virginia, the report said.

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❗️ A US judge has accepted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's plea deal after he pled guilty to one charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information relating to the national defense of the United States, the Guardian reported.

The United States will next take steps to immediately overturn remaining charges against Assange in the Eastern District of Virginia, the report said.

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The BRICS group of emerging economies has agreed by majority vote to take a pause in accepting new members in order to integrate those who have joined since the beginning of this year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"By an overwhelming majority of votes in ‘the ten’ it was decided to take a pause on new members and ‘digest’ the newcomers, who have doubled its ranks," Lavrov said after hosting the BRICS foreign ministers' meeting in Nizhny Novgorod on June 10-11.

BRICS will use the pause to draw up a list of categories for BRICS partner countries that will serve as stepping stones toward full membership, Lavrov said. Russia will promote Belarus and other "like-minded countries," he added.

On June 4, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Ankara would like to join BRICS and would monitor the developments in the organization. Several other countries, including Thailand and Bolivia, have also voiced their interest in joining the organization.

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European leaders bid on Estonia’s Kallas to lead EU diplomacy

EU leaders have reportedly made the European Parliament an offer it can't refuse: Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, known for her Russophobia and wanted by the Russian justice system for criminal prosecution, will head the European Union's diplomatic service.

According to Politico, the decision to choose Kallas and leave Ursula von der Leyen in the role of European Commission president was made by six leaders of European countries representing the three biggest factions in the parliament.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk represent the conservative European People’s Party. Spanish premier Pedro Sánchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz represent the center-left Socialists and Democrats bloc, and French President Emmanuel Macron with Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte are the official representatives of the previously third-largest Renew faction, a liberal grouping.

The candidacy of Kaja Kallas is seen as a concession to liberals as she heads the liberal Reform party of Estonia. But this faction in the European parliament is already outnumbered by the Conservatives and Reformists headed by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Her appointment does not portend any improvement in relations with Russia. Kallas is wanted by Moscow for the destruction of more than 200 monuments to Soviet soldiers who died freeing Estonia from German Nazis. This background makes Kaja Kallas unfit for any negotiation with Russia, despite the fact that talks with Moscow and peace in Ukraine topped the list of public concerns amid a surge of opposition to mainstream parties in recent EU elections.

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❗️ The judge said Assange's case was officially terminated and he could leave the room a free man, the Guardian reported.

A federal prosecutor said that US barristers in the United Kingdom are “forthwith” withdrawing their extradition request for Assange, the report added.

The court took into account the time served by the founder of Wikileaks, deciding that no further imprisonment is required.

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The US court ruled that no harm was caused by Wikileaks founder Assange's publications, Assange’s lawyer told media.

"WikiLeaks's work will continue and Mr. Assange, I have no doubt, will be continuing force for freedom of speech and transparency in government," chief US lawyer Barry J. Pollack said outside court, the Australian news agency ABC reported.

"The prosecution of Julian Assange is unprecedented in the 100 years of the espionage act," Pollack added.

"It has never been used by United States to pursue a publisher, a journalist, like Mr Assange,” the lawyer emphasized.

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❗️ Wikileaks founder Julian Assange left the courthouse to cheering and applause. He did not make any statements, media reported.

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