Former Bolivian President Añez, who was demanded to be released from prison by General Juan José Zuñiga, condemned the attempted coup d'état.

Eralier, General Zuñiga, who is leading a coup attempt in Bolivia, demanded that democracy be returned to the country and that political prisoners, including former President Jeanine Anez, be released, according to his statement to journalists.

"We would like to return democracy ... The demand of the military is the release of political prisoners - [former Santa Cruz Governor Luis] Camacho, [ex-President Jeanine] Anez," Zuniga told journalists on Wednesday.

Argentine broadcaster TN aired the general's statement.

Camacho and Anez are in pre-trial detention in a coup d'etat case.

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❗️ The military is leaving Murillo Square in the Bolivian city of La Paz, which it had earlier seized as part of an attempted coup d'état, Bolivia TV reported.

"The military is leaving Murillo Square," the TV channel reported.

The footage shows an armored personnel carrier surrounded by military personnel and cameras leaving the square.

Earlier on Wednesday, local media reported about the accumulation of the military in Murillo Square, where government buildings are located. Bolivian President Luis Arce called for respect to democracy and described what was happening as an attempted coup d'état. It was led by General Juan José Zuñiga, who local media reported had previously been removed as army chief. Arce has since appointed new military leadership.

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🇷🇺 Threats against Russia should be taken seriously and adequate responses need to be planned in advance, alongside with the strengthening of the armed forces and the navy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"We all understand the increasing degree of geopolitical tension in the modern world, we hear regular threats against Russia from the elites of a number of countries and even see concrete actions to implement these threats. Naturally, we must take this as seriously as possible, calculate all the possible risks and plan adequate responses, strengthen our armed forces and navy," Putin said at a meeting on shipbuilding.

The Russian navy needs to be protected from long-range missile attacks, the president said, adding that Russia needs to develop a remote threat detection systems, including a one using drones.

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🇷🇺 At a meeting with UN Deputy Secretary General Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev called on the United Nations to provide a proper assessment of the Ukrainian strikes on Crimea on June 23, Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said.

"Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev met with UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix at the UN headquarters.... The Russian minister called for a proper assessment on the part of the UN of another heinous crime of the Kiev regime – missile strikes on June 23 on the Crimean peninsula, which resulted in injuries and deaths of civilians," said Volk on her Telegram channel.

The minister also expressed confidence that all those responsible for the terrorist attack and other terrorist attacks on Russian territory will inevitably be punished.

Earlier in the day, Kolokoltsev arrived in New York to take part in UN meetings, the Russian mission to the UN said.

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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⚡️ General Juan José Zuñiga was arrested by Bolivian authorities, Bolivian local media reported.

Zuñiga has been escorted by the military to a car and has already been brought to a police station, the broadcaster reported.

Bolivia's prosecutor's office launched criminal investigations against Zuñiga and other participants in the coup attempt.

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🇸🇾⚔️🇮🇱 Two people were killed and one serviceman was wounded in an Israeli attack in southern Syria, the Syrian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“At approximately 23:40 [2040 GMT] on June 26, the Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression from the side of the occupied Golan Heights, striking a number of posts in the southern region. Our air defense systems responded to enemy missiles and shot down some of them. As a result of the aggression, two people were killed and one serviceman was wounded," the ministry said.

Some material damage was also caused, the statement added.

Earlier, a Sputnik correspondent reported that explosions could be heard in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

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The Bolivian Attorney General's Office has charged General Juan José Zuñiga who led Wednesday's coup attempt with terrorism and launching an armed uprising against the state, media reported.

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❗️ EXCLUSIVE: Criticize NATO, get couped?

Bolivian President Luis Arce sharply criticized the NATO military alliance in an exclusive interview with Sputnik just over two weeks ago, on June 7, on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum 2024.

“I believe that NATO's actions are putting world peace at risk,” the leader insisted. “We have seen it not only here in Europe, but also in Latin America,” he noted, referring to the bloc’s attempts to form partnerships with the historical US ally Colombia and, more recently, with Javier Milei’s Argentina. “We see with great concern that NATO is acting in several countries in the region where it previously did not participate, where it did not exist.”

“We see how NATO acts in other places and where it has gone, there have been problems… We do not share the militarist, liberal objectives it proposes when what the planet needs today is peace,” the president emphasized.

Western countries have historically interfered throughout Latin America and in Bolivia in particular, where the CIA collaborated with the notorious Nazi torture chief Klaus Barbie to persecute leftists. The United States backed a coup in the Andean country in 2019, having long objected to former President Evo Morales’ anti-imperialist government. Observers suggest the US maintains a keen interest in the country’s lithium deposits, which are some of the largest in the world.

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🇨🇬🇷🇺 President of the Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso said in an interview with Sputnik that he will discuss ways to resolve the Ukraine conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.

"Tomorrow, I will have an exchange of opinions with Russian President Vladimir Putin on this matter [ways to resolve the Ukraine conflict], we will be seeking peaceful solutions," the Congolese president said.

He added that he does not plan to visit Ukraine after his trip to Russia as he did in 2023 when participants of the African peace initiative, which included the Republic of the Congo, first visited Moscow and then Kiev.

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Bolivian Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo has presented General Juan José Zuñiga, who has been detained after a coup attempt, to the media, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

Zuñiga was in handcuffs and was wearing a bulletproof vest that read "detained," the correspondent reported.

"It is not going to be an easy process," the minister said, adding that the general had made an attempt on the lives of Bolivian President Luis Arce and Vice President David Choquehuanca, as well as committed an uprising against the people of Bolivia.

According to the minister, at least 9 people were injured by gunshots during the attempted putsch.

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🇷🇺 It is necessary to qualitatively improve the combat readiness of the Russian navy in strategically important areas at sea, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized.

"As you know, the Decree on naval activities through 2030 set clear guidelines, namely, to comprehensively develop the Russian navy, including ship, aviation and coastal components, to establish infrastructure, strengthen its position in strategically important areas of the world ocean, and qualitatively increase combat readiness," Putin said at a meeting on shipbuilding.

It is planned that domestic shipbuilders will deliver more than 40 ships to the Russian Defense Ministry in 2024, the Russian president added.

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The Ukrainian strike on the Russian city of Sevastopol using US-provided ATACMS munitions constitutes terrorism and an act of war by the United States, independent US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said.

“The word that describes this is terrorism. It is an act of war by the US against Russian civilians,” Kennedy emphasized in a statement via social media platform X.

Only the US Congress is authorized to declare war, the politician highlighted. Lawmakers should stop the “unaccountable and reckless hawks” directing US President Joe Biden, Kennedy insisted.

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🔸 Bolivian President Luis Arce addressed the nation, calling the event happening in La Paz an attempted coup d'état

🔸 Bolivian President criticized NATO in an exclusive interview with Sputnik just two weeks ago

🔸 The Ukrainian strike on Crimea using US-provided ATACMS missiles constitutes terrorism and an act of war by the US - Kennedy Jr.

🔸 Radical Zelensky's regime willing to sacrifice own people for anti-Russia crusade – analyst

🔸 United States pushes the envelope on press freedom, nuclear threat

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📹Footage of Bolivian President Luis Arce having conversation and rebel General Zuñiga

The meeting took place at the palace in the capital before Arce addressed the nation and appointed a new military leadership. Soon after, Zuñiga was arrested.

In the footage, the Bolivian president orders the military to return to the barracks, but they refuse.

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Bolivia’s coup attempt: Three hours that failed to rock the nation

President Luis Arce has thanked Bolivians for support after his country went through an attempted coup, which left at least nine people suffered gunshot wounds.

How did the events unfold?

🔹 On June 26, troops led by General Juan Jose Zuniga, former commander-in-chief of the Bolivian army, stormed the Casa Grande presidential palace and took up positions in the square outside, amid reports that a tank had rammed the palace doors.

🔹 The general was fired on June 25 for his political attacks on former Bolivian President Evo Morales, who plans to seek another term in 2025.

🔹 Zuniga did not explicitly say he was leading a coup, but at the palace he argued that the army was trying to "restore democracy and free our [Bolivian] political prisoners."

🔹 Shortly thereafter, state television showed President Arce confronting Zuniga in the palace hallway, saying, "I am your captain and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination.

🔹 Arce thanked Bolivia's police and regional allies for standing by him and then named a new army commander, Jose Wilson Sanchez, who immediately ordered the troops to stand down.

🔹 Shortly thereafter, the armored vehicles left the plaza, followed by scores of soldiers, as Zuniga was taken into custody along with former Navy Vice Admiral Juan Arnez Salvador. In all, the coup attempt lasted about three hours.

🔹 Hours later, Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo told reporters that "everything is now under control" and that Bolivia had experienced a "failed coup.

🔹 The Public Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal investigation, and Morales has condemned the coup attempt and demanded that Zuniga and his "accomplices" be prosecuted.

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