Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov on the program of Putin’s trip to the SCO summit in Kazakhstan's Astana (July 3-4):

▪️Putin will meet with Turkiye's president Erdogan to discuss the prospects for further joint work.

▪️The Kremlin expects Putin and Erdogan to discuss the Russian leader’s planned visit to Turkiye.

▪️A meeting is also planned with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

▪️The president will hold negotiations with the leaders of Mongolia, Azerbaijan and Pakistan, and the vice president of Iran.

▪️A separate meeting with Belarusian Presidnet Alexander Lukashenko is not planned, but they will find time to talk.

▪️SCO leaders will adopt a declaration following the summit and sign a document on commitment to the principles of good neighborliness and unity.

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Who is still conducting nuclear tests? Part 1 (👉 Part 2)

Fifty years ago, on July 3, the Soviet Union and the US signed the Treaty on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests. The subsequent Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996 never came into force. Eight of the 44 countries that had nuclear potential and technology at the time - Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, China, North Korea, Pakistan, and the US - either did not sign it or failed to ratify it. Russia renounced the treaty in 2023 — but said this does not mean that it intends to conduct nuclear tests.

Since the first US nuclear test on July 16, 1945, more than 2,000 blasts have been conducted by at least eight nations, according to the Arms Control Association.

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Who is still conducting nuclear tests? Part 2 (👉 Part 1)

▪️ The US leads in number of tests (1032). Like the USSR (715), France (210), UK (45) and China (45), it carried out most tests before the NPT in 1968.
▪️ India and Pakistan conducted tests in 1998 but then adopted unilateral moratoriums.
▪️ The Russian Federation has never tested nuclear weapons. The USSR conducted its last underground nuclear explosion in 1990 at the Novaya Zemlya test site.
▪️ The UK’s last test of a reported 11-kiloton Trident nuclear warhead in Nevada, codenamed ‘Julin Bristol,’ was conducted in 1991.
▪️ The last US nuclear test ‘Shot Divider’ took place in 1992 in Nevada.
▪️ France conducted its last blast at the Moruroa and Fangataufa Atoll test site in the South Pacific in 1996.
▪️ China conducted its last nuclear test in 1996.
▪️ The DPRK broke its test moratorium in 2006, 2009, 2013, 2016 and 2017. On September 3 2017, it tested a hydrogen bomb with a yield of over 100 kilotons of TNT.

Underground explosions make up about 75% of all tests. The UN has warned that some countries may still conduct nuclear tests in secret. The US suspended underground tests in 1992 but began ‘subcritical’ tests five years later. An experiment at the Nevada site on October 18, 2023, used chemical high explosives. Another ‘subcritical’ experiment was held on May 14, 2024. The US claims those tests do not produce a self-sustaining chain reaction, and comply with the zero-yield standard of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

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❗️ Ukraine rejected Hungarian PM Victor Orban’s proposal for a ceasefire, Volodymyr Zelensky's presidential office says.

◾️ Orban said he would prepare a report for the EU Council on negotiations with Zelensky, at which he proposed a ceasefire so that the EU could take the necessary decisions.

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❗️ Belarusian and Russian air defense and air forces have been put on alert due to heightened activity of Ukrainian troops, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said.

Polonez and Iskander missile systems have been brought to firing positions.

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⚔️ How strong is the Axis of Resistance?

“Iran, and all members of the "Axis of Resistance", will support the Lebanese Shia movement, Hezbollah, in the event of a conflict with Israel.”

This assertion was made by Kamal Kharrazi, Adviser to the Supreme Leader of Iran, to Financial Times on July 2.

So, what’s behind the group’s military strength?

🇱🇧 Lebanon: Hezbollah

▪️ 100,000-strong military force, according to its leadership.
▪️ 150,000-200,000 projectiles, including ballistic, anti-air, anti-tank, and anti-ship missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles. Among them, 40,000 short-range missiles, 80,000 medium-range missiles, and 30,000 long-range missiles, according to estimates.
▪️ Tanks, armored personnel carriers (APC), and infantry fighting vehicles (IFV).

🇾🇪 Yemen: Ansar Allah, or Houthis

▪️ Recruited over 200,000 fighters since the beginning of the Gaza war, per its spokesperson in Feb.
▪️ Surface-to-surface cruise and ballistic missiles, artillery rockets, and UAVs.
▪️ Claims of domestically developed "Hatem-2" hypersonic missiles.

🇵🇸 Gaza Strip: Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ)

▪️ Prior to the Gaza war, Hamas had an estimated 40,000-strong force.
▪️ PIJ reportedly has 1,000 members.
▪️ 30,000-50,000 missiles, mortar shells, and UAVs at the beginning of conflict with Israel.

🇮🇶 Iraq: Kataib Hezbollah, the Badr Organisation, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq

▪️ Core of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) or Al-Hashd al-Shaabi, an Iraqi paramilitary network comprising 230,000 fighters.
▪️ Iraqi Shia militias reportedly armed with artillery, unguided rockets, light and heavy mortars, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, Iranian-made Zelzal (150-250 km), Fateh-110 (200-300 km), and Zolfaghar (700 km) missiles.
▪️ Mastery of drone warfare during war against ISIS*.

*ISIS (also known as ISIS/IL/ISIS-K/Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries

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📹 The Kalashnikov rifle doesn't care how much you take it apart: it will still shoot

Russian military correspondents did an experiment and found out which parts the Kalashnikov rifle does not need to fire. It turned out that the weapon works even when almost completely “undressed”.

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🇷🇺📈 Russia defied sanctions to join high-income rank

The World Bank’s recognition of Russia as a high-income country is "not surprising, but a reality”, Dr. Georgy Ostapkovich, Director of the Center for Market Research at the Higher School of Economics, told Sputnik.

Russia is seeing income growth of around 4-5%, with earnings growing in double digits, Ostapkovich said, stressing that the driving force is economic growth.

"Incomes only grow when the economy grows. If the economy grows, then profits grow. If profits grow, then the entrepreneur is keen on hiring people and raising wages," he added.

Russia’s economy grew by 3.6% in 2023, with real incomes and nominal wages up by 4.5% and 13% respectively. Industrial performance, particularly in manufacturing, is propelling this growth not seen in 20 to 30 years. Notably, mechanical engineering in the military industry is expanding at 25-30%, according to Ostapkovich.

Andrey Kolganov, Doctor of Economics and Head of the Laboratory of Socio-Economic Systems at Moscow State University, acknowledged that despite the challenges posed by the growth stimuli, Western sanctions failed to inflict significant harm on the Russian economy.

"The Russian economy has shown great potential in adapting to these difficulties. Moreover, these difficulties stimulated the development of domestic production, which in turn led to high rates of economic growth," he added.

Kolganov noted that economic growth rates were higher in 2023, compared to 2022 - and even higher in 2024. These increases promoted Russia from the classification of middle-income countries, to the rank of high-income countries. Although Russia has not caught up with the richest countries, the achievement is nonetheless remarkable, especially in the face of unprecedented sanctions.

Gross national income per capita in Russia is now $14,250, according to a document released by the World Bank that classifies countries that cross the $13,485 threshold as “high income.”

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What's behind Ukraine's upgrade to an upper-middle-income economy?

Ukraine “received powerful external support in the form of financial resources. And it is precisely this external support that largely helped the Ukrainian economy stay afloat when it faced military problems," Andrey Kolganov, head of the Laboratory of Socio-Economic Systems at the Faculty of Economics of the Moscow State University, told Sputnik.

The World Bank has upgraded Ukraine's economic status despite the country teetering on the brink of a default, as The Economist warned on June 30.

The paradox can be explained by the fact that while Ukraine's economy grew by 5.3 percent in 2023 after a steep decline by 28.8 percent in 2022, the country's population has dropped by around 15 percent since the conflict began, economic observers say.

As a result, gross national income per capita in Ukraine has recently increased to $5,070 from $4,270 which automatically brought it in the category of upper-middle-income countries, in accordance with the World Bank's classification.

"Ukraine's economy has never belonged to the league of efficient economies," Kolganov said. "Its economic indicators before the outbreak of hostilities were not brilliant."

Ukraine survives because it has a lifeline from the West and because its economy is partly buoyed up by its military needs, according to Sputnik's pundit.

"If this external support ends, I am afraid that Ukraine's economic gains will disappear in thin air," Kolganov said.

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📹 Biden: “We’ve invested billions to enhance our power grid, expand energy shortages.”

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➖ Russia defied sanctions to join high-income rank

➖ France hurtling towards ‘uncontrollable situation’ regardless of elections outcome

➖ Hungarian PM Victor Orban's statements after meeting with Zelensky in Kiev

➖ How strong is the Axis of Resistance?

➖ What's behind Ukraine's upgrade to an upper-middle-income economy?

➖ Who is Ukrainian MP Bezuglaya, nemesis of Ukrainian generals?

➖ Russia unveils disposable drone fitted with warhead to intercept enemy UAV

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Something awkwardly tender happened between Biden and an emergency management agency employee.

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💸 ‘US running very large deficit’ along ‘unsustainable path’ warns Fed Chair Jerome Powell

"We'll have to do something sooner or later, and sooner will be better than later," he stated.

The US national debt is projected to rise from 99% of GDP in 2024 to 122% by 2034, according to the US Congressional Budget Office.

Meanwhile, the IMF estimates that by 2032, the ratio of US national debt to GDP will exceed 140%. The fund has warned that such growth poses a threat to both the national and global economy.

During Joe Biden's presidency, the US national debt has increased from $28 trillion in 2021 to an unprecedented level of over $34.5 trillion this year.

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