📹 Russian Hawk UAV specialists destroyed Ukrainian positions using the Scorpion-M1 automated platform

The Russian soldiers foiled another of Ukraine’s attempt to rotate units in the Donetsk area of the special military operation.

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Labour’s leader Keir Starmer officially became Britain's 58th prime minister after being appointed by British monarch Charles III

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Pepe Escobar: Why the SCO summit in Kazakhstan was a game-changer

The 2024 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit hosted in Kazakhstan’s Astana was “the antechamber to the crucial BRICS annual summit, under the Russian presidency,” geo-economic and geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar told Sputnik.

The event showed that the SCO has really stepped up the game after incorporating India, Pakistan and Iran, and now Belarus, as new members. Besides, the organization also establishes such key players as Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Azerbaijan as dialogue partners, as well as Afghanistan and Mongolia as observers.

Overtime, the original Shanghai Five, Russia, China, plus three Central Asian “stans”, have become a far more comprehensive body, compared to its original purpose as an anti-terrorism/separatism organization back in 2001, when it was first established.

“The SCO has evolved into serious geoeconomic cooperation, discussing in detail, for instance, supply chain security issues,” Escobar noted.

Today, it covers 80% of the Eurasian landmass, accounts for more than 40% of the world’s population, boasts a 25% share of global GDP (and rising), and generates global trade value of over $8 trillion in 2022, according to Chinese government numbers. Add to it SCO members hold 20% of global oil reserves and 44% of natural gas.

Follow the link to learn more

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📹 Military specialist tells Sputnik what Russia has learned after studying a trophy US ATACMS cluster submunition

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'Peace must be done,' — Hungarian PM says following talks with Putin

During today's meeting with the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would familiarize Orban with the details of Russia’s proposals for a peaceful settlement in Ukraine.

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Where does US deploy missiles previously banned by INF Treaty?

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week announced that Moscow is ennoscriptd to design and manufacture intermediate-range nuclear-capable missiles after the US withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and started dabbling in these weapons.

Here are but few examples of the US deploying such previously-outlawed missile weaponry:

▪️Last month, a US-made Typhon Medium Range Capability (MRC) missile launcher was spotted during the Salaknib 24.2 military exercise held jointly by the US and Philippine armed forces.

▪️In May, a Typhon MRC was also deployed on the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea as part of another military exercise.

While neither of these deployments were openly touted as permanent – in fact, Straits Times quoted a Philippine military officer as saying that the Typhon MRC will be pulled out in September or even earlier – these developments highlight the Pentagon’s eagerness to employ previously banned weapons to stoke tensions in various parts of the globe.

What is the Typhon Medium Range Capability missile system?

Typhon MRC is a transporter erector launcher that was adopted by the US Army in 2023. It can launch standard SM-6 missiles (a surface-to-air missile that can also perform as an anti-ship missile) and Tomahawk land attack missiles.

Even when the INF Treaty was still in effect, however, the United States had no qualms about dabbling with outlawed (at the time) weaponry.

▪️For example, Russia repeatedly warned that the US land-based Aegis ballistic missile defense systems deployed to Poland and Romania could be used to launch cruise missiles (such as the aforementioned Tomahawks) instead of interceptors.

Threats like these are likely what prompted Putin to consider resuming production of intermediate and short range ballistic missiles, simply to be able to counter new challenges brought forth by the United States.

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❗️Putin and Orban had a frank conversation on all issues related to the Ukrainian crisis, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said

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❗️Talks between Putin and Orban are over, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said

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❗️WATCH: Russian President Vladimir Putin holds press conference with Hungarian PM Viktor Orban after talks in Moscow

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NATO's Ukraine 'hawks' go down in flames

NATO governments stubbornly refuse to start negotiations on ending the Ukraine conflict despite lacking resources to protract their proxy war with Russia, losing their political positions and risking further public discontent, Alex Thompson, a British analyst with UK Column, told Sputnik.

"I am not an economic analyst but it is apparent to me that neither the US, nor the EU, nor the UK would be able to sustain a war footing for more than a year without catastrophic loss of currency value and massive fusions of defense industry across the West," Thompson said.

This spring, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a stronger EU defense, proposing doubling the EU budget, and peddled the idea of a "major European loan" to finance the bloc's rearmament.

"Given the French election results, there is no chance that the government of France in particular will be able to sell a long-term proxy (or direct) war with Russia to its population," Thompson said.

Indeed, three major Ukraine "hawks" - US President Joe Biden, his French counterpart Macron and UK Conservative party - are facing political defeat. The British Tories lost elections drastically; Macron lost the first round of the French snap vote and polls indicate that the second one will be no better. President Joe Biden is urged to drop out by the Dems after the debate debacle with Donald Trump.

The pundit doesn’t rule out that the Western elites are deliberately ignoring their population's urges and the economic slowdown caused by anti-Russian sanctions and the proxy war in Ukraine in a bid to overhaul their respective economies.

"Given UK Column’s research over the past decade, I am perfectly prepared to posit that the couple of hundred people who run the various Western economies would positively welcome both of these ways of breaking the economy to recreate it in their own image; these are both plans that have been spoken about in Western élite circles for many decades," the UK Column analyst concluded.

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🇷🇺🇭🇺 It is important that Russia and Hungary continue to maintain dialogue in the current difficult geopolitical situation, Vladimir Putin said. The Russian president called the conversation with Viktor Orban frank and useful.

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⚡️ Russia sees that Kiev is not ready to give up waging war until the end — Putin

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❗️Ukraine does not allow the idea of a ceasefire because it would remove the pretext for extending martial law, Putin emphasized.

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⚡️ There should not be a ceasefire or a pause to re-arm the Kiev regime, Moscow favors a full and final end to the conflict, Putin said

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❗️Viktor Orban said he held talks with Putin at a time when Europe needs peace.

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❗️Viktor Orban: After trips to Kiev and Moscow, I realized that the positions of the parties are far from each other.

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📹 If Ukraine ends martial law, it will have to hold presidential elections, Putin noted.

The chances of the current Ukrainian authorities winning are close to zero, according to the Russian president.

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❗️Key statements from Putin and Orban after talks in Moscow

🇷🇺 Putin:

▪️Ukraine does not allow the idea of a ceasefire because it would remove the pretext for extending martial law.

▪️If Ukraine ends martial law, it will have to hold presidential elections. The chances of the current Ukrainian authorities winning are close to zero.

▪️There should not be a truce or a pause for the additional armament of the Kiev regime; Moscow stands for a complete and final end to the conflict.

▪️Russia insists on the complete withdrawal of all Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk People's Republic, Lugansk People's Republic, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

▪️It is important that even in the current difficult geopolitical situation, Moscow and Budapest continue their dialogue.

🇭🇺 Orban:

▪️The positions of Russia and Ukraine are very far from each other, much needs to be done to bring the end of the conflict closer.

▪️He said that he discussed with Putin the achievement of peace in Ukraine and the shortest path to this.

▪️The conflict in Ukraine has begun to have an impact on the European economy and its competitiveness.

▪️I heard what Putin thinks about the existing peace initiatives, the ceasefire and negotiations, the vision of Europe after the war.

▪️He promised to continue his efforts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict.

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The United States postpones military exercises with Georgia indefinitely due to a comprehensive review of bilateral relations, the Pentagon said.

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