📹 Footage from Sputnik captures the ceremonial send-off for Modi as he concludes his visit to Russia. The orchestra played the national anthems of both countries.

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What was Modi’s message to the West during his visit to Russia?

In a bold diplomatic move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made headlines with his recent visit to Russia, delivering a potent message to Western powers.

Air Marshal M Matheswaran, an Air Force veteran and the founder chairman and president of TPF, emphasized Modi's pivotal role in communicating critical messages to both the West and Russia.

"Modi has definitely delivered a message to the West. In fact, he has delivered a message to both the West and Russia at the same time,” Matheswaran said. “Putin has acknowledged the message and thanked India for its efforts. India's assistance in peace efforts is intended to get the parties to come together for a dialogue."

He stressed that dialogue and diplomacy are the only viable solutions for achieving peace in Ukraine.

"Unfortunately, Ukraine is a prisoner of forces which have enticed it to adopt an anti-Russia position, which is part of a larger geopolitical game. Ukraine is the proverbial fall guy in this conflict," he said.
Matheswaran noted that the Russian leader has consistently offered dialogue as a means to resolve the conflict.

"Putin has offered the path of dialogue on several occasions,” he said. “However, Ukraine has been rigid on its position and fallen into the Western trap of demonizing Russia."

Niranjan Marjani, a fellow at the Indian think tank Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies (KIIPS), highlighted the strategic importance of Russia to India.

"Russia has proven to be an indispensable partner for India,” he noted. “In recent times, Russian supplies of fertilizers and crude to India have resulted in diversification of trade beyond the traditional area of defense."

Marjani elaborated on the broader impact of Russia's support to the Global South.

"Besides India, Russia’s supply of food grains to other Global South nations in Africa and Latin America has helped in alleviating food security,” he said. “As rightly pointed out by Prime Minister Modi, India’s procurement of crude from Russia has stabilized the global energy market. So the India-Russia partnership has done well to address these concerns."

He emphasized India's role in highlighting the challenges faced by the Global South during its G20 presidency.

"As India has been highlighting, including during its G20 presidency, it is the countries of the Global South which have borne the brunt of the spillover effects of the Ukraine crisis,” Marjani said. “In a way, the India-Russia partnership not only benefits bilateral ties but also the entire global community, particularly the Global South."

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Key Points from Putin and Modi's Joint Statement following talks in Moscow

◻️ Putin and Modi highly praised the special privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India.

◻️ Modi invited Putin to visit India in 2025.

◻️ Russia and India acknowledged proposals for mediation and "good offices" aimed at peacefully resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

◻️ Putin and Modi called for the implementation of the UN resolution on a ceasefire and the immediate release of hostages in Gaza.

◻️ Russia and India will intensify efforts to establish a framework for equal and indivisible regional security.

◻️ Putin and Modi discussed the situation in Afghanistan and supported its establishment as an independent state.

◻️ Putin and Modi expressed confidence that the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan will be comprehensive and effective.

◻️ Russia and India called for UN Security Council reform to reflect modern global realities and make it more representative.

◻️ Russia supports India's candidacy for permanent membership in a reformed and expanded UN Security Council.

◻️ Putin and Modi emphasized the importance of non-interference in the internal affairs of countries and called for a convention on combating cybercrime.

◻️ Putin and Modi condemned terrorist attacks, including those in "Crocus" and Dagestan, stating that terrorism has no religion or nationality.

◻️ Russia and India are ready to enhance investment cooperation in the Far East and the Arctic region.

◻️ Russia and India consider energy cooperation, including nuclear energy and oil refining, a priority.

◻️ Russia and India will develop a bilateral settlement system using national currencies.

◻️ Russia and India prioritize ensuring bilateral and international energy security.

◻️ Russia and India will strengthen cooperation in engineering, shipbuilding, and the space industry.

◻️ Russia will increase cargo turnover with India through the launch of new routes for the "North-South" corridor, the Northern Sea Route, and the Vladivostok-Chennai line.

◻️ Putin and Modi instructed the intergovernmental commission to study the identified priority areas of cooperation and assess the progress made.

◻️ Putin and Modi agreed to expand interaction between Russia and India in education, science, culture, tourism, and sports.

◻️ Relations between Russia and India continue to be an important pillar of global peace and stability in a multipolar world.

◻️ Putin and Modi agreed to make every effort to fully realize the potential of the strategic partnership between Russia and India.

◻️ Russia and India will continue interaction on key issues at G20, BRICS, and SCO platforms.

◻️ Russia and India are committed to increasing the number of joint military cooperation events and expanding military delegation exchanges.

◻️ Russia and India will continue consultations on aligning financial messaging transmission systems.

◻️ Putin and Modi agreed to work together to promote the Russian language in India and Indian languages in Russia.

◻️ Putin and Modi instructed to explore the possibility of negotiations for a free trade agreement between the EAEU and India.

◻️ India's presence in the UN Security Council provides an opportunity for coordination between Moscow and New Delhi on the most pressing issues of the UN agenda.

◻️ Moscow and New Delhi agreed to explore prospects for cooperation in the development, production, and use of rocket engines.

◻️ Russia expresses strong support for India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

◻️ Putin and Modi agreed to consider the possibility of concluding new long-term contracts in the energy trade sector.

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Russia will launch the manufacturing of satellites by 2026, Russian state space corporation Roscosmos head Yuri Borisov said.

"There are two facilities — Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev and Lavochkin Research and Production Association, where production facilities for the production of a multi-satellite group will be set up. In Krasnoyarsk, the specialization is telecommunications, and in Moscow, at the Lavochkin NGO, it is remote sensing of the Earth," Borisov told reporters, commenting on Roscosmos' plans to launch conveyor production of satellites.

Roscosmos has revised the necessary costs for the program, and estimates them at 60 billion rubles ($679 million).

Last week, Borisov said that Roscosmos will seek financing to produce 400 satellites per year by 2026 - 2028.

The project is planned to be implemented in two stages: the first stage will be completed in 2026, the second in 2028, the official explained.

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Crimean paratroopers destroyed a robotic platform and a Starlink satellite station of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Orekhov direction in the Zaporozhye region, according to the Ministry of Defence.

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Norway supplied Ukraine with the NASAMS air defense system, from which a missile was fired at a children's hospital in Kiev, stated Russian Ambassador to the UN Nebenzia.

"We are also waiting for a response from the Norwegian authorities... Did they sanction its use to strike a children's hospital and to be placed in residential areas in violation of international humanitarian law?"

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova reported that it was indeed a NASAMS missile that hit the hospital.

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Apple of discord: What is the Philadelphi Corridor, and why is it a linchpin of Egypt-Israel tensions?

The Philadelphi Corridor is a strip of land stretching 14-km long and 100-m wide that separates Gaza and Egypt. Its occupation by the IDF in May, amid the latter's ongoing conflict with Hamas, has prompted condemnation from Cairo, who calls it a “dangerous escalation” that threatens over a million Palestinians in Rafah.

Israel reportedly expressed readiness to withdraw from the corridor this week, as part of a new hostage-truce deal, on the condition that the IDF “take action” against arms smuggling into Gaza via the corridor.

The Philadelphi Corridor, seen by Israel as key to preventing smuggling, and the free movement of Palestinians in either direction, remains a contentious point in Egypt-Israel relations. Here’s why:

◻️ Under the 2005 Egypt-Israel Philadelphi Accord, Egypt was authorized to deploy up to 750 border guards on its side of the buffer zone, known in Egypt as the Salah Al-Din Axis. The Palestinian Authority was able to deploy its security forces on the Gaza side of the border after Israel withdrew from the area that same year, but lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007.

◻️ Egypt has been a key mediator in the on-again, off-again series of ceasefire and hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, calling the potential forced displacement of Gazans to Egypt a “red line.” In February, Chief Diaa Rashwan of the Egyptian State Information Service warned that “any Israeli move to occupy the Philadelphi Corridor [would] lead to a serious threat to Egyptian-Israeli relations.” By occupying the corridor, Israel risked unsettling its "greatest neighbor" by forcing Egypt to “defend its national security”and "the central cause of Palestine", the official said.

◻️ After Israel moved ahead with the occupation anyway, Egyptian lawmakers warned that the move undermined the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace deal, which delimited the current borders between Egypt and Gaza along the Salah Al-Din Axis.

◻️ The Washington Institute for the Near East Policy, an influential US pro-Israeli think tank, recently warned that Tel Aviv’s takeover of the Philadelphi Corridor was one of a “growing list of bilateral irritants" that threatens to unravel US foreign policy objectives in the region. The US had hoped to keep tensions cool to prevent Tel Aviv and Washington from having to face off yet another powerful military, economic, and political regional juggernaut - Egypt.

◻️ What’s more, Egypt doesn’t buy the IDF’s rationale for occupying the Philadelphi Corridor, with an official stating in January that Cairo had worked unilaterally over the years to dismantle well over 1,500 tunnels and rendered smuggling "impossible.”

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NATO’s summit of uncertainty: crisis of leadership, non-payments and untenable obligations. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

As NATO marks the 75th anniversary of its creation at a summit in Washington July 9-11, the alliance finds itself grappling with a slew of internal challenges, from political turbulence among allies to funding disputes and a system of arms contracts which benefits some members (guess which ones) far more than others. Here’s a closer look at some of the problems wracking the bloc:

Domestic Political Woes:

NATO’s main problem stems from a crisis of leadership.

As last month’s presidential debate and the D-Day commemoration ceremony in Normandy, France amply demonstrated, US President Joe Biden appears to be in no condition to make critical policy decisions, or even enjoy control of his basic bodily functions and general demeanor. Concerns over the president’s health have become the focus of virtually all English-language mainstream media coverage of the NATO anniversary festivities, with questions swirling around whether Biden will once again embarrass himself, and the United States, on the world stage via a major gaffe or awkward performance.

Across the pond, major allies are facing political and economic problems of their own, and of a scale and prevalence unprecedented since the alliance’s founding:

◻️ France has been plunged into a political crisis in the wake of President Macron’s June decision to call snap parliamentary elections, which have produced a hung parliament divided between the left, right and Macron’s centrists.

◻️ In the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was voted out after just a year-and-a-half in office in a snap vote last week, replaced by Labour Party leader Keir Starmer.

◻️ Erstwhile European economic powerhouse Germany is facing its own internal political turmoil as the shaky coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz continues to struggle to find a consensus on foreign and defense policy after an embarrassing defeat (and possible preview of next year’s federal elections) in the June 9 elections to the European Parliament.

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NATO’s summit of uncertainty: crisis of leadership, non-payments and untenable obligations. Part 2 Part 1 Part 3

Spending Disparities:

A decade after pledging to increase alliance defense spending commitments to at least 2 percent of GDP, over a quarter of bloc members continue to lag behind, woefully failing to meet the spending threshold, and thus undermining alliance attempts to whip up hysteria around the so-called Russian ‘threat’.

Canada, Spain and Belgium are among the biggest laggards, with Ottawa – habitually one of the loudest voices when it comes to “supporting Ukraine” and “defending NATO” against foreign threats, spending just 1.4% of GDP on defense in 2023 and promising to reach 1.7% only by 2030 (the Parliamentary Budget Office says the actual figure will be only 1.42 percent).

Together with Belgium (Brussels promises to reach 2% only by 2035), Canada also fails to spend 20% or more of its defense budget on new equipment, as required, leaving much of its stocks in a woeful condition, undermining collective operational readiness.

Germany’s military spending still makes up only 1.5% of its GDP, and is expected to increase only by €1.2bn to €53.2bn in 2025 - far from the increase desired by NATO.

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NATO’s summit of uncertainty: crisis of leadership, non-payments and untenable obligations. Part 3 Part 1 Part 2

Dizzying Profits for US MIC at Allies’ Expense:

Allies’ hesitation to spend more on defense is perhaps understandable, given the lopsided ‘beneficiaries’ of the increased outlays. Last month, outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he expects overall military spending within the alliance to grow by 18% in 2024, marking the largest increase in spending in decades.

But the spending bonanza is largely driven by the United States, whose military-industrial complex enjoys the lion’s share of the profits, as upwards of two-thirds of the funds laid out are directed towards orders for defense companies based in the US. Increases in defense spending is therefore seen as a boon to an otherwise ailing US economy, even if it comes at the cost of even greater fiscal pain for the Europeans.

As NATO marks its 75th anniversary, these and other issues (not least of which is the danger of a direct, hot war with Russia caused by aggressive alliance behavior) will undoubtedly continue to fissure, bubble and boil, posing significant challenges to the alliance's cohesion and effectiveness.

Balancing the demands of increased spending with pressing domestic issues facing most of the bloc may be a bridge too far for the alliance to handle in the coming years.

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IDF reports interception of projectiles and strike on Hezbollah targets

Earlier today, numerous projectiles were launched from Rab El Thalathine in southern Lebanon towards the area of Misgav Am in northern Israel. According to the IDF Aerial Defense Array, they managed to intercept the majority of these projectiles.

Shortly after the launches, IDF soldiers identified two Hesbollah members entering an Organization's military facilty near the launch site. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) then struck the building along with the Hesbollah fighters.

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BRICS' economic surge: how the balance of power is shifting away from the West

Prof. of the University of Chicago John Mearsheimer unveils the reasons behind the BRICS overtaking the West

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The IDF published footage of its strike on a Hezbollah military structure in the area of Kfarkela.

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Russian ground-attack aviation strikes enemy stronghold

Ground-attack aviation crews operating Su-25 aircraft delivered a strike using unguided air-to-surface missiles on an enemy stronghold and manpower within the area of responsibility of the Vostok Group of Forces.

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The "Al-Qassam Brigades" has released a video showing the elimination of an Israeli soldier in the industrial zone of the Tal Al-Hawa area.

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West's Ukraine gamble could spiral into clash between nuclear powers, Russian envoy warns

The West's recent withdrawal from arms control agreements and its desire to inflict a "strategic defeat" against Russia could potentially lead to a dangerous clash between nuclear powers, warned Konstantin Gavrilov, head of the Russian delegation at the talks in Vienna on military security and arms control, in an article for Sputnik.

◾️Today, it’s obvious "with what ease the 'transatlantic allies' are plunging themselves deeper into the whirlpool of confrontation with Russia on the side of the Kiev regime," he wrote.

"Putting aside all the documents adopted at a forum on arms control and confidence-building, they have wagered on inflicting a 'strategic defeat' on our country. All this carries the risks of a direct military clash between nuclear powers with unpredictable consequences," Gavrilov cautioned.

◾️Western nations persist in squandering mind-boggling sums on the Ukraine conflict, resurrecting NATO's veneer as a so-called shield against the perceived ‘threat’ from the East, the diplomat remarked.

"The fact that the Ukraine crisis is only part of a systemic problem affecting the FSC [Forum for Security Co-operation of the OSCE, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] has become evident long ago. The events in this country have been immediately used to justify the legitimacy of NATO's return to its original function of defending against the threat from the East and, similarly, to position the alliance as the only reliable security instrument in the 'new modalities'," he said.

◾️ The West is now using the Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) as an information warfare tool against Russia, Gavrilov noted.

"It is not surprising that against such a background, the FSC has ceased to be of interest to Western participating states as a platform for professional discussion of security issues in Europe and is increasingly in demand as a tool to support information warfare against Russia," the diplomat concluded.

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Zelensky admits Abrams tanks toothless on the battlefield, seeks scores of F-16s

"I am not sure that this number of tanks could change the situation on the battlefield," Zelensky said during a speech at the Ronald Reagan Center in Washington.

He also said that Western deliveries of American-produced F-16s to Ukraine would not be enough, since Kiev needs more than a hundred more of these jets.

"So, till [the] moment, when we will have 128 jets, we will not compare with them in the sky. Anyway, it will be difficult," Zelensky said.

The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly announced the destruction of Abrams tanks in the special operation zone.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov previously stated that Moscow would interpret any potential transfer of nuclear-capable F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine as a deliberate signal from NATO in the realm of nuclear issues.

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🎥 Ukrainian troops used toxic substances in Toretsk, Donetsk People's Republic, a refugee from this town told Sputnik.

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❗️Russia's FSB foils Ukrainian terrorist plot targeting the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov in Murmansk.

"The Russian Federal Security Service has thwarted attempts by the Ukrainian special services to carry out terrorist attacks on the heavy aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov in the city of Murmansk," the statement read.

In March 2024, a Russian citizen undergoing military service on the aircraft carrier was contacted via Internet messengers by an employee of one of Ukraine’s intel agencies, who used psychological influence techniques to pressure the targeted individual into committing a potential act of terrorism on the warship.

In March, the Russian military officer in question serving aboard the aircraft carrier was contacted by Ukrainian spies, who proposed carrying out an act of terrorism on the ship in exchange for a large sum of money. The officer reported this to Russia’s security agencies, who then conducted an undercover operation against the said Ukrainian adversaries.

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