Putin is popular in Western Europe because of Russian values — Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia

The popularity of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Western Europe is explained by the fact that people see values close to them in Russia, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Vulin told Sputnik.

"They see values in Russia that they support; they want to live with their God, nation and family. And (meanwhile), they are being forced (to live) in a society which lacks these (values)," Vulin said.

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🔸Hamas refused to participate in the negotiations on a ceasefire scheduled for August 15

🔸US approves $18.82bln sale of 50 F-15IA aircraft to Israel – Pentagon

🔸Harris campaign alters news headlines as part of Google advertising effort

🔸Check out Sputnik’s infographic: Global lithium reserves ranked by country

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🔸Democracy and its discontents: pro-Israel lobby overrides US public opinion on Gaza

🔸"The United States and the Europeans are seen as complicit in this genocide," Iranian analyst on Israeli war on Gaza

🔸Serbia remains island of independence from ‘globalist’ US empire – Analyst

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❗️Russia would hope that the request for access by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to the Russian Kursk region is not a performance, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

The OHCHR has asked Russia for access to the Kursk region to verify allegations of human rights violations by the Ukrainian military.

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❗️Key statements by Akhmat special forces commander, Apty Alaudinov, on the situation in the Russian Kursk region:

▪️The Armed Forces of Ukraine were supposed to take the nuclear power plant in Kursk's Kurchatov on August 11;

▪️Ukraine had planned to enter into negotiations with Russia with an ultimatum - after the planned seizure of the nuclear power plant in Kurchatov;

▪️However, the Ukrainian forces did not, and could not, complete their task as most of their equipment have already been destroyed;

▪️The majority of the Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region have been stopped, most of the enemy's personnel have been destroyed.

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🇷🇺🪖Russia's "winged infantry": work of Russia's drone operators

With bold and decisive actions, the military personnel of the Pskov Airborne Forces disrupted Ukrainian logistics chains and destroyed more than five vehicles of their troops on the right bank of the Dnepr river.

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❗️Russian air defense systems shot down four Tochka-U tactical missiles, two Hammer guided bombs, and 147 drones

🇷🇺🪖 More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry’s daily briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Ukrainian militants lost up to 165 personnel as a result of actions by the Russian Sever Battlegroup;

▪️Ukrainian militants lost up to 395 personnel in the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup's combat zone;

▪️The Russian Yug Battlegroup improved its tactical position, with the enemy losing up to 690 militants;

▪️Ukrainian militants lost up to 475 personnel and six ammunition depots due to actions by the Russian Zapad Battlegroup;

▪️The Russian Vostok Battlegroup struck two Ukrainian brigades, causing the enemy to lose up to 120 militants.

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Germany's military base sealed off due to suspected sabotage — reports

Germany's Cologne-Wahn military base, which employs 4,300 soldiers and 1,200 civilians, and houses military aircraft used by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, has discovered damage to its perimeter fence, and potential contamination of its water, according to the media. Authorities have warned the personnel against drinking the tap water. 

The incident is being investigated by the civil and military police, and the Military Counterintelligence Service. The base has been cordoned off, with no entry or exit allowed.

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❗️Key statements by the Russian Foreign Ministry on the situation in Russia's Kursk region: 

💬The attacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of Russia, with complicit patrons from NATO, confirm the relevance of the goals and objectives of the special military operation;

💬Drone shelling of the Kursk nuclear power plant is an act of nuclear terrorism that exposed the essence of the Zelensky regime instigated by the West;

💬Ukrainian neo-Nazis, given carte blanche by Western curators, made bandit attacks in Russia's regions;

💬The Kiev regime of corrupt usurpers is based on the monetary support of the West. Its collapse is only a matter of time.

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❗️Key statements by the Russian Defense ministry on the situation in Russia's Kursk region:

▪️Russia's Armed Forces continue to repel the attack of Ukrainian troops into the territory of Russia

▪️Russian soldiers stopped Ukrainian mobile groups' attempts to break through in the areas of Skrylevka, Levshinka, Semenovka, Alekseyevsky, and Kamyshny, using armored vehicles.

▪️In the Martynovka area of the Kursk region, two Ukrainian groups on pickups were found and destroyed

▪️18 servicemen of Ukrainian forces were captured during the day

▪️The Armed Forces of Ukraine lost up to 270 militants and 16 armored vehicles in the Kursk region during the day 

▪️The Russian troops repelled 6 attacks by Ukrainian forces in the area of five settlements of the Kursk region

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😨Zelensky curse takes another victim

Due to public dissatisfaction over political scandals and rising living costs, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to resign in September.

Zelensky's curse has already hit several world politicians, among them: US President Joe Biden, former UK PMs Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, UK ex-Defense Minister Ben Wallace, former Italian PM Mario Draghi, and many others still to come.

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PM Kishida who militarized Japan at US' behest to resign

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced he will quit as leader of the country’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), amid his sinking approval rating resulting from the LDP-related corruption scandal, rising living costs, and a slumping yen.

Public support for Fumio Kishida's Cabinet plummeted to 15.5% last month, another low since the LDP returned to power in Japan in December 2012.  

Apart from his poor domestic strategy, what developments have marked Kishida’s foreign policy? 

🔺Japan under Kishida has fueled the Ukrainian conflict by providing more than $12 billion of financial and other aid to the Kiev regime since 2022, per the Japanese Foreign Ministry. 

🔺Japan embarked on the path of militarization, issuing in 2022 a new national security doctrine aimed at doubling the country’s defense spending within the next five years.

🔺The same year, Japan’s parliament did not think twice before approving a deal to spend $8.6 billion over five years to host American military personnel on Japanese soil.  

🔺Tokyo continues to take part in the annual US-led RIMPAC, the world's largest maritime military drills described by Chinese experts as “demonstration of America’s hegemony” in the region. 

🔺The US currently has about 56,000 active-duty service members in Japan, more than in any other country, according to Pentagon data.  

🔺Last month, Japan agreed on establishing a Joint Operations Command (JJOC) with the US on its territory by next March.  

🔺What’s more, Tokyo and Washington reportedly discussed "extended deterrence”, which stipulated for the use of nuclear weapons in US protection of Japan.

🔺The US is now pushing for Japan to be included in Pillar II of the AUKUS agreement. China has repeatedly castigated the arrangement as part of America’s “new Cold War” antagonism aimed at containing Beijing by fueling the militarization of the Asia-Pacific region.

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