Dimitri Simes Jr. tells Sputnik FBI raid in his family's house looks like an intimidation effort

"There was no advance warning of the raid, and we still don’t know what the FBI’s objectives are. Based on their actions so far, this looks like an intimidation effort first and foremost," he told Sputnik.

"My father has not been in the United States since October 2022, and therefore there were no available items or information of interest in our family home. The logical potential motive is to intimidate him and other voices critical of Biden’s Ukraine policy. The likely goal is to scare anyone who could help provide a potential off-ramp in the current geopolitical showdown between Russia and the United States", he added.

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Story with no legs: Ukraine is culprit behind Nord Stream bombings

The narrative pointing to Ukraine as the culprit in the Nord Stream pipeline bombings, and one that is being discussed in the German media, crumbles before our eyes if we dig deeper, says Eugen Schmidt, deputy of the Alternative for Germany party.

"Such technical abilities are not possessed by private individuals - it was necessary to lay 1.5 tons of explosives at a depth, and then make a remote explosion. And now they are presenting us with a version that claims some Ukrainian activists had rented a yacht, loaded explosives on it, forgotten their fake passports and left behind traces of explosives," Schmidt told Sputnik. 

The German politician also recalled that in July, Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban publicly stated that the Americans were involved in the bombings. Schmidt believes that if the head of state makes such statements, then he must have a reason to do so.

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📹💥Russian Defense Ministry shares footage of the destruction by Russian helicopters of five unmanned boats of the Ukrainian Navy off the coast of Crimea.

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❗️Russian air defense repelled a strike by 12 ATACMS missiles on the Crimean Bridge tonight, destroying them all, the Ministry of Defense informed

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

▪️ The Russian Battlegroup Sever prevented the approach of enemy reserves in its combat zone.

▪️ Ukrainian militants lost up to 555 soldiers, three electronic warfare stations, and eight ammunition depots in the Russian Dnepr Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️ Ukrainian militants lost up to 3,825 servicemen and three ammunition depots over the week due to the actions of the Russian Yug Battlegroup.

▪️ The Russian Vostok Battlegroup repelled eight Ukrainian counterattacks during the week, with the enemy losing up to 770 personnel and eight ammunition depots.

▪️ Ukrainian militants lost up to 2,765 personnel, 13 Bradley IFVs, and eight Stryker APCs over the week in the Russian Sever Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️ Ukrainian militants lost two Abrams tanks and up to 3,915 personnel over the week in the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces destroyed a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 fighter jet, three US-made HIMARS combat vehicles, three self-propelled Patriot and Buk-M1 air defense systems, a Ukrainian Air Force Mi-8 helicopter and 543 drones over the week.

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Kursk attack a ‘gamble’ that could further worsen Ukraine’s bad situation – report

The attack on Russia's Kursk region prompted the Ukrainian military to withdraw troops and weapons from its “already-creaking front lines to pull it off," the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported.

Ukraine is redeploying troops from the eastern front to Russia’s Kursk region, “leaving units even more stretched," in a “gamble that risks making a bad situation [for Kiev] worse," the newspaper argued.

Ukrainian military commanders don’t have enough people to do their job properly, with exhausted soldiers “spending longer in the trenches because there are no fresh troops to replace them," the WSJ cited one commander as saying.

The situation for Ukrainian troops has become “more punishing through the summer—with no sign that Russian forces are easing up” since the Kursk aggression began on August 6, according to the WSJ.

“Sending [Ukrainian] troops to Kursk [region] means taking them away from the Donetsk region. Troops in the east said they weren’t yet convinced that sending Ukrainian troops into Russia would pay off,” the newspaper concluded.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have lost about 2,640 soldiers and 37 tanks since the start of what President Vladimir Putin described as a large-scale provocation by the Kiev regime in Kursk.

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❗️The Russian troops liberated the settlement of Sergeyevka in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry announced.

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❗️Russia's President Vladimir Putin held an operational meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council and offered to discuss new technical solutions being used during the special military operation

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov took part in the meeting remotely. As the president said, the minister is currentlyat one of the control points.

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FACT CHECK: Did US know about Ukraine's plan to attack Russia's Kursk?

Against the background of the active battles in the Russian Kursk region, the question arises whether Ukraine's puppeteers, the West, knew about the planned attack. Representatives of the Pentagon, the White House and the State Department assured that the United States had no clue about Kiev's intentions to assault the Russian border areas.

But, were they telling the truth?

The adviser to the head of Zelensky's office, Mykhaylo Podolyak, refuted his bosses' narrative. In an interview with The Independent, he blurted out that Ukraine had discussed the incursion with the United States.

"There were discussions between partner forces, just not at the public level," he said in an interview, confirming the logical assumption that Ukrainian troops would not have taken a step without the consent of its patrons.

Meanwhile, White House press Secretary Karin Jean Pierre and Pentagon Spokesman Pat Ryder, attempted to assure that the United States knew nothing about the attack:

💬"No, they did not inform us in advance," Ryder claimed. 

State Department Spokesman Vedant Patel also found himself in an awkward position, because he, too, tried to disown any involvement of the US in the attack.

💬"The US has not been engaged or involved in any of the planning or preparation for that," he said at a briefing.

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❗️Seven people were injured as a result of attacks by the Ukrainian forces on the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, according to preliminary data. A fire engulfed the shopping center, damaging a hospital, Denis Pushilin, the head of the DPR, said.

He added that the area of the fire caused by the shelling exceeds 10,000 square meters, and the operational situation complicates the extinguishment.

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❗️Russian soldiers destroyed Ukrainian mobile groups that were trying to penetrate deep into Russian territory — Russian Defense Ministry

Ukrainian losses in the Russian Kursk region during the day amounted to 220 militants and 19 armored vehicles, the Ministry added.

Russian troops repelled Ukrainian attacks in the areas of Russky Porechny and Gordeyevka. In the areas of the settlements of Yunakovka and Miropolye, Russian units destroyed three launchers of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system by high-precision missile strikes.

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❗️New footage of the burning Galaktika hypermarket in Donetsk after a Ukrainian strike. The building is almost completely burned out inside and neighboring residential buildings are also damaged.

Footage by a Sputnik correspondent.

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❗️Scott Ritter: Biden admin is declaring war on journalism

Recent FBI raids against Ritter and Russian-American political scientist Dimitri Simes are meant to squash dissent on Ukraine.

The US government and media are colluding to control the narrative on Ukraine, Ritter added.

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❗️The number of victims at the Galaktika shopping center in Donestsk has increased to 11 after a Ukrainian strike, the DPR Ministry of Health tells Sputnik

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