❗️The Middle East has approached a dangerous point, threatening further uncontrolled escalation, up to and including a major war. This situation is largely a consequence of the US desire to maintain its dominant influence in the region, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

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Macron reportedly invited Durov to move Telegram to France in 2018

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov had lunch with Emmanuel Macron six years ago, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter. During the meeting, the French president invited Durov to move the messenger to Paris, but Durov declined the proposal, and discussed granting French citizenship to him.

According to the outlet, in 2017, French spies, in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates, hacked Durov’s iPhone in a previously undisclosed covert operation codenamed "Purple Music."

Despite the 2018 meeting with Macron, French authorities had long harbored “suspicions” about Telegram. A former French General Directorate for Internal Security official mentioned that compromising Telegram had been a long-term objective for the country’s intelligence services, but declined to comment on the hacking operation targeting Durov.

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Russia wants IAEA's stance to be more objective

Russia wants a more objective and clear expression of position from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday, commenting on IAEA head Rafael Grossi's visit to the Kursk nuclear power plant.

"We see both the assessments and the work of this structure [the IAEA], but each time we want a more objective and clear expression of the position of this structure, not in favor of our country, not in favor of confirming Moscow's position, but in favor of facts with one specific goal: ensuring security and preventing the development of a scenario along a catastrophic path, to which the Kiev regime is pushing everyone," Zakharova told Sputnik.

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UK, Germany to conclude new bilateral defense agreement

The UK and Germany are negotiating a bilateral defense agreement and plan to conclude it by early 2025, the office of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

On Friday, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said that Chancellor Olaf Scholz would receive Starmer in Berlin on August 28. He noted that the two would discuss foreign affairs, as well as European and economic policies.

"The new UK-Germany treaty will be a key pillar of the UK’s wider reset with Europe and build on the defense agreement," the UK PM’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.

It added that Starmer's negotiating team would spend the next six months negotiating the new deal.

Earlier, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen promised to turn the European Union into a “defense union.” The Kremlin, commenting on this, said that it confirms the general mood of European states towards confrontation and increasing tension.

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◾️ Macron reportedly invited Durov to move Telegram HQ to France in 2018

◾️ UK, Germany to conclude bilateral defense agreement as Europe is heading to re-militarization

◾️ Russia wants IAEA's stance on the Kursk nuclear power plant to be more objective

◾️ Hezbollah: Israeli nightmare of its own creation

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A small plane made a hard landing on a motorway in the city of Dalian in northeastern China. No injuries were reported. A video of the landing has gone viral on social media.

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🎥 Across the Dnepr: Russian soldiers destroyed enemy electronic warfare equipment at a record distance

Russian paratroopers have set a special military operation record for an anti-tank guided missile’s range. A missile launched from the Kinburn Spit using a Kornet anti-tank system destroyed a Ukrainian electronic warfare point on the right bank of the Dnepr – 8,150 meters away.

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Russian hackers expose identities of over 7,700 revamped Neo-nazi Azov* militants

The Russia-based RaHDit hacker group has leaked information on approximately 7,700 members of the reconstituted Nazi "Azov"* battalion.

"This represents our largest leak of enemy data. The new 'Azov'* has embraced the traditions of its predecessor, featuring numerous individuals with Nazi affiliations, including those who are tattooed with swastikas, have criminal records, or exhibit deviant behavior. Several members of the new 'Azov'* had previously been exchanged as prisoners and swore to everyone that they had renounced their Nazi ideology. Nevertheless, they have rejoined the ranks and returned to combat," the hackers informed Sputnik.

The RaHDit team also noted there are foreigners among the Nazis of "Azov"*.

In July, the RaHDit hackers leaked data on more than 3,200 foreign mercenaries in the ranks of Ukraine’s forces.

*Azov Battalion is a terrorist organization banned in Russia.

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❗️A major outage occurred on the TON network due to high load, resulting in it failing to produce transaction blocks for seven hours.

Transactions on the blockchain stopped last night and were not restored until this morning.

The network is now back up and running.

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Durov’s arrest is a bad omen for Telegram-linked Toncoin & cryptocurrency realm - analyst

Pavel Durov’s arrest is a bad omen for Telegram-linked Toncoin (TON) and for cryptocurrency in general, Paul Goncharoff, chief manager of the consulting firm Goncharoff LLC, told Sputnik.

“The ease with which France (read G7) simply arrested and jailed Pavel Durov as a means of pressuring him to ‘open the backdoor’ of confidentiality protection does not bode well for the cryptocurrency realms as it is an attack on the principles of trustless transactions and the confidentiality of participants, like the closure of anonymous numbered bank accounts of the past,” he said.

While Toncoin was initially created independent of Telegram, “its use cases and future are closely linked to Telegram Apps,” Goncharoff reminded.

TON’s price slumped by as much as 25% to reach $5.24 a day after the news of Durov’s detention broke. What happens down the line “is somewhat dependent on the future of Telegram and whether it can maintain its independent operation without sacrificing user security to governmental organs of control,” the expert said, and emphasized that “the key issue is confidentiality and the secure ownership of a crypto asset.”

Following the outcry triggered by the arrest, Telegram “will become the freedom standard for the non-G7 world, read that as BRICS,” the analyst suggested.

“This may very well turn into a very visible example of the democratic freedom under the G7 slogan ‘the rules are for you, but not for us,’ or ‘do it our way, or hit the highway.’ This may evolve into an issue far larger than itself, and has every chance of further showcasing the political and rules-abetted hypocrisy running rampant throughout the Western world,” he concluded.

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🇷🇺🇦🇿 Highlights of the telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev

👉 Putin and Aliyev expressed satisfaction with the successful results of the Russian president's recent state visit to Azerbaijan.

👉 The presidents discussed the preparation of the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace treaty, border demarcation and unblocking of transport links.

👉 Putin told Aliev that he was ready to continue helping Azerbaijan and Armenia to find mutually acceptable solutions.

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Latvia wants to call up women for mandatory military service

▪️The US and NATO-driven “Russia threat” narrative has prompted Latvia to mull introducing mandatory military service for women.

▪️The country’s defense minister revealed the 2028 timeline for the plans in an X post, conceding that there was “homework to be done: a public debate, the improvement of the infrastructure of the service, and the provision of materiel and equipment tailored specifically to women.”

Mandatory connoscription for women “won’t happen today or tomorrow,” he reiterated in an interview on local television.

▪️Latvia reintroduced connoscription last year, after abolishing it in 2006. By 2028, the country aims to have 4,000 soldiers. Earlier this year, Denmark announced plans to introduce female connoscription, following similar moves by Norway and Sweden.

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❗️Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov's brother Nikolai also wanted by French authorities, US media reported.

According to them, arrest warrants for Telegram CEO Pavel Durov and his co-founder brother Nikolai were issued in March.

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❗️Telegram CEO Pavel Durov accused of domestic abuse in Switzerland — Forbes

Irina Bolgar, the alleged mother of three of Durov’s children, filed a civil lawsuit against the messaging app’s co-founder in Geneva in March 2023, claiming that Durov physically abused one of their children. She launched child custody proceedings soon after.

According to Bolgar's lawyer, Durov did not challenge the court's ruling granting her custody of their children.

Bolgar said both lawsuits were filed several months after Durov stopped paying her €167,000 per a month for child support. The dispute over that money continues.

Forbes said Bolgar gave the publication copies of the children’s birth certificates, the recognition of paternity by Durov, translated into French and English and stamped with the official Hague Apostille of authenticity.

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❗️The French prosecution will make an announcement regarding the detention of Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov later in the day, a prosecution source told Sputnik.

Durov is the only one investigated in the Telegram case, they add.

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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman exposes fake "aid" from Kiev regime to civilians in Kursk region

Kiev is actively spreading fakes about the Ukrainian military helping civilians in the Kursk region, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. She pointed out that captured Ukrainian soldiers told how their commanders ordered them to kill civilians and engage in looting.

"Against this background, the attempts of Ukrainian propaganda to make fakes about supposedly harmless, attentive, as they present it, to the needs of the civilian population, invaders who attacked our land look absolutely cynical", Zakharova said.

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❗️A tinted car drove out of a Parisian pre-trial detention center, in which Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov could presumably be in.

French media confirms Pavel Durov brought to court.

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❗️International organizations must fulfil their mandate to protect freedom of speech and condemn Paris' actions against Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

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