Telegram CEO Durov’s arrest: a case of political bias

Various commentators have pointed out the political bias involved in the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov, noting that Western countries, especially the US, had been trying to interfere with Telegram and impose their own agenda, but the app's refusal to cooperate made Durov a target.

At the same time, authorities in the West were silent when major Western banks such as HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and JP Morgan Chase were found to have helped launder trillions of dollars on behalf of criminals and terrorists around the world, as reported by numerous media outlets.

More than 2,100 suspicious activity reports covering more than $2 trillion in transactions were leaked and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

These records, and more than 17,600 others obtained by the ICIJ, apparently showed how senior bank officials allowed fraudsters to move money between accounts with the knowledge that the funds were being used for criminal purposes, and no action was taken against high-level bank officials.

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Zuckerberg vs. Durov: Battle of the Big Tech Billionaires

Meta* CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Telegram CEO Pavel Durov both soared to the top of the tech industry from humble beginnings in a few years.

There are so many similarities between the tech tycoons, but more difference. The two businessmen’s paths to success were guided by completely different principles and philosophies.

📊 Check out Sputnik's infographic for the differences between Durov's and Zuckerberg's approaches

*banned in Russia

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Russia slaps entry ban on 23 US journalists

Fourteen Wall Street Journal reporters, five New York Times journalists and four from the Washington Post are banned from entering Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced.

Russia is closing entry to 92 US citizens in response to the Biden administration's Russophobic actions, the Foreign Ministry said.

Russia will continue to ban entry for those involved in anti-Russian activities, the ministry added.

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Russia’s military medics: saving lives and taking names

August 28 marks Military Medic Day – the professional holiday of Russia’s military medics, from doctors and nurses, to orderlies and others tasked with providing urgent medical assistance to injured soldiers and civilians.

Russia’s military medical workers owe their roots to the creation of the Russian Apothecary Chamber in 1581, formed to provide medical assistance to the tsar, his court and for soldiers.

During the Great Patriotic War, effective organization and training made it possible to return over 70% of the wounded and 90% of the sick back to duty, with 17.1 million of 22.1 million sick and wounded soldiers recovering and continuing their service. Over 116,000 military doctors received orders and medals for their work, 47 of them the Hero of the Soviet Union noscript.

Today, Russia’s military medical workers have once again been called into duty, using the latest available knowledge, training and equipment to assist the wounded in the special military zone, providing urgent medical care for both military and civilians.

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Macron set up Telegram CEO at US deep state’s behest – Wall Street analyst. Part 1 👉 Part 2

France has been laying a trap Telegram founder Pavel Durov for some time, Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel told Sputnik.

He did not rule out that granting Durov French citizenship was part of the plan. "It looks very much like a trap," Ortel said.

The plot to entrap Durov could have been initiated by Macron either at the behest of the US "deep state" or as part of the French president's attempt to "curry favor" with its leaders, the Wall Street analyst argued.

"Deep state 'globalism' is a fundamentally flawed construct that enriches a tiny minority of connected insiders, and impoverishes the balance of the world," Ortel said. "Forums such as Telegram pose threats to educating the deluded (perhaps willingly) mass audience that will, in the end, bring corrupt actors, including those in the deep state, to account."

👉 Part 2

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Macron set up Telegram CEO at US deep state’s behest – Wall Street analyst. Part 2 👉 Part 1

"The Democrat plan for the 2024 election is a flagrant assault on Democracy and the Constitution,” Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel told Sputnik. “Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have been selected without receiving a single vote in any primary."

"They refuse to provide detailed policy prenoscriptions for their 'Administration.' They refuse to take real interviews to explain their backgrounds and plans," the analyst added.

Ortel believes that "they and their handlers are trying to chill investigative inquiry, run out the clock avoiding the press, and then attempt to steal an election."

The deep state would need almost complete control of the media and social platforms like it had in 2020, when it banned and isolated Donald Trump and his supporters for "election denial", the analyst said.

Reports emerged in spring 2024 that key US federal agencies, including the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), resumed discussions with Big Tech firms like Microsoft, Google and Meta* on "foreign propaganda" and "disinformation removal."

But in contrast to 2020, there are at least two "wild cards" now: Pavel Durov's Telegram and Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter). That is why Durov was arrested in France, Ortel said, adding that he expects similar "sabotage" against Musk before the election.

"Chief beneficiaries in the American political class are running scared – the Obamas, the Clintons, the Bidens and the Bushes – so they are playing every possible dirty trick," the analyst said.

Ortel's concerns are shared by a majority of US voters. A July survey by Rasmussen Reports found that 62% of likely voters fear this year's election could be marred by fraud.

*banned for extremism in Russia

👉 Part 1

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‘New ballistic missile’ touted by Zelensky likely rehash of old Soviet design, says missile expert

On Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelensky teased the press in Kiev by announcing that Ukraine had successfully tested its first-ever ballistic missile. However, he did not provide any details about the weapon or its capabilities. 

Vasily Dandykin, a veteran Russian military analyst, missile expert and retired Navy Captain 1st rank doesn’t rule out that Zelensky’s “new” missile could actually be an upgraded Tochka-U – a Soviet tactical missile design with a 120km firing range and a highly destructive 420kg warhead. 

Alternatively, Dandykin said, it could be an upgraded Oka – a Soviet theater ballistic missile with a 400km range that was liquidated from Soviet stocks in the late 1980s by Mikhail Gorbachev in a gesture of goodwill toward Washington. Three of the USSR’s allies in Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria were in possession of the Oka, and Dandykin doesn’t rule out that Sofia may have transferred this missile technology to Kiev. 

“Zelensky says a lot of things,” Dandykin stressed, not ruling out that the comedian-turned-politician’s new missile claims are just “propaganda.”

Even if Ukraine successfully conducted a test launch, mass production would remain impossible due to the high costs and advanced technology involved, which Kiev currently lacks the production capabilities to support, Dandykin noted.

In any case, Russia’s air defenses will be ready to intercept them, the analyst concludes. “We intercept the Tochka-U…Our air defenses, even as Westerners admit, are the best in the world in all areas, from short-to-long range complexes,” he pointed out.

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Jim Rogers: Durov’s detention could end France’s status as safe zone for high-tech business

“Whenever a country starts arresting high-level executives, especially [in] technology, or in an industry which is international and usual, it attracts attention, and many people will think it is unjustified and many people will say it's unjustified,” Jim Rogers, renowned investor and chairman of Beeland Interests and co-founder of Quantum Fund, told Sputnik.

“So I don't know, I hope that France knows what it's doing. If France has an ironclad 100% case, then it probably will not hurt them. Otherwise, many people will say ‘wait a minute, we don't want to do anything in France. It is too dangerous,’” Rogers warned.

“I don't know if anybody's guilty or not, but I will say this will make many people wonder about doing business in France. This will make many people check to see that everything they are doing in France is okay. It's an added level of expense. It's an added level of operation. Nobody wants to be caught doing something wrong in the country. And if people now worry about France, it's another expense. Another level of caution,” the veteran investor explained.

Pavel Durov was transferred to a Paris court for “initial questioning and possible indictment” today, days after his arrest at Paris’s Bourget Airport on a long list of dubious charges.

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◻️ How did Durov's arrest affect the cryptocurrency realm & country's reputation

◻️ Russia’s military medics are celebrating their professional holiday

◻️ Who's Pavel Durov's brother Nikolai and why are the French after him?

◻️ Russian hackers expose identities of over 7,700 revamped Neo-nazi Ukrainian militants

◻️ Did Macron set up Telegram CEO at US deep state’s behest

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Pavel Durov was placed under judicial supervision and is forbidden to leave territory of France, reports Paris prosecutor's office, adding he must pay bail in of 5 million euros

Durov was charged with six offenses, including administering online platform in order to commit illegal transactions, Paris prosecutor's office stated.

After being released on bail, Durov will be required to report to police twice per week.

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Why US-led ICE Pact won’t help NATO match Russia’s Arctic superpower status

The US, Canada and Finland have recently announced an ‘Icebreaker Collaboration Effort’ (ICE Pact) initiative in July – with the ultimate aim of building some 70-90 vessels over the next decade.

The US, which lacks experience or shipyards suitable for Arctic-class icebreakers, can simply dump money into the initiative, as Finland historically has been an important icebreaker-building power in its own right and Canada too has respectable icebreaker construction and operation experience owing to its large Arctic frontiers, pointed out Alexander Vorotnikov, coordinator of the Russian Project Office for the Development of the Arctic and associate professor at the Institute of Social Sciences at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

That said, the observer stressed that even together, these countries lack Russia’s Arctic “know-how,” from its experience using drifting ice stations, to knowledge on ice floes’ movement, unique knowledge of local weather, and information gleaned from decades of long-term observations by polar stations. “No one else has this. Only Russia has all of this knowledge together,” Vorotnikov said.

That’s because “we need these icebreakers to service the Northern Sea Route, which is critically required not only for cargo transit, but providing our northern territories with freight. The US has never had such tasks. They have only one Arctic-facing state – Alaska,” Vorotnikov explained.

Even as the US and its allies expand their icebreaker ambitions, Russia will remain one step ahead, the observer assured, since its icebreaker fleet (whose size already exceeds 45 large conventional and nuclear-powered icebreakers) will only continue to grow, with two new massive Project 22220 ships – the Stalingrad and the Leningrad, now under construction.

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Zelensky’s gas threats making Europeans ‘realize it’s not profitable to go to war with Russia’

“After the Hungarians, the Slovaks, the Austrians, the Italians, and even the Germans are beginning to realize that it is not profitable to go to war with Russia, pump money into Ukraine, and cut the umbilical cord between the eastern and western half of Europe,” Hungarian Community for Peace president Endre Simo told Sputnik, commenting on Volodymyr Zelensky’s announcement that Kiev has no plans to “extend the [gas transit] agreement with Russia” after the current agreement expires on December 31.

“The European Union has fallen victim to its own policy, as the announcement by...Zelensky fits perfectly into the European Union's policy of sanctions against Russia,” Simo said.

“Nevertheless, Kiev will probably not be thanked for the move, since the gas will bypass Ukraine, presumably through Turkiye, and from there through the Balkans and Hungary to EU western countries, and will be much more expensive. As a result, consumer goods and services will become even more expensive. Its price will be paid by Western European consumers. It is a question of how much they will accept the further reduction of their purchasing power and the further deterioration of their standard of living,” he added.

“We actually owe Zelensky a debt of gratitude for his decision, as he proved to the country and the world who is a reliable economic partner and who is not. While Ukraine stops the gas supply for political reasons, Russia sees no obstacle to continuing it in other ways,” Simo summed up.

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Gabbard and RFK Jr joining Trump is harbinger of tectonic shift in US politics – Wall Street analyst

"Patriotism – love of America and celebration of each nation – is on the march,” Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel told Sputnik after former Democrats Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endored Republican nominee Donald Trump.

“I expect an amazing tapestry of surprising partners to embrace Trump-Vance and crush corrupt and silly Harris-Walz."

Ortel argued that the trend cannot be overestimated. "Tectonic plates that underpin American politics have shifted suddenly," he said.

"Globalist platforms protest otherwise, but American families want to celebrate and enjoy life, not meddle around the world enriching monopolists and other fat cats," the Wall Street analyst stressed.

Kennedy began the 2024 presidential race as a Democrat, but then shifted to run as an Independent. Last week he suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump in a shock move for a member of the Democrat Kennedy family dynasty.

Former Democratic congresswoman Gabbard also endorsed Trump on August 27. Trump has appointed both Kennedy and Gabbard to his transition team to help him pick his cabinet and work out policies if he wins in November.

Gabbard and Kennedy both praised Trump's plan to solve ongoing conflicts through diplomatic means and condemned the Biden govvernment for media censorship and politically-motivated prosecutions.

Earlier this month Gabbard revealed that she had been put on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) terror watch-list – which she interpreted as retaliation for her criticism of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

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🇨🇳 A Chinese drone manufacturer has unveiled a remotely-operated grenade that can fly like a drone.

The device is equipped with propellers on all four sides, but the developers have not disclosed what speed and range the device can achieve.

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