Rosatom and IAEA hold talks in Russia’s Kaliningrad

Talks between Russian nuclear power corporation Rosatom head Alexey Likhachev and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi have begun in Kaliningrad, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

The consultations are being held behind closed doors.

Likhachev said earlier that he wanted to discuss the situation at the Kursk and Zaporozhye nuclear power plants (NPPs) with the IAEA chief.

The last face-to-face meeting between Grossi and Likhachev took place in Kaliningrad at the end of May.

On Wednesday, the IAEA delegation led by Grossi visited the Zaporozhye NPP, noting that the security situation at the plant is unstable and fragile due to military action. A Ukrainian drone attack in August set a cooling tower on fire.

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Ukraine’s Cabinet reshuffle is a ‘sham’ political reboot

Volodymyr Zelensky’s Cabinet reshuffle is just a “sham” reboot, political scientist Bogdan Bezpalko told Sputnik. “The previous politicians are no different from those who will replace them,” he said.

The shakeup has been tailored exclusively “for the consumption of the undemanding American public,” the member of the Council for Interethnic Relations under President of the Russian Federation speculated.

“Zelensky staged this massive reboot so that when he meets with US President Joe Biden in September to present his so-called ‘plan’ he can say, ‘look, there have been serious changes, a whole series of resignations, so many ministers have been dismissed… Everything will be fine there, your American tax-funded assistance won’t go to waste,” the expert said.

He suggested that by partially replacing the Cabinet, Zelensky is trying to pass off the Ukrainian political system as “democratic,” despite a lack of overdue presidential or parliamentary elections. As for the US “concerns” about Ukraine’s corruption and its assistance being squandered, this is largely “rhetoric,” Bogdan Bezpalko believes.

“Corruption is one of the structural elements of governing Ukraine – within the framework of which it is always possible to keep politicians on a short leash,” the political expert said.

In Bezpalko’s opinion, Zelensky’s steps have been greenlit by Ukraine’s Western partners, since a major part of the Ukrainian political establishment performs its function purely nominally.

“Ukrainian foreign policy is entirely conceived by its Western patrons, just like everything else,” the analyst explained.

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❗️Germany plans to transfer 77 more Leopard 1A5 tanks to Ukraine in cooperation with Denmark and the Netherlands, the German defense minister has announced

Earlier, in August, several Leopard tanks were destroyed by Russian forces

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Almost 85% of Germans are dissatisfied with the Scholz government, according to a poll by Infratest Dimap

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Durov faces charges under archaic cryptography law, hinting at French spying on private communications

Two of the six charges facing Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France are grounded an obscure, never-used twenty-year-old law obliging companies providing cryptography tools to inform the French Cybersecurity Agency (French acronym ANSSI) and grant it access to the software’s source code and “a denoscription of [its] technical characteristics.”

🔸 The 2004 law – uniquely blunt in its demand that companies divulge info about the tech tools used for private communications, is being used against Durov by accusing him of providing encrypted communications services “without certified declaration.”

🔸 The law further means, if it is applied evenly across the board, that the array of instant messengers available to French users, from WhatsApp and Signal to iMessage and the French-made Olvid ‘secure’ messenger used by the French government, do comply with the ANSSI regulations, meaning French intelligence can potentially spy on any or all French users at any time.

🔸 Adding credence to this idea is the fact that Pavel Durov is reportedly the first-ever tech mogul to be charged under the 2004 law, and the fact that many big-name tech companies have been silent on the Durov case, with the exception of Proton CEO Andy Yen, who characterized the charges against the Russian-born tech mogul as “economic suicide” that’s “rapidly and permanently changing the perception of founders and investors” toward France.

“If sustained, I don’t see how tech founders could possibly travel to France, much less hire in France,” Yen wrote on his X account.

🔸 The law is also reminiscent of the case against WikiLeaks cofounder Julian Assange, who was threatened with decades of jail time by the US under the obscure Espionage Act of 1917, even though that he was not an American citizen, and a publisher, not a spy.

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Messaging app Telegram commented on an update to its moderation questions page, assuring that private chats remain private.

The company said that anyone can check the app’s code and make sure that no changes have been made.

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Hunter Biden’s guilty plea: penance or political move to clear Kamala Harris of Biden family's bad name?

President Joe Biden’s son Hunter has pleaded guilty to all nine counts against him in a sprawling, $1.4 million tax evasion case highlighting his history of indulgence in drugs, hookers, fancy cars and lavish hotels.

The surprise resolution of the case came just days before opening statements in his trial were set to begin. If it had proceeded, the trial would have likely run through the remainder of Joe Biden’s presidency, and proven politically damaging for the Biden’s successor – Vice President Kamala Harris, just two months out from the November 5 election.

Hunter Biden faces up to 17 years in jail and fines of up to $1.2 million in the tax case, although observers expect leniency for the 54-year-old businessman – whose business allegedly included an elaborate influence-peddling scheme involving the selling of access to his powerful father for cash.

The guilty plea adds to Biden’s conviction on three felony counts related to a 2018 handgun purchase, for which he could get up to 25 years in jail.

Hunter Biden has followed his father like a corruption ball and chain since 2020 when, just weeks from the November election, the NYP began the publication of stories based on information from his recovered lost laptop about his alleged pay-to-play dealings.

The stories were censored as ‘Russian disinformation’ by social media companies – claims which tech execs including Mark Zuckerberg later confirmed were bogus.

The Harris campaign has already made a push to carefully distance itself from Biden on some issues, from capital gains taxes to the Border wall, and may now hope that Biden’s tax charges guilty plea will conclude the Hunter Biden saga, or at least leave him out of the spotlight until safely after the election.

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Chinese netizens slam Ukrainian ambassador's visit to 'militaristic' Yasukuni Shrine in Japan

During his visit to Tokyo, Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which is in Asia often associated with Japanese militarism. Chinese Internet users flooded social media, calling the diplomat's visit disrespectful to China, the South China Morning Post reported Friday.

Sergiy Korsunsky’s visit coincided with the anniversary of China’s commemoration of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945) and World War II. The Yasukuni Shrine honors, among others, 14 war WWII criminals.

Ukrainian Embassy in Japan deleted a post about the visit, but people online share screenshots and photos proving that Korsunsky visited the temple and even left an entry in the memorial book.

Niutanqin, an account reportedly related to Xinhua news agency, said on Thursday that Korsunsky’s visit was “disrespectful” to China.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry previously called Yasukuni Shrine a "symbol of the military aggression of Japanese militarism against other countries."

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The US is providing Ukraine with a new package of military aid worth approximately $250 million, the Pentagon said in a statement released on Friday.

According to the statement, the new package will include ammunition for HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems, 155-millimetre and 105-millimetre artillery shells, Javelin and AT-4 anti-tank missiles, Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, M113 armoured personnel carriers and mine-protected vehicles.

The US government also intends to include patrol boats, small arms ammunition, spare parts, support equipment, training costs for the Ukrainian Armed Forces and other various services in the new aid package for Kiev.

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What are newly-appointed French PM Michel Barnier's known political issues?

French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed Michel Barnier as prime minister after almost two months of deadlock.

A member of the conservative Republicans party (LR), the veteran politician served as minister of foreign affairs under President Jacques Chirac, and led European Union (EU) talks wit the UK on Brexit. He served as a European commissioner twice, and made a failed attempt to win his party's nomination for the presidential election in 2022.

What are Michel Barnier's positions on key foreign policy issues?

◻️ On the EU:

Barnier ironically favors France “regaining legal sovereignty so that we are no longer subject to the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union or the European Court of Human Rights”. He would like to see a closer UK-EU relationship post-Brexit, calling Britain’s exit a “lose-lose game” for the UK and the EU.

◻️ On the Ukraine Conflict:

Asked about NATO’s proxy war against Russia in a May 2024 podcast, Barnier insisted that “what is at stake in Ukraine is nothing less than our own values.”

“Ukraine is a European country... whose democratic values are ours,” he said in another interview last year. He stressed that there can be no ambiguity in the “support it deserves,” and France’s “solidarity” is shown by the “supply of weapons.”

Barnier backed Ukraine's bid for membership in the EU, saying that “we are following a path, several stages of which have already been completed,” but cautioning that “there is no shortcut to becoming a member of the EU.”

◻️ On Palestine-Israeli Conflict:

Barnier said that security and sovereignty of the state of Israel are “non-negotiable,” but sustainable peace in the Middle East “will only be achieved with the establishment of a Palestinian state” in a speech last year.

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The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are preparing for an offensive on the Lebanese front, its chief of staff said.

💬 “A combination of very significant strikes against Hezbollah to reduce threats to residents in the north, including the Golan Heights, is very important, along with preparations for an offensive, which we are actively doing,” Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi told reporters during a tour of the occupied Golan Heights.

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🇷🇺 Jewel of Russia’s economic crown: why the Far East can become 21st century’s main driver of growth – Part 1 👉 Part 2

“The Far East has become a crucial factor for strengthening Russia’s standing in the world, and our flag-bearer in the new global economic reality. The further development of the Far East will largely determine the future of our country as a whole,” President Putin said at the Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday.

Here’s why that’s the case:

Natural resources

◻️ Representing nearly 41% of Russia’s total land mass (some 6.95 million square km, or nearly the size of Australia), the Russian Far East is home to an array of untapped resource riches.

◻️ The territory accounts for 100% of Russia’s antimony production, 98% of its diamonds, 90% of borax production, 50% of gold, over 40% of tin, 14% of tungsten, about a third of Russia’s coal and hydroengineering reserves and resources.

◻️ The region is rich in an array of ores, metals and rare earths materials, lime and building stones, and other resources, and represents some 30% of Russia’s total forested area – part of the world’s two forest ‘lungs’ (one in Siberia and the other in Brazil’s rainforest).

Logistics

◻️ The Far East is also a crucial strategic transport hub, home to the easternmost part of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and much of the Baikal-Amur Mainline, which is now undergoing modernization and expansion.

◻️ It’s also home to important port hub, including the port of Vladivostok. Its infrastructure potentially represents part of China’s global Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to link Europe and Asia via a modern-day Silk Road.

Industry

◻️ The Far East is home to an array of industrial enterprises, including mechanical engineering and shipbuilding and repair, automotive factories, chemical, food and medical product factories,

◻️ The region also hosts defense enterprises, for example the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant.

👉 Part 2

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🇷🇺 Jewel of Russia’s economic crown: why the Far East can become 21st century’s main driver of growth – Part 2 👉 Part 1

Russia-China cooperation

◻️ Speaking at the EEF on Thursday, Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng said trade between China and the Russian Far East reached the equivalent of $33.8 billion in 2023, up 54% in a single year.

◻️ This represents about 14% of total Russia-China trade turnover of $240 billion that year, and is only logical, given that the two nations share a sprawling, 4,209 km border, all of it in the Far East.

Gateway to the Asia Pacific

◻️ The Far East has been characterized as Russia’s gateway to the explosive economic power of the Asia-Pacific region.

◻️ In his speech Thursday, President Putin stressed that the region’s development will remain a national priority for the duration of the 21st century, and that Moscow’s decision to focus on the Far East has proven correct, given the “objective trends…that are gaining strength in the global economy, where the main business connections, trade routes, and in general the entire vector of development is being reoriented more and more toward the East and the Global South.”

👉 Part 1

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❗️As a result of the Russian missile attack on a training center in Poltava on September 3, about 500 military specialists were killed and wounded, including mercenaries from Europe, a high-ranking military source reported.

"As a result of the attack, about 500 specialists were killed and wounded,” the report said.

“Among the dead and wounded were servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard – communications specialists, operators of electronic warfare systems, electronic intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as foreign mercenaries from Poland, France, Germany and Sweden, who trained Ukrainian military personnel," it added.

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The past week will be remembered by the Kiev regime and its Western ‘friends’ not only for losses on the Donetsk front but also for high-precision strikes on its bases, a high-ranking military source said.

▪️On August 28, an Iskander-M missile strike on a dry cargo ship from which weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainian Armed Forces were being unloaded near the fishing village of Burlacha Balka killed 20 foreign mercenaries and destroyed 12 unmanned boats and part of the ammunition. Another 38 unmanned boats were damaged.

▪️On September 2, an Iskander-M strike was carried out on a temporary deployment point for foreign mercenaries located in a hotel in the city of Zaporozhye, killing up to 50 Ukrainian Armed Forces troops, including 19 mercenaries from Britain, and wounding 20 militants.

▪️On September 3, a mutiple Iskander-M missile strike was launched against the joint training centre of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' signal troops in Poltava, killing and wounding about 500 Ukrainian servicemen and Western instructors.

▪️On September 4, an Iskander-M strike destroyed the finished products workshop of an ammunition plant in the town of Novomoskovsk.
On the same day, as a result of a combined missile strike on a temporary deployment point for foreign mercenaries in Krivoy Rog, the enemy lost more than 250 militants. Among them were about 70 French and Romanian air defence and UAV production specialists. As a result of an Iskander-M missile strike on a temporary deployment point for foreign mercenaries in Konstantinovka, about 50 French militants were killed.

▪️On September 4, an Iskander-M strike on a storage and preparation site of unmanned boats of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Odessa destroyed 20 unmanned boats.

▪️In total, from August 28 to September 5, 48 Ukrainian unmanned boats were destroyed, including at sea.

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