Potential for cooperation between BRICS countries on security is far from exhausted – Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu

A meeting of high-ranking BRICS officials responsible for security matters has kick-started in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Here are key statements from the meeting:

⚡️ Cooperation between BRICS countries and nations of the Global South is now in demand more than ever, and it contributes to the consolidation of the world majority, Shoigu noted;

⚡️ The erosion of the international security system is a threat to sovereign countries, Shoigu added;

⚡️ China is willing to work on deepening mutual trust within BRICS, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at the meeting;

⚡️ China will continue to promote an objective view on the Ukraine issue in the world, Wang emphasized;

⚡️ China is ready to strengthen strategic ties with Russia, the Chinese official noted.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Israeli Black Hawk helicopter crashes in Gaza, killing two – IDF

An Israeli military helicopter, a US-made Black Hawk, crashed in the Gaza Strip while evacuating an injured solider, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, adding that two soldiers were killed in the crash.

The cause of the incident is yet to be established, the IDF added.

The crash is reportedly the first fatal one in 30 years of US-made helicopters serving the Israeli Army, according to Israeli media.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 🇮🇶 Russian FM Sergey Lavrov takes part in exhibition dedicated to 80th anniversary of Russia-Iraq diplomatic relations

👉 Watch live in our Telegram or on Sputnik's website.

📹 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Minister David Lammy arrive in Kiev

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

‘Leave our president’s name alone’! Kremlin slams US campaign for recklessly using Putin's name

"Putin's last name is being used as one of the tools in the internal political struggle in the United States, we do not like it very much, and we still hope that they will leave our president's name alone," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The Kremlin did not have the chance to observe the election debates between US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. However, according to Peskov, they analyzed the statements reported in the media.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The West's decision to let Ukraine strike deep into Russian territory with ATACMS missiles has already been made and the media are just trying to formalize it, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The involvement of the United States and European countries in the conflict is direct, and each new step increases it, Peskov stressed at his daily press briefing.

The special military operation is itself a response to possible strikes deep inside Russia, the presidential spokesman emphasized.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Biden calling Putin would not put an end to the Ukrainian conflict – Kremlin

"Such a call would not be able to put an end to it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “The end, in many ways, could be reached by the US abandoning its policy of using Ukraine as an expendable resource in an attempt to suppress everything related to Russia."

The Kremlin is counting on contacts between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Kazan at the forthcoming BRICS summit in October.

There are many rumours talk in Moscow about foreign arms supplies to Russia, but they have no basis, the spokesman stressed.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Trump and Harris held their first in-person presidential debate. Here are key takeaways and highlights:

◻️ Harris accused the administration of former President Trump of “the worst attack on US' democracy since the Civil War.”

◻️ Trump pushed back at Harris’ claims, saying, “They're the threat to democracy – with the fake Russia, Russia, Russia investigation that went nowhere.”

◻️ Trump doubled down on his promise to “settle” the Ukraine conflict and “negotiate a deal.” “I think it’s the US’ best interest to get this war finished and just get it done,” he said.

◻️ Trump said that the criminal and civil cases against him were planted by Biden-Harris. “I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things they said about me,” he said.

◻️ Trump retorted that during his tenure in the Oval Office, he “created one of the greatest economies in the history of our country.”

◻️ Trump called the US a “failing nation,” as he warned that migrant crime is “destroying the fabric of our country.” If Harris becomes president, he argued, “We'll end up being Venezuela on steroids.”

◻️ Trump claimed that Harris “hates Israel,” and if she is elected president, Israel “will not exist within two years from now.”

◻️ Harris insisted she would “always give Israel the ability to defend itself,” and claimed she and Biden are “working around the clock” to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and to get the hostages out. She added that “we must chart a course on a two-state solution” in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

◻️ Harris said she would ensure the US has “the most lethal fighting force in the world.”

◻️ Trump warned that, “We have wars going on in the Middle East. We have wars going on with Russia and Ukraine. We're going to end up in a third world war. And it will be a war like no other because of nuclear weapons, the power of weaponry.”

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

'Russia probably safer than today’s UK': Internet reacts to Putin's 'fast-track' residency permits

Seventeen people have already applied to the Russian Consulate in Edinburgh for Putin's fast-track residency permits, an article by the Daily Mail reveals.

Watch the Western community's reaction on the news sites above this article 👆

In August, the Russian president signed a decree to provide humanitarian support for people who share Russia's traditional spiritual and moral values. Notably, foreigners who moved to Russia due to political persecution in their home countries will be eligible for temporary residency without the requirement for proficiency in the Russian language.

"It is important to emphasize that the peoples of these countries are not our enemies, but their governments, who have gone mad, are insane, and are imposing such policies," specified Russian MP Maria Butina.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

What long-range US missiles does Ukraine have amid Biden’s threats to give Kiev carte blanche on Russia strikes?

The Biden administration is “working out” whether to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US-made long-range weapons to attack targets deep inside Russia. What weapons are in play? Here are the possibilities:

▫️ ATACMS: Range: 300 km. Fired by tracked M270 and wheeled M142 HIMARS self-propelled MLRS, delivered to Kiev in large numbers and dangerous due to their shoot-and-scoot capability. Feature a single 214 kg warhead or cluster bomblets. The Pentagon began delivering ATACMS to Kiev last October, but apparently not in numbers Volodymyr Zelensky would prefer. Last week, he complained about a “shortage of missiles and cooperation” with NATO countries.

▫️ JDAM-ER: A guidance and wing kit that converts “dumb” munitions weighing between 230-910 kg and delivers them 70+ km away. These weapons are air-launched, meaning Ukrainian aircraft must stay far enough away to avoid dense Russian air defenses while firing them.

▫️ ADM-160 MALD: A decoy missile designed to distract air defenses while real threats make their way toward their targets. Because they don’t have a warhead, these missiles can fly up to 930 km. Ukraine probably fires these weapons from its dwindling fleet of Soviet-era MiG-29 jets.

▫️ AGM-88 HARM: An anti-radiation missile with passive, GPS and millimeter-wave active radar homing, a range of between 25 and 300 km, depending on variant, and a 68 kg warhead. Features a flight speed of up to Mach 2.9. The US reportedly provides Kiev with intelligence support on the missiles’ use.

▫️ The JASSM is a standoff cruise missile with a 450 kg penetrator warhead and a range of between 370 and 925 km. Not yet known to have been delivered to Kiev. Fired by NATO aircraft, including the F-16.

Russian officials have warned repeatedly of the consequences of providing long-range missiles to Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin warned last year that “the more long-range Western systems arrive in Ukraine, the further we will be forced to push the threat away from our borders” via a security “buffer zone.” In June, Putin warned that Moscow might respond in kind to NATO’s actions, supplying Russian long-range weapons to regions of the world that send missiles to Ukraine to attack Russia.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Ukraine lost up to 460 militants in the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone.

🇷🇺🪖More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry's daily briefing on the special military operation's progress:

◻️ Russian air defense systems shot down six ATACMS missiles and 57 enemy drones.

◻️ Ukrainian forces lost over 110 militants in the Russian Vostok Battlegroup's combat zone.

◻️ Ukraine lost up to 180 militants in the Russian Sever Battlegroup's combat zone.

◻️ The Russian Yug Battlegroup repelled two Ukrainian counterattacks, inflicting losses of up to 655 militants on the enemy.

◻️ Russian forces struck the forward command post of the Ukrainian Khortytsia group and a Ukrainian ammunition depot.

◻️ Six Ukrainian boats retreated without attempting to recover the wounded militants left in the water.

◻️ Ukrainian forces lost up to 510 militants in the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup's combat zone.

◻️ Ukraine lost up to 110 militants and a US-made MLRS in the Russian Dnepr Battlegroup's combat zone.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Throwback to 9-11, Putin: ‘We stand with you, we fully share and feel your pain’

Russian President Vladimir Putin was the first world leader to call then-US President George W. Bush to express his condolences over the shocking 9/11 attacks.

Additionally, Putin delivered a video message, addressed to the US public, saying that the Russian people understand the sentiments of the American people better than anyone else and branded the attacks as “a brazen affront…to civilized humanity”.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

An attempt by the Kiev regime to seize the Russian jack-up drilling rig "Krym-2" in the Black Sea was thwarted overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Ukrainian military intelligence sent a naval landing force on 14 US Willard Sea Force boats to seize the mobile platform. During the battle, the Black Sea Fleet and Russian servicemen sank eight boats and killed up to eighty Ukrainian troops.

Another six Ukrainian boats retreated without even attempting to pick up their wounded comrades who remained in the water, the Defense Ministry said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Russian Tu-160 strategic missile carriers carried out a flight over the neutral waters of the Barents and Norwegian Seas as part of the Okean-2024 exercises, the Defense Ministry reported.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt