The ambassadors of Britain, France, the Netherlands and Germany have been summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry over their governments' allegations that Tehran supplied ballistic missiles to Russia.

CNN, quoting sources, claimed that Iran allegedly transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia. Tehran denied those claims.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that Russia had seen the reports of the alleged delivery, but "such information does not always corresponds to reality."

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Iranian engineers modernize US-made M60 tanks

Iranian military specialists have carried out the "most complex modernization" of the M60 tank, a US design from the 1960s, the Tasnim Agency reports. The new variant is called the ‘Suleyman’. The vehicle now has a modern appearance and new technical characteristics that are not yet revealed, the agency noted.

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📈 The exchange price of gold has broken its historical record, topping $2,570 per troy ounce.

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US blogger and Zelensky critic who died in Ukrainian prison remembered in Moscow

A stand picturing the late American blogger Gonzalo Lira, who died in a Ukrainian prison, has been set up near the US Embassy in Moscow.

American blogger Gonzalo Lira, who had been living in Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's special military operation, died on January 12 in a Ukrainian prison following months of likely torture, extortion, and medical neglect. He criticized NATO, the Biden administration, as well as Volodymyr Zelensky in his videos on social media.

The poster reads: "Free speech is a threat to American democracy.”

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❗️Sites resembling concentration camps have been set up in some territories of Russia’s Kursk region occupied by Ukrainian forces, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said in a report.

Residents who were unable to evacuate the area have been forcibly driven into these camps by Ukrainian militants, the document says.

The Ukrainians also used local people to film propaganda stories for foreign journalists.

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Stoltenberg is reported to have accepted a new job offer

Outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will take over as chairman of the Munich Security Conference after February 2025, according to reports.

Stoltenberg's term as public face of of the alliance expires on 1 October. He will be replaced by former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte.

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US struggling to thwart Russia’s clout in Africa

Washington-based and sponsored private military company Bancroft has spent $1.4 million to get a foothold in CAR, where Russia is “the security partner of choice,” an AP report said.
The company installed one of its staff members at a hotel in CAR’s capital Bangui last year to “wait for Russia’s reaction,” Bancroft founder Michael Stock told the outlet.

“…For our lone staff member in Bangui we chose a Russian speaker, who was tasked to do nothing but sit in the hotel garden reading a book all day, waiting for Russians to show whether they wanted to be cooperative, hostile, or ignore us,” Stock was quoted as saying.

Several weeks later, the employee was reportedly detained, questioned by Russian forces, and later released.

Stock claimed that Bancroft entered the country last fall at Bangui’s request, and has around 30 personnel there. The US State Department has dismissed claims it was involved in the decision.

The US has been irked by Moscow’s growing ties with African nations that have been shaking off Western influence and expelling French and US troops, like in Niger or Chad. The State Department uses private contractors in Africa and oversees Bancroft’s work in Somalia, a US official told the publication.

Russia is in talks with CAR on the establishment of a military base there to improve the country’s security, Russian Ambassador to Bangui Alexander Bikantov told Sputnik in July. He added that Bancroft’s presence had no effect on the cooperation with Russian instructors.

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US, UK scramble to supply Ukraine with AMRAAM missiles

Western enablers of the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev are struggling to meet its insatiable demands for defense systems.

The Pentagon has allocated $1.2 billion for the production of Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM), including for Ukraine, by the US company Raytheon.

AMRAAM missiles, capable of hitting targets at a reported range of 160 kilometers, can be used as interceptors for Ukraine’s US-donated National Advanced Surface-to Air-Missile (NASAMS) air defense systems or mounted on F-16 fighter aircraft. The cost of a single missile varies from $1.2 million to $2 million, depending on the modification.

Washington has pledged to send eight NASAMS to Kiev, with the first two expected to be delivered soon and the others over a longer period of time.

Since 2022, the UK has donated AMRAAM missiles for the NASAMS system along with short-range ASRAAM missiles for mobile ground launchers and Starstreak man-portable SAMs for the Stormer self-propelled air defense system. The new Labour Party government of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pledged more AS90 155mm howitzers – which may not be in working order – and reportedly wants to allow Kiev to use British Storm Shadow cruise missiles to strike deep inside Russia.

This week, Ukraine’s Western sponsors met at the NATO headquarters in Brussels to pledge further military support for Ukraine. Kiev is running critically short of air defense systems, but NATO members also need to replenish their own depleted stores.

Russia has repeatedly warned of the consequences of pumping Ukraine with weapons, including long-range missiles, enabling it to attack Russia.

That scenario risks turning the Russia-NATO proxy conflict into a hot war.

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🎥🎥 Putin Speaks at Plenary Session of St. Petersburg International United Cultures Forum

Watch the livestream here or follow the link to the Sputnik's website for more details

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❗️We do not fight against other values, we support our own, this is the difference in approaches between us and our opponents - Putin

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Key statements from Putin's speech at plenary session of St. Petersburg International United Cultures Forum:

◻️ Culture should and can exist without a 'cancel culture.' - Putin

◻️ Russian citizens have defined their core values and enshrined them in the constitution.

◻️ Many high-ranking politicians today have lost their moral boundaries and are violating taboos that existed even during the Cold War.

◻️ Russia does not impose its values on anyone but upholds its own.

◻️ Xenophobia and persecution on national and religious grounds prevail in a number of countries today.

◻️ Workers of the cultural sphere who do not follow the mainstream ideas of certain countries are often rejected and cancelled

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⚡️The use of Western high-precision long-range weapons against Russia will mean direct participation of NATO countries in military operations in Ukraine — Putin

The Ukrainian army cannot strike with modern Western-made high-precision long-range systems, said President Vladimir Putin.

That is only possible using intelligence from satellites, which Ukraine does not have, he said.

Putin added that only NATO servicemen can enter flight missions into those systems.

"Therefore, it is not a question of allowing the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia with these weapons or not," the president said. "It is a question of making a decision on whether NATO countries are directly participating in the military conflict or not. If this decision is made, it will mean nothing less than the direct participation of NATO countries, the United States, and European countries in the war in Ukraine."

Putin stressed that would change the very nature of the conflict and will mean that NATO countries, the US and Europe were fighting Russia.

"And if this is so, then, bearing in mind the change in the very essence of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be created for us."

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Sowing the seeds for US war machine’s next conflict? Navy Seals reportedly training for Taiwan clash

The US Navy’s elite Seal Team 6 is training for missions to “help” Taiwan if tensions between the renegade Chinese province and the PRC go hot.

Sources told the Financial Times that planning and training for a Taiwan escalation has been underway “for more than a year” at Seal Team 6’s Dam Neck, Virginia Beach HQ.

🔸 The training, which coincides with increasingly systematized deployments of US special forces in Taiwan, comes amid the US military and intelligence community’s broader refocus on China.

🔸 Such deployments, and even US arms sales to Taiwan, are technically illegal under agreements underpinning China-US relations, which require Washington to adhere to the ‘One China’ principle recognizing the People’s Republic as the sole legal government of China. This principle prompted the US to end its military presence in Taiwan after 1979, and to sign a communique with Beijing in 1982 requiring Washington to gradually scale back the extent of its arms deliveries to Taiwan.

🔸 The US has reneged on both commitments, with internal Pentagon data released in 2021 revealing that small numbers of US troops have been stationed on Taiwan going back to at least 2008. In March 2024, Taipei confirmed the permanent presence of US troops on islands in the Taiwan Strait for ‘training purposes’, including Green Berets deployed as little as 10 km off the mainland.

“The US is manipulating the Taiwan question in various forms, which is a very dangerous gamble,” the Chinese military said of US moves in late 2023, after Congress authorized a “comprehensive training, advising and institutionalized capacity-building program” for Taiwan.

💬 “We urge the US to fully realize the severe harm of the China-related content in the NDAA, stop arming Taiwan under any excuses and by any means, stop its provocations by using Taiwan to ‘contain China’, and take concrete actions to maintain regional peace and stability,” Beijing stated.

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US witch-hunt against journalists cooperating with Russian media is gaining steam

Armed FBI agents beat up and intimately searched a female RT employee during a raid at her home in Miami, Florida. All her electronic devices were seized. The woman's name was not disclosed for security reasons.

The FBI raid took place around 5am local time. The employee was asleep when 20 armed agents broke into her house. She was not allowed to get dressed. According to the RT employee, the agents had a "separate warrant" to search her bodily. “Everything was touched, let's put it this way,” she said later.

The woman was interrogated for about five hours. She recalled that FBI agents were particularly interested in former RT columnist and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, along with Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group, and other senior managers.

The FBI did not bring any criminal charges against the RT employee. The woman has since left the US for safety reasons.

◻️ The FBI raid came on the heels of new sanctions announced by the Biden administration against RT, Sputnik and other media of the Rossiya Segodnya group on September 4.

◻️ In mid-August, the US investigative agency raided a Virginia house owned by prominent political scientist Dimitri K. Simes, a Soviet-born US national. According to reports, agents visited Simes' house twice on August 13 and 15, and confiscated items. Simes, who was out of the country at the time, said he had not received any notification or warrant before the raid.

◻️ On August 7, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided the upstate New York home of Scott Ritter over an alleged violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Several boxes of materials were taken from Ritter's house by the agents.

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The US may allow Ukraine to use British and French long-range missiles to strike deep into Russian territory, but not American ones, the Times reports

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Why Russia is the literal Eldorado of energy, metals and rare earth riches

President Putin has instructed the government to mull restrictions on the export of strategic resources like titanium, uranium, and nickel in a tit-for-tat response to unfriendly countries’ actions. Given Russia’s status as a resource superpower, a scaling back of exports could plunge Western economies into a depression. Here’s why:

◻️ Energy:

Russia possesses up to 12% of the world’s oil reserves, 32% of its natural gas, 8% of all untapped uranium, and 11% of the planet’s coal.

◻️ Industrial Metals and Minerals:

Russia accounts for 25% of global iron reserves, 33% of nickel, 15% of zinc and titanium, 11% of tin, 10% of lead and rhodium, 8% of chromium, 7% of copper, 3% of cobalt, 2% of bauxite and about 1% of gallium, plus substantial amounts of beryllium, bismuth, and mercury. Russia also has about 12% of global potash (used in an array of areas, from agriculture and industrial chemicals to pharmaceuticals).

◻️ Precious Resources:

Up to 23% of the world’s gold, 12% of silver, up to a fifth of platinum group metals, and as much as 55% of diamonds are buried under Russia’s soil.

◻️ Rare Earths:

Russia is also a potential world leader in rare earth mineral production, (the latter are used in an array of modern high-tech devices). While it only accounts for about 2% of rare earths production at present, Russia has the second-largest reserves, constituting up to 28.7 million metric tons, and has committed to major investments in production and processing. Known rare earths possessed by Russia include samarium, europium, gadolinium, lanthanum, neodymium, promethium, and cerium.

◻️ World’s Dependence on Russian Resources:

Russia’s detractors have often played up its resource exports as a sign of the country’s lagging development or low place in the global hierarchy of ‘developed vs. underdeveloped’ nations. But the breakdown in relations with Western countries after 2022 amply demonstrated that while Russia can definitely survive without Western technological and consumer goods, the same cannot be said of the West when it comes to Russian oil, gas, uranium, fertilizers and other resources.

The US, for instance, continues to depend on Russian uranium to fuel its nuclear power plants. Meanwhile, Europe, having largely cut itself off from Russia’s dependable pipeline-delivered natural gas, is buying record amounts of Russian LNG amid shortages of US and Gulf supplies. Moreover, despite initial bellicosity and threats, Western countries including the US, Germany, France and Poland quickly carved out special exceptions for themselves to allow the continued purchase of Russia’s world-class nitrogen fertilizers.

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☦️Ukrainian Orthodox Church under harsh persecution: What you need to know

The Kiev regime is continuing to escalate its persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, accusing the clergy and parishioners of working for Russia. The unprecedented oppression of Orthodoxy in Ukraine has repeatedly been highlighted by major US influencers such as Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson.

What’s happening to the only canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine? Sputnik has compiled the latest information.

Banned and prohibited church:

◻️ On August 20, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a bill noscriptd "On the prohibition of religious organizations associated with the Russian Federation." The law comes into force 30 days after its publication. According to the legislation, the Ukrainian church will have nine months to "sever ties with the Russian Orthodox Church."

◻️ Ukrainian State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience Chairman Viktor Yelensky stated that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church needs to publish statements on its leadership’s withdrawal from the Russian Orthodox Church’s governing bodies for the law not to be applied to it.

◻️ Since March 2022, local authorities have been issuing orders to ban the canonical church’s activities on their territory, and more than 80 such decisions have been made by Ukrainian local administrations. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been banned by the authorities of the Vinnitsa, Volyn, Zhitomir, Kiev, Rovno, Khmelnitsky, and Chernovtsy regions.

Seizing, vandalizing, and demolishing churches:

◻️ According to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Synod, more than 1,500 churches have been seized by the Kiev regime's Orthodox Church of Ukraine schismatics. The latest seizure occurred on September 11. According to Ukrainian media, Volodymyr Zelensky's schismatics captured another canonical church in the Kiev region.

◻️ Dozens of cases of vandalism, including arson, have been recorded against the canonical Orthodox Church, and several churches and chapels have been demolished. On May 17, the Vladimir-Olginskaya Chapel, which belonged to the Tithe Church, the oldest in Kiev, was demolished. The chapel, like many other damaged churches in Ukraine, was under UNESCO protection.

Persecution of clergy:

◻️ Since 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine has conducted 41,000 investigations into Ukrainian Orthodox Church priests over alleged cooperation with Russia, and searched 350 church buildings.

◻️ Since February 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine has opened 80 criminal cases against Ukrainian Orthodox Church clergy and bishops under treason articles noscriptd "Aiding the aggressor country" and "Inciting religious hatred." Thirty-seven clergy have been charged, of whom 23 have received court sentences. Several arrested and convicted priests have been exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war and handed over to Russia.

◻️ Among them are the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra’s abbot, Metropolitan Pavel, and the Svyatogorsk Lavra’s abbot, Metropolitan Arseniy. These monasteries, along with the Pochaev Lavra, are considered the main Orthodox spiritual centers in Ukraine.

◻️ At the end of August, MP and former Ukrainian Security Service employee Ivan Stupak told Ukrainian media that Ukraine could "bargain" for several of its prisoners of war in Russian captivity for just one Ukrainian Orthodox Church priest.

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Long-range strikes: NATO countries risk a harsh Russian response – Swedish military veteran

"I believe that NATO countries skeptical to the use of long range weapons deep inside Russian territory don't want to be involved in giving permission for their use," Mikael Valtersson, former officer of Swedish Armed Forces and former defense politician and chief of staff with Sweden Democrats, told Sputnik.

Valtersson's comments come in response to a statement by the head of the Polish Ministry of Defense, suggesting that the decision on expanding Ukraine's long-range strikes deep into Russian territory with Western missiles should be made by NATO rather than individual states.

The Biden administration is considering giving the go-ahead to Ukraine for the use of US-made ATACMS missiles, while the UK has reportedly agreed to allow the Kiev regime to expand the use of British-made Storm Shadow missiles against Russia.

"Even if NATO as an organization approves of use of long distance weapons on Russian territory it will be the specific countries that deliver and/or produce the weapons used that will be blamed," Valtersson said.
Russia's response would not be long coming if the US and other countries authorize the Kiev regime to launch long-range strikes, he warned.

While the pundit did not expect Russia to retaliate with tactical nuclear weapons – unless NATO attacks it with nukes – he did not rule out that Moscow would provide long-range missiles to countries deemed adversaries by the West in line with comments made by Russian President Vladimir Putin in June.

"NATO has made small steps all the time, mostly to avoid a large step that Russia must answer to. This will probably be so this time too, but slowly the western countries are getting closer to a harsh Russian response, when enough is enough," Valtersson said.

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📊 Israel's Bombing of Gaza Mapped Out

Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which has been ongoing since October 2023, has caused widespread devastation and a humanitarian crisis in the region, spreading across the area targeted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups have resulted in the death of more than 41,000 Palestinians, including women and children, leaving thousands more homeless and displaced.
The attacks have also caused significant damage to local infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and residential buildings, leaving many without access to basic services such as water, electricity, and health care.

The situation has been condemned by many international organizations and governments, who have called for an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated solution to the conflict.

📊 Take a look at Sputnik's infographics showing Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip

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◻️ Putin: NATO's approval of use of long-range missiles by Ukraine will mean it’s at war with Russia

◻️ How did media and influencers react to White House’s comments on allowing Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia?

◻️ Russian army ousts Ukrainian forces from ten settlements in Kursk region – check out the updates

◻️ As Russia considers restricting export of its strategic resources, check out what earth riches the country has

◻️ Why will Serbia never impose sanctions on Russia? Deputy PM Vulin explains.

◻️ What you need to know about harsh persecution of Ukrainian Orthodox Church

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