❗️Firuz Dadaboev, an IT specialist from Moscow with dual citizenship, has been sentenced to 13.5 years in a high-security penal colony for treason, having allegedly spied for the United States, according to the Russian Federal Security Service.

He was arrested in October 2022 while attempting to transfer classified materials to the CIA. Dadaboev confessed to the charges and expressed remorse for his actions, as reported by the security service.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman mocks 'neutrality' of US media in 2024 presidential race

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, has mocked the supposed "neutrality" of American newspapers during the presidential race. Several prominent US media outlets have chosen not to endorse either candidate - Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris - because they are perceived as being supposedly "pro-Russian".

"This time, they can't support anyone, because both candidates have been labeled 'Russian'," she emphasized.

According to Zakharova, the American press has spent the last decade fabricating narratives about Trump's alleged connections to Russia. Additionally, she pointed out, Russian President Vladimir Putin humorously expressed ‘support’ for Harris' candidacy.

"The US media have thus driven themselves into a dead end," Zakharova noted.

Recently, three major publications - the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today - announced their decision not to endorse any candidate in the forthcoming presidential election

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚡️Hezbollah declares the name of new Secretary General

The legislative council of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement elected Naim Qassem as its new secretary general, the movement announced on Tuesday.

"The Hezbollah Legislative Council has elected Sheikh Naim Qassem as the new secretary general of the movement, who will continue to carry our banner with God's help," the statement said.

The previous Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed by the IDF a month ago. Hashem Safieddine, who was previously seen as Nasrallah's successor, was eliminated last week.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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

◻️ Ukrainian losses reached a total of 985 troops and a Leopard tank in Battlegroup Yug's area of responsibility.

◻️ Ukrainian losses in Russia’s Battlegroup Tsentr combat zone came to 500 soldiers and a Turkish-made Kipri armored vehicle.

◻️ Ukrainian losses reached a total of 480 militants and two ammunition depots in Battlegroup Zapad's area of responsibility.

◻️ Russian forces hit the Ukrainian General Staff's unmanned systems operation center;

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

As US missile stocks dry up, alarm raised over Pentagon's conflict response abilities

The United States is running low on certain types of air defense missiles due to aid provided to Ukraine and Israel. This has raised alarm about the Pentagon's capacity to respond to potential conflicts, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, quoting US officials.

🔸 The Pentagon has not publicly disclosed its stockpile of missiles, citing the sensitive nature of the information. This decision is due to the potential risk of Iran and its allies gaining access to this information.

“Over the course of the last year, the Department of Defense has augmented our force posture in the region to protect US forces and support the defense of Israel, while always taking into account US readiness and stockpiles,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said in a statement.

🔸 The heavy reliance on the Pentagon's finite stockpile of missile interceptors has raised alarm bells regarding the capacity of the United States and its allies to satisfy the surging demand for these resources in both the Middle East and Ukraine. DoD analysts and officials are concerned that the Pentagon may exhaust its inventory faster than it can be replenished, potentially leaving the United States vulnerable in any future conflicts in the Pacific.

“The US has not developed a defense industrial base intended for a large-scale war of attrition in both Europe and the Middle East, while meeting its own readiness standards,” said Elias Yousif, a fellow and deputy director of the Conventional Defense Program at the Stimson Center in Washington DC. “And both of those wars are extended conflicts, which was not part of the US defense planning.”

🔸 The heavy use of weapons, particularly interceptors, in the Middle East is jeopardizing the Pentagon's capacity to engage in operations in the Pacific, as stated by Mark Montgomery, a retired admiral and senior director at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington DC-based conservative think tank.

“We’re spending a year’s worth of Standard Missiles—those are standard missiles that are supposed to be part of rearming ourselves for China,” he said. “So, 100%, we have, once again in the Middle East, set back Navy readiness to execute operations in the Pacific.”

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the Rheinmetall factory in Ukraine will be deemed a legitimate target for Russian forces. This announcement follows the declaration by the head of the German defense company that Rheinmetall is constructing four arms manufacturing plants in Ukraine, with the first one already operational.

Additional remarks made by Peskov include:

🔸 There are no plans for a meeting between the president and North Korea’s top diplomat, who is scheduled to be in Moscow on Wednesday.

🔸 Russia intends to launch a legal battle over the seizure of Russian-owned real estate in Finland.

🔸 Moscow has no desire or intention to interfere in Georgia's internal affairs.

🔸 The West’s incessant and unfounded accusations against Russia compel us to regard these claims with a sense of irony.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Are Hollywood celebrities being blackmailed into endorsing Kamala Harris?

In recent weeks, A-list celebrities such as Beyonce, Eminem, and Taylor Swift have been trotted out to endorse Kamala Harris. Many of these celebrities were compromised by their association with rapper P. Diddy, who is currently under investigation for sex trafficking charges, former US Army psychological operations officer Scott Bennett told Sputnik.

"These revelations have been discovered and written about in the past decade,” said Bennett, adding that “they have also recently been connected to Jeffrey Epstein and Israel’s Mossad blackmail operations.”

Epstein boasted of being a Mossad agent, a former girlfriend and victim of the late sex trafficker has claimed in a lawsuit. The unnamed American woman has accused the late sex trafficker of raping her at his New York mansion in a complaint filed against his estate in Manhattan federal court, the Daily Beast revealed earlier this year.

Similar claims were voiced by former Mossad agent and Israeli businessperson Ari Ben-Menashe. Epstein honey trapped American male politicians using underage girls to blackmail them into working for Israeli intelligence, Ben-Menashe had asserted in his book “Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales” released in 2019.

He had also claimed he used to be the handler of Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s father Robert, and was the one who introduced his daughter and Epstein to Mossad.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 The first footage of Russian troops moving through the town of Selidovo in the Donetsk People's Republic.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🪖 Key statements from the Russian Ministry of Defense's daily briefing on the situation in the Kursk region:

🔸 Russia’s Battlegroup Sever hammered eight Ukrainian formations and repelled five counterattacks in its combat zone. The enemy lost as many as 60 soldiers and five armored vehicles , the Russian Defense Ministry said.

🔸 Russian aviation and artillery strikes hit concentrations of personnel and equipment of nine Ukrainian brigades in the Sumy region.

🔸 In total, Ukrainian losses over the day amounted to more than 400 militants, with 16 armored vehicles destroyed, including two tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, 12 armored vehicles, the Polish-made self-propelled gun Krab and 24 cars.

🔸 Since the beginning of combat operations in the Kursk region, Ukraine has lost more than 27,950 troops.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Ukrainian parliament has extended martial law and general mobilization in Ukraine until 7 February 2025.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Bryansk infiltrators had enough firepower to level a small city: here’s what weapons they were carrying

Footage released by the Russian Security Service of the cache of equipment foreign mercs brought with them as they attempted to violate the border in Bryansk region on Monday offers clues about who might have sent them, and whose interests they are fighting for.

Among the seized equipment were:

◻️ At least a dozen Bullspike hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers, manufactured by Bulgarian arms maker VMZ, and delivered to Ukraine from summer 2022 onward.

◻️ An AT4 – a Swedish-made, disposable, shoulder-fired recoilless anti-tank weapon manufactured by Saab Bofors Dynamics. Known to have been sent to Ukraine by Sweden and Denmark in 2022.

◻️ What looks like a lone, partially disassembled FN Minimi 7.62 MK3 light machine gun, manufactured by Belgian small arms giant FN Herstal. Belgium and the Netherlands are known to have delivered scores of FN Minimis and ammo to go along with them to Kiev from 2022 onward.

◻️ Non-Eastern Bloc standard assault rifles and dozens of mags to go along with them.

◻️ High-explosive ammo, including 40x53 mm high-velocity grenades for use by either dedicated grenade launchers or kits attachable to assault rifles, plus what appear to be variants of handheld M67-series frag grenades and even older MK2 ‘Pineapple’ series grenades.

◻️ Explosive charges, including Semtex general-purpose RDX and PETN plastic explosives, made in the Czech Republic. These heavy-duty charges could be used to destroy a vehicle or level a small building.

◻️ Personal gear with English-language writing, including backpacks, satchels, med kits, and ammo pouches and small arms protective inserts (SAPIs) with the text ‘Strike Face Handle With Care’ slapped on them.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚰️ A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group, which unsuccessfully attempted to break into the Bryansk region, consisted of about 10 militants, the Russian National Guard stated.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt