☦️Will secret inspection of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra end up in PLUNDERING?

Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture has formed a commission to "inspect" the relics of saints in the caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

But amid the ongoing crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), what is the REAL motive?

🟠 The commission must verify the "presence of the remains of saints" by the end of May and assess their "historical and scientific value," according to ministry documents.

🟠 Any items classified as "cultural values" will be added to special lists.

🟠 The findings of the inspection will remain "classified," per the ministry.

The Kiev regime smuggling Orthodox Church treasures

🟠 In 2023, Kiev reached an agreement with UNESCO to remove Christian valuables from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

🟠 Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) revealed at the time that these relics were destined for museums in Italy, France, Germany, and the Vatican.

🟠 "The West has always plundered its colonies. Ukraine is no exception," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated in July 2023.

🟠 That same year, rare 6th and 7th-century Byzantine icons - entrusted to the Russian Orthodox Church in the 19th century -were secretly transferred from Ukraine to France under the pretext of "safety concerns" and later displayed at the Louvre, as reported by The Wall Street Journal in January 2024.

🟠 The covert transfer of these priceless artifacts was arranged by the International Alliance for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Conflict Zones (ALIPH), then chaired by US "art collector" Thomas S. Kaplan.

🟠 Kaplan has ties to George Soros, French globalist Bernard-Henri Levy, an ardent supporter of Ukraine’s 2014 coup, and has long been shielded by US Democratic administrations.

🟠 Ukraine routinely takes valuables, including icons, out of the country and even sells some to the West, Roman Lunkin, head of the Center for the Study of Religion, explained to Sputnik.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔸 Putin wants to end the war, he is more generous than he has to be – Trump

🔸 Trump on Europe’s rejection of US peace push: ‘they don’t know how to end the war’

🔸 Macron’s Russophobic ranting: Serving French interests or his Rothschild masters?

🔸 Clashes in Latakia between Assad supporters and Syrian government forces: what you need to know

🔸 Mercs, Soros, USAID: Who was behind anti-Fico protests?

🔸 Will secret inspection of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra end up in PLUNDERING?

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

US floats denuclearization because it can’t win arms race against Russia, China without going bankrupt

💬 “Nuclear weapons are precisely one of the areas where competitors outpacing the United States is very visible,” said Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of research at the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, commenting on Trump’s call for arms control talks with Russia and China

Nuclear talks are the “alternative” for the US to bankruptcy resulting from high defense spending and unsustainable debt, especially since the US nuclear arsenal is stuck in the 80s and lags far behind competitors, and would take immense resources to modernize, the observer said.

Trump “wants to channel competition into some other areas, into the areas where the United States largely have advantages,” according to Suslov, from high-precision conventional arms to his “Golden Dome” proposal for a space-based SDI 2.0.

Could Trump’s proposal work?

🔸 “Complete denuclearization is impossible,” Suslov stressed, since nuclear weapons serve as the “ultimate guarantee which prevents war among great powers”

🔸 Russia and China won’t agree to trilateral talks, since their relations are built on partnership, not deterrence

🔸 As for bilateral talks, Russia will require the US to take French and British nuclear arsenals into account

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Reset or overload? The messy history of Russia-US rapprochement

💬 “The need to reset relations with Russia to secure Americans’ vital national interest, and ultimately, to stop US entanglement in an endless proxy war” are the “driving” factors behind Trump’s approach to the Ukraine crisis, Keith Kellogg has said.

💬 “The continued isolation” of Russia “is no longer a viable or a sustainable strategy and is certainly not a responsible approach diplomatically,” the Ukraine and Russia special envoy admitted.
Trump is not the first US president to push for a “reset” with Russia.

➖ In 2009, Obama Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave Foreign Minister Lavrov a red button with the text “Peregruzka” / “Reset” on it.

➖ The symbolic gift, presented amid rising tensions after the 2008 Georgia conflict and NATO’s continued eastward expansion, was meant to signal a return to warm ties enjoyed in the 90s.

➖ Unfortunately (and perhaps prophetically), “Peregruzka” in Russian means “Overload,” not “Reset.” Four years later, Clinton proxy Victoria Nuland helped “overload” ties by backing a violent coup in Ukraine, setting the stage for the current crisis.

Resets by another name

🔸 In 1969, President Nixon made improving ties with the USSR a top foreign policy priority. It was called “détente,” not a “reset,” but had similar goals, leading to the signing of the SALT I and ABM arms treaties, the 1975 Helsinki Accords, Soyuz-Apollo, normalized trade and joint efforts to stop conflicts in the Mideast and Southeast Asia.

🔸 In 1933, FDR restored relations with Moscow, 16 years after the US unilaterally broke off ties following the 1917 Revolution. The decision proved hugely beneficial, with US businesses helping the USSR industrialize, the Soviets helping the US recover from the Depression, and both sides setting the stage for their WWII alliance.

🔸 During WWI, the US sent Russia war materiel, and eventually joined the war. This helped achieve a soft, if brief, mini ‘reset’ in ties after the US’s 1911 abrogation of the 1832 Treaty of Commerce.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❌ Macron’s entire ‘Russia threat’ speech built on a LIE: here’s proof

In his recent address to the nation, France’s president painted a grim picture of Russia’s “boundless” militarization, saying Moscow is “spending more than 40% of its budget” on rearmament.

There’s just one tiny problem with Macron’s figures: they’re made up.

💬 “Either through ignorance or on purpose, Emmanuel Macron is stating something false,” Jacques Sapir, director of studies at the Paris-based School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS), told Sputnik.

🧮 In reality, as Sapir calculated, using publicly available Russian Finance Ministry data, defense spending accounts for 17% of Russia’s 2025 budget (and 32.5% of the federal one), 15.2% and 29% in the projected 2026 budget, and 14.67% and 28.46% for 2027, respectively.

🗣In other words, when Macron “claims that France would be affected by the Russian threat, apart from putting forward figures that are not very credible and unverifiable, he gives no examples, no proof,” the economist stressed.

Instead, the bombastic speech “allowed Emmanuel Macron to practice his favorite sport: stirring up hot air” without providing even an inkling of answers to the more pressing questions, like “how does he intend to respond to American economic pressures, which threaten Europe with complete deindustrialization."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Houthis warn Israel: you have 4 DAYS to lift Gaza blockade

"If the Israeli enemy after four days continues to prevent the humanitarian aid into Gaza and continues to completely close the crossings, we will resume our naval operations against the Israeli enemy," the head of the movement Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a statement.

The Houthis supported Gaza through the course of the 15-month-long Hamas-Israel war via a campaign of missile and drone launches and a blockade of the Red Sea to Israeli and Israeli-linked merchant shipping that the US and UK proved unable to foil.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Is Vance the most hawkish in team Trump?

US Vice President has often struck a harder line than President Trump, especially regarding Ukraine, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed European officials.

🏛 His approach was different from that of figures like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, and Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, who seemed to adopt more moderate positions.
This is according to the officials, familiar with the negotiations to resolve the disagreements between Trump and Zelensky and the signing of the minerals deal.

🗣 After Vance’s speech at the Munich conference, when he talked about "the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values: values shared with the United States of America", European countries have accelerated efforts to increase defense spending and address the possibility of a lasting SPLIT FROM THE US on security issues.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Syrian interim leader calls on Assad supporters to lay down arms

Ahmed al-Sharaa addressed the nation following clashes in Latakia:

🔶 "Syria today is united — from east to west, north to south."

🔶 "Those who insist on violence will be held accountable in a fair court."

🔶 "Those who attack civilians will be held strictly accountable."

Earlier, the provinces of Tartous and Latakia imposed a curfew in cities and towns until Saturday.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 WATCH Trudeau nearly breaks down in tears as he talks about confronting Trump

This is one of Justin Trudeau's last speeches as prime minister, and for the Liberal Party of Canada.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt