📹 Sputnik correspondent reports from liberated Kositsa in Kursk region

She was the first journalist to visit the settlement, the liberation of which was announced by the Ministry of Defense on March 9.

The roads of the town are covered with the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers as the Ukrainian Armed Forces retreated swiftly.

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🇪🇺 EU imposes countertariffs on US worth €26 billion

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed regret over Washington's move, stating that the tariffs are harmful to businesses, consumers, and the economy, which is why the EU is forced to defend its interests.

The countermeasures will be implemented in two phases: starting on April 1st and fully enforced by April 13th.

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📹 During the Sea Safety Belt-2025 joint military exercises held by Russia, China, and Iran in the Iranian port of Chabahar, special operations forces successfully practiced the liberation of a hijacked ship.

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🔎 How Putin’s Greater Eurasia proposal could save the continent from West's hegemony

Eurasia needs a continent-wide structure akin to the African Union or CELAC, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. What is he implying?

The origins of the Greater Eurasian Partnership (GEP) concept:
GEP, a concept proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2015, would replace the outdated "Greater Europe" (from Lisbon to Vladivostok) plan.

What could GEP provide to the continent?

🔹A network of free trade zones

🔹Inter-bloc trade and economic partnerships

🔹Expanded settlements in national currencies & independent payment systems

🔹Development of Eurasian transport corridors

🔹A foundation for indivisible security on the continent

🔹Territorial integrity, economic sovereignty and cultural and social protection for member states

🔹A common platform to settle disputes and prevent conflicts

From common trade to common security: How did GEP evolve?

🔸2015: Putin proposed GEP as part of the path to a just, multipolar world order based on equal and mutually beneficial cooperation.

🔸2016: He named the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) as a key integration hub, stating the project is open to all, including the EU. Moscow "holds no grudges" but won’t play a one-sided game, he warned.

🔸2017: Putin described GEP as a "civilizational project" that would transform Eurasia’s political and economic landscape. "We must set an example for a joint, innovative, and constructive future."

🔸2022: Amid Western sanctions and asset freezes, Putin called for a comprehensive GEP economic strategy, stressing that more nations are pursuing independent policies.

🔸June 2024: Putin urged expanded settlements in national currencies, independent payment systems, and transport corridors within GEP.

🔸The same month Putin emphasized GEP's role as the socio-economic foundation of a "new system of indivisible security" and instructed the Foreign Ministry to advance international agreements accordingly.

🔸March 2025: Russia is not imposing anything but rather initiating a discussion on a vision for Eurasia’s continental structure, which could serve as the foundation for a future security architecture, stated Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

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Double standards: Democrats and federal worker firings

Elon Musk has highlighted what he coined the hypocrisy among Democrats, pointing out that they supported former POTUS Joe Biden in firing federal workers for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, but now DOGE is firing federal workers for wasting taxpayer money, the same group of people claim it’s the “end of democracy”.

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⚡️ US officials are heading to Russia "RIGHT NOW" to discuss a cease-fire in Ukraine, Donald Trump said.

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📉 RECESSION ON HORIZON? Why Trump could want an economic downturn

▪️The US national debt has ballooned to $36.2 trillion, and $9.2 trillion of it is set to mature or be refinanced in 2025.

▪️The country's biggest debt crisis - which Trump is fully aware of - could only be tackled via “drastically lower” interest rates, which are “almost impossible” to lower without a recession, experts argue.

▪️Namely, the downturn is followed by the Fed "stimulating" the economy and lowering interest rates.

▪️Trump is willing to do his best “to lower rates and reduce the trade deficit. Even if it involves a recession,” pundits pointed out.

▪️The measure may well prove ineffective because America’s debt crisis “is getting too big to solve," analysts warn.

What is recession?

In the US, a recession is defined as six months of widespread downturn in economic activity, typically characterized by a jump in unemployment and fall in incomes.

Is US heading for it?

▪️Americans cut their spending by 0.2% in January from December 2024, the first such decline since March 2023.

▪️The labor market has slowed slightly, with unemployment at 4.1%. This latest data doesn’t contain all the impacts of Elon Musk’s DOGE slashing the federal workforce.

▪️Goldman Sachs raised its 12-month recession probability from 15% to 20%, noting that it sees the Trump-¬announced “period of transition” as “the key risk.”

▪️A JP Morgan report put the chance of recession at 40%, up from 30% in early January, warning that US policy was "tilting away from growth.”

▪️The S&P 500 index, which tracks 500 of the biggest companies in the US, sank to its lowest level since September 2024 in a sign of concerns about the future.

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📹🇺🇸 April 2nd is going to be a VERY BIG DAY for the United States of America - Trump

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🇬🇧 UK Foreign Office revokes Russian diplomat's credentials

The move comes in response to the expulsion of a British diplomat and their spouse from Russia this week.

"The UK Government believes that maintaining diplomatic channels of communication, and our respective diplomatic missions, is important," the office said in a statement.

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🤖 Seniors target Tesla robot to "save the planet"

Two elderly Just Stop Oil activists decided to make their point by dousing a humanoid robot in orange latex at a Tesla store in London. The 74-year-old woman and 63-year-old man are demanding the UK government ditch fossil fuels by 2030.

They also accused Tesla owner Elon Musk and his "billionaire buddies" of attempting to undermine democracy. A bold move for sure, but it’s all in the name of saving the planet, right?

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👨‍⚖️ Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte taken into ICC custody, according to the court.

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🗣 Enough is enough: US wants to disentangle from the bloody Ukrainian mess

The US recent ceasefire initiative is born out of a necessity to “stop throwing money into a black hole” that is the Ukrainian conflict, Argentinian international relations expert Samuel Losada tells Sputnik.

Facing economic problems at home, US President Donald Trump wants to put an end to the mess in Ukraine, which was started by the previous US administration, and to put an end to the multibillion-dollar Ukrainian aid scheme just as Elon Musk tries to optimize US government spending.

Losada also points out the insignificance of Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelensky in this whole situation, noting that the latter did not even participate in the recent US-Ukrainian talks in Saudi Arabia.

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💸 France mulls stealing frozen Russian assets

President Emmanuel Macron has tasked Finance Minister Eric Lombard with investigating the potential consequences of confiscating frozen Russian assets, according to government spokeswoman Sophie Primas.

"The issue is what the systemic effects on the economy are," she told Sud Radio.

While she clarified that the government doesn't support full seizure, she admitted to having no issues with taking the interest generated by these assets.

Moscow has warned that any such move would be considered theft, regardless of it's supposed justification.

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