🇷🇺🇶🇦 Negotiations between the President of Russia and the Emir of Qatar have begun at the Kremlin.

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❗️Russia-Qatar relations are strengthening. Qatar is Russia's key partner in the Middle East, Putin said during talks with Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Other statements made by the leaders during the talks:

🔸 Russia and Qatar have enough interesting joint projects, including in the gas sector, Putin said.

🔸 The Emir of Qatar told Putin he values highly the level of relations with Russia. There are projects and proposals which they plan to discuss and implement.

🔸 Long-term settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is possible only on a two-state basis, Putin stated.

🔸 Russia is interested in Syria's preservation as a sovereign state, Putin said.

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💬 'Area of dictatorship and emerging fascism' - Former Slovak Supreme Court President

The EU, by banning Russian media including Sputnik, is violating fundamental human rights, acting like 'Nazi elite,' Former Slovak Supreme Court President and ex-Minister of Justice Štefan Harabin told Sputnik.

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🗣Russia pushes Europe and Ukraine to PRIORITIZE PEACE, while Europe seems set on prolonging the war – Kremlin

💬 “The president recently had a lengthy conversation with Mr. Witkoff, and we know that the details of this discussion have been reported to President Trump,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

🇷🇺🇧🇾On Russia-Belarus ties:

The Union State is progressing rapidly, emerging as the most advanced form of integration in the former Soviet Union, bringing clear benefits to both Russia and Belarus.

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🇷🇺🇶🇦A number of agreements is expected to be signed following the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

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📹A Sputnik correspondent provides an update on the talks held at the Kremlin between Russian President Putin and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad Al Thani 🇷🇺🇶🇦

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💰Hamas struggles to pay fighters as cash reserves run dry

Many senior Hamas fighters and political staff have had their salaries slashed by half since mid-Ramadan, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing Arab intelligence officials.

Hamas fighters in lower ranks were reportedly earning around $200 to $300 per month.

One of the reasons for the salary cut is that many Hamas officials responsible for managing the movement’s cash flow have been killed by the IDF.

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🗣Russia will consider any missile strike with Taurus missiles on Russian targets as Germany's involvement in the conflict on Ukraine's side, stated Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

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US denied Ukraine ATACMS missiles in 2022 due to stockpile shortage – former National Security Adviser

💬 “The reason why we didn’t provide them originally is because the Secretary of Defense and the US military told the president [Joe Biden] that the US DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH of these in our inventory to meet our basic deterrence needs for the US,” Jake Sullivan explained.

There is no evidence to back up the claim that ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles had a significant effect to the conflict with Russia.

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🚨RUSSIA & QATAR SIGN €2B INVESTMENT DEAL

👆SCOOP from Russia's special envoy Kirill Dmitriev

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🚨Qatar Emir thanks President Putin for warm welcome, looks forward to his visit to Qatar soon

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📹Mexican mercenary flees, leaving Ukrainian soldiers to die

Russian troops stormed a building which Ukrainian troops and a Mexican mercenary had fortified, an assault platoon commander told Sputnik.

The Mexican fled early in the battle, but the enemy soldiers – abandoned by their commander – were eventually killed, with one taken prisoner.

💬 "The mercenaries come here hoping that they will have a sweet life. But after they encounter us, we take them out, eliminate a couple of people from their group, and they immediately start running away," the commander said. "They run even faster than the Ukrainian soldiers."

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Taurus supplies to Ukraine ‘WILL NOT CHANGE ANYTHING’ – Rheinmetall CEO

💬 “The Taurus isn't a game-changer,” Armin Papperger told Handelsblatt.

Taurus cruise missiles can only be supplied to Ukraine after coordination with European states, CDU/CSU bloc leader Friedrich Merz told ARD earlier.

Before the German elections, he criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz for rejecting the supply of Taurus missiles to Ukraine, a controversial decision that could escalate the conflict and provoke backlash among Germans.

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🚨'We want Syria to maintain its territorial integrity'

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explains Russia's stance on current situation in Syria

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🚨 Exposed: real agenda behind $2m media grant in Moldova

US taxpayers will no longer have to shell out $2M for an “Expanded Newsroom Sustainability and Engagement” project in a post-Soviet republic 5,000 miles away. Let’s unpack.

✍️ Layers within bureaucratic layers

The scrapped project was run by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), a USAID-linked State Dept subagency promoting ‘democracy, human & labor rights’ abroad. How? Mostly through cash injections to the right players.

🔊Controlling the message

Officially, the $2M grant was meant to ‘support independent newsrooms and increase civic engagement through professional journalism’.

In reality, it was part of a vast web of US and EU-financed media in Moldova pushing the pro-West narrative.

🗣Attack dog journalism

The DRL, USAID and EU analogs have spent millions funding local media like Recorder, ZDG and NewsMaker.

They drag opposition parties (Sor) and figures (ex-president Dodon) through the mud, but ignore alleged corruption of ruling PAS Party elites.

⚔️Moldova’s media crackdown

While pro-EU media flourished, independent and opposition outlets have faced shutdowns, sanctions and harassment, from fake tax inspections to legal threats.

This was made possible by draconian “anti-fake news” and “disinformation” laws.

❓Could it level the playing field?

$2M in lost funding may not seem like much, but it all adds up. USAID alone has already nixed $32M in media support, and $22M in elections-related aid this year ahead of September’s parliamentary vote.

Cuts won’t bring back banned outlets, but they could deamplify the pro-West media narrative.

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⚡️🇷🇺🇮🇷JUST IN: Vladimir Putin receives Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi in Kremlin after talks with Qatar Emir

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Qatar could become a venue for Russia-US talks, says Kremlin aide

🔸 Russian President Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff discussed the situation in Ukraine during a recent meeting in St. Petersburg, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

🔸 The US has already addressed Russia's signals over Ukraine, communicated through the US president's special envoy, Ushakov believes.

🔸 There is ongoing discussion about a potential phone call between Putin and US President Donald Trump, but no agreement has been reached yet.

🔸 Resuming direct flights between Russia and the US would be quite logical, the aide added.

🔸 Qatar is playing a humanitarian and mediation role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and could potentially become a venue for talks between Russia and the US.

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📹The Appeal Chamber of Chisinau has rejected the defense's request for the head of Gagauzia, Evgenia Gutsul, and kept the politician under house arrest.

Earlier in the day, a rally was held in the Moldovan capital in support of Gutsul, who is under house arrest on charges of financial violations.

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