📹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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🚨 The US opposed a UN resolution condemning "Russian aggression against Ukraine," with officials stating that such wording "does not help in achieving peace."

The resolution was rejected by the US, Russia, Belarus, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nicaragua, Niger, Sudan, and Eritrea.

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🚨🇲🇩Moldova’s political WITCH HUNT: the persecution of Gagauzia’s Gutsul

Yevgenia Gutsul, the elected head of Gagauzia, was detained on March 25, 2025, at Moldova’s international airport. She was accused of attempting to evade justice, despite her consistent cooperation with the courts.

Political Hit Job?

🟣After her detention, Gutsul appealed to President Putin for diplomatic and legal support, claiming that Moldova’s ruling party was using its power to crush political opposition.

🟣Moldova’s authorities use methods of blatant pressure on popular politicians who can somehow compete with President Maia Sandu, noted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

🟣Sandu’s opponents argued that the republic had effectively become a "police state," said Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

🟣Initially held in custody for 20 days, Gutsul was released to house arrest on April 9.

🟣Gutsul accused Sandu and her Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) of weaponizing Moldova’s courts for political reprisals.

🟣With Gutsul still under legal fire, Moldova’s opposition bloc "Victory" is preparing to take her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Russia-Friendly Stand

🟣After her election in 2023, Gutsul made it clear that she wanted to strengthen Gagauzia's ties with Russia and criticized Moldova's drift toward the EU.

🟣President Maia Sandu doubled down—flat-out refusing to appoint Gutsul to the national government, brushing past what Moldovan law had to say about it.

Legal Woes

🟣Gutsul’s troubles date to 2022, when she was charged with allegedly illegal financing linked to the Shor Party. The now-banned Shor had sought better ties with Russia.

🟣There are additional allegations of campaign finance irregularities during the 2023 election, which Gutsul has vehemently denied, calling all charges politically motivated.

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💼 Lifting terrorist status from Taliban opens way to full partnership with Afghanistan – Russian Foreign Ministry

🤔Russia aims to build mutually beneficial ties with Afghanistan in all areas, including the fight against drugs and terrorism

🤔The Russian side expresses gratitude for Afghanistan's military operations on its territory against Wilayat Khorasan, a terrorist group which is banned in Russia.

🤔Afghanistan has the potential to become a key player in major energy and infrastructure projects

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💵Dollar’s dominance at risk, ‘might fade, end’ - report

😨 The world may be on the precipice of a financial shock “of similar magnitude” to Nixon’s 1971 decision to decouple the dollar from gold, with the dollar’s “nosedive” against other currencies despite its penchant for getting stronger in times of financial and economic strife a possible warning sign, the Financial Times reported.

With foreigners holding $19 trln in US equities, $7 trln in Treasuries, $5 trln in corporate bonds and $2 trln in physical banknotes, investors have been left wondering how low the dollar can go. Some “now think the scale of the Trump shock could end a near-century of dollar dominance.”

😁 Such an outcome, incidentally, would deprive the US of the ability to sabotage other countries’ financial systems using sanctions, FT noted.

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