🇷🇺↗️ Russia ranked world’s FOURTH-LARGEST economy in 2024 – report

Last year saw Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) reach an all-time high of $6.94 trillion, as compared to $6.48 trillion in 2023, a Sputnik analysis based on IMF data shows.

Apart from Russia, the top-five list of the world’s largest economies includes China, the US, India, and Japan.

The five made the most significant contribution to the world economic growth in 2024. The remaining countries provided less than 2% of global growth in GDP terms.

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🟠Canada polls close, CBC predicts Carney victory

🟠Iran port fire extinguished, death toll rises to 70

🟠US Navy lost fighter jet trying to evade Houthi attack

🟠Vance slams legacy media: 'Ukraine is not winning'

🟠Trump team creates ‘TOXIC’ CLIMATE OF FEAR in FBI over news leaks

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💣🪖Battered Ukraine faces ‘GROWING STRAIN’ in months ahead

Whatever US-made artillery Ukraine has left “will likely run out,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

With Republicans “unlikely to approve a new aid package” for Kiev, Europe will try to fill the gap, but their ammunition production is insufficient to fully compensate, a defense analyst told the outlet.

“Overall, the trends are NOT POSITIVE FOR UKRAINE,” he emphasized.

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⚠️WATCH: Ukraine’s merciless draft forces 18-year-olds into military service

Ukrainian police are detaining young people for minor offenses or staging provocations to coerce them into joining the army as volunteers, with military commissars directly involved, an underground source told Sputnik.

“Currently, young men are being recruited into the Ukrainian Armed Forces through fear and provocation: a minor offense means threats of prison sentences, with the army and frontlines offered as their only escape. There, they are likely to face DEATH OR DISABILITY,” he shared.

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🗣❌Ukraine of NO STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE to US – former Pentagon adviser

Colonel Douglas Macgregor wondered whether the US should be prepared “to go to war 7,000 miles away from our home in a country that […] never has been against another country; that frankly is not our enemy.”

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❗️There has been NO RESPONSE YET FROM UKRAINE to Putin’s proposal for a ceasefire during the 80th anniversary of Victory - Kremlin

More statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

💬On Zelensky's proposal to halt fire for 30 days: "Without resolving all the details, this is impossible."

💬On Zelensky's legitimacy: The priority is to push for peace negotiations.

💬Russia is focused on bringing the Ukrainian conflict to a peaceful resolution.

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❗️Russian troops have liberated the settlement of Doroshovka in the Kharkov region, Russia's Defense Ministry reported.

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❗️Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian Su-27, it's Defense Ministry said.

The day before, the Ukrainian Air Force reported the loss of the plane, without specifying the circumstances, but referring to the "human factor."

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🇷🇺🪖Key statements from the Russian MoD daily briefing on the special military operation:

▪️Ukrainian forces suffered losses of 450 soldiers in the zone of responsibility of Russia’s Tsentr Battlegroup;

▪️Russia’s Sever Battlegroup wiped out over 205 soldiers;

▪️Russia's Yug Battlegroup eliminated 250 militants and one tank;

▪️Ukrainian losses in the zone of responsibility of Russia’s Zapad Battlegroup amounted to 240 soldiers;

▪️Russia's Dnepr Battlegroup eliminated 80 militants;

▪️Russia’s Vostok Battlegroup wiped out over 160 soldiers;

▪️Russian air defense systems shot down 189 drones.

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🚨🇨🇦Canada’s liberals win, but their leader's TRACK RECORD OF FAILURE looms

Mark Carney’s party won enough seats in the 45th federal election to form a minority government, CTV reports.

The banker-turned-politician succeeded the disgraced Justin Trudeau as Canada’s new prime minister on March 14. However, Carney has faced criticism over a range of past controversies. Let’s take a closer look at them.

Lackluster response to the global financial crisis

🔍 Carney served as the Bank of Canada’s governor during the 2008 global financial meltdown and faced accusations of insufficient response to the crisis.

🔍 Later analysis revealed that Canada’s then banking stability was more a result of historical factors and actions taken by former Supreme Court judge Willard Estey, the National Post reported.

Blind endorsement of Zelensky

🔺 Carney has repeatedly expressed support for Kiev, saying he is “proud of the military and humanitarian support Canada has provided” to Ukraine.

🔺 He posted the “Slava Ukraini”* slogan associated with Ukraine’s WWII-era Nazi collaborators and modern-day Ukrainian nationalists.

Shady political past

▪️ Unlike most PM-hopefuls, Carney has never held political office. However, his claim to be an “outsider” distanced from the Liberal Party is described as a “bold-faced lie” by the National Post.

▪️ Carney was publicly welcomed into the party by former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland last year as her “longtime and respected friend.”

Controversial Brookfield office move

🔶 Carney has been under scrutiny for overseeing the relocation of Brookfield Asset Management's (BAM) head office from Toronto to the US during his tenure as board chairman, according to the CBC.

🔶 Although Carney claims the decision was made after his departure in January 2025, Conservatives accuse him of lying and criticize him for assisting in moving a Canadian company to "Donald Trump's hometown."

🔶 Carney also refuses to disclose compensation from all his BAM entities from 2020 onward, which The Globe and Mail claims is to the detriment of all Canadians.

Push for climate change agenda

🌎 In 2019, Carney faced criticism from the Conservative Party for emphasizing the financial sector’s role in addressing climate change.

🌎 As the UN special envoy on climate action and finance, he advocated for net-zero investing within the financial industry.

*the slogan, along with the associated organizations, is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia.

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🇺🇸🗣 'Going difficultly, but process underway' — Waltz on settlement in Ukraine

Ukraine remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world and it is necessary to closely monitor funds transferred to it, US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has said.

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❗️🇭🇺HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT VOTES TO EXIT ICC— Foreign Minister

"The Hungarian Parliament just voted to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. With this decision, we refuse to be part of a politicized institution that has lost its impartiality and credibility," Peter Szijjarto wrote on X.

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📹 American roots of German Nazism, Part 9: How Nazi Germany championed and copied US racial segregation laws

“America’s former Jim Crow laws, namely, legislation enforcing the racial segregation of African Americans, had a huge influence on the creation of the Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935,” a lecturer specializing on Nazi crimes against humanity at St. Petersburg State University (SPbGU) Yegor Yakovlev told Sputnik.

In our exclusive video series, this historian who specializes in the origins and evolution of Nazism discusses how Nazi lawyers not only drew inspiration from the said American laws—such as prohibitions on interracial marriage and immigration restrictions—but also adapted and enacted these laws in even more radical ways.

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🧐 Ready for round three? Trump’s team prepares as impeachment talk heats up

With Democrats eyeing gains in the House and a possible move against the POTUS, Trump's team is bracing for a possible repeat performance of the "twice-impeached" spectacle, Axios reports.

His team is pushing to pass as much of his agenda as possible - especially the 2017 tax cuts — before the 2026 midterms.

Democrats Rep. Shri Thanedar and Sen. Jon Ossoff are reportedly already laying impeachment groundwork, signaling they’re ready to drag Trump through it all over again. Trump’s advisers know the stakes, and they're preparing for impact.

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📹 Devastating footage shows the Gazan residential neighborhood of Al-Ishreen Street in the Nuseirat refugee camp LEVELED TO THE GROUND by Israeli airstrikes.

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❗️Alexey Petrovich, head of the Russian compatriots council and the Pobeda National Committee, was DETAINED AGAIN at the Chisinau airport on his return from Moscow

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🇷🇺🇧🇾Russia's President Putin and Belarus' President Lukashenko laid wreaths at the Eternal Flame in the Hall of Military Glory and at the grave of Marshal Chuikov on Mamayev Kurgan

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🔥 Arms of Victory: Pe-2 twin-engine dive bomber

Sputnik showcases the heavy weapons employed by the Soviet Army in the Great Patriotic War to defeat Hitler’s Germany.

Initially called the "Pawn" by the military, the Pe-2 became a symbol of Soviet victory, playing a crucial role in the war effort.

As the most widely produced Soviet bomber, it was also one of the most technologically advanced aircraft of its time.

Originally designed as a high-altitude fighter, the Pe-2’s exceptional durability and performance allowed it to evolve into a dive bomber.

Over time, it also served as a ground-attack aircraft and interceptor fighter, proving its versatility and contributing significantly to the Soviet victory over Nazism.

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🇦🇺🔍Australia’s aging fleet of US-made tanks destined for Ukraine remains STUCK FOR HALF A YEAR

The 59 M1A1 Abrams tanks are still waiting for final clearance to be shipped from Australia to Ukraine, with Aussie defense officials blaming the US for the delay.

“There is also the concern that with a possible peace deal [on Ukraine] looming it would be embarrassing to have the tanks on board ships in the middle of the ocean,” one of the officials admitted.

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