🇬🇧🕵🏻‍♀️Frontrunner for UK spy chief job could SHAKE UP China relations

With Richard Moore set to step down from MI6 in autumn, three women are vying for the top spot.

Barbara Woodward—former China ambassador—is leading the charge, The Times reported.

🔍But why the controversy?

🟠Critics have called out “Beijing Barbara” (as she is known in Whitehall) for allegedly being too soft on China
🟠Has no prior intelligence experience

🔍Woodward has:

➡️Backed the UK’s One-China policy, which acknowledges that Taiwan is part of China.
➡️Urged “to avoid any actions that could escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait” at the UN Security Council when then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spiked tensions with her visit to Taiwan in 2022.
➡️Prioritized diplomacy and UK-China trade over fearmongering.

All of this has ruffled the feathers of hawks like former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who warns that any “ambivalence” on China spells disaster for the UK.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇱🇾Russian defense minister meets with Libyan National Army commander

Andrei Belousov held talks with Khalifa Haftar, during which they discussed Russia-Libya defense cooperation.

The aim is to strengthen ties for enhanced security and stability in the Middle East.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣Putin's proposal for negotiations with Ukraine confirms the serious intent to find a peaceful solution – Kremlin

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

✅ Russia-Ukraine direct negotiations proposal:

🟠 Putin: Russia proposes to resume direct talks WITHOUT ANY PRECONDITIONS, starting on May 15 in Istanbul

🟠 Key points from BOMBSHELL Putin’s speech and FULL video

🟠 Ukraine doesn’t want peace—it wants TIME TO RELOAD – US Army vet

🟠 Zelensky will reject Putin’s proposal in order to stay ALIVE – Ex-Pentagon analyst

✅Other topics we have covered:

🔹 UK ex-politician Galloway to Sputnik: on Britain’s and NATO role in Ukraine, UK troops there to be a ‘national suicide’, and UK industrial crisis

🔹 Trump APPROVES more weapons for Ukraine

🔹 Pakistani PM claims victory over India

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇮🇷🇺🇸Iran-US high-stakes nuclear talks enter pivotal round

☢️The fourth round of Iran-US nuclear talks facilitated by Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi is set to begin at midday in Muscat, Iranian media reported.

🛬Iran’s delegation led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has already arrived in Oman’s capital and is preparing for negotiations.

✔️The Iranian delegation "is committed to preserving Iran’s valuable achievements in peaceful nuclear energy while pursuing the removal of unjust economic sanctions,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️14,043 ceasefire violations by the Ukrainian side have been recorded – Russian Defense Ministry

Despite the declaration of a ceasefire, Ukrainian forces have continued combat operations against Russian troops. They made five attempts to break through the Russian state border in the Kursk and Belgorod regions.

✅With the expiration of the ceasefire, the Russian military has resumed the Special Military Operation

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣'Judging by the response [from Ukraine], they didn't read the trannoscript of the Russian president's statement properly' - Russian MFA

💬 "Putin said clearly that first, there will be discussions on the root causes, and only then can we talk about a ceasefire," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran’s foreign minister has arrived in Muscat, Oman, for the fourth round of indirect talks with the United States.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

😮 Flying cars are real – and they’re coming from Slovakia

🇸🇰Slovakia-based developer Klein Vision has unveiled the AirCar 2, a futuristic flying car that could revolutionize how people travel.

🟠The vehicle transforms from car to aircraft in just 80 seconds;
🟠Top flight speed: 250 km/h with max range of 1,000 km;
🟠It has three engine power options: 280 brake-horsepower (bhp), 320 bhp, and 340 bhp.
🟠It’s lightweight, with a kerb weight of just 800 kg – including a full fuel tank and all standard equipment.
🟠Dimensions in car mode: 5.8 m long, 2 m wide, 1.8 m tall.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣Turkiye is ready to host negotiations on the Ukraine settlement, Turkish President Erdogan told French President Macron, Erdogan’s administration said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

😢 Macron can't help whining about Russia’s truce offer – no surprise

The French president lost no time backing his pal Zelensky’s ultimatum-style response to Vladimir Putin’s peace talks offer.

Of course, no negotiations unless the West’s so-called “coalition” gets its ceasefire deal by May 12.

And as for Ukraine’s expired leader, he’s demanding Russia confirm a truce “starting tomorrow.”

Quick reminder: Russia’s President Putin offered direct negotiations with NO PRECONDITIONS on May 15, aiming to address the root causes of the conflict.

But Macron & Co. just want to keep the proxy war going, right?

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Turkiye is ready to host negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, President Erdogan told Putin in a phone call, according to his administration.

A "window of opportunity" has opened for resolving the conflict in Ukraine, Erdogan added.

A comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine would provide the necessary atmosphere for negotiations, the Turkish president told Putin.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣‘There will be STRONG PRESSURE on Zelensky to somehow REJECT THIS PROPOSAL, or to distort it, or to make it impossible’ - Florian Philippot

The French President, the head of the European Commission, the German Chancellor, as well as the British and Polish Prime Ministers "absolutely want the situation to escalate and maintain tension with Russia," the leader of the French Patriots party said in an interview with Sputnik Africa.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇸🇰Slovakia’s Fico torches West’s peace hypocrisy: They want endless war

Robert Fico blasted the West’s pushback against direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

💬 “It is extremely important for many Western countries to keep this war going,” the Slovak prime minister said at a press conference.

Still, he remained cautiously optimistic, saying:

💬 “I believe that this point of view will change, I will remind you again that this is a matter for Ukraine and Russia, if they are interested in negotiating, let them do so.”

➡️But don’t forget who sabotaged such talks back in 2022, he noted, in an apparent reference to Ukraine and its handlers.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣Kremlin spox slams Zelensky for threatening foreign guests who went to Moscow

💬 "This borderline insanity was illustrated with a swarm of drones. Thank goodness, our air defense has got things up and running very efficiently," Dmitry Peskov told Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin.

Ukraine tried very hard to disrupt the V-Day celebrations by attempting to attack Russia, Peskov added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Putin and Erdogan discussed Russia’s initiative to resume direct talks with Ukraine, which are proposed to be held in Istanbul starting May 15, the Kremlin says.

🇷🇺 Other statements by the Kremlin:

◻️ Erdogan supported Putin’s initiative for direct talks with Ukraine, emphasizing Turkiye’s readiness to provide a venue in Istanbul

◻️ In their telephone conversation, Putin and Erdogan expressed interest in implementing joint strategic energy projects

◻️ Erdogan said that Turkiye would provide all possible assistance in organizing Ukraine-Russia negotiations to achieve a stable peace

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤖Most lifelike robot yet?

A tech firm from Shenzhen, China has showed a full-sized humanoid robot, CL-3, claiming it has the most human-like movements ever achieved.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

✅🇻🇪Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro supports Vladimir Putin's idea of peaceful negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul.

The two countries need direct dialogue without external interference, he stated.

💬 "We must embark on the path of peace, the path of a just peace... Russia has the right to peace, and other countries also have the right to peace."

Maduro also emphasized his full support for Putin and Russia.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🕊 Four times Russia pushed for peace and Ukraine shut it down

Russia has taken real actions over the past six weeks to try to end the Ukrainian crisis.

Zelensky’s sabotaged all of them.

🔸 Putin on Sunday announced readiness for “direct talks” with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, “without preconditions” and aimed at eliminating “the root causes of the conflict” to achieve “a long term, lasting peace.”

🔸 Ahead of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet people’s victory in the Great Patriotic War, Russia proposed a three-day ceasefire between May 8-10.

🔸 Shortly before Easter, marked this year on April 20, Putin declared a unilateral 30-hour truce.

🔸 In March, after talks with the US in Riyadh, Russia agreed to a 30-day moratorium to strikes targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure, calling for the same from Ukraine.

❓How did Ukraine react?

🔹 Refused to meet in Istanbul unless Russia agrees to Zelensky’s 30-day ceasefire idea starting May 12.

🔹 Violated the Victory Day ceasefire 14,043 times, threatened and tried to disrupt celebrations in Moscow.

🔹 Rejected the Easter truce outright.

🔹 Violated the energy strike moratorium 136 times.

❓Zelensky’s trap?

Rejecting all previous Russian overtures, Zelensky and his hawkish European patrons are trying to ensnare Russia in a 30-day ceasefire deal, which provides no restrictions on Western arms deliveries, and could give Ukraine a breather to regroup and rearm.

❓No peace allowed?

In 2022, a comprehensive draft peace agreement was already reached, only to be sabotaged by the West. Putin later lamented that the deal was thrown into the “dustbin of history.”
The question now is – will Zelensky and the West accept Russia’s terms, or will the sad history of sabotaging peace repeat itself?

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇭🇺 Orban PUSHES BACK at efforts to redraw Europe’s political map

Hungarian PM Viktor Orban has torched the liberal left’s vision for Europe, accusing them of reengineering the continent’s future “citizenship by citizenship.”

💬 “First come the migrants, then the papers, then the votes,” Orban warned.

But he’s not buying the “melting pot” narrative, warning that this isn’t integration — it’s “substitution.”

“We won’t trade our Christian roots for a manufactured future” is his message to the EU’s globalist elite.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt