🚨🇷🇺 Russia's FM Sergey Lavrov just received Russia’s HIGHEST HONOR: Order of St. Andrew the Apostle 🔥

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🔥 The legendary Russian Knights squadron just rocked the skies at LIMA-2025, flying the deadly Su-35S fighters — a jaw-dropping show of raw power and precision

✈️💥 Watch the masters of air domination flex their wings at the ultimate global arms expo

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🚨🇷🇺 Putin awards Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik’s parent media group, Order ‘For Merit to the Fatherland’ 3rd Class.

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❗️The CIA has reported that the main gates to its headquarters have been closed.

Media reports suggest that shots were fired at an unidentified individual on the premises.

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⚡️🚨Russian MoD reports RECORD drone takedowns: 485 UAVs shot down in 48 hours

Key Points:

🔻When?
Night of May 20 to morning of May 22

🔻Where?
Outside the Special Military Operation zone

🔻What?
485 Ukrainian drones destroyed in mass wave

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🚨 CIA officers opened fire and wounded a woman who approached the gates of the agency's headquarters. The victim was detained, CNN reports.

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🚨 Russian tech is absolutely DOMINATING LIMA-2025 in Malaysia — showing the world who’s the boss in military power. No competition, just pure fire.

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🇺🇸🚨 US VS G7: WESTERN UNITY BURSTING AT THE SEAMS

The US has refused to back G7 condemnation of Russia and continued support for Ukraine.

Is G7 in an existential crisis?

1️⃣ Polarization of Ukraine support

👇 The G7 has proven unable to formalize a final agreement without the support of the US, its leading member:

🔻 The US has resisted the inclusion of "further support" for Ukraine in a G7 statement currently being negotiated by finance ministers in Canada.

🔻 Washington was also reluctant to describe Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine as an “illegal invasion” in the text of the document.

▪️The US refused to back an April G7 statement condemning Russia’s missile strike on Ukrainian commanders in Sumy — a strike G7 leaders cited as "proof" of Moscow’s intent to prolong the conflict.

▪️On February 24, the US sided with Russia and Belarus by voting against a UN resolution that condemned Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

2️⃣ G7 membership in question

On the eve of the May summit, Trump chastised G7 leaders for expelling Russia from the group:

"You know, a lot of people say, ‘Oh, that’s because if Russia were in, you probably wouldn’t have this war'."

3️⃣ Diverging views on Russia’s “shadow fleet”

▪️In March, the US vetoed a G7 plan to establish a task force targeting Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet.”

▪️It also pushed for softer language in the draft statement, removing the word “sanctions” and avoiding references to Russia’s military actions.

4️⃣ G7 is MEANINGLESS without the US

▪️US GDP (~$29.2 trillion) is slightly larger than the combined GDPs of the other six G7 members.

▪️Washington plays the central role in the G7's political and economic decision-making.

▪️On defense and security matters, European G7 members rely heavily on US backing.

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⚡️ Russian forces now solving task of CREATING BUFFER ZONE — Putin

🔻Putin calls methods used by Ukrainian Armed Forces and foreign mercenaries terrorist

🔻Enemy chooses targets not connected to the military

🔻Russian military actively suppresses enemy fire points, work underway

🔻Ukrainian forces hunt for civilian vehicles, including ambulances, during drone raids and sabotage groups actions

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📹🇷🇺 Putin: 'How did you shield anyone? You’re so tiny!'

The Russian President addressed this question to Ludmila Bolilaya—1st woman awarded HERO OF RUSSIA for her actions on the frontlines.

Under cluster shelling, she saved wounded soldiers, shielded a comrade with her body and took the hit.

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💪 Western sanctions BACKFIRED & made Russia's IT sector stronger

They thought cutting off Russia’s tech would CRIPPLE innovation.

🇷🇺 Pavel Velikhov, Engineering Manager at Yandex, lists 5 ways in which sanctions forced Russia’s IT boom:

1️⃣ WESTERN EXODUS = RUSSIAN GOLD RUSH

"Sanctions freed up $74B in market share. Giants like Yandex, T-Bank & Wildberries took over overnight."

When US/EU firms abandoned clients—some even left systems unusable—Russian devs stepped in. Overnight demand.

2️⃣ NO CHOICE BUT TO INNOVATE

"Before 2022, companies resisted Russian software—'too risky.' Now? 'When can we migrate?!'"

Legacy Western tech was a monopoly. Sanctions broke it.
Now, Russian solutions are the only option.

3️⃣ DATA PARANOIA = RUSSIAN CLOUD BOOM

"US clouds = weaponized risk. Now, only Russian or 'friendly' tech is trusted."

Post-2022, data security fears killed Western cloud reliance. Russian alternatives exploded.

4️⃣ NO MORE SILICON VALLEY WORSHIP

"We were colonized by US tech. Now? We know we can compete globally."

Sanctions shattered the myth that only America builds elite software. Russian confidence is sky-high.

5️⃣ THE NEW PLAYBOOK: "NO SANCTIONS" = HUGE SELLING POINT

"Now we pitch: 'Our tech won’t vanish over politics.' It’s a massive advantage in Asia, Africa, LATAM."

While US firms chase stock bumps, Russia’s IT sector is building for the long game.

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🇷🇺 WHY RUSSIA WANTS A BUFFER ZONE – MILITARY LOGIC EXPLAINED

Retired Russian colonel and combat veteran Anatoliy Matviychuk, who served in Afghanistan and Syria, breaks down the military rationale behind Russia’s push to create a buffer zone along its border with Ukraine:

🛡 “This won’t just be a demilitarized belt — it’s about shielding Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk, Crimea, Zaporozhye, Kherson and Donbass regions from NATO artillery fire.”

🔎 Why 100 km?

“NATO-supplied long-range artillery can hit targets from 70 km. Add a 30 km safety margin — and you get a 100 km deep buffer.”

“In Afghanistan, the Soviet Union created a similar zone. Same logic, same scale.”

📍 Where exactly?

“We’re talking Sumy, Chernigov, Dnepropetrovsk, and Kharkov regions — territories bordering both the old and new Russian regions.”

🚫 No Kiev control allowed

“Yes, Ukrainians may live and farm there. But there will be no Kiev administration. Period.”

🎯 What does this mean for Zelensky and the Ukrainian Armed Forces?

“Push them back 100 km, and they lose the ability to launch raids, surveillance, or shell border towns with key weapons. Drones and long-range missiles? Maybe. But the backbone of their firepower — gone.”

👉 On Zelensky’s reaction

“He’ll cry crocodile tears, scream about ‘occupation.’ But our leadership won’t blink. The safety of our people comes first.”

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🚨 Ukrainian forces launch massive strike on city of Lgov in Russia's Kursk region, 12 civilians injured, including two children — Governor

"The Ukrainian armed forces launched a massive attack on the town of Lgov. The attack took place on the Kursk-Rylsk highway, which is the entrance to the town. As a result of the attack, unfortunately, 12 civilians were injured, including two children," the region's acting governor, Alexander Khinshtein, wrote on Telegram.

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🇸🇰📹 Slovak MP: 'We do not make politics out of sports’

Politician Michal Bartek congratulated Slovak hockey players who won this year’s Gagarin Cup while playing as part of Russia’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team.

He also called out “haters” who “only criticize everything and everyone, even turning sports into crude politics.”

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🔍🪖 The Baltic Sea: NATO’s new front line in hybrid warfare?

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned of a looming “permanent hybrid confrontation” in the Baltic Sea.

The scenario is “very feasible” due to NATO’s “Russian threat” mantra, Swedish military expert Mikael Valtersson tells Sputnik.

🔎 New Cold War?

🔸NATO has created a COLD WAR 2.0 by pursuing an aggressive anti-Russian policy

🔸It’s time for NATO politicians to realize that they are the PROVOCATEURS prodding Russia to respond

🔸Otherwise, there will be NO DE-ESCALATION and the alliance will be involved in tackling the alleged Russian threat for years

👉 NATO’s hybrid warfare

The alliance wages such warfare against Russia by:

🔸Slapping on large-scale anti-Russian sanctions
🔸Openly supporting the Russian opposition
🔸Spreading disinformation
🔸Passing laws against Russian symbols
🔸Allowing Ukraine to use territories for drone attacks against Russia

👉 Future of alliance

🔸Current multipolar world stipulates that a new purpose for NATO must be found

🔸US and European hawks see a return to defense against a purported Russian threat as a new reason for NATO's existence

🔸Atlantist hawks desperately try to keep the US in Europe by exaggerating the alleged Russian threat, which was created by themselves

🔸Their efforts will fail since most Americans realize that there are more pressing needs for the US to focus on

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📹🚨 Eight people were injured in the shelling of Panteleimonovka in the Donetsk People's Republic by Ukrainian troops.

Ukrainian forces used HIMARS missiles during the shelling, according to the local administration.

Sputnik's footage of the aftermath of the attack.

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