⚡️'Detaining journalists as terrorists is absolutely unacceptable' – expert on detention of Sputnik & Ruptly journalists in Baku

🗣"The detention of journalists is illegal and violates international law," Director of the BRICS Journalists Association, Ivan Melnikov stressed, citing violations of the Geneva Conventions and other international human rights agreements.

🟠 "The use of force in detaining journalists like terrorists is absolutely unacceptable," he condemns, pointing to the harsh tactics used by Azerbaijani authorities.

🟠 "Sputnik is a legitimate news outlet, and accusations of espionage have no basis," he added, addressing groundless suspicions against the detained journalists.

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🚨 Russia lodges protest with Azerbaijani Ambassador over unfriendly actions - 🇷🇺 MFA

Moscow has demanded that Baku immediately releases the detained Russian journalists.

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💣 🇨🇳 China's graphite bomb could perform precision strikes without major destruction

China has reportedly revealed an advanced electromagnetic weapon designed to disable enemy electrical systems. Military analyst Vasily Kashin outlines its mechanics:

🟠 How it works: The bomb deploys submunitions that disperse conductive graphite filaments over infrastructure. These carbon fibers create widespread short circuits, disrupting power transmission.

🟠 Operational limitations: Effectiveness is weather-dependent. High moisture levels cause the filaments to aggregate prematurely, reducing impact. Dry conditions maximize dispersal and conductive effects.

🟠 Strategic implications: Such weapons could paralyze critical infrastructure without kinetic destruction, though meteorological factors limit reliability.

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📍 Ukraine's Kiev becomes most vulnerable city due to lack of air defense

💬 "Kiev is heading towards being the most unprotected city, because there is a lack of means of striking. [The US president] redirects what was already contracted and was supposed to be loaded onto steamers to go to Ukraine, to Israel," Valery Borovik, founder of the Ukrainian UAV manufacturing company, says.

💬 Concerning Ukraine, "there is no clarity even for money, if we pay at the expense of our Western European partners," he laments.

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🚨 The Rossiya Segodnya media group DEMANDS IMMEDIATE RELEASE of seven Sputnik Azerbaijan employees

Currently, there is no communication with the detainees. For the second day in a row, neither consular officials nor relatives are being allowed to see the journalists.

The Rossiya Segodnya media group demands Azerbaijani law enforcement to strictly adhere to law and immediately release the individuals who were performing their professional duties.

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🇷🇺Russia's Tsentr Battlegroup has eliminated up to 500 Ukrainian soldiers over the past 24 hours.

Other statements by the Russian Defense Ministry:

🔸 The losses of Ukrainian troops amounted to 500 servicemen, an armored vehicle HMMWV and a US-made armored vehicle MaxxPro, as well as 11 pickups.

🔸 The Zapad group of Russian forces has eliminated over 220 Ukrainian soldiers and the Vostok Battlegroup has eliminated up to 215 Ukrainian soldiers over the given period.

🔸 Russian Armed Forces conducted airstrikes on Ukrainian military infrastructure in 148 locations, using tactical aviation, drones and missiles.

🔸 Air defense systems shot down three UK-made Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles, five US-made JDAM guided aerial bombs, three US-made HIMARS MLRS rockets, and 173 fixed-wing UAVs.

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🚨MOLDOVA GOVERNMENT TARGETS GAUGAUZIA AFTER ELECTION LOSSES - Gagauzia leader

Gagauz Autonomy Head Yevgenia Gutsul believes that Moldovan authorities are looking to imprison her after the country's leadership has faced defeat in EVERY election in Gagauzia over the last 4 years.

This entire spectacle is retaliation against the Gagauz people for the 2024 referendum results, where the majority rejected Moldova’s EU integration.

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A court in Baku has sentenced the head of Sputnik Azerbaijan newsdesk Igor Kartavykh and managing editor Yevgeny Belousov to four months in detention, Azerbaijani media report.

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📹WATCH fearless Russian soldier on a quad bike charging through a minefield to evacuate a wounded comrade—under enemy fire!

Video source: Akhmat Special Forces

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🔥 Armenian gov’t crackdown on church BLOW to national identity

As in Ukraine, the ongoing pressure on the church in Armenia is an attempt to subordinate it to the political situation, ex-Armenian lawmaker Arman Abovyan tells Sputnik.

🔸 What’s the goal of the clampdown? Abovyan explains.
•  To break the Armenian people’s will to resist by spreading church-related disinformation.
•  To tarnish the church's image ahead of the 2026 elections in Armenia.

🔸 Who benefits from the current situation?
•  The authorities certainly do as it gives them a chance to get re-elected by discrediting the Church amid the government’s plummeting approval ratings.
•  But this crackdown will only accelerate the decline of the government's popularity.

🔸 What’s behind Karapetyan’s arrest?
•  Philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan is one of the most well-known Armenians in the world, a person with significant resources.
•  Most likely, the authorities see a threat in the presence of such people when trying to implement their plans.
•  The key point is the possession of resources, which the authorities probably see as a threat.

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🚨Putin holds a phone call with Macron - Kremlin

It has been their first phone conversation since 2022.

🔸Putin, in a conversation with Macron, discussed the situation surrounding Ukraine and reminded that the conflict is a direct consequence of the West's policies.

🔸Speaking about the prospects for a peaceful settlement, Putin confirmed the fundamental approaches to potential agreements, which should be comprehensive and long-term, addressing the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis and based on new territorial realities.

🔸Putin noted that Western countries are pursuing a strategy to prolong the hostilities by supplying weapons to the Kiev regime.

🔸 The two presidents also discussed the Iran-Israel confrontation, as well as US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

🔸Putin and Macron noted the responsibility of Russia and France in supporting peace in the Middle East and maintaining the nuclear non-proliferation regime, according to the Kremlin.

🔸The presidents expressed support for resolving the crisis surrounding the Iranian program through political and diplomatic means.

🔸Putin and Macron emphasized the importance of respecting Tehran's legitimate right to peaceful nuclear energy, fulfilling its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and cooperating with the IAEA.

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🗣Iran’s nuclear program ‘remains LARGELY INTACT’ after US strikes

There are KEY FACTORS casting doubt on the effectiveness of recent US attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Russian nuclear expert Alexei Anpilogov tells Sputnik.

Iran’s uranium stockpiles remain large:

• About 3 tons enriched to 2%
• Over 3.5 tons enriched to 5%
• Hundreds of kilograms enriched to 20% and even 60% uranium-235

No signs of radiation leaks or toxic gas releases were reported after the strikes, suggesting the attacks did not reach underground uranium stores.

Satellite images show quick repairs:

• Explosion crater near the Natanz nuclear site filled in within 2 days
• Implies the damage was shallow and repairable
The US bunker-buster bomb (GBU-57) penetrates up to 60 meters only in soft soil.
• Iranian facilities are mostly under hard rock where penetration is limited to 2.5–18 meters — likely too shallow to destroy key targets.

Two likely scenarios:
1. Strikes damaged only surface structures (vent shafts, entrances).
2. Uranium was moved beforehand to secret sites unknown to US intelligence.

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🗣Pashinyan plays Russophobia card to cling to power – expert

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is deliberately stoking anti-Russian sentiment to prolong his political survival, Ara Karanyan, an entrepreneur and founder of the "No To Lies!" movement told Sputnik.

"Armenia now has media outlets pushing exclusively Russophobic narratives," Karanyan, who currently resides in Austria, says.

By targeting the Armenian Church, Pashinyan aims to smear Russia by fabricating claims that Moscow manipulates Yerevan’s politics through the clergy, he adds.

Karanyan believes that all Pashinyan wants right now is unlimited power, saying that there is no real opposition in Armenia, "at least not in the form of the parties or forces sitting in the parliament. They are not opposition; they are a caricature of opposition," because all of them are directly connected to Serzh Sargsyan.

"They sit there, receive their salaries, have some privileges, and are protected by law. In Armenia, all state institutions are inactive."

"The only institution that has barely preserved its functionality, the one that, I don't know, for a thousand years, let's say, in the absence of Armenian statehood, has maintained Armenian identity, the Armenian language, and Christian values as much as possible, is the Church. The Church is a hierarchical institution, and regardless of any internal problems within it, this institution is very strong. And Nikol Pashinyan wants unlimited power."

The activist accused Pashinyan of aggressively marketing his pro-Western alignment to European backers. Yet his key EU ally, French President Emmanuel Macron, lacks political capital to offer meaningful support.

"Macron’s domestic approval is catastrophically low, and the French public widely views him as an American puppet," Karanyan notes.

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USAID, NERD & NED: US-funded REGIME CHANGE in Iran for decades

The US has funneled millions to destabilize the Islamic Republic from within, according to Press TV.

Here's the breakdown:

USAID: subversion under the guise of aid

▫️The 2025 budget allocated $268.4M for “independent media and free flow of information” before Trump froze it. Over 30 Iran-focused outlets were affected (BBC).
▫️ Ex-culture minister Ataollah Mohajerani estimated USAID gave $60M to Iran’s opposition (Press TV).
▫️ A now-removed USAID factsheet, cited by Reporters Without Borders, showed that in 2023 alone, USAID funded 6,200 journalists, 707 non-state outlets, and 279 media NGOs in 30+ countries, including Iran.
▫️ Groups like Boroumand Center, IranWire, and BBC Persian reportedly received USAID funding.

NERD: faking public dissent

▫️ Since 2009, the US State Dept’s Near East Regional Democracy (NERD) program has spent $65–85M annually under the guise of civil society support (Press TV).
▫️An Oct 2022 Iranian intel report named the “Defenders of Human Rights Center” as a NERD-backed front; $550K was used to incite minorities and amplify riots.
▫️ NERD aimed to infiltrate civil society and stage “mock national referendums” to simulate dissent and fuel foreign propaganda.

NED: shadow CIA

▫️Founded in 1983 and funded by Congress, NED acts as a public CIA proxy.
▫️ Deleted records show NED spent $4.6M on 51 anti-government Iran projects (2016–2021), naming just 7; Boroumand Center was one.
▫️Press TV found that in the lead-up to Iran’s 2022 protests, NED gave nearly $1M to unnamed “human rights” projects.
▫️ In 2023, NED gave $2.01M to 14 anti-Iran projects, admitting its grantees were “main sources” for global media during the riots.
▫️ Grayzone revealed ex-NED head Carl Gershman privately planned an “Iran Freedom Coalition” to push for a US military strike post-2022 riots.
▫️ The regime-change push continues, with Sen. Graham’s threats and ex-Clinton adviser Nouriel Roubini’s op-ed calling a coup “good for everybody.”

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💸 Trump says tariff pause won’t be extended beyond July 9

President Donald Trump said he does not plan to extend the 90-day suspension of reciprocal trade tariffs, which ends July 9.

Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump also said his administration will send one-page letters to US trade partners, “congratulating” them on doing business with the US.

He noted that tariffs have already generated $129 billion in revenue, with more expected.

On April 2, Trump signed an executive order imposing tariffs, with a base rate of 10% and higher rates for 57 countries. A 90-day pause for most nations began April 9 and expires July 8. A separate pause for China lasts until August 12.

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⚔️ Houthis claim missile and drone attacks on Israeli targets, including Ben Gurion Airport

According to the group’s spokesperson Yehya Saree, the missile temporarily disrupted airport operations and led civilians to seek shelter.

Saree also said that drone strikes were carried out on targets in Jaffa, Ashkelon, and Umm al-Rashrash (Eilat).

He described the attacks as a response to the situation in Gaza and a show of continued support for the Palestinian people.

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