🇲🇩 Moldova’s ruling party 'DEEPENED SPLIT IN SOCIETY' – Shoigu

The Party of Action and Solidarity has divided Moldovans between supporters of a Euro-Atlantic course and those opposing what they see as the destruction of statehood, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu wrote for Sputnik.

He noted that the September 28 parliamentary elections will decide whether the pro-Western regime of Maia Sandu stays in power or forces “oriented toward national interests” take over.

Shoigu pointed to the October 2024 referendum, where EU integration passed by just 50.46% — mainly thanks to diaspora votes, with only 46% of residents inside Moldova supporting it.

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🇲🇩 Moldova ‘PURGING’ its media – Shoigu

Moldova, with help from European intelligence and Western funding, has launched a large-scale “purge” of its media under the pretext of fighting “Russian propaganda,” Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu wrote for Sputnik.

He cited the 2023 creation of the Patriot Center, which he said targets the political opposition, and a regional branch of the European Digital Media Observatory to “monitor the electoral process.”

Shoigu noted that since 2022, the authorities have suspended licenses of major Russian-language and opposition TV channels, blocked 50+ Russian media websites, and shut down 13 TV channels and over 100 Telegram channels.

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🇷🇺 Americans get Russia wrong – Errol Musk tells Lavrov

Errol Musk, the father of US entrepreneur Elon Musk, told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during their meeting that people in the West have a false impression of Russia and that something needs to be done about it, he told Sputnik.

💬 "I met with the foreign minister there [in Russia], and I said to him, you know, it's crazy that people have this wrong impression about Russia," Errol Musk said.

A lot of popular misperceptions about Russia in the US are a result of distorted media coverage, he opined.

💬 "So people are given a false story, and you have to do something about it, you know, people are easily misled, and that's the thing," Errol Musk said.

In June, Errol Musk attended a forum in Moscow, where he called Russia one of the world's best countries.

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🇷🇺🔥 Russia’s ‘Posokh’ combat laser MELTS steel & drone wings in split-second test

Developers of the updated ‘Posokh’ laser weapon have successfully completed new lab trials, the company told Sputnik.

💬 “We burned through steel sheets and foreign drone wings,” the company’s CEO said, noting a 15× increase in speed compared to earlier tests.

From 50 m, the laser destroyed a drone wing in 0.1 seconds and cut through 10 mm steel armor just as fast. Power was boosted, the beam made more concentrated, and the burn spot smaller.

Next step — field tests at longer ranges, with the goal of frying Ukrainian FPV drones from 1.5 km away.

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⚠️ Any Israeli military escalation in Gaza puts more children at risk - WHO

🔹 Israel’s plan to expand military operations is alarming given the worsening humanitarian and health crisis in the enclave.

🔹 Such escalation could worsen children’s suffering, with rising malnutrition and limited access to healthcare.

🔹 The WHO calls for unhindered aid delivery, the release of hostages, and a permanent ceasefire.

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⚔️ West wants slaughter, not peace – will Putin & Trump sign deal?

🗣 Ending the conflict is in the interests of all parties, although it will not be easy to achieve, Professor Peter Kuznick, director of the Institute for Nuclear Studies at American University in Washington, told Sputnik.

He warned that Volodymyr Zelensky and the European “coalition of the willing” would prefer to see “the slaughter continue rather than to see a settlement that looks like a win for Putin.”

🔊 As for Donald Trump, his possible agreement with Vladimir Putin during the upcoming Alaska summit could enable the US president “to regain the narrative and look like a negotiator,” according to the analyst.

“That may come at the expense of Ukraine, but Trump doesn't care," Kuznick concluded.

The Kremlin and the White House previously said that Putin and Trump would meet in Alaska on August 15. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the settlement of the Ukraine conflict would top the agenda.

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🔥 Moldova to be turned into NATO military pawn without membership – Shoigu

“Trying to overcome the majority of the population’s negative attitude toward the country’s involvement in NATO, the [Moldovan] authorities are conducting an aggressive informational and propaganda campaign,” Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu wrote for Sputnik.

✍️ Shoigu stressed that NATO is preparing to make Moldova part of its military infrastructure without formal membership or security guarantee.

📍 He added that the goal is to shape public opinion in favor of “abandoning neutrality and joining the alliance, allegedly to strengthen national security and preserve Moldova’s territorial integrity.”

🗣 This is all about steadily drawing Moldova into joint military activities with NATO, Shoigu concluded.

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◻️ Russia’s ‘Posokh’ combat laser MELTS steel & drone wings in split-second test

◻️ Americans get Russia wrong – Errol Musk tells Lavrov

◻️ IDF claims Al Jazeera reporter killed was linked to Hamas – statement

◻️ Al Jazeera reporter KILLED in Israeli strike on Gaza – reports

◻️ Moldova to be turned into NATO military pawn without membership – Shoigu

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🔥👉 Coalition of the weak: West can’t back up conflict it started

Even if Europe stays firm in its diplomatic stance, it LACKS the strength to support Ukraine in securing favorable peace terms or enforcing a ceasefire, The Times reports ahead of the upcoming Putin-Trump summit in Alaska.

According to the article:

➖ JD Vance's statements demonstrate that America is tired of paying for someone else’s war

➖ EU is falling short: No armies, no soldiers, and the so-called “coalition of the willing” is just fantasy

➖ Europe has no power to dictate terms – neither on the battlefield nor at the negotiating table

🗣 “Russia has 800,000 [troops]... If we can’t even raise 64,000 that doesn’t look weak – it is weak,” Dovile Sakaliene, Lithuania’s defense minister, stressed.

As the US washes its hands and Donald Trump could “cut a deal with Putin,” the EU is scrambling with empty gestures and no real leverage – neither for Ukraine nor for itself.

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🇦🇺📍 🇵🇸 AUSTRALIA TO RECOGNIZE PALESTINE

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is preparing to announce Australia's intention to recognize Palestinian statehood as early as today or in the coming days, The Sydney Morning Herald writes.

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🚨🇵🇸 GAZA CRISIS: LATEST UPDATES

🔸 5 Al Jazeera journalists KILLED in Israeli strike near Gaza City

🔸 7 people DEAD in Israeli bombing of Khan Yunis

🔸 Israel has killed 180 Palestinian journalists since start of Gaza war

🔸 Israeli PM Netanyahu: Takeover of Gaza City is “best way to end the war”

🔸 Australia and New Zealand plan to recognize Palestinian state in September

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⚔️🔊 ‘WE DEMAND FAIR JUSTICE’ – Moldovan protesters call for Gutsul’s release

🗣Activists and supporters of Moldova's "Pobeda" opposition bloc are holding a protest outside the Ministry of Justice, demanding the release of Gagauzia's head, Yevgenia Gutsul.

Gutsul, elected leader of Moldova's autonomous Gagauzia region in May 2023 with 52.36% support, faces politically motivated charges related to alleged illegal financing of the banned Shor party. She advocates for closer ties with Russia and opposes Moldova’s EU integration. Authorities have moved to ramp up repression, targeting dissenting voices and blocking opposition media.

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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIA'S MOD UPDATE: CRUSHING GAINS & MASSIVE UKRAINIAN LOSSES

⚡️Lunacharskoye (Donetsk People's Republic) LIBERATED

"Units of the Tsentr Battlegroup have completed the liberation of the settlement of Lunacharskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

◻️ Russian Armed Forces strike drone assembly and storage sites, ammunition depots, and temporary deployment points of Ukrainian forces.

◻️ Heavy Ukrainian losses: 1,335 soldiers, seven HIMARS rockets and 312 drones.

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✍️ EU strategy: Ignore Russia, then demand to negotiate

“The EU demands to be part of peace talks, yet still refuses to talk to Russia after 3.5 years of boycotting diplomacy,” Norwegian political analyst Glenn Diesen wrote on X.

🗣 European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas earlier said that any deal between the US and Russia must include Ukraine and the EU, “for it is a matter of Ukraine’s and the whole of Europe’s security."

🔥 Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump are due to discuss the Ukraine conflict during a face-to-face meeting in Alaska slated for August 15.

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🔥 Putin & Pashinyan hold phone talk at Armenia's initiative

🎤 Nikol Pashinyan provided a detailed update on the outcome of his August 8 meeting in Washington with US President Donald Trump and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Vladimir Putin emphasized the importance of steps contributing to lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Kremlin says.

👉 In turn, Putin shared key takeaways from his talks with Steve Witkoff and preparations for his upcoming meeting with Trump in Alaska.

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🚨 Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay dies

Turbay has passed away after two months in critical condition. He was shot in the head during a rally in Bogota on June 8.

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🚨 Israel conducts strikes on journalists in Gaza to HIDE TRUTH - Gaza official

💬 "This crime highlights Israel's constant desire to silence the voice of truth about what is happening in the Gaza Strip. We strongly condemn the targeted killing of journalists," Ismail al-Thawabta, the director of the Gaza government's media office, told Sputnik.

🔶 Al-Thawabta also called on all international journalist unions and organizations to condemn the systematic attacks by the Israeli army on media workers in the Gaza Strip.

🔶 The number of journalists killed in Israel's strike on a media tent in Gaza had risen to six, bringing the total number of journalists killed in Gaza since October 2023 to 238, with over 500 others injured, Tahsin al-Astal, the deputy head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate told Sputnik.

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🚨 PUTIN-TRUMP TALKS A 'DISASTER' FOR WESTERN ELITES — ALEXANDER DUGIN

💬 “The very fact of this Russia-US summit is a catastrophe for the politics that have ruled the West… If it happens, it’ll be a huge breakthrough — location doesn’t matter.”

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💣😭 No peacemaker: Netanyahu seeks war to avoid jail and expand Israel’s borders

🗣 There is no way Hamas is going to accept Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s conditions for a ceasefire in Gaza as they would essentially lead to the Palestinian movement’s demise, Ankara-based security and political analyst Dr. Hasan Selim Ozertem tells Sputnik.

Instead of peace, “what Netanyahu wants is to totally destroy and eliminate Hamas as a political actor in Palestinian politics,” with the Israeli PM thus willing to continue waging war in Gaza with the backing of his parliament.

🔊 Netanyahu’s efforts to escalate the Gaza crisis are in part related to the domestic situation in Israel where many seek to oust him and have him tried over charges of corruption, Dr. Ozertem notes.

⚔️ As Netanyahu’s apparent successes on the battlefield help boost his popularity at home, he “wants to continue this war up until he consolidates his power.”

📊 The United States’ implicit support of Netanyahu’s policies also gives the latter an opportunity “to continue the war in Gaza and probably pursue irredentist policies and maybe to expand the territories controlled by Israel.”

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🇦🇲🇦🇿Armenia & Azerbaijan to withdraw complaints against each other in int'l courts - draft treaty

Key points:

🟠 Armenia and Azerbaijan have committed not to take any actions that would undermine each other's territorial integrity

🟠 The two countries intend to withdraw their respective complaints lodged against each other in international courts once the peace agreement comes into force

🟠 Armenia and Azerbaijan will refrain from stationing any third-party forces along their shared border

🟠 They also commit to negotiate and conclude an agreement on the delimitation and demarcation of the border

🟠Armenia and Azerbaijan will establish diplomatic relations after signing a peace agreement

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🚨 Trump: "I am going to see Putin, I am going to Russia"

The US President did not provide any details and may have misspoken.

Last week, the authorities of Russia and the US confirmed that President Putin and President Trump will meet in Alaska on Friday, August 15.

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