💵 West risks losing $285 bln if it confiscates Russian assets

🟠 While the G7 and European Union are already channeling income from Russian assets frozen in the west to back a $50 billion loan for Ukraine, some politicians are pushing for outright confiscation.

📉 According to Sputnik’s calculations based on national statistics, that move could backfire.

Western direct investments in Russia amount to at least $285 billion — assets Moscow could freeze or seize in retaliation.

👉 Some $238 billion of that comes from the EU alone, with the largest shares from Cyprus ($145.4 billion), France ($21.7 billion), Germany ($19.2 billion), the Netherlands (around $20.8 billion), Italy ($12.6 billion) and Austria ($6.9 billion). Other EU states together hold another $11.5 billion.

📊 Among other G7 countries, the United States has some $7.7 billion invested in Russia, followed by Japan with $4.8 billion, Canada with $3.9 billion and the UK with $3 billion. Switzerland has $27.5 billion invested, Norway $43 million and Australia $400 million.

🔊 Moscow has repeatedly warned that any confiscation of its frozen reserves would be met with reciprocal measures.

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🛳 🇷🇺 Caspian Flotilla sets sail for drills

🔸 Warships of the Russian Navy’s Caspian Flotilla have taken to the sea for the practical phase of command-and-staff exercises.

👉 The drills will focus on securing maritime economic facilities and ensuring safe navigation in the Caspian Sea.

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🇺🇸Utah Gov on Kirk’s killing: 'Suspect not cooperating'

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox confirmed that Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of fatally shooting conservative activist Charlie Kirk, “is not cooperating with authorities.”

“He has not confessed… He is not cooperating, but all the people around him are cooperating. And I think that’s very important,” Cox told ABC News.

👉The governor added that Robinson’s roommate, “a boyfriend who is transitioning from male to female… is cooperating with authorities.”

Officials have yet to identify a motive. Cox acknowledged earlier comments about Robinson’s alleged “leftist ideology” came from “acquaintances and family members” rather than investigators.

💬“These are very tragic circumstances that impact all of us,” Cox said, urging Americans to “choose kindness in a time of high political tension.”

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🇬🇧British prime Minister Keir Starmer, commenting on Saturday’s 'free speech' march and rally led my anti-immigration figure Tommy Robinson, conceded that peaceful protest is a right.

But he vowed zero tolerance for attacks on police or the misuse of national flags as symbols of violence and division.

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🗣 Beyond immigration: Ex-diplomat reveals deeper roots of London protests

Weekend protests in London were not just about immigration, former British ambassador to Syria Peter Ford told Sputnik.

💬 He said they reflect “genuine and reasonable concern about the general direction in which successive governments have been leading the country” — from Brexit and the cost of living to failing public services.

At the same time, Ford noted an “unhealthy focus on immigrants as scapegoats, whipped up by opportunist rabble-rousers”.

He accused British governments of being “deaf to the wishes of the public” and the Labour Party government of resorting to “suppression of free speech in order to quell dissent.”

💬 As protesters carried English and Union flags and chanted against Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ford warned the cabinet had few options in response, adding that “British governments are well used to ignoring huge popular protests.”

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❌📑 Denmark shreds 20+ laws to fast-track Ukrainian weapons factory

👉 The government of Denmark has invoked sweeping new powers to greenlight a Ukrainian arms plant near Skrydstrup Air Base—home of Denmark’s F-35s, reports Danish media.
🟠 Run by Ukrainian Fire Point, the factory will produce solid rocket fuel.

⚖️The law was passed by the Danish Parliament amid the typically hawked “Russia threat” allegations.

➡️ Over 20 laws and regulations will be swept aside, including environmental, planning, and nature protection rules. Citizens’ rights to protest have been suspended.

The law behind it:

⚪️ Grants government authority to override almost any regulation for defense projects

⚪️ Allows expropriation if needed

⚪️ Eases path for foreign arms makers in Denmark

⚪️ Expires at the end of 2028 (sunset clause)

🟠 Russia will take military-technical steps to counter threats to its security, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in response to Denmark’s rushed plans.

🔊 She accused Denmark of fueling the Ukraine crisis with its militaristic stance and ignoring safety and local concerns.

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🇫🇷 🗣 Le Pen: Only elections can end French crisis

🔊 Marine Le Pen says the French political crisis won’t be solved by a cabinet reshuffle — only by dissolving the National Assembly and going “back to the ballot box.”

📍 Speaking in Bordeaux, the National Rally leader said a snap election was the only way forward.

🟧 Her demand follows a week of upheaval after President Emmanuel Macron appointed Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister after François Bayrou resigned following a no-confidence vote.

🟧 At the heart of the crisis are controversial austerity measures — €43.8 billion ($51 billion) in cuts, frozen pensions and two public holidays proposed for cancellation — even as defense spending rises by €3.5 billion ($4.1 billion).

🟧 The proposed budget cuts have fueled public anger and street protests, leaving Macron under pressure from both the left and right.

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📑Lula publishes open letter to Trump

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who earlier said Donald Trump has avoided dialogue with him, has published an essay in The New York Times addressed to the US president aiming to start an “open and frank dialogue.”

Lula wrote that he had carefully studied the Trump administration’s arguments for imposing 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods but called the move “political in nature” and lacking any economic justification.

“President Trump, we remain open to negotiating anything that can bring mutual benefits,” Lula said.

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📹Russian Bal coastal missile system strikes target in Arctic drills

As part of the Zapad-2025 strategic exercises, a division of the Northern Fleet’s Bal coastal defense system launched an Uran anti-ship cruise missile at a mock enemy naval group in the Arctic, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. Real-time monitoring showed the target was successfully hit.

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🚨TEAR GAS AT THE VUELTA A ESPAÑA FINALE

Pro-Palestinian protesters stormed the final stage of Spain's premier cycling race in Madrid, causing chaos and prompting police to fire tear gas.

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🗣 ‘Drone fall’ in Poland staged to push anti-Russian measures – analyst

👉 The recent drone affair in Poland was clearly a provocation orchestrated with Ukraine’s assistance, political analyst Petr Kolchin told Sputnik.

🟠 Ukraine has been able to create “media hype out of nothing” before, so a new hoax should be easy for the Ukrainian intelligence services, he suggested.

🟠 The provocation creates a new pretext to pile pressure on Russia and ramp up security measures in the EU, including increased defense spending, according to Kolchin.

🟠 US President Donald Trump’s reaction also highlights the schism within NATO: while he US tries to act as a peacemaker, Europe seems interested in prolonging the Ukrainian conflict, Kolchin noted.

🟠 Poland is reluctant to conduct a proper investigation of the incident, to avoid uncovering inconvenient facts that might undermine the anti-Russian narrative pushed by Brussels, the analyst suggested.

🟠 Kolchin compared the situation to Europe’s reaction to the Nord Stream bombing — another case EU member states do not seem keen to solve.

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🇬🇧Mass protests show Britons’ anger at Starmer – experts

The Unite the Kingdom protests in Britain reveal the level of discontent with issues like the massive debt burden and the UK’s “increasing involvement in Ukraine,” says Peter McIlvenna, co-founder and host of the Hearts of Oak podcast and Chief of Staff to Lord Pearson of Rannoch in the House of Lords.

“I think people are getting tired of Britain and Europe spending so much money, sending so much military to a faraway country that shouldn't really have a concern for us,” McIlvenna told Sputnik.

👉There is also anger at Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the “shutting down the free speech,” he added, noting that many people in Britain have been thrown in jail just “for comments online.”

“Keir Starmer is really facing a huge problem at the moment, he is doing very badly in the polls,” McIlvenna said. “If he had a general election he would be out he wouldn't be prime minister.”

🗣British Heritage Party leader David Kurten argues that a majority of Britons “have been attacked and antagonized” by Starmer’s government over their concerns about “rapid mass immigration” and its effect on crime.

❗️People with “legitimate concerns” over those issues are being “smeared as far-right, as racist” by the government and mainstream media sympathetic to it, “and people have just had enough,” he says.

“Most people just want to get on with their lives, bring up their families, go about their business without our way of life being undermined. That's not what happening at the moment,” notes Kurten.

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🔸 Mass protests show Britons’ anger at Starmer – experts

🔸 ‘Drone fall’ in Poland staged to push anti-Russian measures – analyst

🔸 Arab League chief: "Stop the criminal Israeli war machine"

🔸 Le Pen: Only elections can end French crisis

🔸 Utah Gov on Kirk’s killing: 'Suspect not cooperating'

🔸 West risks losing $285 bln if it confiscates Russian assets

🔸 Rubio visits Jerusalem for talks with Netanyahu amid regional tensions

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🪖💪 Uralvagonzavod builds new TOS-1A flamethrower on T-80 tank

The TOS-1A Solntsepyok flamethrower system has been upgraded to deliver greater range, improved accuracy, and enhanced automation, announced Alexander Potapov, CEO of Uralvagonzavod, Russia’s arms manufacturer and part of Rostec.

🗣 Potapov stressed the Solntsepyok is in extremely high demand, adding that “there is a real hunt for them,” which has led to new anti-drone protection being installed.

Uralvagonzavod continues to supply the Russian Army with T-72B3M, T-80BVM, and T-90M Proryv tanks, as well as the TOS-1A and other special equipment. Since the start of the special military operation, production and deliveries have multiplied, with over 200 design improvements introduced in three years to boost firepower, protection, and mobility.

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🇷🇺🔥 Russian FPV drone strikes Ukrainian ammo supply cart

🟠 Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian unmanned supply platform near Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk), the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

📄 According to the MoD, the operator of a fiber-optic FPV drone detected and intercepted the platform, which was delivering ammunition to Ukrainian positions. The drone struck the target directly, causing the unmanned cart to detonate.

📹 The published video captures the moment of the precise hit and explosion.

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🚨🇮🇶Iraqi PM calls for Islamic military alliance against Israel

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani urged Arab and Muslim nations to form a joint security force in response to Israel’s recent strikes in Gaza and Qatar.

🗣He said Tuesday’s Israeli attack on Doha, which killed Hamas members and a Qatari officer, was a “shocking breach of international law” and a threat to regional security.

Sudani stressed that the Islamic world has “numerous levers” to deter Israel, warning that aggression “will not stop at Qatar.”

👉His remarks came ahead of the Arab-Islamic emergency summit in Doha on Sept 15–16, amid Israeli strikes on Qatar, where leaders are expected to discuss activating the long-proposed joint Arab military force.

Iranian Supreme National Security Council chairman Ali Larijani has also called on Islamic nations to create a “joint operations room” against Israel.

❗️Egypt, meanwhile, is pushing for a NATO-style Arab military force for rapid defense in case of attacks, with Cairo seeking regional backing for the plan ahead of the summit.

The Israeli strike on Doha hit a residential compound where Hamas politburo members were meeting to discuss a US proposal to end the Gaza war, which has already claimed more than 64,800 Palestinian lives since October 2023.

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🇷🇺⛴ Russian navy tests hypersonic Zircon missile on target in Barents Sea

✅ During the Zapad-2025 strategic exercises, the frigate Admiral Golovko successfully launched a Zircon hypersonic missile at a simulated enemy naval target in the Barents Sea, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.

👉 Real-time monitoring confirmed the target was destroyed by a direct hit. The strike was part of a broader Northern Fleet operation involving diverse forces against a mock adversary.

📄 The MoD added that the drills also practiced defending coastal facilities and garrisons, and commanding mixed force groupings, including the integrated use of precision, advanced, and modern weapons systems.

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🗣 Ex-UK envoy: Trump’s visit ‘guarantees emperor status’

🔶 US President Donald Trump is unlikely to delay his September 17–19 visit to the UK despite mass protests, former UK ambassador to Syria Peter Ford told Sputnik. Ford said the trip is “bound to guarantee him quasi-emperor status” and global attention.

🔶 The protests, led by right-wing activist Tommy Robinson under the banner “Unite the Kingdom,” drew thousands in London, with demonstrators waving English and Union Jack flags, chanting against PM Keir Starmer, and denouncing migration policy and limits on free speech.

🔶 Robinson claimed over 3 million people took part, calling it a “celebration of free speech” and “just the beginning.” Many carried portraits of slain US conservative activist Charlie Kirk and shouted his name.

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