🇷🇺🇨🇳Russia and China share opinion on the importance of increasing defense cooperation not only on a bilateral basis, but also within the framework of multilateral formats, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Sputnik.

"Russian-Chinese cooperation is aimed at strengthening international security and is carried out in accordance with the norms of international law. The combination of our efforts is not aimed against third countries," the minister said.

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Russian air defenses destroyed eight ATACMS missiles over the Sea of Azov and intercepted eight UAVs over the Black Sea near Crimea overnight.

In addition, two unmanned boats traveling in the direction of Crimea were also destroyed in the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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🗣 If the United States deploys ground-based medium- and shorter-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Russia could take additional measures in the field of nuclear deterrence, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said.

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The West could theoretically "accelerate" the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis by halting arms deliveries to Kiev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Sputnik.

"To do this, it is necessary for the West to stop pouring weapons into Ukraine, and for Kiev to stop fighting. The sooner this happens, the sooner a political settlement will begin," Lavrov said.

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It is currently difficult to imagine a dialogue on peace, given that the "war party" rules in Ukraine, which seeks, at least in words, to defeat Russia on the battlefield, Lavrov told Sputnik.

"Let us hope that sooner or later political forces will appear in Ukraine that care about the interests of the people. In the meantime, there is no other option but to continue the special military operation until its goals are achieved," the foreign minister said.

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The only purpose of Russia's current participation in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is the possibility of expressing our position to other participants, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Sputnik.

"Perhaps the only goal of Russia's participation in the OSCE remains the opportunity to bring our position on topical issues directly before the other 56 participants, including those Western states that have 'frozen' dialogue with us in other formats," Lavrov said.

The consensus rule that exists in the organization allows Russia to block proposals by unfriendly countries that do not suit Moscow, the minister added.

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Highlights from Lavrov's interview to Sputnik on the geopolitical risks simultaneously growing in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific:

🔸 The deployment of US land-based intermediate-range missiles (INF) in Europe and the Asia-Pacific pose a serious security challenge for Russia and China. Moscow and Beijing acknowledge the importance of increasing defense cooperation not only on a bilateral basis, but also within multilateral formats. The Russo-Chinese partnership isn't aimed against third countries.

🔸Russia will reject self-restrictions introduced after the US pullout from the INF Treaty and take additional steps in the sphere of nuclear deterrence if Washington proceeds with deployments of INFs on Russia's doorstep.

🔸Providing the Kiev regime with more lethal types of weapons indicates the West's lack of interest in ending the conflict. Moscow will regard the deployment of nuclear-capable F-16s in Ukraine as a deliberate signal from NATO in the nuclear field to Russia.

🔸The US and NATO have made it clear to Moscow that all options are on the table as they seek to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. The White House does not care about the fate of Russian civilians, as it has become an accomplice in Kiev's crimes. Lavrov hopes joint Russian-Belarusian non-strategic nuclear drills will bring NATO members to their senses.

🔸Russia hails China's Ukraine peace efforts. In order to begin talks, the West must stop flooding Ukraine with weapons and the Kiev regime should stop hostilities. The agreements should be based on the principle of equal and indivisible security and the reality on the ground.

🔸The US' vow to suspend the delivery of some arms systems to Israel amid its Rafah operation has so far affected only one type of munition – aerial bombs – from "one shipment of short-term aid." Having blocked the UN Security Council's ceasefire initiatives for six months, the US has given Israel a green light to destroy the Gaza Strip.

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◼️ Lavrov’s interview to Sputnik: check out the highlights

◼️ Russian air defenses destroy eight ATACMS missiles over the Sea of Azov

◼️ Why Western leaders depend on Putin's rationality to avoid WWIII

◼️ What stands behind Blinken’s visit to Moldova

◼️ The US navy is years behind, over budget in designing new frigates, official report reveals

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❗️A series of terrorist attacks on railway transport has been prevented in Crimea, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said.

Explosions, on the instructions of Ukrainian military intelligence, were prepared by five residents of Crimea who had been recruited, and their main task was to paralyze the movement of trains, including military ones.

In addition, they transmitted data to Kiev on air defense facilities and the organization of Crimean Bridge defenses.

The saboteurs were led by a Russian citizen, who he blew up on an explosive device while removing it from a cache and died. Other defendants have been arrested and are confessing, the FSB said.

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The White House is mulling lifting a ban on Ukraine hitting Russia with US weapons - reports

Team Biden is edging closer to lifting restrictions on Ukraine striking Russian territory with US-supplied weapons, Politico reported.

The issue is purportedly "under consideration" amid Russian battlefield advances and Ukrainian manpower and hardware losses. No final decision has been made, the publication cited administration officials as saying. Any possible rethink of the US policy would come amid growing pressure from the Democrats, NATO allies, and Kiev, it said.

Other outlets have also claimed that the White House was mulling lifting its ban. Biden’s national security aides are in a “very brisk process” to make a “formal recommendation” to the president regarding the risk such a policy change would entail, The New York Times said. A reversal of Biden’s position is “inevitable,” it claimed, albeit with caveats. Kiev would likely be told to limit strikes to military targets just inside Russia’s borders. The ban on using US weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory, or at critical infrastructure, would probably remain.

At the same time, the US is worried about recent attempts by Ukraine to carry out drone strikes against “Russia’s ballistic missile early-warning sites,” The Washington Post cited an American official as saying. These sites are “sensitive locations because Russia could perceive that its strategic deterrent capabilities are being targeted, which could undermine Russia’s ability to maintain nuclear deterrence against the United States,” the official said, adding that Washington has conveyed its concerns to Kiev.

In public, US officials like Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby have maintained that there have not been any changes in the policy. The Kremlin, for its part, said that NATO is toying with military rhetoric, raising the degree of escalation and plunging into a warlike "ecstasy."

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Australia’s prime minister has not decided on participation in the Swiss summit on a settlement of the Ukraine conflict, Deputy Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office Graham Fletcher said.

Earlier, Anthony Albanese had a phone conversation Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and once again promised to "support the people of Ukraine as long as it takes," but did not confirm Australia's participation in the peace summit in Switzerland.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Russia is open to dialogue on Ukraine, but that negotiations should take into account the interests of all countries involved in the conflict.

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❗️Russia's President Vladimir Putin to visit Vietnam

Preparations are underway for Putin to visit Vietnam, the date of which will be announced in a timely manner, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik.

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❗️The commander-in-chief of the Swedish Armed Forces is convincing the Swedish people that Russia has "set its eyes" on the island of Gotland to establish control over the Baltic Sea, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said.

In addition, the US State Department plans to post videos about the "seriousness of the Russian threat" to the population of Sweden and Finland on social media, the SVR notes.

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💥Another Abrams destroyed

Russian Battlegroup Tsentr troops have shown the destruction of an Abrams near Novoselovka in the DPR.

The drone operator's kit consists of a UAV, which weighs just over 200 grams, a remote control, special glasses, and a so-called "carrot" – an RPG-7 round.

"I slowly joined it, aimed the ammunition, and made a dive. And with one small ‘carrot,’ it flared up like a match," the drone operator said.

The “carrot” is very effective against enemy equipment. For example, it has repeatedly destroyed Bradley IFVs and the MaxxPro MRAPs.

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Protests have broken out in Armenia

A demonstration demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has begun in the center of Yerevan, Sputnik reports.

Large police forces have been deployed at the government building. The day before, the leader of the protesters, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, called on supporters to drive their cars onto Republic Square in protest.

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📹💥Russian Battlegroup Tsentr artillerymen carried out a "fire cleansing" of Ukrainian positions in the Avdeyevka area

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🇬🇪 There will be no "Maidan" in Georgia, the country's prime minister said, stressing that the most important thing for the authorities of the republic is to take care of its independence.

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❗️The total Ukrainian losses during the day amounted to 1,520 troops, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Four Ukrainian unmanned boats were destroyed in the northwest of the Black Sea. A Ukrainian Su-27 was also shot down by Russian air defenses, the Defense Ministry noted.

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📹 ⚡️ British pro-Palestine activists claim to have sabotaged a factory producing targeting systems for Israeli F-35 fighter jets by cutting its internet cables

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