📹 Putin arrives in Vietnam on official visit

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Hanoi, the capital Vietnam, on June 19.

During his official visit, Putin is expected to hold meetings with top Vietnamese government officials, including the country’s Prime Minister Pham Mihn Chinh and President To Lam, to discuss various important political and economic issues.

The Russian president’s trip, which takes place right after his visit to North Korea, is scheduled to conclude on June 20.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

◻️ Putin and Kim hold ‘impressive' and 'healthy' meeting amid Western 'propaganda mill'

◻️ Military-political alliance between Russia and N Korea challenges US hegemony in Northeast Asia

◻️ What should you know about the North Korean-Russian border?

◻️ Putin pays visit to Vietnam. Here's what we know

◻️ Releasing drone footage of Haifa shows Hezbollah knows where to strike Israel if war breaks out

◻️ The Gaza Pier: Biden’s humanitarian show-off that failed

📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Finland to extract ‘leftovers’ in attempt to replace Russian uranium

“If you ask me whether Finland can replace the export of uranium from Russia, becoming an exporter to the European market itself, I will say no, it won’t succeed... The mine, where uranium plans to be extracted, is actually a mine of nickel. Uranium was seen there as a byproduct,” Alexey Anpilogov, a political scientist and expert in the field of nuclear energy, tells Sputnik.

In recent efforts to cut energy ties with Russia, Finnish mining company Terrafame announced that it has started to extract natural uranium at the Sotkamo mine. The company says it makes Finland the only EU member producing uranium.

Terrafame decided to use uranium “leftovers” they gathered after processing nickel deposits, Anpilogov explains. This business plan, that will require hundreds millions of dollars to modernize the mining site, could give the country around 200 tons of uranium per year for about 30 years. This amount of uranium won't even be enough for Finland's own needs, the expert says, letting alone uranium export to the European market.

Likewise, Russia possesses technology to extract useful components and dispose of dangerous ones. “Neither Finland nor other EU countries, with the exception of France, currently possess such technology,” Anpilogov points out.

Over the past five years, the cost of uranium has increased by 233%, Bloomberg reports. The growth shows the turn to nuclear energy. Anpilogov attributes it to the fact that nuclear energy is one of the cheapest types of electricity production. The example of Germany that abandoned nuclear energy for green initiatives was “sobering,” as the country witnessed huge electricity bills have to be paid by ordinary people.

“Now we see a renaissance of the nuclear power industry, which began in the third world countries, where there were no such political illusions at all, [that are] now in the countries of the European Union and the United States,” Anpilogov concludes.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Why Hezbollah would be a much harder nut to crack for Israel than Hamas

While Israel already finds itself in a serious predicament trying to battle Hamas in the Gaza Strip, it may find itself facing a much more serious adversary if Tel Aviv does decide to wage war against Lebanese movement Hezbollah.

🔶 Unlike Hamas, Hezbollah commands a sizeable arsenal that includes rocket artillery, mortars, anti-tank and anti-ship missiles and even air defense systems.

🔶 The military wing of the Hezbollah numbers in the thousands, with the exact figure being hard to estimate based on open sources alone.

🔶 That said, Hezbollah is not a strictly military entity but rather a political movement that holds considerable sway over Lebanon and has been described on more than a single occasion as a “state within a state.”

🔶 Foreign Policy also warns that Hezbollah may have developed its own tunnel network, akin to the one Hamas has in Gaza, which could be much more extensive than the Palestinian group’s network.

🔶 Also, while the Gaza Strip is a relatively small enclave, Hezbollah has a lot more room in Lebanon to construct multi-layered defenses that may take a serious toll on the attacking Israeli forces.

While the Gaza Strip is effectively cut off from the rest of the world by Israeli blockade, experts claim Israel would likely be unable to completely isolate Lebanon and Hezbollah would be able to receive support from abroad if Tel Aviv invades.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Erdogan is reportedly expected to discuss Ukraine with Putin on sidelines of Astana SCO summit

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expects to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be held in Kazakhstan's Astana from July 3-4 and discuss the Ukraine conflict, bilateral agenda and the construction of a gas hub in Turkiye, Turkish broadcaster Habeturk has reported, citing sources.

The broadcaster reported that Erdogan will continue state visit after Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha, and the first stop will be Kazakhstan. Erdogan was invited to the SCO summit in Astana as Turkiye is a "dialogue partner" of the international organization. The Turkish president is expected to discuss Turkiye's relations with the organization's member states and hold consultations on bilateral relations, especially in energy and trade, the report cited sources as saying.

Erdogan will meet with the Russian president on the sidelines of the summit as well, the broadcaster reported. The Turkish and Russian leaders are expected to discuss the Ukraine conflict, the expansion of the Black Sea grain initiative, the latest situation in the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, the gas hub and the election initiative of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK, banned in Turkiye as a terrorist organization) and the People's Defense Units (YPG) in northern Syria, sources told the broadcaster.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said earlier that Putin and Erdogan may meet on the sidelines of the SCO summit if the Turkish president travels to Astana. He added that the meeting "is really overdue, and this is understood both in Moscow and Ankara."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Ukrainian drone crashed on private house in Russia's Kuban, killed one person

A drone has crashed on a private house in the town of Slavyansk-on-Kuban in Russia's Krasnodar Territory, destroying the house and killing one person as a result, the region's operational headquarters said.

"On the night of June 20, Slavyansk-on-Kuban was attacked by the Kiev regime. According to the information from the PSAP [Public Safety Answering Point] in the Slavyansk district, a drone crashed on a private house, and it was completely destroyed. All operational and emergency services are working on the site, removing the rubble. According to preliminary information, there is a fatal casualty," the HQ said on Telegram.

Krasnodar Territory Governor Veniamin Kondratyev confirmed on Telegram that a female resident of Slavyansk-on-Kuban was killed in the incident. He instructed local authorities to provide all necessary assistance to the family of the deceased person.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇻🇳The presidential palace in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, is preparing for the arrival of the Russian president.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️LIVE: Russian President Vladimir Putin pays state visit to Vietnam

👉Watch the livestream here or on Sputnik's website

📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt

North Korean Central Telegraph Agency (KCNA) publishes agreement on comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and DPRK

The document consists of 23 articles and covers topics that Putin and Kim Jong Un discussed the day before. It is open-ended and replaces the previous agreement on friendship, good-neighborliness and cooperation from 2000.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap published the last page of the agreement with the signatures of the heads of state.

📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇻🇳Official welcoming ceremony of Russian President Vladimir Putin by Vietnamese President To Lam has begun

📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Temperature in Hanoi today is up to +40 Celsius, humidity is 86%.

The welcoming ceremony was short.

📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇻🇳Presidents of Russia and Vietnam entered presidential palace to begin negotiations

📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤝Russia and Vietnam may resume negotiations on construction of nuclear power plant in Vietnam, said head of Rosatom Alexey Likhachev.

He also said that the countries are at the first stage of the implementation of the project of the Center for Nuclear Medicine and Technology.

"We are starting the year of to practical side," Likhachev said.

📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt