🇷🇺💣Russia's success in ammo production is "staggering" – NATO Chief

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has admitted that Russia has gained superiority over the Atlantic alliance in arms production.

Russia now “produces, in core ammunition, in three months what the whole of NATO — a bloc with a 25-times larger economy — produces in a year,” Rutte emphasized during a press conference following a NATO defense ministers meeting.

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🌍🤝Global South, East states seek to expand cooperation with Russia DESPITE WESTERN PRESSURE

"The results of the conference once again proved that the countries of the Global South and East are seeking to expand cooperation with Russia, despite the pressure on them from the West. In this regard, the partners unanimously noted the importance of holding our conferences in the future," Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council Alexander Venediktov told Sputnik.

The international security meeting in Moscow was attended by 126 delegations from 104 countries.

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📉 DOLLAR’S LOSING ITS GRIP

The dollar was headed for a weekly loss, undermined by signs of fragility in the US economy, Reuters reports.

✅ Trade talks with China lack progress
✅ Trump-Xi phone call offered little, if any, clarity on the future of the trade talks
✅ Tariff burden on US economy goes insane

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▫️ MUSK AND TRUMP'S BEEF HEATS UP

▫️ US angry with Ukraine's drone strikes on Russia

▫️ Israeli air forces strike southern Beirut

▫️ Trump's tariffs threaten Germany's economy — Merz

▫️ Nazi CONMAN with a rap sheet: Zelensky’s drone chief pick

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🚨💰Trump-Musk spat: Who has lost MORE CASH?

🗣Trump: ~$1bln (Axios)

▪️The 8% decline in Trump Media & Technology Group cost the president about $202 million
▪️The roughly 10% decline of his Official Trump meme coin, potentially costing him nearly $900 million

🗣Musk: ~$34bln (Bloomberg Billionaires Index)

▪️Tesla shares closed down over 14%, losing about $150bln in market value in the largest single-day decline in value in its history

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✈️📈Trump’s pricey gift just got PRICIER: Upgrading Qatari Boeing will cost top dollar

Retrofitting a Qatari luxury Boeing 747 jetliner to serve as Donald Trump's Air Force One will cost around $400 million, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told US lawmakers.

🔎What’s driving the hefty price tag?

Experts say the aircraft will need extensive security upgrades, including advanced communication systems to block eavesdropping and sophisticated defenses to detect and counter incoming missile threats.

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🔥Russia seizes NEW TROPHIES in Sumy

Russian 22nd Motorized Rifle Regiment HUMILIATES Ukrainian militants, seizing their wrecked foreign hardware at the border.

Among the captured trophies were:

🔶two M1 Abrams tanks,
🔶two International MaxxPro armored personnel carriers,
🔶one Stryker armored fighting vehicle,
🔶one Challenger armored recovery vehicle

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🚨🪖 In response to terrorist attacks by Ukrainian troops, Russian forces carried out a massive overnight strike targeting Ukrainian military design bureaus, as well as facilities involved in the production and repair of weapons and military equipment, Russia's Defense Ministry said.

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🇷🇺🪖 RUSSIAN DEFENSE BRIEFING: MASSIVE STRIKES & ENEMY COLLAPSE

🔸7 strategic strikes this week on Ukraine’s military-industrial sites & infrastructure in response to Ukrainian terror attacks.

🔸7 settlements liberated as Russian forces advance.

🔸Enemy losses: 10,045+ Ukrainian troops eliminated in 7 days.

🔸Air defense triumphs:

▪️3 Neptune missiles
▪️2 Storm Shadow missiles
▪️3 Vampire MLRS rockets
▪️18 JDAM bombs
▪️1,390 drones destroyed (509 outside special military operation zone)

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🚨🇺🇸 The Trump-Musk debate is an internal US matter, and the Kremlin does not intend to comment on it — Peskov

Regarding the potential impact of these developments on the US president's involvement in Ukrainian settlement efforts, Peskov noted that "heads of state constantly handle numerous tasks—they have enough time for all of them."

Other statements by Kremlin spox:

▪️ The US continues to make mediation efforts for a Ukrainian settlement, and Russia is grateful for this

▪️ For Russia, it is important that contacts with Washington continue

▪️ Russia launched its special military operation after all possibilities for resolving the issue through political and diplomatic means had been exhausted

▪️ All daily actions of the Russian army as part of the special military op are a response to the actions of the Kiev regime

▪️ The reaction of the Latvian Seim to an MP’s speech in Russian was predictable

▪️ The Kremlin views negatively the remarks of Merz, who spoke about the US role in fighting Nazism but failed to mention the USSR’s role

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📹 WATCH footage of the assault on liberated Fedorovka in Donetsk People’s Republic

Assault units liberated this settlement in four days, a scout from the "Vostok" battle group with the call sign "Husky" told Sputnik.

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📹 Kuwait eyes AI collaboration with Russia

“I found out that the AI technology is really high and we can collaborate in the future. I think we're going to have a big deal of collaboration between the two countries,” Jenan Al Shehab, Technical Director, ELECTRODIS Tech, Kuwait, told Sputnik at the Global Digital Forum.

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👉 The West controls the IAEA governing board, which explains the agency's silence toward Ukraine – Rosatom CEO

Other statements by Rosatom Chief Alexey Likhachev:

▪️Sometimes we see double standards in the IAEA's actions

▪️IAEA experts have the opportunity to see the aftermath of Ukrainian army attacks on Energodar

▪️Amid negotiations with Ukraine, the wave of provocations against Energodar and Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant will likely increase

▪️Rosenergoatom is doing everything to quickly restore power supply in Energodar

▪️For the last four nights, the Ukrainian army has been destroying Energodar's power grid in daily attacks

▪️Military threats to the Zaporozhye NPP are escalating

▪️Russia is ready to work with US fuel at Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. Russia is ready to cooperate with the US on this matter through IAEA mediation.

▪️Rosatom is ready to assist in resolving any issues related to Iran's nuclear program

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📹 ‘Russia has great experience in developing and deploying the new technologies’ – Afghan official

“So we are seeking to get their [Russians] help for building some different digital infrastructures, such as building the National Data Center and building the new digital identity system,” Seyed Mansour Rahimi, the head of IT Infrastructure under Afghan Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, told Sputnik at the Global Digital Forum.

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🪖🇲🇱 Private military group ‘Wagner’ completes its mission in Mali

The group has fulfilled its primary objective by returning all regional capitals under the control of the legitimate government, the statement released by ‘Wagner’ reads.

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🚨🇷🇺 Our drones are now the most advanced in certain segments — Putin

Russian engineers have made significant progress in the field of unmanned systems, President Vladimir Putin noted

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📹 ‘West does not control the narrative anymore’ – Pepe Escobar

The Global Digital Forum in Nizhny Novgorod was a first step towards elaborating a system of fact-checking that is global, of course a Russian contribution, but a global fact-checking network, going beyond fake news and establishing an alternative media environment with lots of input from several nations of the Global South, and sooner or later taking all that to the BRICS table”, Pepe Escobar, a geopolitical analyst, told Sputnik.

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📹 A terrorist attack was thwarted at a military facility in Russia's Ryazan region: the criminal, who was preparing an attack with a drone, resisted and was neutralized, the Russian National Guard said

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💵❌ On its 240th anniversary, US dollar is WEAKENED & CHALLENGED

June 6 marks 240 years since the Continental Congress officially adopted the US dollar as the unit of money for the country. But how does the greenback feel today?

US dollar weakening

"The US dollar is weaker in 2025, losing value against gold, reflecting inflation and money printing," Angelo Giuliano, a Hong Kong-based financial analyst, tells Sputnik.

The dollar has slid about 9% since January, with a 4.5% drop in April alone.

De-dollarization

BRICS+ and Global South countries are ditching the dollar in trade, citing weaponization, Giuliano says.

"Future de-dollarization trends could worsen its position, as a multipolar system is emerging, challenging the dollar’s dominance despite trade truce boosts."

Erosion of trust

Tariffs and market declines in 2025 are weakening its safe-haven status.

In 1995, US dominance ensured confidence. Now, allies diversify assets, fearing instability.

The above factors are making the dollar far less trusted, per Giuliano.

US dollar's major challenges

🔸Trump’s tariffs push yuan/gold alternatives.

🔸Global trade shifts to rival currencies, reducing dollar primacy in reserves.

🔸Cryptocurrencies like BTC gain popularity.

🔸Weaker manufacturing hurts perceptions.

Does US dollar have a rival?

No standalone rival currency has matched the dollar’s liquidity so far, Giuliano says.

However, the BRICS bloc is expanding trade in local currencies.

95% of Russia–China trade is now conducted in rubles/yuan.

The trend is gaining momentum.

USD set to fall lower

🔸Wall Street warns the dollar will nose-dive further.

🔸Morgan Stanley predicts the dollar will drop to pandemic-era lows by mid-2026.

🔸JPMorgan Chase & Co. also maintains a negative outlook on the greenback.

🔸The euro and the yen are among the biggest winners.

What does it mean for the US economy?

A weakening dollar could boost US exporters and manufacturers by making their goods more competitive abroad.

But it also risks hitting economic growth and fueling inflation, as imports become pricier for American consumers.

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🗣 'ICC's legitimacy appears increasingly discredited' - expert

"In the end, the court reflects an anachronistic power structure, as it is no longer recognized by Russia and the United States — the two leading global powers," Argentine international affairs expert Juan Venturino told Sputnik.

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