❗ Putin signs decree on special economic measures in field of foreign economic activity to ensure Russia's security

Highlights of the new Russian MoD briefing:

▪️ Units of Russian Armed Forces have taken control of two settlements in Ukraine;

▪️ Russia's Air Force has destroyed 32 military facilities in Ukraine, including 23 areas where weapons and equipment were concentrated;

▪️ Russia's Armed Forces have destroyed 2,581 Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities;

▪️ DPR forces have advanced almost 1 km in Mariupol;

▪️ Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 123 S-300, Buk M-1 and Osa anti-aircraft missile systems since the beginning of the operation in Ukraine;

▪️ Troops of the LPR, DPR and Russian Armed Forces have established control over seven settlements

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

❗UN on preventing Kiev from evacuating people to Russia: Citizens should have the opportunity to evacuate when and where they want

⚡Spotify and Discord users are experiencing network problems - Downdetector

❗LPR's Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Almost the entire territory of the republic has been liberated; the people's militia liberated 7 settlements on 8 March

❗OPEC believes oil price now 'unhealthy' for everyone, expects quick crisis resolution

❗️🇺🇸 White House says oil companies have 45 days to deliver on existing contracts before the ban Russian oil imports

❗️Washington believes the impact of the Russian oil import ban will not be long-term, Psaki says

❗️🇷🇺🛢 Biden's decision to ban imports of Russian oil will lead to volatility in global energy markets & negatively impact US companies & citizens, the Russian embassy in Washington said

🚜 Russia and Ukraine account for around 29% of global wheat exports, 19% of global corn supplies, and 80% of the world’s sunflower oil exports.

This reliance has many traders worried that any further escalation could trigger a massive scramble by food importers to replace supplies normally sourced from the Black Sea region.

Wheat futures reached record highs on Tuesday, following a 14-year high at the end of last week. Wheat prices reached a 14-year high on Friday, with Chicago futures for grain closing 41% higher than the previous week at $12.09. That jump marks the biggest gain over six decades. On Monday, the price closed up for the 6th consecutive day.

Russia is also one of the world’s biggest exporters of all three major groups of fertilizers, and officials have said it could suspend exports, leaving farmers to bear the cost of any prolonged shortage.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

❗️🧋Starbucks reportedly suspends all operations in Russia

😷 Covid will 'probably' become a seasonal virus like the flu, Walensky says

CDC officials say it's increasingly likely the coronavirus will never truly go away, but will instead simmer at low levels and rise again in the winter. Even as cases of Covid-19 continue to fall nationwide, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the coronavirus is most likely here to stay — and that it could behave similarly to influenza.

"I do anticipate that this is probably going to be a seasonal virus," said the CDC's director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky. That means it could join the flu and other respiratory viruses that tend to spread during the cold winter months.

While the CDC says 90 percent of people in the U.S. can take off their masks now, Walensky said she can't guarantee that masks will be gone forever. That means they could make a comeback one day.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

❗️🇺🇸 Every single US ambassador in Latin America has been instructed to influence countries to get on board with the anti-Russia sanctions, Undersecretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said Friday

❗️❗️Nuland says Ukraine has biological research facilities

🇺🇸🇷🇺🤦🏻‍♀️ Nuland also said that Washington is working to eliminate cryptocurrency sanctions loophole in order to target Russia

❗️🥤Following McDonalds and Starbucks, Coca-Cola is suspending operations in Russia

❗️🇺🇸🇨🇳 US Commerce Department threatens to cut off Chinese firms from US equipment if they don't stop trading with Russia

"We could essentially shut SMIC down because we [the United States] prevent them from using our equipment and our software," Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo told The New York Times on Tuesday

“Not only are we pressing every country that we speak to at the President and Secretary's level and all the levels in the department, every single one of our ambassadors has instructions to work with their host nations to try to get them to match US and EU and allied sanctions to the extent that they can and are willing to condemn Russia,” Nuland said during a Senate hearing on Ukraine.

The United States is also trying to influence a number of big countries that have so far abstained from implementing sanctions and other measures to “get on the right side of history,” Nuland claimed.

🔎A Texas man who became the first Capitol riot defendant to take his case to trial was found guilty on all counts on Tuesday.

Guy Reffitt, a 49-year-old member of the far-right “Texas Three Percenters” militia group, was convicted on all five of the felony charges he faced, including bringing a gun onto the Capitol grounds and obstructing an official proceeding.

The federal jury in Washington, DC, handed down the unanimous verdict after just two hours of deliberation.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

❗️(Surprisingly), PepsiCo ceases sales and operations in Russia

❗️UPDATE: A US judge has dismissed Virginia Giuffre's lawsuit against Prince Andrew after they reached an estimated settlement of $16 million

Read the full story on our website and subscribe to @sputniknewsus