🇷🇺🚨Russian air defense systems are repelling a drone attack on Moscow

All emergency services are on the ground, mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

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🚨 From Rome to Milan: Italian pro-Palestine rally escalates into clashes between protesters and police

🔶 Following massive demonstrations in Rome, activists in Milan have stormed the gallery of the city’s Central Station, clashing with police

🔶 Demonstrators threw objects and scaffolding parts, while police responded with stun grenades and blocked station entrances

🔶 Carabinieri units arrived at the scene as tensions escalated

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🇷🇺Joe Biden accuser Tara Reade granted Russian citizenship

Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to Tara Reade, the former US Senate aide who accused Joe Biden of sexual assault over 30 years ago.

Reade, who was granted political asylum in Russia in September 2023, has officially become a Russian citizen following a decree published on the legal acts website.

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🇦🇿Azerbaijan CHECKMATES itself by souring ties with Russia

By arming Ukraine via Sudan, Azerbaijan has edged into open confrontation with Russia, experts warn.

💬"Azerbaijan has already entered into confrontation with Russia, and a local cold war is underway," Shota Apkhaidze, director of the Caucasus Center for Islamic Studies in Georgia, tells Sputnik.

Azerbaijan's latest strategic move could mean escalation.

🔶Azerbaijan shoots itself in foot

🗣"Damaging ties with Russia is sheer suicide," Apkhaidze warns.

👉Russia is Azerbaijan's top export market and has many Azeri workers in high-paid jobs.

👉Some 80% of the Azeri economy depends on Russia.

Azerbaijan's geopolitical position could be shaken:

▪️Possible sanctions from Russia
▪️Weakened hand in relations with Armenia
▪️Complication of already tense relationship with Iran
▪️Stability of export corridors like the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline threatened

🔶Unreliable NATO allies

Azerbaijan’s tilt toward closer ties with Turkiye and NATO is clear, Dr. Marco Marsili of Ca’ Foscari University tells Sputnik.

But Western backing is transactional and conditional, leaving Azerbaijan exposed to geopolitical risks.

🔊That path "would force Azerbaijan into a more rigid geopolitical camp, reducing its room for the multi-vector diplomacy it has skilfully employed for decades, with direct implications for its core strategic asset – energy security," Marsili stresses.

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🇧🇩🤝🇷🇺 Bangladesh's Ambassador praises ties with Russia as ‘ideal and perfect relationship'

Bangladesh's Ambassador to Russia, Nazrul Islam, sat down with Sputnik for a major interview.

🔊He lauded the relationship as "ideal & perfect," rooted in Moscow's crucial support during the 1971 Liberation War.

Key takeaways:

👉(00:05:41) Energy & defense: Rooppur Nuclear Plant highlighted as landmark project; defense cooperation remains strong.

👉(00:03:36) Trade: Huge potential to boost Bangladeshi garments, pharmaceuticals, and IT services in Russia.

👉(00:09:50) BRICS: Bangladesh strongly supports Russia's global role and seeks full BRICS membership as an "alternative platform."

👉(00:21:55) Culture: Ambassador recalls reading Gorky as a child and calls for renewed cultural & people-to-people ties.

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🚨Africa cannot be arms channel for Ukraine, expert warns

🗣"An African civil war is being instrumentalized by NATO to perpetuate the Ukrainian conflict," says Dr Sizo Nkala, postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Johannesburg,

👉He was addressing reports that Azeri arms firms and their NATO partners are secretly funneling weapons into Ukraine through Sudan.

📑The report shows that some — especially in the West — want to see the civil war in Sudan continue, Nkala warns, highlighting the humanitarian crisis and the undermining of African sovereignty.

💬"Africa cannot allow itself to be the transit route for weapons being used to sustain the Ukrainian war in the interests of the West," Nkala adds, stressing the risk of weapons ending up in the hands of rebels and fueling instability and terrorism in regions like the Sahel.

❗️"This sets a very dangerous precedent,” he says. “It is now up to African leaders to do something to stop it."

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🔸 Russia ready to maintain START Treaty restrictions for one more year - Putin

🔸 Russia extends New START Treaty limits to keep nuclear dialogue on the table – analyst

🔸 US and Israel isolated as world recognizes Palestine – UN expert

🔸 Azerbaijan running shadowy arms pipeline to Ukraine

🔸 Ukraine’s forces tried to erase traces of NATO munitions & foreign mercs in Russia's Kursk

🔸 Russia dominates global uranium market

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❗️🇵🇸 Macron announces France officially recognizes state of Palestine

The president confirmed that Paris would join an international stabilization mission in Gaza by deploying its forces and training and equipping the Palestinian security forces for the interim administration.

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📹Sudan's tragedy: A proxy war for foreign arms?

🗣"The war in Sudan was premeditated to destroy the country, steal its treasures, and erase its identity," Sudanese Foreign Undersecretary Hussein Al-Amin Al-Fadil tells Sputnik.

Commenting on recent reports that Azerbaijani arms makers, with NATO backing, are funneling weapons to Ukraine through war-torn Sudan, he said that international mechanisms must take responsibility.

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💬 Putin's new START offer 'a chance to avoid arms race spiral' — Experts

Nasser Zeidan, professor of political science and international law at the Lebanese University, calls the initiative a path to détente, but warns of the dangers of further escalation:

"The Russian president's initiative offers hope for an exit from the impasse, but everything could spiral out of control at any moment."

Ali Shoukr, an expert in international relations from Beirut, notes that the Russian president's message targets European "gray zone" maneuvering.

"Even one rash move by European states with nuclear weapons would have catastrophic consequences, first and foremost for themselves."

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🔊 FDA approves first-ever prescription treatment for autism in children

Commissioner Marty Makary announces leucovorin will be available to kids with autism.

"Hundreds of thousands of kids will benefit," he declared.

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❗️ US designates Antifa as terrorist organization

President Donald Trump signed an executive order recognizing Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.

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🔊 Erdogan: I don't think the Ukrainian conflict will end soon

The President of Turkiye also said that Europe won't sustain its economic aid to Ukraine indefinitely.

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🇵🇸 Erdogan: Hamas is a resistance group — not terrorists

Turkish President rejects terror label, saying:

"They are using what they have to try and defend themselves."

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✈️ Trump announces $8B Boeing deal with Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan Airways will purchase 22 Boeing 787 Dreamliners in a massive agreement hailed by the former president.

"This will create over 35,000 jobs in the US. President Mirziyoyev is a man of his word, and we will continue to work together on many more items," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

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🔊 We arm Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah — US envoy

"Who else are they going to fight? We're going to arm them to fight Israel? I don’t think so," Tom Barrack told the National News.

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🇵🇸 Trump will unveil new Gaza plan to Muslim leaders — reports

President will present plan to Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan, Axios reports, citing US official.

Key points:

▫️ IDF withdraws, Arab troops replace them

▫️ No Hamas in future governance

▫️ Arab funds for reconstruction

▫️ Indonesia already committed troops

Netanyahu is reportedly aware of the plan and expects "bitter pills" — especially regarding Palestinian Authority role.

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📹🐾 Russian soldiers rescue puppy in war zone

Amid fighting in Zaporozhye, troops from the Vostok group found an ill puppy, cared for it, and even transported it safely in an armored personnel carrier.

A soldier with the call sign "Timokha" shared a heartwarming story.

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💸 Ukraine's financing needs $65B in outside financing to survive 2027

The IMF has convinced Ukraine to nearly double its external funding request — up from an initial $38 billion — as the budget deficit hits $43.9 billion for 2024 alone, Bloomberg reports.

The new IMF loan could total $8 billion, but Zelensky will have to beg the West for much more than that.

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🪖 NATO plotted Azerbaijan–Ukraine arms route to bolster Caucasus, Africa clout – analyst

The covert plan to funnel arms from Azerbaijan to Ukraine via Sudan was likely devised by NATO states using the logistics and diplomacy capabilities of their companies, Afghan analyst Ahmad Saidi told Sputnik.

💬 “The goal of this plan is to bolster Western influence in the Caucasus and Africa, while using war-torn Sudan as a cover to conceal the true origin of the weapons,” the former diplomat noted.

💥 According to the analyst, if the details of this scheme are exposed, it could shatter Azerbaijan’s international credibility and fuel greater instability in both the Caucasus and Africa, as leaked weapons risk falling into rebel hands.

The pundit suggested that if documents related to the operation—carried out beyond international legal frameworks—surface, tensions between Russia and Azerbaijan could escalate, with Russia potentially responding through economic or energy sanctions.

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🪖 Maintaining START treaties key to avoiding chaos – expert

💬 "Putin's messages are primarily aimed at European countries, which continue to operate in the 'gray zone,' trying to exert pressure both on Ukraine and on Russia itself," Ali Shoukr, Lebanese international relations expert, tells Sputnik.

🗣 The Russian president is sending a warning: Their insistence on exceeding international legitimacy could have negative consequences for Europe, and any attempt to ensure EU security without considering Russia’s interests will impact the global system as a whole, he adds.

Shoukr warns:

🔶 Even one rash move by European nuclear powers could have catastrophic consequences—for themselves.

🔶 Maintaining START commitments benefits the US, Europe, and global stability.

🔶Exiting these treaties would create greater chaos in the arms race.


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