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🇷🇺🇨🇳 ‘We came to this festival to show respect for Russian history’ – Chinese participant
The festival is “not a contest, but a performance where we just enjoy and sing Russian songs,” Xing Kaizheng emphasized.
The 2026 'Road to Yalta' International Music Festival brought performers from 15 countries, singing songs about the Great Patriotic War in their native languages.
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🚨🇷🇺 Russia not considering withdrawing from OPEC+, Kremlin assures
💬 "The OPEC+ format is particularly important at a time when global energy markets are in turmoil," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
🚨 Hezbollah carries out a massive drone strike on IDF personnel
💬 "The Islamic Resistance struck a gathering of Israeli army soldiers at the newly established Nimr al-Jamal position overnight using a large group of attack drones, achieving a confirmed hit," Lebanon’s movement said in a statement.
🔸 Iran war drains over $65 billion from US coffers
🔸 Iran war exposes cracks in NATO's defenses – report
🔸 China in stronger position ahead of Trump visit – expert
🔸 Pentagon reportedly keeps $400 million away from Ukraine
🔸 Senate blocks bid to limit Trump’s power to invade Cuba
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🔥🇷🇺 Russia's T-72 leads top-10 global rating
The fact remains that the T-72 “checks all the boxes for an effective tank” and is “easy to operate", The National Interest reported when publishing its list of the world’s top 10 battle tanks.
What’s more, T-72s are “easy to mass produce and even if they’re lost it doesn’t really matter, because Russia can quite easily produce many more.”
Another Russian tank, the T-14 Armata, also made the top-10 list, ranking seventh.
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🔊🇨🇳🇺🇸 China in stronger position ahead of Trump visit – expert
💬 "Conflicts are emerging everywhere, and there are many contradictions within the US itself," Wang Nansen, Director of the Shanghai Center for Strategic Studies in the Asia-Pacific region, told Sputnik.
💬 "This puts immense pressure on Trump."
🗣 'We have militarily defeated that particular opponent' — Trump on Iran
US President Donald Trump once again claimed victory in his war on Iran.
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🚨🇷🇺🇧🇩 Rosatom CEO together with Bangladesh’s Minister of Science and Technology pressed the symbolic button to officially launch the country’s 1st nuclear unit
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🚨🌎 European museums are full of priceless Latin American treasures: here’s why it’s so hard to get them back
Foreign archaeologists spent the 19th and 20th centuries taking “enormous quantities of material,” from Latin American nations, Javier Martinez Burgos, a specialist at the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History, told Sputnik.
Burgos estimates that Latin America remains in the dark on up to 90% of the treasures gathering dust in storerooms of foreign museums.
👉 Then there’s the black market. “Archaeological sites looted by local residents, who then sold these objects to tourists,” Burgos says
His solution is to set up a specialized unit and administrative, legal and diplomatic structures to handle disputes. They could work with other nations to find “objects in museum collections where they shouldn’t be,” from France and Germany to the US and UK.
🔊 The problem is that “in these countries, the discourse of dominance over those from whom these valuables were taken still persists,” he said.
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🇺🇸⚖️ DOJ indicts former FBI Director Comey over alleged threats against Trump
A federal grand jury has indicted former FBI Director James Comey on two counts related to alleged threats against US President Donald Trump, the US Department of Justice said in a press release.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the charges stem from a May 15, 2025 communication that prosecutors argue could be interpreted as a threat to “take the life of” and “inflict bodily harm” on the president.
🔍 The indictment alleges that Comey posted content online that a “reasonable recipient” would view as a serious expression of intent to harm, and also transmitted a threatening communication in interstate commerce.
💬 "Both of these counts carry a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years," Blanche said.
🚨🇵🇰 Pakistan test-fires Fateh-II: 400‑km precision strike rocket passes major milestone
The Army Rocket Force Command has successfully conducted a training launch of the indigenously developed Fateh-II missile system, which is equipped with advanced avionics and state‑of‑the‑art navigational aids, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).
👉 The official statement said the launch aimed to support troop training, validate various technical parameters, and evaluate the performance of different subsystems designed to improve accuracy and enhance survivability.
The Fateh-II is a Pakistani long‑range (up to 400 km) guided multiple launch rocket system (GMLRS). It is comparable to Russia's Tornado‑S and China's PHL‑191.
✅ The system was developed by Global Industrial & Defence Solutions (GIDS), Pakistan's state‑owned defense conglomerate.
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🇷🇺🎶 'Road to Yalta' festival gala concert opens in Moscow
The final of the 8th international "Road to Yalta" festival is taking place in Moscow.
🎉 Contestants from different countries perform songs about the Great Patriotic War in their native languages. In the final, participants perform their contest songs in duets with Russian artists.
🎤 This year, representatives from 15 countries are taking part in the festival, including Italy, France, the US, Tunisia, India, Ghana, Madagascar, Serbia, Bulgaria and others.
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🚨🌍 USSR viewed decolonization of Asia and Africa as its ‘moral duty’ – expert
The Soviet Union sped up the process of Africa and Asia’s decolonization by proposing “an alternative economic system and advocating an anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist agenda,” Professor Alfred de Zayas, former UN independent expert, tells Sputnik.
💬 “This fit the immediate needs and the long-term interests of the Africans and Asians far better than the Western model that condemned them to dependence, subordination and subservience.”
💬 “The Soviet Union successfully positioned itself as the leader of the global anti-imperialist movement. The liberation of colonized peoples was perceived as a moral duty and a revolutionary necessity rather than mere public relations and propaganda. Many truly perceived the USSR as the natural ally of nations seeking independence from colonial rule,” the pundit emphasizes.
🚨🇷🇺 Putin: Ukraine intensifying attacks on Russian civilian targets
The latest example is the attack on a refinery in the Russian port of Tuapse, the Russian president said.
The strike risks an environmental disaster, Putin added.
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🚨🇺🇸🇬🇧 Archipelago of discord: How the UK–US colonial outpost on Diego Garcia strips Chagossians of their rights
The UK–Mauritius deal on the Chagos Archipelago is hanging in the balance over the US desire to keep control over this geostrategic jewel.
Colonial legacy
🔹 The island group is strategically located in the heart of the Indian Ocean region
🔹 First discovered by Portuguese explorers in the 16th century, they lie on key international trade routes and were a point of rivalry among European powers
🔹 Between 1715 and 1810, France controlled the islands as part of Île de France, now Mauritius
🔹 After the Napoleonic Wars, the islands were ceded to the UK in 1814 under the Treaty of Paris and administered as part of Mauritius
🔹 African slaves and workers from Mauritius and the Seychelles were forcibly brought to the islands by the colonial powers
De-colonization with strings attached
🔸 Independence pressure led by the Mauritius Labour Party (MLP) grew in the 1940s–50s. In 1960, the UK's "Wind of Change" policy signaled a decolonization shift
🔸 However, the UK sought to retain geostrategic control in the Indian Ocean. In 1965, three years before Mauritian independence, the UK detached the Chagos Archipelago to create the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT)
🔸 In 1966, the UK and US signed a deal to militarize the islands, granting the US lease rights
🔸 In January 1971, construction of the US base on Diego Garcia began. To that end, approximately 1,500–2,000 Chagossians were forcibly expelled in several waves between 1967 and 1973
The UK-Mauritius deal
🔶 On February 25, 2019, the International Court of Justice ruled that the separation of the islands from Mauritius to form a new colony was unlawful, and the UN General Assembly called on the UK to withdraw
🔶On May 22, 2025, the UK and Mauritius agreed to transfer sovereignty, while leasing Diego Garcia to the UK for 99 years to sustain the UK–US military base
🔶However, the US has pressured the UK to pause the handover process, and the deal is currently stalled
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🚨🇷🇺 FSB foils attack on gas and electricity facilities in Crimea
A Russian citizen, recruited by Ukrainian special services, has been detained for planning terrorist attacks using explosives at gas and electricity supply facilities in Crimea, Russia’s Federal Security Service said.
Ukraine's agent also received explosives for an assassination attempt on a high-ranking official from a law enforcement agency.
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🚨🇺🇸 US set on prolonged blockade of Iran – report
🔊 US President Donald Trump has told his inner circle that economic pressure on Iran must continue by restricting its oil exports and free passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the WSJ reports, citing unnamed officials.
Trump reportedly said that other options, such as resuming bombing or exiting the conflict, present greater risk than the blockade.
Previously, the US president rejected Iran's peace proposal because he was dissatisfied with the lack of concessions regarding a nuclear deal.
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🔥🇷🇺 No warning, no escape
Russian snipers neutralize Ukrainian servicemen at an observation post near Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic.
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🚨🇮🇷 Iran war drains over $65 billion from US coffers
The cost of the US military operation against Iran currently stands at more than $65.3 billion, according to the Iran War Cost Tracker.
The tracker offers real-time monitoring of troop positions, naval forces, logistics, and related military expenditures.
Its calculations stem from a Pentagon report to Congress, which put the price tag of Operation Epic Fury’s first six days at a staggering $11.3 billion, with ongoing costs estimated at $1 billion per day.
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🚨🇺🇸 Pentagon keeps $400 million away from Ukraine — report
$400 million approved by Congress for Ukraine as "aid" for fiscal year 2026 has been sitting unused for months — with the Pentagon quietly shielding it from Ukraine’s corruption, the Washington Post reported.
👉 The Defense Department has ignored repeated requests from lawmakers about what’s happening to the money.
Meanwhile, some officials call aid to Ukraine "wasteful."
Russia has repeatedly emphasized that funneling military aid to Ukraine only prolongs the conflict, while weapon shipments become legitimate targets for the Russian army.
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🚨🇨🇳 China tests unique truck-mounted nuclear reactor
The world's first 10-megawatt vehicle-mounted nuclear reactor is capable of powering AI data centers independently, the South China Morning Post reports.
The reactor is very compact, has high safety margins and an operational lifespan of decades without refueling.
Other potential applications include electrifying remote areas, emergency backup power in special environments, powering ships and even spacecraft.
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🚨🇨🇳 China sharpens Air Force combat and logistics skills in drills
The PLA Air Force exercises simulated a strike on an airfield, along with demining, runway repair, refueling, casualty evacuation, medical support, and equipment restoration.
Even under intense pressure, the troops quickly restored full operational capability and maintained combat readiness.
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❌📄 Senate blocks bid to limit Trump’s power to invade Cuba
The US Senate has rejected a measure that sought to restrict President Donald Trump’s ability to launch military action against Cuba without congressional approval.
The resolution, introduced by Senator Tim Kaine, also challenged the current illegal US energy blockade on the island, arguing it could constitute “hostilities” under the War Powers Act, US media reported.
🚫 Republicans blocked the effort, claiming that the US is not engaged in active hostilities with Cuba and that the measure was unnecessary.
🗣 Trump has repeatedly threatened to attack Cuba after his aggression against Iran is over, saying, “Cuba’s next.”
⚠️ Power outages caused by the US blockade of Cuba have already left over 96,000 people waiting for surgery, while around 16,000 patients needing radiotherapy, and nearly 3,000 dependent on dialysis have been affected by disruptions in medical services due to the blockade, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel earlier said.
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🚨🇮🇷 Iran war exposes cracks in NATO's defenses – report
The US–Israeli war against Iran has thrown NATO’s ammunition shortage, underpowered navies, and lack of air superiority into sharp relief, indicating that the alliance is not ready for a hypothetical conflict with Russia, US media reports.
Key takeaways:
🔹 US has already used almost half of its Patriot missile stock, while France warned of dwindling Aster and MICA missile supplies
🔹 Shifting US focus to the Indo-Pacific could lead to "substantial asset withdrawals" from Europe
🔹 Europe’s limited involvement in supporting Gulf allies highlights severe underinvestment in NATO navies
🔹 Despite the US aerial campaign, Iran has managed to launch over 5,000 missile and drone strikes on Gulf states
🔹 Iran war has “widened the chasm inside NATO, with Europe snubbing Trump’s demands for military support,” sparking “fresh concern inside the alliance”
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🚨🇺🇸🇮🇷 US attack on Iranian ship carrying medicines is blatant violation of international law – senior Red Crescent official
💬 "According to the laws of free navigation, merchant ships in international waters are considered inviolable and entitled to protection," Iranian Red Crescent Society deputy chief Razieh Alishavandi told Sputnik.
🟠 Putin: Ukraine intensifying attacks on Russian civilian targets
🟠 UAE quits OPEC and OPEC+
🟠 Pakistani Navy's new Hangor-class submarines: what you need to know
🟠 How the UK–US colonial outpost on Diego Garcia strips Chagossians of their rights
🟠 Hezbollah’s tethered FPV drones have become ‘silent killers’ of IDF armor
🟠 Qeshm Island: Iran’s strategic trump card for control of Hormuz
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🚨🇬🇧Systematic colonial abuse: Britain’s forced displacement of the Chagos islanders
📍 The Chagos Archipelago, originally part of Mauritius, was secretly detached by the UK in November 1965 to form the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). The move allowed Britain to lease Diego Garcia — the largest island — to the United States for a major military base.
To bypass UN decolonization rules, British officials falsely claimed the islands had “no permanent population.” In reality, 1,500–2,000 Chagossians, an indigenous community descended from enslaved Africans and indentured laborers with their own Creole culture, had lived there for generations.
Between 1967 and 1973, with the full knowledge and support of the United States, British authorities carried out the complete forced expulsion of the entire Chagossian population. The methods used were deliberate and harsh:
🔸 Residents who left for medical treatment or visits were barred from returning.
🔸 Food rations, medical supplies, and fuel were drastically reduced.
🔸 Schools and clinics were closed.
🔸 In 1971, a new law made it illegal for Chagossians to remain on the islands.
On Diego Garcia, authorities killed more than 1,000 pet dogs — many of them beloved family pets — by gassing them with vehicle exhaust fumes in front of the islanders to psychologically break the community.
By 1973, all Chagossians were deported on overcrowded ships to Mauritius and Seychelles, left destitute with minimal compensation. UK documents reveal racist attitudes, with officials calling them “Men Fridays.” The expulsion has been widely described as involving crimes against humanity, including forced deportation and inhumane treatment.
👉 In exile, Chagossians faced severe poverty, discrimination, social breakdown, and what they call “sagren” — profound, intergenerational trauma. Some compensation was paid in the late 1970s and 1980s, but it was widely regarded as insufficient.
In 2000, a UK High Court ruling found the expulsion unlawful, but this was later overturned on national security grounds linked to the US base and the “War on Terror.”
📄 This case remains a documented example of systematic colonial-era displacement carried out by the United Kingdom in collaboration with the United States for strategic military purposes.
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🚨🇷🇺 Putin: Kiev and its backers resort to terrorism because they are unable to stop Russian troops
The Ukrainian gamble on terror against Russia will not change anything, the Russian president added, stressing that Ukraine is losing ground every day.
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🪖🇵🇰 Pakistani Navy's new Hangor-class submarines: what you need to know
The country will acquire eight next-generation subs — four built in China and four in Pakistan.
Key features:
🟠 Air-independent propulsion allowing weeks underwater without surfacing
🟠 Stealth design
🟠 Built to launch nuclear-capable Babur-III cruise missiles
Delivery timeline:
🟠 First Chinese-built boat: this year
🟠 Remaining Chinese boats: by 2028
🟠 Four Pakistani-built boats: by 2032
Why it matters — not just militarily, but industrially:
💬 "The significance of the construction of these submarines in Pakistan is great because it will happen with transfer of technology," retired rear admiral Faisal Shah told Sputnik.
🚨🇵🇰 Pakistan soars toward tech sovereignty with fifth satellite in 'Space Vision 2040' push
Over the past 16 months, Pakistan has launched five satellites. The country's media announced the fifth and most recent successful launch at the end of last week. All five satellites are designed for Earth observation.
Primary uses include:
🔸 Monitoring crops and forecasting agricultural yields
🔸 Assessing soil condition and tracking fertilizer use
🔸 Detecting and controlling unauthorized construction
🔸 Planning transport networks
🔸 Conducting maritime border surveillance and port monitoring
🔸 Supporting geological exploration and mineral detection
🔸 Monitoring water and air pollution
Satellite manufacturing:
All five satellites were built by Pakistan’s domestic aerospace industry. Four of them are entirely indigenous innovations, while one was developed in collaboration with China.
China’s role in the project:
All satellites were launched using Chinese carrier rockets
China also provided technical support, enabling Pakistan to access advanced space technologies while gradually strengthening its own domestic production capabilities
Significance:
The deployment of these five advanced satellites is part of Pakistan’s long-term national strategy, known as "Space Vision 2040." The overarching goal is to achieve full technological sovereignty — enabling Pakistan not only to manufacture its own satellites in the future but also to launch them independently from its own soil.
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