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Assange's wife urged the public to monitor the journalist's flight in US airspace in case "something goes wrong."
"Julian Assange's flight VJ199 landed in Bangkok and will soon take off again and fly into US airspace where he will appear before a US judge. Please follow [the] Assange jet, we need all eyes on his flight in case something goes wrong," she posted on X.
💬 The latest statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:
◾️ Russia sees no opportunities for normalizing dialogue with the West on Ukraine.
◾️ President Vladimir Putin remains ready for dialog with French President Emmanuel Macron, especially on Ukraine.
◾️ France initiated of the complete winding up of relations between Russia and France. Moscow considers this decision short-sighted.
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In the case of the crash of an Il-76 aircraft in the Belgorod region of Russia, the Investigative Committee (IC) has compiled a body of evidence confirming the involvement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF), according to the IC.
The aircraft was hit by a Patriot missile, with the explosion occurring in front of the crew cabin on the left along the flight path, the IC stated.
The investigation has information regarding which UAF units possess Patriots. Efforts to identify specific personnel involved in organising the attack are ongoing in collaboration with the Ministry of Defence.
The leadership of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (GUR) and the UAF were aware of preparations for a prisoner exchange involving those aboard the crashed Il-76 but nonetheless issued orders to strike the aircraft carrying 65 Ukrainian citizens, the IC stated.
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Ukraine’s NATO entry gamble bound to be 'distant, unlikely prospect,' despite Zelensky's pleas
Ukraine’s potential future in NATO remains a distant prospect, according to an article in The National Interest.
“Ukraine all but certainly won’t be able to join the transatlantic alliance as long as hostilities with Russia continue,” wrote Stavros Atlamazoglou.
A state of emergency has been introduced in the Olkhovatsky district of the Russian Voronezh region. Earlier, the governor said that “explosive objects” detonated there after a drone attack.
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📹 Trolling the West: Houthis mark Uraza al-Fitr with fireworks on captured Israeli ship Galaxy Leader
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Key points about the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange:
◻️ Assange will be released after a judge signs a deal between the journalist and the US Justice Department during a hearing on the island of Saipan, the wife of the WikiLeaks founder said;
◻️ The journalist's release was announced by Wikileaks itself, preceded by media reports that he was preparing to cut a deal with US prosecutors;
◻️ According to court documents, Assange conceded to only one charge - conspiracy to obtain and disclose information on national defense;
◻️ According to American TV stations, the court will sentence Assange to five years, meaning the time he has already served in a British prison will count toward his sentence;
◻️ The plane carrying Assange will stop in Bangkok for refueling before heading to the Northern Mariana Islands;
◻️ Assange will appear in person in court there on the island of Saipan, for a hearing scheduled for 9 am local time (11pm GMT);
◻️ The journalist's wife has announced her intention to open an emergency fund to restore the activist's health in the near future;
◻️ US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. labeled the incident as “bad news” since “he had to plea[d] guilty to conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense info”. He argued that this signified a “horrifying precedent” where the US government has “dealt a big blow to freedom of the press”.
◻️ Former US presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy shares that same viewpoint. He believes what happened is “a desperate Biden gambit for libertarian votes”.
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❗️ Indian PM Narenda Modi's visit to Russia is being prepared, dates to be announced by the parties in agreement, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said
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🇮🇳🇷🇺 Indian PM Narendra Modi to head to Moscow on July 8, The Tribune reports
His previous visit to Russia was in September 2019, during which he participated in the Eastern Economic Forum held in Vladivostok.
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📹 Russian FPV drone operator destroys Leopard tank in southern Donetsk
The German-made armoured vehicle was camouflaged in a woodland belt 18 kilometres from the front line
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Is Netanyahu trying to switch Biden for Trump?
“[US President Joe] Biden is Netanyahu’s lapdog – will do anything he wants,” explained author and journalist Robert Fantina on Sputnik’s Fault Lines. “[But] Netanyahu knows that Trump will do even more if he becomes president again.”
“During World War II, Churchill told the United States, ‘Give us the tools, we’ll do the job.’ And I say, give us the tools, and we’ll finish the job a lot faster,” Netanyahu said.
“[Biden] has said things like Israel’s bombardment has been over the top – he used that expression once. I don’t think Trump would ever say that,” speculated Fantina. “He would say this is a job that needs to be done and these ‘terrorists’ need to be destroyed and wouldn’t put any breaks whatsoever verbally or as far as shipments are concerned to Israel.”
🇷🇺🇷🇸 Russia and Serbia are discussing potential security threats related to military supplies, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Sputnik, commenting on media reports about the export of Serbian ammunition to Kiev.
"Exchanging assessments of security threats is an integral part of the political dialogue between Russia and Serbia. Of course, this also concerns issues of military supplies," Grushko said.
UN draft report shows nearly half a million Gazans facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity
According to a draft report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which is the United Nations hunger monitoring system. in March and April food deliveries reaching northern Gaza had successfully increased, helping to “avert” what seemed to be an unavoidable famine, but in recent weeks following renewed hostilities the situation has worsened and now a “high risk of famine persists across the whole of the Gaza Strip”. For instance, the report found that half of Gaza’s households have had to sell or trade their clothing for food.
“More than half [of households] also reported that, often, they do not have any food to eat in the house, and over 20% go entire days and nights without eating. The recent trajectory is negative and highly unstable. Should this continue, the improvements seen in April could be rapidly reversed," the report said.
⚡️ Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been freed, he left Belmarsh prison, returns to Australia, Wikileaks said.
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❗️ WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to plead guilty to a US espionage charge as part of a plea deal with US federal prosecutors, NBC reported, citing court documents.
The court document showed that Assange plans to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information.
Assange was charged with criminal information, which usually signifies a plea deal, NBC reported.
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❗️ The Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court has issued warrants for the "arrest" of former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov over the situation in Ukraine
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📹 Video footage of Assange arriving in Bangkok. From there, he will travel to the island of Saipan, where he is expected to be released after trial.
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Podolyak's comments on Sevastopol attack mirror Nazi propaganda - Russian Foreign Ministry
Advisor to the Ukrainian President's Office, Mykhailo Podolyak, stated that there are no beaches, tourist areas, or signs of peaceful life in Crimea, and that the entire peninsula is a military target.
"This is a hundred percent replica of the Nazi concept of cleansing Crimea during World War II. Today, they have added American weapons and the methodology of modern international terrorism, but the core remains the same - Nazism," said Maria Zakharova, a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
"Approaching Bangkok airport for layover. Moving closer to freedom," Wikileaks' X account says.
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Pact with North Korea warning to adherents of military solutions to regional problems - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister
Key points from Sputnik's interview with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko:
◻️ Russia is anticipating the imminent signing of a detailed cooperation agreement with Iran, with the finalization of the text still in progress.
◻️ North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's visit to Russia will take place once "all the necessary conditions are right" and the groundwork for signing documents has been set.
◻️ The Russia-North Korea agreement serves as a warning to countries considering military solutions to regional issues. It is important to note that the treaty is not directed against South Korea or any other third countries.
◻️ Moscow hopes that Seoul will calmly embrace the agreement between Russia and North Korea, and that a sound approach to relations with Moscow will prevail.
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What the media is saying about Assange's release:
◾️ New York Times: Top officials at the Justice Department accepted an agreement with no additional prison time because Mr. Assange had already served longer than most people charged with a similar offense
◾️ Sydney Morning Herald: The apparent deal follows determined lobbying by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who raised the Assange case in his meetings with US President Joe Biden
◾️ Wall Street Journal: The plea deal offers a neat solution to what was becoming an increasing political headache for the US government
◾️ Telegraph: The decision to allow Mr Assange to leave jail without facing spying charges in the US follows years of wrangling between at least four countries over his case [US, UK, Australia and Ecuador]
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💬 Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Sputnik's parent media group, Rossiya Segodnya, spoke about Julian Assange's motivation and congratulated him on his release from prison:
"Once we were chatting, as we wandered through the woods outside London, leaving our phones in the house (Julian knew that Big Brother was listening to everyone way before anyone else believed it), and I asked him why he was doing all this, since he would be hunted down, corralled, destroyed - both reputationally and physically. "I just can't stand being lied to," Assange replied. Today, he is free for the first time in years. Almost free. Despite the horrific price, I am awfully happy. The best journalist of our time will live," Simonyan wrote on her Telegram channel.
◾️ Wikileaks founder and free speech activist Julian Assange freed, heads back to Australia
◾️ Double standards: Russia’s envoy slams UN response to deadly Ukrainian attack on Sevastopol
◾️ Russia to start downing US recon drones over Black Sea after Sevastopol attack – retired security analyst
◾️ Gaza Strip facing famine, half a million to starve, says UN
For more stories, check out the following:
◾️ Slovakian Deputy Speaker: West losing on all fronts against Russia - militarily, morally, and politically, as ‘warmongers’, neoliberals suffer defeat at home
◾️ US President Joe Biden designates Kenya as key non-NATO ally of Washington
◾️ Is Netanyahu trying to swap Biden for Trump?
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❗️ Russia's peace proposals offer genuine potential to bring an end to the conflict in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin stressed, while pointing out that many Western politicians didn't even want to comprehend the true nature of these offers.
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Russia “is going to start taking out these drones” - Michael Maloof commented on US involvement in the Ukrainian terrorist attack on Sevastopol
“The fact that a drone was there providing the intelligence and data, and the use of ATACMS missiles, which requires US participation, clearly shows the escalation by the United States now. Not only to give basically the green light in attacking civilians but also now what we saw in Dagestan, where we saw all of a sudden a rise up of terrorist activities once again in Dagestan,” Retired senior security analyst Michael Maloof told Sputnik. “It has a history of that, but it’s all calculated.”
“I think [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is going to start taking out these drones. I suspect that this will be his way of responding to the US escalation, by escalating against those instruments used by the United States to help pinpoint targets,” Maloof continued. “If that isn’t sufficient, then I think the bases throughout the Middle East could be potential targets.”
“Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime,” he said.For decades, the US has at least publicly decried terrorism. That began to change when the US started supporting terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda*, in Syria. Suddenly, “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists,” became “If you are with us, you are not a terrorist.”
“We clearly see who is behind this. Just last week, the President talked about who targets these technologically complex missiles and who ensures their launches. It’s not the Ukrainians,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said of the attacks in Sevastopol. “You could turn to your colleagues in the media. Simply ask my colleagues, the press secretaries in Europe, and especially in Washington, why their government is killing Russian children.”
The Palestinian movement Hamas is ready to release the two remaining Israeli hostages with Russian citizenship as a priority, but it is necessary to first reach an agreement on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, deputy head of the Hamas politburo Musa Abu Marzouk told Sputnik.
"We have no Russians in the hostages, only Israeli citizens, but most have dual citizenship, Mexican, American, Ukrainian and others. Earlier, when there was an exchange, we released one Russian outside the deal, as a gratitude to President [Russian President Vladimir] Putin for his stance on Palestine," Marzouk noted.
"With Mr. [Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail] Bogdanov we discussed the issue of the Russians [held hostage by Hamas] and we said we are waiting for Israel to agree to a ceasefire, we said that as soon as there is a decision on this, the two Russians will be the first to be released. We are waiting for the fighting on the ground to calm down and to be able to take these people and release them," Marzouk said.
🇷🇺🇰🇵 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's visit to Russia will take place when "all the necessary conditions are right" and the basis for signing documents will be developed, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told Sputnik.
On June 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he expects Kim Jong Un to make a reciprocal visit to Moscow.
"I think as soon as all the necessary conditions for such a visit are right, and a certain base for those documents that must be signed at this level will be developed, this visit will take place," Rudenko said.
🇷🇺🇮🇷 Russia expects to sign a comprehensive cooperation agreement with Iran in the nearest future, as the work on the text of the agreement is almost complete, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told Sputnik.
"We expect that this agreement will be signed in the nearest future, as work on the text is already almost complete. All the necessary formulations have been found," Rudenko said.
The plea deal is expected to be finalized on Wednesday and resolve Julian Assange's legal case in the United States, according to CBS News.
The report said US federal prosecutors recommend Assange receive a 5-year prison sentence as part of the plea deal, but he will not be required to spend time in a US prison because he will be credited for the five years he spent in a UK prison fighting his extradition to the United States.
In the United States, Assange faces prosecution under the Espionage Act for obtaining and disclosing classified information that sheds light on numerous war crimes and human rights violations committed by US troops during the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. He initially faced up to 175 years in prison.
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The West is losing its war against Russia militarily, morally and politically, while "warmongers" keep getting defeated at the ballot box, Slovak Deputy Parliament Speaker Lubos Blaha said.
"Let's face it: the West is losing the war against Russia. Militarily, politically and morally. You don't need to do anything special, just grab some popcorn and watch the warmongers in the West lose, watch their own peoples rebel against them, watch neoliberalism fall to the bottom. Finally," Blaha, who is also a member of the ruling leftist Smer party, wrote on Telegram.
"The West is in a severe crisis. Ukrainians are bombing women and children in Crimea with Western weapons. Professional literature calls it murder," the lawmaker emphasized.