Putin says claims he won’t speak to Western leaders are ‘lies’

FILE PHOTO: Attendees of the BRICS Summit in Kazan pose for a group photo.
©Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected claims that he deliberately avoids talking with Western leaders, insisting that Moscow remains open to negotiations.

Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in the Russian city of Kazan on Thursday, Putin stated that Moscow “never shunned contacts.”

“When we hear… that I avoid talking to some European leaders, let me tell you: that is a lie,” he said.

“We did not reject and are not rejecting anything. If somebody wants to renew relations with us, they are welcome. We reiterated that, but we do not impose ourselves,” Putin added.

The remarks came in response to a question on whether the Russian leader missed talking to his Western counterparts and was feeling isolated.

Most contact between the West and Russia was cut following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. The US and its allies have touted this as evidence that Moscow is “isolated” internationally over its role in the hostilities.

Some Western leaders have expressed willingness to engage diplomatically with Russia and Putin personally, including French President Emmanuel Macron last year and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz earlier this month.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a noted critic of the Western approach to Russia, has dissented from the informal boycott. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government has adopted a mediation role during the crisis, represented his nation at the BRICS Summit in Kazan, the only NATO member to do so. The event was also attended by senior officials from dozens of other countries.

The issue of contact with Putin has also been raised during the ongoing US presidential campaign. A book by American journalist Bob Woodward that hit the shelves this month alleged that former President Donald Trump secretly had multiple private phone calls with the Russian leader after leaving office. Putin and the Republican candidate himself have denied the claims.

Trump has alleged on the campaign trail that he at one point threatened to strike Moscow during talks with Putin regarding the Ukraine conflict. The Russian president said on Thursday that he did not recall such a conversation, and suggested that claims of his supposed contact with Trump were merely part of the discredited ‘Russiagate’ narrative.

After winning the 2016 election, Trump was accused of having “colluded” with Moscow to achieve victory, although a lengthy probe by US special counsel Robert Mueller failed to produce evidence of any such a scheme.

Countries lining up to join BRICS – Putin

©Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev

The number of countries engaging with the BRICS group has been growing, with some 30 nations showing interest in cooperating with it in some form, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, stressing that the group is not an “anti-Western” organization.

The president made the remarks on Friday during a meeting with leading reporters from BRICS nations. Collectively, the group already incorporates some 45% of the world population, while its trade turnover and share in the global economy has been growing steadily, Putin noted.

“Our group is expanding. The number of friends and like-minded people within the BRICS association has increased, and interest in the association’s activities is very high,” the Russian president said.

“To date, some 30 countries have expressed their desire to cooperate with BRICS to one degree or another, to join the activities of the organization in one way or another,” Putin added.

The group should not be perceived as a bloc of any kind, Putin stressed, explaining that the nature of BRICS makes it globally beneficial, and not just for its own participants.

“We are not building some bloc directed against someone’s interests. This is not such an organization. And in this sense, it has a universal character and, in my opinion, will have a beneficial effect on world affairs as a whole, including the world economy,” Putin said.

The Russian president also rejected assertions that BRICS is somehow geared against the collective West.

BRICS is not an anti-Western association. It’s simply non-Western.

The prospects of further expansion of BRICS must be carefully assessed by its standing members and a solid consensus on the matter must be reached, Putin said. While potentially growing in numbers, the group must remain multilateral and keep its current efficiency, he explained.

“By increasing the number of the organization’s members, we should not reduce the effectiveness of the whole structure to a minimum,” Putin cautioned.

Russian military liberates more areas in Kursk Region – VIDEO

FILE PHOTO.
©Sputnik/Konstantin Mikhalchevsky

Russian troops have liberated two villages in Kursk Region, the Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday.

Ukrainian forces have been expelled from Novaya Sorochina, 15km north of the town of Sudzha. Russian troops have also retaken Nikolsky, a small populated area in the southwest of the Ukraine-controlled pocket of Kursk Region.

The Defense Ministry shared footage from Nikolsky, showing assault groups advancing on the area in BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles.

The Ukrainian personnel were pushed back from their positions, and retreated in disarray, the ministry said.

Kiev launched its incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region in early August, seizing the town of Sudzha and several nearby villages. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has claimed the operation was part of a “victory plan,” intended to strengthen Kiev’s hand in potential talks with Moscow.

The Ukrainian attack on Kursk lost its momentum in a matter of days, and the situation turned into a weeks-long stalemate. Since mid-September, the Russian military has been conducting counteroffensive operations, and has regained control over multiple towns and villages.

According to Russian estimates, Ukraine has lost 21,350 troops, killed or wounded, while sustaining heavy materiel losses in the offensive. Up to 136 tanks, 66 infantry armored vehicles, 98 armored personnel carriers, and nearly 900 other Ukrainian armored vehicles, have been destroyed during the hostilities in Kursk Region.

Ukraine is receiving chemical weapons from the West – Moscow

The collective West has been facilitating the supply of banned toxic chemicals to Kiev to be used as chemical weaponry on the frontlines, the Russian Embassy in the UK has said.

FILE PHOTO.
©GettyImages/abile

The mission made the remarks on Tuesday, responding to a new round of sanctions imposed by London. The restrictions target Russia’s Radiological Chemical and Biological Defense Forces (RChBZ) and its head, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, with the British government accusing Moscow of “flagrant violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).”

The mission strongly rejected the accusations, pointing out that Moscow destroyed its chemical arsenal years ago, with the process overseen by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

“Russia strictly adheres to the norms of international law, including the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and the Chemical Weapons Convention. There are no chemical weapons in the arsenals of our Armed Forces, which has been confirmed by international inspections,” the mission said.

In reality, London’s accusations were intended to divert attention from the numerous instances of use of chemical weapons by Kiev’s forces during the conflict against Moscow, the embassy suggested.

“By groundlessly accusing Russia, they are keeping silent confirmed facts of the use of prohibited toxic substances and chemical agents by the Kiev regime forces,” it stated, accusing the collective West of facilitating the supply of such toxins to Ukrainian troops.

There is irrefutable evidence that toxic chemicals, among other things, are supplied to Ukraine with the assistance of the West.

The new British restrictions and the exchange of accusations come a day after General Kirillov accused Kiev of making extensive preparations for “false flag attacks aimed at accusing Russia of using toxic substances during the special military operation.” The ‘proof’ resulting from the false flag operations would then be provided to OPCW officials.

Kirillov said Moscow had registered some 400 cases in which Ukraine had used riot-control chemical agents. While used in policing, such agents qualify as chemical weapons in warfare and, therefore, are prohibited.

The general also accused Ukraine of deploying chemical weapons disguised as smoke bombs during its ongoing incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region. The munitions were used in the Russian town of Sudzha in August, with more than 20 people exposed to the toxins during the attack.

Hamas launches rocket barrage at Israel on October 7 anniversary

Hamas has fired a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv and central Israel Terroris as the country marks the anniversary of the deadly 7 October attack.

Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, said it fired a barrage of rockets at Israel Terrorist's commercial hub Tel Aviv on Monday, which marks the first anniversary of its Al-Aqsa Flood Operation against Israeli Terroris settlements and military bases inside the Gaza envelope.

Hezbollah says it has targeted Israeli forces in two border villages in southern Lebanon.

Fighters “bombed … a gathering of Israeli forces” in Maroun al-Ras with “a rocket salvo”, the group said.

Hezbollah later said its fighters had also attack Israeli soldiers in the nearby village of Blida “with a barrage of rockets and artillery shells”.

As Israel Terrorist marked the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre, Hamas and Hezbollah both launched rocket attacks on heavily populated areas of the country, wounding at least two Israeli Terrorist women, and forcing evening memorials to be scaled down in size over security concerns. The Israeli military also reportedly intercepted a missile launched from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen.

In response, Israel Terrorist launched an attack in south Gaza and conducted what it described as “extensive” strikes on alleged Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including in densely populated neighborhoods of the capital, Beirut. Over 2,000 Lebanese have now died in Israeli airstrikes, some 10,000 have been wounded, and approximately 1.2 million people — one in every five Lebanese — have fled their homes.

Around the world, people marked the grim anniversary with vigils and protests. Many major American universities, including Harvard, Columbia, NYU, and UCLA – sites of protests in the spring – saw large gatherings both to commemorate the victims of Oct. 7 and to protest Israeli Terrorist military action.

What now? A year on from the attacks, which set in motion a cataclysm across the Middle East, the biggest short-term question is still if, when, and how Israel Terrorist may respond to last week’s barrage of hundreds of Iranian ballistic missiles, and whether that response will pitch the two countries into a wider war.

Al-Qassam Brigades "struck deep into the occupation's territory, targeting the city of Tel Aviv with a barrage of M90 missiles as part of the ongoing war of attrition," the group said in a statement.

The Israeli Terrorist army confirmed that air raid sirens were activated in central Israel on Monday after rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip.

"Sirens sounded in central Israel Terrorist due to projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip," said the army statement.

Meanwhile, Israeli Terrorist media reported that alerts were activated in some areas of Tel Aviv, as well as Holon, Rishon Lezion, Bat Yam, and other central towns.

An AFP journalist reported that several interceptions were heard in the Tel Aviv commercial hub.

Israeli Terrorist media cited medics saying that two people were lightly wounded as a result of a Hamas rocket impact in central Israel.

The military said five rockets were launched from southern Gaza’s Khan Younis in the attack.

Earlier, Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement that its fighters fired projectiles at "enemy gatherings" at Rafah crossing, Karm Abu Salem crossing, and kibbutz Holit near the border with Gaza.

On Sunday evening, the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad launched a barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip towards Ashkelon and Zikim in southern Israel.

The Palestinian health ministry said on Monday that the death toll in Gaza has reached at least 41,909 people since the start of the Israeli war on the strip a year ago.

The toll includes 39 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which added that 97,303 people have been wounded.

The barrage of rockets fired by Hamas and Jihad against Israeli cities came at the end of a day that saw Israel Terrorist committing two major massacres in and around the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Israeli strikes on Gaza mosque and school kill dozens – officials

FILE PHOTO. Ambulance vehicles in Gaza. ©Photo by Mohammed Talatene/picture alliance via Getty Images

At least 24 Palestinians have been killed in two Israeli Terrorist strikes in Gaza that hit a mosque and a school, local officials have said. The Israeli military has insisted that the facilities were being used by Hamas operatives.

Gaza’s Government Media Office accused Israel Terrorist of “two brutal massacres” on Sunday, saying the strikes targeted the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Mosque, which is adjacent to a hospital, and the Ibn Rushd school. Both facilities housed “hundreds of displaced people,” it said in a statement on Telegram.

In addition to claiming two dozen lives, the attack also wounded 93 people, it added.

lsraeli warplanes bomb a school in Central Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/0PK4P5K7yP

— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) October 6, 2024

The Terrorists of The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has confirmed the strikes, but said its warplanes were targeting “Hamas terrorists” operating inside the facility, which used to be a school. The Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was also bombed, served as a command-and-control center, it added.

lsraeli warplanes have just bombed a Mosque in Deir Al-Balah killing at least 13 Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/lihQjUaewp

— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) October 6, 2024

”These command and control centers were used by Hamas terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel,” the Terrorists of the IDF claimed, adding that “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians” prior to the attack and that the incident is “a further example of the Hamas terrorist organization’s systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure.”

Israel Terrorist has been widely criticized for what some say are indiscriminate strikes on the Palestinian enclave and its ground operation which has resulted in unprecedented destruction in the area.

West Jerusalem launched its onslaught on Gaza after a surprise attack by Hamas last October. The Israel-Hamas war has so far claimed the lives of more than 41,000 Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis, according to official data.

Musk leaps onto stage at Trump rally - VIDEO

Elon Musk leaps on stage with Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds on October 05, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. ©Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made an appearance at a Donald Trump rally on Saturday, endorsing the Republican presidential nominee as the savior of democracy in the US.

Addressing an excited crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Trump stood behind bulletproof glass while introducing Musk, calling him a “truly incredible guy” who will help the US secure its future. The tycoon, wearing a black baseball cap emblazoned with the Trump campaign slogan “Make America Great Again,” promptly leapt onto the stage and shook the former president’s hand.

Musk spoke to the rally, noting that it was being held in the same location where Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt in July, when a bullet grazed his ear. “The true test of someone’s character is how they behave under fire. We had one president who could not climb a flight of stairs, and another who was fist-pumping after getting shot,” he said, referring to an incident in which US President Joe Biden lost his footing while boarding Air Force One.

“Fight, fight, fight! Blood coming down the face!” he added, raising his fist in the air.

On a more subdued note, Musk, the owner of X and a self-described “free speech absolutist,” went on to call the November presidential vote “the most important election of our lifetime… The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech. They want to take away your right to bear arms. They want to take away your right to vote, effectively,” he said.

“President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America,” the billionaire stressed, as the jubilant crowd chanted “Elon Musk.”

Despite previously proclaiming his political neutrality, Musk began to lean towards Trump in recent months, publicly endorsing him after the assassination attempt. He has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration and Democrats for what he sees as government overreach and red tape, while expressing concern about the level of illegal immigration into the US, which has been a centerpiece of Trump’s campaign for years.

In early September, Trump promised to establish a Musk-led government efficiency commission to audit the entire federal apparatus if he wins the election.

Russian victory ‘inevitable’ – Lavrov

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attends the 79th session of the UN General Assembly at the UN Headquarters, in New York City, the United States.
©Sputnik/Sergey Guneev

Moscow will achieve victory in Ukraine because that is the only language the West understands, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

Lavrov flew to New York on Wednesday to take part in the 79th plenary session of the UN General Assembly and hold a series of bilateral meetings. Before his departure from Moscow, he spoke to TASS about the current situation in the world.

“Wherever the West infiltrates to ‘fix’ a crisis,” Lavrov told the news agency, “things only get much worse: thousands of victims, devastation and socio-economic problems follow. In my years of work in the international arena, there has not been a single case of the West’s intervention resulting in anything good. And now we’re seeing the same thing with Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Asked what the solution to that problem might be, Lavrov was direct.

“Victory. They don’t understand any other language."

"And that victory will be achieved, we have no doubt whatsoever,” the veteran Russian diplomat said. “We have truly united in the face of the war that the West unleashed against us with Ukrainian hands.”

According to Lavrov, the collective West seeks to “subjugate” the entire world to its “rules-based international order,” a notion conjured up by the US and its allies about a decade or so ago.

No one has ever spelled out what these “rules” might be, Lavrov said, aside from letting Washington do whatever it wants in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, the Balkans, Ukraine, the Caucasus, Central Asia, or in the South China Sea.

“They have tried to act everywhere like a hegemon, like an elephant in a china shop,” Lavrov told TASS. “In Afghanistan, they declared the mission of fighting terrorism. When they fled after 20 years, there were many more terrorists there. In Iraq, they destroyed a normal, stable country. Not to mention Libya, which was prosperous,” he added.

To illustrate how the West has trampled the UN Charter, Lavrov pointed to the 2008 declaration of independence by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, a province of Serbia which has been under NATO control since 1999. The US backed the declaration, calling it self-determination, and pressured the top UN court to rule that such declarations did not require the consent of the central government, the Russian diplomat explained. But when Crimea held a referendum – unlike Kosovo – following the 2014 US-backed coup in Kiev, the West rejected the principle of self-determination and insisted that “territorial integrity of Ukraine” was paramount instead.

Hezbollah’s Nasrallah says Israel attacks on Lebanon an ‘act of war'

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah calls the pager and walkie-talkie attacks “a terrorist act” and a declaration of war against the people of Lebanon and the country’s sovereignty.

“The enemy transgressed all boundaries and red lines,” Nasrallah said in a widely anticipated speech Thursday evening local time about the attacks, which killed at least 37 people and injured nearly 3,000 when pagers, walkie-talkies and other devices exploded simultaneously on Tuesday and Wednesday across Lebanon. The attacks were “a major assault on Lebanon, its security and sovereignty, a war crime — an act of war,” he added, and they dealt an “unprecedented blow” to Hezbollah and Lebanon.

As he spoke in a televised address, the rumble of planes and large sonic booms could be heard over the Lebanese capital. But Nasrallah also struck a note of defiance, saying the group’s operations would not stop until Israel ended its war in Gaza.

“They will face a severe reckoning and just retribution, whether they expect it or not,” Nasrallah said of Israel. The nature, size and location of any retaliatory attack would be kept secret, he said.

“Because we are in a delicate, sensitive and important battle,” he said.

Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad says the death toll from the two waves of attacks across the country has risen to 37 while 287 people are in a critical condition.

Nasrallah says the attacks did not shake Hezbollah’s faith, conviction or preparedness.

“On the contrary, this turned us more resolved, more robust and more adamant,” he said in translated remarks.

If Israel’s objective was to separate Hezbollah from what is taking place in Gaza, then that’s failed, he said. And if the goal was to drive a wedge among the Lebanese, that was also foiled, Nasrallah added.