Politics

President Vladimir Putin attended the “Our Family” competition – an event aimed at promoting traditional Russian family values – and greeted the participants with a smile during his visit to the All-Russian Exhibition Center in Moscow on July 8.

Knewz.com has learned that the all-smiles meet-and-greet came hours after Russia conducted one of the most brutal missile strikes on Ukraine, particularly destroying a children’s hospital in Kyiv.

On July 8, the Russian Day of Family, Love, and Faithfulness, the autocrat met with the finalist families of the competition and emphasized family values and the importance of working together.

“Since you decided to take part in this contest, a family contest, it means that you not only felt like a family team, but you were willing to work together to achieve a common goal. Nothing unites people like working together to achieve a common goal,” Putin told the contestants, per the official Kremlin news release.

“For us, for the state, nothing is more important than strengthening families, especially during the Year of the Family in Russia. I wish you all a happy Family, Love and Faithfulness Day. And I wish every one of you a happy life as a family.”

The “Our Family” competition was launched in 2023 to promote “traditional values, identify and support families with an active position in life,” the news release explained.

Notably, Putin’s seemingly cheerful attendance at the competition came hours after the devastating Russian missile strike on Ukraine, which unleashed nationwide death and destruction.

While the central city of Kryvyi Rih bore the brunt of the attack, the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv – the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine – saw significant devastation as a partially collapsed two-story wing of the facility left rescuers in a desperate search for survivors under the rubble.

Windows and doors of the 10-story main building of the hospital blew out and the walls were blackened, while blood was found spattered on the floor in one of the rooms.

Medical personnel and local residents worked together to remove the rubble and search for children and staff who were trapped underneath.

Smoke billowed from the building while volunteers, emergency crews, and locals formed a human chain, passing stones and debris to each other in a frantic effort to reach potential survivors, it was reported by The Associated Press.

The missile barrage included the difficult-to-intercept Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, one of Russia’s most advanced weapons, known for its speed. The Kinzhal flies at ten times the speed of sound, making it almost impossible for defense systems to react.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shared the grim news on Telegram, saying the exact number of casualties was still unknown. “It is very important that the world should not be silent about it now and that everyone should see what Russia is and what it is doing,” Zelensky stated.

Prior to meeting the contestant of the “Our Family” competition, Putin met the participants of the World Youth Festival. A press release from the Kremlin regarding the meeting stated:

“Council members will participate in various youth events across Russian regions. Towards the end of the year, a forum for young journalists from around the globe is scheduled, alongside the creation of an international association of citizen journalism.”

The Russian President met the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the following day, who said during the “informal” meeting that visiting “a friend in his home is a delight.”

The two leaders visited the Atom Pavilion at Moscow’s All-Russian Exhibition Center during Modi’s second day of visit, on July 9.

“The leaders toured an exhibition showcasing Russia-India cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, among other things. Afterwards, they had a brief conversation with a group of Russian and Indian nuclear engineering students,” the Kremlin.News Telegram channel reported.

The Indian news outlet United News of India wrote that the Russian state atomiс energy corporation Rosatom is currently in talks with the Indian capital New Delhi for the construction of nuclear power units and low-power nuclear plants in India.

Pop singer Taylor Swift and cultural icon Oprah Winfrey are likely to be some of the moderators of the possible “blitz primary”—where potential Democrats will duke it out for the presidential ballot, replacing Joe Biden in the run for Office.

Knewz.com has learned that the 81-year-old incumbent president has seemingly failed to invoke the confidence of his supporters following the first presidential debate of the year on June 27.

Biden’s performance at the June 27 debate has led to prominent Democrats calling on him to take his name out of the running, something that has infuriated the President.

Whether it was while voicing his criticism of challenger Donald Trump or trying to answer his allegations against his presidency, Biden was found stumbling his way through his statements, especially towards the beginning of the CNN debate.

While talking about border security – a rather crucial topic for this year’s presidential election – Biden’s statement became increasingly unintelligible, with Trump grabbing the chance to reply: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said, either.”

Another notable example was when he tried to respond to a question about the national debt, and he trailed off toward the end of his response and ended his statement with another one of his verbal gaffes, saying, “We finally beat Medicare.”

Trump immediately pounced on the opportunity when it was his turn to respond: “Well he’s right, he did beat Medicare. He beat it to death and he’s destroying Medicare.”

Several senior House Democrats reportedly admitted to believing Biden should not run for Office anymore in a private meeting on Sunday, July 7.

The ones to have lost confidence in Biden as an able contender in the 2024 Presidential elections include Democrat Congressional Representatives Jerry Nadler and Joe Morelle of New York, Adam Smith of Washington, Jim Himes of Connecticut, and Mark Takano of California, sources have told The Wall Street Journal.

In the face of the ongoing turmoil regarding Biden’s candidacy, the Democrat camp has reportedly proposed a plan that would involve the incumbent president stepping down from the ballot and the party carrying out a “blitz primary” process ahead of the Democratic National Convention to determine his replacement.

It was reported by Semafor that the plan was the brainchild of Rosa Brooks, a Georgetown University law professor who served in the Obama and Clinton administrations and was a volunteer policy adviser to the Biden campaign in 2020, and Ted Dintersmith, education philanthropist and venture capitalist known to have donated to several Democrat campaigns.

“In the midst of malaise and crisis, we can forge an uplifting path,” the latter told the outlet.

As part of the proposed plan, potential candidates would be given a few days to announce their candidacy, following which the party would select six candidates with the most votes from delegates would “pledge to run positive-only [short] campaigns in the month leading up to the convention,” per Semafor.

In a bid to engage voters, the six candidates would engage in weekly forums during the month-long sprint curated by culturally relevant and popular celebrities. The list of possible curators reportedly includes names like Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, and former First Lady Michelle Obama.

“We can limp to shameful, avoidable democracy-ending defeat. Or Democrats can make this Our Finest Hour. While we hope for help from Lord Almighty, the Lord helps those who help themselves,” the memo about the proposed plan states, according to Semafor. “We need to act. Now.”

News of the Democratic Party’s receding faith in his candidacy has reached Biden’s ears, as he dared disgruntled Democrats to run against him during a Morning Joe interview on Monday, July 8.

“I’m getting so frustrated by the elites … in the party. With any of these guys who don’t think I should run — run against me… Challenge me at the [Democratic National Convention, to be held in August],” Biden said in the interview, via OK! Magazine.

On the other hand, Radar Online reported that comedian and actor Whoopi Goldberg echoed the voices of those who still support the incumbent president on the TV show The View on July 8.

“I don’t care if he’s pooped his pants. I don’t care if he can’t put a sentence together. Show me he can’t do the job and then I’ll say, okay, maybe it’s time to go,” she said, per the outlet.

“Now, he had a bad night the first time that he went on and debated with Kamala Harris [in 2020], and everybody wanted him to quit then, saying: ‘You can’t talk to women like this’ or ‘You’re doing this wrong, you’re doing that wrong,” Goldberg added. “He came back, said, ‘You know what? I got it,’ and gave four years.”

While the first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump merely offers hints about the Oval Office occupant for 2025, Europe, Canada, Korea, and Russia are already certain of the outcome.

Knewz.com has learned that NATO, Germany, Canada, and Turkish decision-makers in the country’s capital Ankara, are putting measures in place to deal with the possibility of Trump winning the election.

The upcoming NATO anniversary in Brussels, which would have typically centered on the war in Ukraine, is expected to prioritize discussions on the looming Trump administration instead.

Reports have since telegraphed mixed sentiments from various European thought leaders including NATO head, Jens Stoltenberg.

When grilled by the press on Friday, July 5, he sidestepped the questions regarding Biden’s health and by extension, what it spells for NATO and the war in Ukraine.

“What I can do, and NATO can do, is that we can focus on the substance of NATO. And that’s exactly what we’ll do,” he told the press.

Notably, the military organization’s efforts to lock in long-term support for the war in Ukraine (lest Trump come to power and put an end to Biden’s stream of handouts) have also been documented.

Turkey, on the other hand, is concerned about potential policy changes in Syria should the White House become conservative again, and has thus resorted to reviewing a distilled compilation of conservative and right-wing policy ideas named Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.

South Korea also betrayed the same concerns when it tried to prematurely renew a deal with America to hold onto the 28,000 troops stationed in its country. 

Back in the United States, various secret sitdowns between German and Canadian officials, and conservative power brokers, have been reported.

The subject matter of these meetings allegedly spread to closed-door working breakfasts comprising various European ambassadors in Washington.

It was during one of these gatherings, in a brainstorming session on how to prepare for the Republican front-runner, that an unnamed envoy posed the questions:

“Can we truly prepare for Trump?”

“Or do we rather have to wait and see what the new reality would look like?” per Politico

A key aspect of Trump’s Europe policies while he was in office was that he wanted his NATO allies to shell out more capital on their defense. To demonstrate his resolve he even threatened to withdraw the U.S. from NATO.

Be this as it may, he recently claimed that he was capable of ending the Ukraine war in 24 hours. 

One prospective strategy to achieve this was to present Russia with an ultimatum: withdraw, or face a deluge of American weapons sent to Ukraine.

However indirectly, Russia has since acknowledged the likelihood of Trump returning to office. 

During a meeting with the press, Vladimir Putin stated: “The fact that Mr Trump, as a presidential candidate, declares that he is ready and wants to stop the war in Ukraine, we take this completely seriously.”

President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, is believed to be wielding significant power behind the scenes.

Knewz.com has learned of the growing belief that Hunter Biden has high stakes invested in his father’s political success, including the outcome of his felony tax trial in California.

With this being the case, anyone in the Democratic ranks entertaining the idea of taking over the reins of power would have to deal with Hunter first—a task may prove difficult given the perceived wiliness of the first son.

This perception, touted to and by right-leaning politicos, has been fueled by the observations that Hunter has stuck by his father’s side from the days leading up to the first presidential debate, including the first family’s stay at Camp David, to his continued post-debate presence at the White House.

According to documented (unnamed) sources, Hunter has postured himself as a “gatekeeper” to the first family—the President included, and even goes as far as sitting in on meetings with senior staffers.

White House seniors are reportedly not impressed with the general sentiment being: “What the hell is happening?”

The latter adds fuel to the allegation that the first son has always considered himself smarter than various presidential aides.

Congress has become aware of this behavior with Intelligence Committee head, Mike Turner, demanding insights as to whether the embattled 54-year-old with a spotty track record is also sitting in on classified briefings.

Hunter is believed to have at least some control over his father since the death of his older brother, Beau, in 2015. Notably, his confident demeanor around the White House – including during a recent Medal of Honor ceremony where he appeared to work the room and network – is considered a nod to the latter.

Further enforcing the idea of Hunter’s capacity for guile, cited assertions by friends suggest that the former drug addict and party animal is actually intelligent, methodical, and manipulative. 

Along with these qualities, he is noted to be self-serving, and given his legal quandaries and the looming prospect of jail, his father’s success in his bid for another presidential term is perceived as of utmost importance to Hunter.

Hunter’s ambitions, as he works outside the spotlight come despite his father’s claims that he (Joe) would not issue the first son a presidential pardon if he were handed a jail sentence.

According to an opinion piece by right-leaning New York-based Columnist, Miranda Devine, a friend of Biden’s claimed that “Hunter will be enjoying the feeling of control he has at the center of the constitutional crisis facing the nation.”

Devine, in the article published by the New York Post, refers to the first son as a “proxy commander in chief” claiming that he is “the Real Point Person.” 

She goes on to say that Hunter’s perceived influence in the context of his father’s controversial cognitive state is bad news for not only the Democrats but the United States too.

Eric Holcomb, the Republican governor of Indiana, has stated that he intends to carry out the first execution in the state since 2009.

Knewz.com has learned that Holcomb is seeking a date for the execution of a man convicted of quadruple homicide.

Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a motion to the Supreme Court on June 26, requesting a date for the execution of Joseph Corcoran.

The Republican Governor released a statement regarding the proposed execution of Corcoran, saying that “after years of effort,” the state’s Department of Correction has acquired the drug Pentobarbital used in lethal injections.

“Accordingly, I am fulfilling my duties as governor to follow the law and move forward appropriately in this matter,” Governor Holcomb said in the statement.

Attorney General Rokita also made a statement regarding the matter:

“In Indiana, state law authorizes the death penalty as a means of providing justice for victims of society’s most heinous crimes and holding perpetrators accountable… Further, it serves as an effective deterrent for certain potential offenders who might otherwise commit similar extreme crimes of violence.”

“Now that the Indiana Department of Correction is prepared to carry out the lawfully imposed sentence, it’s incumbent on our justice system to immediately enable executions in our prisons to resume.”

Corcoran, a man from Allen County, Indiana, was convicted in 1997 of fatally shooting his brother James Corcoran, his sister’s fiancé Robert Scott Turner, and two of their friends: Timothy Bricker and Douglas Stillwell.

Citing archived newspaper articles, local news outlet Indy Star reported that on the night of the incident, Corcoran got angry with the victims because he thought they were talking about him.

After putting his niece to bed, he gunned down the victims using a semiautomatic rifle.

Corcoran has been on death row since 1999 and has been awaiting his execution ever since he ran out of Federal Appeals in 2016, per a report by The Associated Press. According to the Indiana Department of Corrections database, he is currently held at the Indiana State Prison.

Notably, Governor Holcomb’s decision to resume executions in Indiana after a 15-year gap has faced criticisms from Catholic activists in the state.

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, said in a statement via Detroit Catholic:

“15 years since Indiana’s last execution — a hiatus brought on in part because of the state’s struggle to purchase lethal injection drugs.”

“Like many other states, Indiana has been met with difficulty in procuring lethal injection drugs after the pharmaceutical companies which provide them have opted not to have their products be used to kill.”

It is worth noting that many states have had to find a workaround to carry on executions without the use of lethal injection.

In January 2024, Alabama became the first state in the country to use nitrogen hypoxia in carrying out an execution.

She further pointed out that although the state has not conducted executions since 2009, ” [Indiana] houses the federal death row at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, and therefore still carries the dark stain of a six-month federal execution spree which was conducted during the Trump administration [in 2020].”

“After a 17-year hiatus of federal executions, former President (Donald) Trump oversaw 13 hurried executions before the end of his term — many of which took place in the dark of night,” Murphy added.

Anonymous officials have alleged that China is developing and testing attack drones similar to Iranian Shahed UAVs for Russia.

Knewz.com has learned that the U.S. and its allies have already warned China against showing support for Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine.

The use of kamikaze drones has become crucial in the Ukraine war, with Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces carrying out successful strikes against high-value Russian targets using cheaply manufactured Ukrainian drones.

Recently, a Ukrainian First-Person-View (FPV) drone decimated a Russian tank – believed to be a T-72 – with video footage showing the expensive war machine up in flames.

Dmytro Lysenko, a drone pilot with the 109th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, said in a statement to Kyiv Post that while Russia fires artillery shells and other munitions at them, the drones at Ukraine’s disposal are a force to be reckoned with.

“A shell can fly and miss, and that’s it. But a drone pilot aims and will be very accurate when they drop an explosive,” Lysenko told the outlet.

China and Russia reportedly held talks in 2023 about collaborating on the development of Shahed-like attack drones, although the Xi Jinping administration has been publicly maintaining neutrality in the conflict.

Anonymous Western officials recently told Bloomberg that China has allegedly begun the development and testing of attack drones meant for Russia.

While Russia has been using Shahed drones in the Ukraine war since the beginning and has even established a factory to mass-produce the attack drones, the officials are worried that China might be able to replicate the technology of Shahed at a much higher rate.

Chinese military websites and several other media outlets have also stated that the nation is developing a new kamikaze drone named the Sunflower 200, which looks similar to the Shahed 136 drone from Iran, Bloomberg noted.

On the other hand, an American official told the outlet that, according to the current U.S. understanding of the situation, China is deliberating “whether to send fully built unmanned aerial vehicles, but in the meantime is sending kits that can be converted into attack drones.”

“The US still doesn’t conclude that China is sending lethal aid to Russia, the person said, while acknowledging that other nations may have a different interpretation,” Bloomberg wrote.

It is worth noting that directly providing weapons and artillery to Russia would immediately impose strict sanctions on China and could trigger other forms of direct actions against the second-largest economy in the world.

Notably, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement back in May 2024 that China had not yet been seen directly providing weapons to Russia. Bloomberg further wrote that Chinese President Jinping had reportedly given President Zelensky his word regarding the same at the 2024 G7 Summit.

Liu Pengyu, the spokesman for the Chinese embassy in the U.S., said in a statement that the nation does not provide weapons to either party involved in the Ukraine war, and “strictly controls exports of dual-use articles.”

“On the Ukraine crisis, it is quite clear to the international community who is calling for dialogue and striving for peace, and who is fueling the fight and inciting confrontation… We urge the relevant countries to immediately stop fueling the fight and inciting confrontation,” the spokesperson said, via Bloomberg.

However, Julianne Smith, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, said in a statement to Bloomberg Television on July 2:

“China takes every effort, every chance it can get to argue that somehow it’s a neutral player in this war in Ukraine, but in reality the PRC [People’s Republic of China, the official name of the nation] is providing a long list of dual-use components, things like machine tools and microelectronics that are enabling Russia to pursue this war of aggression in Ukraine.”

“Here inside NATO, we’re making sure that we can expose the fact that the PRC is no longer a neutral player and warn China about the risk of getting behind Russia in this unprovoked war of aggression,” Smith added.

In the face of battlefield shortages, Volodymyr Zelensky seems to have taken a page out of Russia’s playbook and mobilized over 3,000 prisoners to join Ukraine‘s armed forces.

Knewz.com has learned that this development came right ahead of pro-Russian NATO leader Victor Orbán’s Kyiv visit.

For the first time since the beginning of the Ukraine war, Zelenssky has turned to the embattled nation’s prisons to fortify the ranks of the armed forces.

Through a “controversial mobilization bill,” the Ukrainian parliament has granted parole to over 3,000 prisoners and assigned them to military units.

“A lot of the motivation comes from (inmates) wanting to return home a hero, and not to return home from prison,” Ukrainian Deputy Justice Minister Olena Vysotska said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Per the news service, Ukrainian military recruiters are using the ideal of patriotism as a selling point for the recruitment program, for which around 27,000 inmates could potentially be eligible (based on the estimates provided by Ukraine’s Justice Ministry).

“You can put an end to this and start a new life… The main thing is your will, because you are going to defend the motherland. You won’t succeed at 50%, you have to give 100% of yourself, even 150%,” a military recruiter from Ukraine’s volunteer assault battalion told prisoners at a penal colony in the Dnipropetrovsk region, via The Associated Press.

As the Ukraine war enters its 29th month, Zelensky’s forces face an acute manpower shortage on the battlefield.

While Russia has been doing the same for a while now, with Vladimir Putin pardoning murderers and cannibals for their service in the war, Ukraine wants “to draw a distinction between their program” and the Russian recruitment of convicts, per The Associated Press.

For starters, inmates convicted of rape, sexual assault, murdering two or more people, or crimes against Ukraine’s national security are not eligible for military recruitment.

Another difference is that Russia has shown a trend of deploying released convicts at the bloodiest of battles, while Ukrainian officials have stated that the inmates recruited by the armed forces will be assigned to regular frontline battalions.

“After screening, paroled inmates are rushed to basic training at camps where they learn how to handle weapons and other combat fundamentals. Training is completed later once they join the individual units,” The Associated Press reported.

The latest development came ahead of Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán’s scheduled visit to the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday, July 2, during which he will be meeting President Zelensky.

Notably, Hungary has repeatedly been a thorn in the side of the European Union‘s (EU) aid packages for Ukraine, blockading them on several grounds in the past few instances.

Furthermore, Orbán was one of the few EU leaders who continued to buy Russian fuel at a time when boycotting business with Putin‘s energy infrastructure cost other countries—like Germany—billions, per POLITICO.

The Guardian pointed out that this is Orbán’s first visit to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion, while Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó has made over five visits to Russia since the war began.

One of the sources from the Hungarian administration told The Guardian that the Kyiv visit came after a lengthy negotiation with the Ukrainian administration over nationality rights for the Hungarian-speaking minority in Ukraine.

“It was a precondition for the meeting that the issue of nationality rights was resolved. In recent weeks, an agreement has been reached. They will be able to announce this as a success,” the source told the outlet.

One of the most pro-Russian members of NATO, Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the EU on July 1, a day before the Kyiv visit, and will be at the helm for the next six months.

Seeing Hungary at the helm of European diplomacy has already sparked significant concern, with French Green MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield calling the Hungarian presidency a “fiasco for the European Union” and a “concerning” development for European democracy, via a separate report by The Guardian.

“You can be completely [negatively] influencing the rule of law now in the EU, and have your presidency,” she added.

Robert F. Kennedy (RFK Jr.), America’s independent election contender, has been accused of animal cruelty and the abuse of a babysitter.

Knewz.com has learned that RFK Jr., who comes from a pedigree of politicians, allegedly committed these infractions as early as 26 years ago.

According to a Variety exclusive, Kennedy’s latest questionable action occured in 2023. It pertained to a photo of himself, an unknown female, and the barbequed carcass of what a veterinarian thinks is a dog.

In the photo, Kennedy and the female appear to be mimicking taking a massive bite out of the animal. This photo was forwarded by Kennedy to a friend who was traveling in Asia at the time.

Along with the photo, Kennedy noted that there was a restaurant in South Korea serving dog, and that said unnamed traveler could enjoy canine meat there.

According to the exposé, the photo’s metadata indicated that it had been taken in 2010 which was the same year Kennedy had had a dead tapeworm in his brain.

A second never-before-heard accusation surfaced in the article and this stemmed from the diary of Eliza Cooney, who was 23 at the time. Cooney worked as a babysitter for Kennedy and his wife Mary Richardson in 1998.

Her first uncomfortable brush with the politician occured during a meeting between herself, a volunteer at the politician’s Riverkeeper nonprofit organization, and Kennedy.

While sitting next to him, Cooney claimed, she felt his hand moving up and down her leg. 

At the time the babysitter was not completely oblivious of the Kennedys and their colorful track records.

Her diary entry at the time betrayed her concerns:

“From everything everybody says about the Kennedys + their Babysitters, they had me worried. Like I have to watch out, be careful.”

“And the other night in the kitchen w/ Murray I could have sworn he was touching my leg + hand. It seemed like he thought I was somebody else or wasn’t paying attention. Like he would come to every once in a while and snap out of it or I would move away. It was like he was on something or really tired or was missing Mary or was testing me,” she wrote.

When the now 48-year-old Cooney was asked for comment on the matter, she said: “In the back of my mind, I was hoping it wasn’t what it actually was”—but weeks later, Kennedy would make things uncomfortable again.

Cooney found him standing shirtless in her room and he asked her to rub lotion on his back. She claims to have completed the task quickly while thinking: “Isn’t Mary home?”

“Doesn’t she do this for you?”

Kennedy would make a more robust pass at Cooney on a third occasion. She recalled standing in the pantry in her sports bra and leggings when he groped her.

“My back was to the door of the pantry, and he came up behind me. I was frozen. Shocked,” Cooney’s diary entry noted.

The harassment was cut short by another worker entering the kitchen and saying something along the lines of “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” or “Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want your wife to know about.”

According to an Ipsos poll, Kennedy along with his Silicon Valley running mate, Nicole Shanahan, currently enjoys 16% of the American voter base.

The two’s campaign has been characterized by fringe thinking and conspiracy theories with one of their most illustrious insinuations being that the U.S. government is being ruled by “demonic” forces, per MSNBC News.

A think tank known to have significant influence over the policies of Russia suggested that President Vladimir Putin should consider a “demonstrative” nuclear explosion in a bid to deter the West from supporting Ukraine.

Knewz.com has learned that the suggestion came right on the heels of Putin’s warning regarding Ukraine’s use of Western weapons to strike Russian territories.

Dmitry Suslov, a senior member of the Moscow-based think tank Council for Foreign and Defence Policy, wrote about the suggestion in the Russian business magazine Profile towards the end of May 2024.

“In order to confirm the seriousness of Russia’s intentions and the conviction of our opponents that Moscow is ready to escalate, it is worth considering a demonstration (i.e. not a military) nuclear explosion,” Suslov wrote.

“The political and psychological effect of the nuclear mushroom, which will be shown live by all the television channels of the world, I hope, will return to Western politicians that one, which prevented wars between the great powers after 1945 and that they have now largely lost, – fear of a nuclear war.”

His suggestion came at a time when the Western allies of Ukraine had been deliberating the scope of the nation’s use of foreign weapons in the war.

Initially, Germany and the United States were on the fence regarding Ukraine’s use of their weapons to strike targets beyond the embattled nation’s border with Russia.

In an interview with Tagesschau television on May 26, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz mentioned his intention to stay firm on his weapons policy: “There are clear rules that have been agreed with Ukraine and that apply to the supply of German weapons. At least, that is my position.”

In his article on Profile, Suslov said that “if a positive decision is made on this issue,” it “will bring the conflict to a fundamentally different level, it will mean erasing one of the brightest ‘red lines’ that existed since February 24, 2022.”

He added that the move would signal “the direct entry of the United States and NATO into the war against Russia.”

The Russian think tank senior member also said that “the voices of those who claim that this time Moscow will not cause military damage directly to Western countries are louder.”

“This logic inevitably leads to the third world war. And if right now the further involvement of the West in the conflict in Ukraine is not stopped, then the full-fledged, “hot” war between Russia and NATO will become inevitable.”

“Moreover, due to the superiority of the United States and NATO in the field of conventional weapons, this war will certainly go to the nuclear level,” Suslov added.

He suggested that in order to deter the Western bloc from letting Ukraine use its weapons on Putin’s territory, Russia needs to carry out a mock nuclear explosion, thus making a more tangible threat to the West regarding its weapons policy.

Suslov’s threats came a day after President Putin warned the West of “serious consequences” regarding the same.

“This constant escalation can lead to serious consequences… Representatives of countries that are NATO members, particularly in Europe, should be aware of what they are playing with,” Putin had said towards the end of May, via The Presidency of Russia.

Earlier in June, following the first use of American munition by Ukraine to attack targets in Russia, Sergei Ryabkov, the deputy foreign minister of Russia, reminded the West of Putin’s warning.

“I urge these figures [in the US] … to spend some of their time, which they apparently spend on some kind of video games, judging by the lightness of their approach, on studying what was said in detail by Putin,” Ryabkov said, via The Telegraph.

“I would like to warn American leaders against miscalculations that could have fatal consequences. For unknown reasons, they underestimate the seriousness of the rebuff they may receive.”

While suggestions made by Suslov’s think tank have significant sway over the Kremlin‘s policies, Russia, currently in possession of the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, has yet to comment on his statement.

Reuters, however, reported that Western security experts are concerned about Russia “inching towards” nuclear tests.

“There was no immediate comment on Suslov’s proposal from the Kremlin, which has said Russia’s nuclear policy remains unchanged while signaling its displeasure with what it cast as increasingly aggressive Western rhetoric on arming Kyiv earlier this month by ordering tactical nuclear weapons drills,” Reuters wrote.

Donald Trump reportedly has a secret weapon in his strategy to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis: her alleged secret romance with erstwhile special prosecutor Nathan Wade.

Knewz.com has learned that the former president has presented a petition to the Court of Appeals to review Judge Scott McAfee’s decision to keep Willis as a prosecutor on the Trump case.

Willis prosecuted Trump and 18 co-defendants for the violation of 16 Georgia statutes, including racketeering, in connection to the allegation that Trump tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

Apart from citing the alleged romance with Wade, Trump also claimed in his petition that Willis “poisoned the jury pool by making racially charged remarks about the case at a historic Black church at downtown Atlanta on Martin Luther King Jr. Day,” according to The New York Sun.

Trump argued in his appeal that “DA Willis has engaged in a pattern of consistently flouting her ethical obligations” since the beginning of the investigations and that her “previous improper conduct was neither inadvertent nor isolated, and was both planned and part of a long-standing, wrongful practice,” per the outlet.

He stated that the Fulton County DA should be removed from the case “for intentionally and repeatedly violating ethical and professional canons to prejudice defendants for personal or political gain.”

“By persistently untethering herself from the legal, ethical, and professional constraints of her powerful position, [Willis] has decimated the integrity of these proceedings [against Trump],” the former president added in his appeal, per The New York Sun.

Judge McAfee let Willis stay on the case despite finding some of her public remarks “legally improper” and noting a “significant appearance of impropriety” in Willis’s behavior, for which Trump accused the Judge of having “abused his discretion.”

According to the state law of Georgia, the court of appeals has the authority to review all the aspects of Judge McAfee’s decision, which would give Trump an opening to present all his arguments anew.

The law dictates, according to Justia:

“For purposes of review by the appellate court, one or more judgments, rulings, or orders by the trial court held to be erroneous on appeal shall not be deemed to have rendered all subsequent proceedings nugatory; but the appellate court shall in all cases review all judgments, rulings, or orders raised on appeal which may affect the proceedings below and which were rendered subsequent to the first judgment, ruling, or order held erroneous.”

The New York Sun noted that if Trump can impeach Willis and Wade’s testimony, along with their sworn affidavits, regarding the chronology of their affair through the appeal, “the case for reversing Judge McAfee will grow stronger.”

Furthermore, catching the DA and the erstwhile special prosecutor in a fib would undermine their credibility regarding the case.

According to Trump’s appeal (via The New York Sun), “Cell records proved that, during the period that Willis and Wade claimed not to be romantically involved, there were 2073 calls and 9792 texts between them—an average of 6.2 calls and 29.3 texts per day.”

Trump also cited the trips Willis took with Wade, while he was on the case as a special prosecutor, to locations like Aruba, Belize, and Napa Valley, which Wade’s credit card reportedly paid for.

DA Willis had stated that she paid him back with cash she had stored at her home. Trump contested the claim, calling it a “wholly unsupported explanation of cash repayments,” and requested the court of appeals to look into it.

While Judge McAfee noted that there is no “ledger” documenting these transactions, he mentioned that Willis’s “account was not so incredible as to be inherently unbelievable.”