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UN General Assembly

UNGA General Debate to be bare bones this year as four permanent members skip out — expert

"The only member of the highest decision-making body who will speak is" US President Joe Biden, Guga Chacra underscored

RIO DE JANEIRO, September 19. /TASS/. The opening of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the coming General Debate will be lacking something without the leaders of four out of the five countries with permanent seats on the UN Security Council, namely Russia, Great Britain, China and France, Guga Chacra wrote in an opinion piece for O Globo.

"Four out of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council will not participate in the General Debate of the UN General Assembly. [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, [Chinese leader] Xi Jinping, [British Prime Minister] Rishi Sunak and [French leader] Emmanuel Macron will not be in New York this week. The only member of the highest decision-making body who will speak is the host, [US President] Joe Biden. These absences, along with the non-attendance of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, show how lean the most important annual event of the entity that brings together 193 countries will be this year," the columnist wrote in the Brazilian newspaper on Monday.

The high-level week of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly opens in New York on September 19. It is traditionally attended by heads of state and government as well as foreign ministers and representatives of international organizations from around the globe. This year’s High-Level Week will be held with no health restrictions for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic, with speakers being obliged to address all events in person and no video addresses being allowed.

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UN General Assembly

Military operation in Ukraine

North Korean leader sees missile strikes inside Russia as Western involvement in conflict

According to the North Korean leader, it should be shown to the "US-led provocative forces" that they will achieve nothing useful if they ignore Russia's warning

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Bilateral exchanges between Russia, North Korea their own business — Chinese MFA

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Russia works on transforming '3+3' platform into organization — senior diplomat

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West deploying troops to Ukraine to up ante in fight with Russia — senior diplomat

Mikhail Galuzin described such plans as provocative and noted that they "confirm the West’s intention to continue its profound engagement in a direct standoff with Russia"

Biden unlikely to dare to seriously increase military aid to Kiev — expert

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets with Russian defense minister — KCNA

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"We look forward to close and fruitful cooperation with our Korean comrades," Andrey Belousov said

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Lavrov clarifies Russia's position on Ukraine crisis to foreign diplomats — MFA

"Participants in the roundtable exchanged views on the conflict and other pressing international topics," the ministry stated

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Andrey Kelin noted that "the British have utterly ignored all our warnings and opted for escalatory actions to further worsen the Ukrainian crisis"

Romania, Poland, Germany, UK plan to divide Ukraine — Russia's foreign intel

"A total of 100,000 so-called peacekeepers are planned to be sent to Ukraine," the SVR noted

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According to Richard Moore, the cost of supporting Kiev was "well known"

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Alexander Stepanov emphasized that both Kiev and its Western allies are closely scrutinizing the consequences of the strike on the plant

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Nikolay Patrushev said that in a situation like this Russia should firmly defend its position and prepare tools for the "comprehensive management of maritime activities aimed at ensuring national interests"

Press review: CSTO discusses Russian weapons as US and Russia continue prisoner talks

Top stories from the Russian press on Friday, November 29th

Russia’s top diplomat slams NATO for discussions of preemptive strikes on Russia

"These claims were made by some admiral. Absolutely reckless. They have a lot of high-ranking military officials who have never even seen real battle," Sergey Lavrov stated

Kiev's defeatist rhetoric may be masking planned attacks on Russia — expert

The enemy may be trying to lull us into a false sense of security by saying that their situation is bad, only to hit us by surprise, Andrey Marochko said

Russian forces wipe out five ATACMS launchers using Iskander missiles

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Sending EU troops to Ukraine to make peace settlement impossible — Austrian lawmaker

Harald Vilimsky noted that the joint deployment of European troops will further escalate the security situation in Europe

Strike on NATO bases possible in case of escalation, Medvedev says

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Russia ready for talks with Ukraine on conditions proposed in June — Putin

The head of state held a meeting with the leadership of the Russian Foreign Ministry in June, where he listed the conditions for talks with Ukraine

Russians wipe out three Ukrainian strongholds, over 20 Azov fighters in advance on Kharkov

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Putin apologizes to Merkel over labrador incident

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Decision-making centers in Kiev could be targeted in Oreshnik strikes — Putin

The Russian leader also mentioned military facilities and defense industry enterprises as possible targets

Western handlers beginning to dump Zelensky — Ukrainian politician

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Kremlin considers militants' attack on Aleppo encroachment on Syria's sovereignty

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Hungarian PM’s office rules out his trip to Moscow for 80th anniversary of Victory

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Belarusian President Lukashenko points to 'NATOfication' of Europe, entire world

"The arms race is rapidly gaining momentum," Alexander Lukashenko underlined

NATO growing more inclined to freeze Ukraine conflict — Russia’s SVR

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Elite units of Syrian troops deployed to Aleppo to defeat gangs — newspaper

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Ukrainians flee from Kiev regime to regions reunited with Russia — politician

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Kim Jong Un, Russian defense minister discuss development of partnership — KCNA

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Russia, North Korea remain good neighbors, longtime friends — Russian defense minister

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Syrian government forces attacking terrorist headquarters in Idlib, Al-Dana — media

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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards eyes big response to Israel's latest attack

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Russia to continue gathering evidence about Kiev’s chemical crimes — diplomat

According to Vladimir Tarabrin, Russia’s mission to the OPCW has submitted more than 30 notes to the organization, and they are available to the general public

Oreshnik’s massive strike comparable to nuclear weapons — Putin

The Russian leader additionally stressed that "certainly, Oreshnik is not a weapon of mass destruction"

Russia sees no need to downgrade relations with Poland, ambassador says

Sergey Andreyev explained that relations will eventually need to be restored, so Russia does not want to initiate an escalation

Police use water cannons against protesters at Tbilisi rally

The protesters were throwing eggs and firecrackers at the policemen

Case against Ukrainian militants, Ukrainian losses: situation in Kursk Region

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Putin approves purchase of Russian Elevator Company from French grain trader Louis Dreyfus

The corresponding order of the president was published on the official portal of legal information

Russian troops liberate four communities in Donetsk area, Kharkov Region over week

Russian forces delivered one massive and 32 combined strikes by air-launched, seaborne and ground-based precision weapons, hitting Ukrainian military airfields and power facilities of defense enterprises over the past week, the ministry reported

Putin slams election mudslinging against Trump’s family as 'vile'

According to the Russian president, when gangs fight with each other, they "don’t target women and children but leave them alone"

Ukrainian servicemen abandon military units due to fear of Russian army — official

Kiev is constantly losing control over populated areas because "tens of thousands of tired and desperate Ukrainian servicemen are leaving their positions to flee in an unknown direction," the agency reported

Hungary greenlights pouring of first concrete in Paks-2 NPP foundation — MFA

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto noted that in order to approve the construction of Paks-2, some not-so-simple safety measures had to be taken

Russian Embassy in Argentina monitors situation with malfunctioning ocean liner

The diplomatic mission said that they are in touch with the company organizing the cruise as well as with the Russian citizens onboard the vessel

Rosneft produced 193.4 mln tons of hydrocarbons in 9M 2024 — company

Oil refining stood at 62.6 mln metric tons in nine months of this year

FACTBOX: What to know about attacks of militants on Syria’s government forces

Western analysts describe Russia's Oreshnik as longest-range weapon ever used in Europe

The recent strike on the Yuzhmash missile-producing plant in Ukraine demonstrated Russia’s "real military capability", a nuclear nonproliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies said

Syria will not let terrorists 'achieve their diabolical goals,' top diplomat pledges

The top Iranian diplomat noted that the increased terrorist activity in northern Syria is tied to "the US-Israeli plan to destabilize the region amid the Israeli regime’s failures in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon"

Hungarian PM sounds alarm over presence of US, French troops in Ukraine

Additionally, the news that Russia used its latest Oreshnik high-precision ballistic missile, which has significant destructive power, to destroy Yuzhmash, a Ukrainian defense plant in Dnipro (previously known as Dnepropetrovsk), is alarming, Viktor Orban stressed

Kiev troops attempted to kill British mercenary who surrendered to Russians — officer

In his words, they fired conventional 120mm mortar rounds, silent munitions and at least one FPV drone with a fragmentation charge

Scholz shares details of talks with Putin, Zelensky says

The conversation between the Russian president and the German chancellor took place on November 15