MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United States cannot know Russia's casualties in the special operation, they are pulling the figures out of a hat, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, several media outlets reported, citing US National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby, that Russia has allegedly more than 100,000 soldiers killed or seriously wounded during the course of the special military operation.
"Pulling out figures out of a hat, Washington does not have the opportunity to give any correct figures, they do not have such data, this is how it should be treated. It is necessary to focus only on those figures that are published in a timely manner by the Russian Defense Ministry," Peskov said.
Peskov added that Germany is not able to ensure that Ukraine does not use the weapons supplied by the West to attack Russia, Kiev is already shelling the territory of Russia.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday that Berlin would refrain from unilateral steps when providing military support to Ukraine, while making sure that the weapons sent to Kiev are not used for strikes against Russia's territory.
"Firstly, Germany does not have any opportunity to monitor this, this can be said unequivocally. Secondly, the weapons supplied by Germany to the Kiev regime are already firing at Russian territory, because Donbas includes Russian regions. Weapons are firing at the territory of Russia, and every day the direct and indirect involvement of Germany in this conflict is increasing. Of course, the German chancellor must proceed from this," Kremlin spokesman stressed.
Commenting on the Istanbul Grain Deal, Peskov emphasized that the terms regarding the Russian agricultural sector have still not been fulfilled and the dialogue will continue.
Earlier in the day, British news agency reported, citing a senior Ukrainian source, that negotiations on the Black Sea Grain Initiative, also known as the grain deal, with the participation of all parties to the deal are scheduled for May 3.
"Russia's position is well known, you know that the deal was extended for two months at the time... The terms of the deal are not fulfilled in the part that concerns the Russian agricultural sector. The dialogue will continue," Kremlin spokesman stated.
Peskov added that Moscow is not aware of the Vatican's secret mission to find a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.
During a press conference on Sunday after his visit to Hungary, Pope Francis said that the Vatican was involved in a secret mission to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. The Holy See will be able to tell about it only later, when it becomes public.
"No. We do not know anything," Peskov stated.
Referring to the talks about the possible default in the United States, Kremlin spokesman said that Russia is monitoring the situation. He added that so far American officials have always found a solution.
Earlier in the day, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the US government will likely begin defaulting on its debt by June 1 if the congressional limit on the country’s debt servicing is not raised by then.
"We see that the world economy, the US economy is experiencing certain problems — high inflation, the continuation of inflation expectations is quite high. Of course, we are monitoring all this very carefully," Peskov stated.
The spokesman added that this is not the first time this has happened in the United States.
"So far, they have found solutions. We will monitor [the situation] carefully this time," he added.
China has suspended several 2025 export controls on strategic materials — including rare earths, superhard materials, and lithium batteries – for a year. Is this a concession to the US, or a move in a far more complex game?
"The first aim of China’s export controls was to consolidate its leverage in negotiations. The second was to establish a long-term framework for managing such controls," says Yana Leksyutina, deputy director at the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
Сhina could activate this mechanism at any moment, and now everyone knows it’s a lever it holds, she explains to Sputnik.
Balancing the Mineral Market
"The moratorium on export bans to the US essentially resets the rare earth market to where it was previously," Jeff J. Brown, author of 'The China Trilogy' and founder of Seek Truth From Facts Foundation, tells Sputnik.
In the meantime, there will be a global rush by the US and its NATO allies to acquire as many rare earth ...
The Israeli regime has reportedly signed contracts worth millions of dollars in recent months to sway American public opinion as part of attempts to launder the occupying entity’s genocidal war crimes against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Friday that the multimillion-dollar campaign aimed to reshape US public opinion, both online and offline, through coordinated influence operations combining digital marketing, AI, geotagging, and religious messaging.
The contracts, signed between the Israeli regime and firms linked to US President Donald Trump, reveal a “hasbara [propaganda] campaign” and schemes to target millions of US churchgoers, deploy bots, hire influencers, and try to make ChatGPT more pro-Israel.
The largest contract, worth $6 million, was signed with Clock Tower X, owned by Trump’s former digital campaign chief Brad Parscale, to produce and distribute roughly 100 core pieces of pro-Israel content per month and thousands......
