Tag: russia

GOP-led Farm Bill Amendments Target Animal Tests in US, China, and Russia

New bipartisan amendments led by Republican lawmakers for the 2026 Farm Bill target USDA funding for animal tests in the U.S. and in adversarial nations, first uncovered by watchdog White Coat Waste.

The House Rules Committee is reviewing amendments now, and the full Farm Bill is expected to be voted on by the House during the week of April 27.

Two proposals submitted by Rep. Paul Gosar and cosponsored by Reps. Nancy Mace, Scott Perry, and Dina Titus would cut USDA funding for painful testing on dogs and cats, and prohibit the USDA from funding any animal tests “being conducted in, or performed in collaboration with” China, Russia, or other “countries of concern.”

The amendments result from White Coat Waste investigations in recent years that uncovered USDA funding for these kinds of animal tests and drew criticism and action from lawmakers and Trump Administration officials.

In 2024, White Coat Waste exposed USDA and National Institutes of Health funding for experiments at Cornell University that infected kittens with COVID and then killed them.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Senator Rand Paul featured the project in his Festivus waste report in 2024, citing White Coat’s work.

The USDA funding for Cornell’s COVID cat lab is set to run until May 31, 2026.

The group also uncovered USDA funding for deadly kitten testing at Auburn University.

The proposed Farm Bill amendment to defund foreign adversaries’ animal labs also follows a White Coat Waste investigation exposing how the Biden USDA funded a $1 million bird flu gain-of-function collaboration with Chinese researchers affiliated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and its CCP-controlled parent organization.

The grant drew scrutiny from Senator Joni Ernst and Rep. Ben Cline, and, as Gateway Pundit previously reported, last year, Trump’s Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins cut funding for this dangerous animal research project and ended it early.

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ENERGY WARS: Russia Will Shut Flow of Druzhba Pipeline Oil Into Germany

Druzhba means ‘friendship’, which is nowhere to be found these days.

Today, Ukraine restarted the flow of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline that it kept shut to further boost the election of Péter Magyar.

In exchange for that, the EU was finally able to approve the long-awaited 90 billion Euro loan to Kiev – although it must be noted that both Budapest and Bratislava ‘opted-out’, meaning no Hungarian or Slovak money is part of it.

But there isn’t time to celebrate because, also today, Russia announced that it will close a major oil pipeline into Germany.

The Telegraph reported:

“Russia has announced plans to shut the Druzhba pipeline within nine days, cutting the Continent off from Kazakh oil as it faces supply disruption caused by the Iran war.

The planned closure poses a particular threat to Germany, where the Druzhba pipeline supplies 17pc of the crude oil processed by PCK refinery, which provides 90pc of the fuel used by Berlin’s cars.”

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NEW WAR IN EUROPE? Russian Citizens in Moldova’s Breakaway Republic of Transnistria Allegedly Under Threat, as Moscow Vows To Protect Them at Any Cost

Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, Romania… all in the same powder-keg situation.

Many people don’t remember, but the war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, began as Russia moved to protect Russian-speaking populations in the Donbas (Donetsk and Luhansk).

Now, even as the conflict with Kiev is still raging, another minority Russian population becomes focus of attention of Russian military authorities.

We’re talking about Transnistria, a Russian enclave in Moldova – which itself is a former part of Romania.

Now, former defense minister and current secretary ​of the Russian Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, has come to the public to warn that the safety of Russians in the Transnistria region is currently under threat.

Shoigu further warned yesterday (21) that Moscow will take all steps to protect their citizens.

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Zelensky Demands Ukrainian Men Abroad Return to Fight His War

Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that Ukrainian men of conscription age who left the country, many in violation of his wartime restrictions, should return to die in his war. He states it is only “fair” since the army needs them for rotation, which is nothing less than an admission that the war effort is running short of bodies.

“As regards young people who are currently not in Ukraine, but abroad. First of all, there are different groups of young people. I agree with you regarding those of conscription age who left Ukraine. They left temporarily but ended up staying away for years,” Zelensky stated, oblivious to the reason so many fled their homes. “And many of them left in breach of Ukrainian law. The relevant authorities in both countries should address this issue.

Our Armed Forces would certainly like them to return. Because this is a matter of fairness. We have people, soldiers on the front lines, who need rotations. These Ukrainian soldiers are as strong as iron, but let’s be honest: they have families; they are defending their homes, and more than that – the entire state. But this responsibility should be borne by every person who is a citizen of Ukraine who has the capacity to do so. It is both a constitutional duty and a matter tied to conscription age.”

Casualty estimates are running into the hundreds of thousands killed or wounded, while millions fled their homes to escape precisely this outcome. Zelensky continues to be portrayed in the Western press as a heroic figure, but the truth is that he is a madman prepared to see an entire generation sacrificed to maintain a war that cannot be won. When he speaks of “fairness,” what he is really saying is that no one should be allowed to escape. Millions have fled Ukraine to avoid his tyranny. The prospect of returning is slim as there will not be a “Ukraine” to return to once this conflict comes to an end.

From the standpoint of Ukrainian men living abroad, this becomes deeply personal because they are being told that their lives are secondary to the needs of the state. Their attempt to survive and protect their families is somehow unjust. How can any leader claim to represent his people while demanding that they walk back into a war zone?

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‘Iran’s Enemy is Our Enemy: Russia Detains 40 Israelis at Moscow Airport – Report

Israelis Detained at Moscow Airport

Russian authorities detained at least 40 Israeli citizens at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport after their arrival from Tel Aviv, according to official Israeli sources cited in the Times of Israel. 

The outlet reported that the Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed that the group was held before later being released following diplomatic intervention.

According to reports cited by Times of Israel, the Isreali citizens were detained on suspicion of having connections to Israel’s military aggression against Iran.

Russian security personnel reportedly told detainees that Iran is an ally of Moscow and that anyone who is an enemy of Iran is “our enemy as well.”

Conditions of Detention

The Times of Israel also cited a source cited by the Russian outlet Mediazona, which said that the detainees were interrogated for several hours under these suspicions.

According to the same source, detainees were asked to unlock their mobile phones. When they refused, they were instructed to turn the devices off.

The group reportedly included both Israeli nationals and individuals holding dual citizenship.

They were eventually released after signing documents stating the “inadmissibility of violating the law,” according to the report.

Diplomatic Intervention

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it intervened immediately after learning of the incident.

“Immediately upon learning of the incident, at the instruction of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, the Foreign Ministry acted both with the foreign ministry in Moscow and with the Russian embassy in Israel,” the ministry said.

“Following this intervention, the incident was resolved, and the Israelis’ entry was approved,” it added.

The ministry also said that Russian authorities were informed that the conduct was “completely unacceptable” and that Israel views the matter seriously.

The detentions come amid heightened geopolitical tensions linked to the war involving Iran, a key ally of Russia.

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Russian security chief issues drone attack warning to four NATO states

Russia has the right to retaliate if Finland and the Baltic states are found to be deliberately allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through their airspace, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu warned on Thursday.

“Recently, there has been an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia via Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Shoigu told journalists. “As a result, civilians are suffering and significant damage is being caused to civilian infrastructure.”

Either Western air defenses are proving ineffective, or these four countries “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia,” he added. In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the security chief stressed.

In recent weeks, Kiev has intensified drone strikes on Russia in what Moscow has characterized as “terrorist attacks,” with the Russian military regularly reporting hundreds of UAVs downed in a single night.

Late last month, Kiev attacked Russia’s Baltic Sea ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk with swarms of UAVs. The raids resulted in fires in both towns, which house extensive petrochemical infrastructure.

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Russia’s Rosatom Ready to Transfer Enriched Uranium From Iran – CEO

Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom is ready to assist in transferring enriched uranium from Iran, while the issue of the Iranian enriched uranium remains key and painful issue during talks between the United States and Iran, the company’s CEO Alexey Likhachev said on Saturday.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington plans to recover enriched uranium from Iran jointly with Tehran and bring it back to the United States.

“During the [US-Iran] negotiations the issue of removing Iranian enriched uranium continues to remain a key and painful question … And here only Russia has positive experience of cooperation with Iran. In 2015, at the request from Iran, we already transported enriched uranium from Iran. We are ready to assist with this issue today as well,” Likhachev told the Strana Rosatom newspaper.

Likhachev added that the Rosatom is closely monitoring the progress of the US-Iran talks, as well as statements by the US president, as Trump’s accusation that Iran was supposed to obtain nuclear weapons within two weeks, became main reason to launch military operation against Iran.

“In any case, we will welcome any agreements between the conflict sides that will lead to the cessation of armed confrontation,” Likhachev said.

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Russian Missile Strikes Would Bury EU’s Drone Scheme for Ukraine Instantly – Expert

The key vulnerability in this plan lies in the gap between the European assembly of the “carcasses” and the Ukrainian installation of the “brains,” suggests military journalist Aleksey Borzenko, deputy chief editor of the Literary Russia newspaper.

Speaking to Sputnik, Borzenko argued that the arrangement remains viable only until Russian missiles target the assembly sites.

The main issues lie in logistics and combat efficiency, he explains:

The drones’ fuselages and engines cannot be shipped to Ukraine in low-profile containers, so they will remain viable only until Russian Kalibr missiles strike them.

Splitting the production cycle into two unsynchronized stages — one in Europe and one in Ukraine — creates a bottleneck at final assembly. As a result, even simple disruptions, such as border protests or bureaucratic delays, can easily paralyze the entire process.

Even if Europe manages to deliver thousands of drones, they will likely be shot down by Russian air defenses and electronic warfare systems. Thus, increasing the number of UAVs would merely drive up European budget expenditures without improving outcomes.

“Meanwhile, the European facilities themselves—whose addresses have been made public—become legitimate targets. Attacks on them don’t have to be purely military; targeted acts of sabotage or cyberattacks on design documentation would suffice,” the expert adds.

Ultimately, while the plan may look viable on paper, its actual results will be inversely proportional to the billions of euros spent on it, Borzenko concludes.

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Europe’s Drone Pipeline to Ukraine Could Soon Be In Russia’s Crosshairs – Analyst

The Russian Defense Ministry’s statement on Europe’s plan to scale up drone production for Ukraine contained an explicit warning, says military analyst Ivan Konovalov speaking to Sputnik: Europe is turning into a “strategic rear base.”

The term applies to infrastructure that, while located outside the battlefield, directly sustains combat operations.

Under this logic, European hubs supplying Ukraine with drone components, data systems, FPV drones and heavy fixed-wing UAVs are no longer a “civilian facility in a peaceful country.”

“Once the production cycle on their territory is integrated into Ukraine’s strike capabilities against Russia, the line is crossed – they become a target deep within the enemy’s operational structure,” remarks the analyst.

After Russia’s strikes dismantled Ukraine’s centralized drone production, a workaround emerged: assembly lines were set up in Bavaria and the UK, using foreign-made components, while the finished systems were marketed as “Ukrainian.”

However, European production creates a long, predictable supply chain via Poland or Romania, exposed to disruption, insurance risks, and logistical bottlenecks, says the pundit.

Large shipments would be visible to reconnaissance and potentially easier to disrupt at critical junctions, he argues.

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U.S. Space Command Warns Russia Planning ‘Space Pearl Harbor’ With Nuclear Weapon in Orbit 

Russia is reportedly developing a nuclear weapon designed to be deployed in space that could cripple global communications and cause widespread disruption.

General Stephen Whiting, head of U.S. Space Command, has admitted that Washington is “very concerned” about plans to place a nuclear anti-satellite weapon into orbit.

“They are thinking about placing in orbit a nuclear anti-satellite weapon that would hold at risk everyone’s satellites in low Earth orbit, and that would be an outcome that we just couldn’t tolerate,” Whiting said.

The weapon could be used to destroy large numbers of satellites in low Earth orbit, potentially taking out communications systems, GPS networks and parts of the global internet.

A detonation in orbit could damage or destroy up to 10,000 satellites, roughly 80 percent of those currently in space.

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