Breaking News, 5th of August, 2018

Nicholas Maduro, President of Venezuela, survived an attempted assassination. Venezuelan television suddenly interrupted the broadcast from the ceremony in honor of the 81st anniversary of the creation of the National Bolivarian Guard, in which Nicholas Maduro took part. Shortly before that, the president and the people around him looked upward, and the parade participants began to scatter to the sides. Later it became clear that the attempt was committed with the usage of several explosive drones. The drones did not reach the target, as they were shot down by snipers. During an explosion, 7 employees of the National Guard were injured. The Venezuelan armed group «National Movement »Flannel Soldiers» took the responsibility for the assassination attempt.

Foreign journalists doubt that there was an attempted assassination against the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. The Associated Press referred to firefighters that were working at the site of the explosion in Caracas — they said that the source of the explosion was a detonated gas cylinder. According to three firefighters who wished to remain anonymous — the explosion occured in one of the apartments of a nearby building. There was visible smoke coming from a window of the apartment. Immediately after the incident, a video and photos of the house, on one of the floors of which a fire began, appeared in the Internet. The authorities claim that there was an attempted assassination on Maduro with the usage of drones with C-4 explosives. The head of the Supreme Court of Venezuela, Mikel Moreno, described the incident as a terrorist act.

On Sunday’s night, an airplane carrying the bodies of Orhan Dzhemal, Kirill Radchenko and Alexander Rastorguev, all killed in the CAR, landed at Sheremetyevo Airport. The bodies were sent to an expert institution for conducting medical examinations in order to determine the exact causes the death, said Svetlana Petrenko, an official representative of the Russian investigative committee. It is not known for how long the forensic medical examination will last, and when exactly the funeral will be held. On 3rd of August, the bodies were sent by a plane from the capital of the CAR, Bangui, to Moscow through Paris.

Ukrainian political scientist and an ex-parliamentarian of the Ukrainian parliament Yevgeny Filindash said that Russia has become stronger from the sanctions imposed on the country. «I remember how back in 2014, when the first western sanctions were imposed against Russia, how many people shouting that Russia is over, it will fall apart, its economy will be torn to shreds, and it will be good for Ukraine. I think it became clear to everyone in four years that all this nonsense with sanctions only made Russia stronger as a state.» — Filindash explained to the news channel NewsOne. The political scientist underlined that the sanctions hit only «a part of the oligarchy’s elite» in Russia. The restrictions only led to the development of «the most strategically important» industry sectors in Russia and it led to a policy of import substitution. Yevgeny Filindash called the positive effects of sanctions ‘paradoxical’.

Actor Steven Seagal was appointed to be a special envoy of the Russian Foreign Ministry on Russian-American humanitarian relations. «Steven Seagal has been appointed to be a special representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry on issues regarding Russian-American humanitarian ties. His task is to contribute to the further development of Russian-American relations in the humanitarian matters, including interaction in culture, art, and so on» — the Ministry explained in a statement posted on Facebook. The Ministry underlined that such position doesn’t have a monetary reward. «We can draw parallels in international practice with the functions of the UN Goodwill Ambassadors» — the ministry said. Actor Steven Seagal received Russian citizenship back in November 2016. He repeatedly declared his sympathy to Russia