Moscow

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his “deep condolences”to the relatives and the loved ones of the DPR leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko.
The Russian President called Zakharchenko “a real people’s leader” and “a brave man.” 
He also said that this incident shows that “those, who chose the path of terror, violence and intimidation, do not want to seek a peaceful…solution…and engage in a real dialog with the people living in south-eastern [Ukraine].”



Quite “spontaneously,” as these things are, won’t to happen, agitation at state and ecclesiastical levels in the Ukraine has been turned on to demand autocephaly, which in Orthodox church terminology is self-ruled status for the Orthodox religious community in the Ukraine.

The Russian and US delegations led by Putin and Trump met for a working lunch in Helsinki, Finland on July 16, 2018 [PPIO]
 
Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed his summit with US President Donald Trump as a first step to clearing tensions between their two countries and denied any role in the 2016 presidential election.
“Of course, numerous problems persist, and we have failed to clear the backlog in full, it was impossible to do this, but I believe we have made the first important step in that direction,” he told reporters.

The first day of the NATO summit is now in the books and while NATO members clearly have some deep differences (US/Germany) what has come out of the summit is that despite all their internal bickering, the outdated and bloated alliance is still united and ready to adopt more robust “measures” aimed against Russia.

A congressional delegation from the US quietly traveled to Russia on 30 June and is expected to complete their trip on 5 July. That trip, which was reported here on the Duran, attracted astonishingly little media attention in the Western outlets.
This video may go some distance towards explaining why this is so:

The American establishment is not the only government struggling with President Trump. So is that of the US’ closest ally, Great Britain.
According to a report from RT, the London government is alarmed by the prospect of a “peace deal” that might be negotiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the American president.

The White House has announced that US National Security Adviser John Bolton will travel to Moscow next week, to discuss a potential meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Washington and Moscow are “looking at the possibility” of Donald Trump meeting with Vladimir Putin in July.
“We’re looking at the possibility” of a Putin meeting in July, Trump said in response to a reporter’s question at the White House on Thursday.

TASS News agency reported Thursday that Red Square has gained a new attraction. The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Football Park opened in Moscow’s Red Square, with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from both the national government and FIFA itself.
TASS reports:

Russia has been invaded… by FIFA. And the city is welcoming the invaders with open arms.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup began over the weekend, with soccer (football) matches at the three main Moscow sports stadiums.
The FIFA games have been a tremendous boon for Moscow and will be for many cities across the Russian Federation as the fans sweep across European Russia, following their teams as they play in a total of 64 matches in 12 different venues located in 11 cities.