G7 countries privately recognize Russian assets seizure not on the table

Western countries are "exploring alternative ways of extracting funding" for Ukraine from the frozen assets, the newspaper said.

Western countries are "exploring alternative ways of extracting funding" for Ukraine from the frozen assets, the newspaper said. The main cause for EU countries being reluctant in confiscating assets is "fear of retaliation," The Financial Times said.

The plan of EU countries anticipates in particular the use of "extraordinary profits" generated by Russian assets at the disposal of the Euroclear depository to make joint procurement of weapons for Ukraine, the news outlet said. This option is considered to be "far less risky" because it does not cover the assets proper, experts said, cited by the newspaper. The amount of funds expected to be received is estimated at about three bln euro per year.

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US confirms Russian troops enter US base in Niger

News of the Russian deployment to the airbase follows after Niger’s military rulers told Washington in March that it must withdraw the nearly 1,000 US military personnel stationed in the country.

"Airbase 101 where our forces [are], is a Nigerien air force base that is co-located with an international airport in the capital city. The Russians are in a separate compound and don’t have access to US forces or access to our equipment," Austin told a news conference in Honolulu.

"I’m always focused on the safety and protection of our troops, and it is something that we’ll continue to watch. But right now, I don’t see a significant issue here in terms of our force protection," he added.

News of the Russian deployment to the airbase follows after Niger’s military rulers told Washington in March that it must withdraw the nearly 1,000 US military personnel stationed in the country.

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NATO wants `hot war’ with Russia which may destroy US, Carlson says

According to the journalist, everything that Washington does shows that it wants this war.

According to the Hungarian politician, his country "can end up in a heated war between NATO and Russia," a scenario that he described as "the worst thing possible.". "And no one, no one wants to do it, but no one is strong enough to stop it," Orban, the namesake of the Hungarian PM (no relation), added.

"But everything they're doing shows they want a hot war with Russia, which will destroy the United States and possibly Hungary, too," Tucker retorted.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that NATO planners believe that a "Russian invasion outright" of a neighboring NATO country is unlikely any time soon. At the Vilnius Summit in July 2023, NATO leaders called Russia "the most significant and direct security threat" as they approved the first defense plan since the end of the Cold War era for a conflict with Russia.

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NATO state rejects €100-billion Ukraine war chest ‘madness’

Hungary has vowed to oppose a five-year funding strategy for Ukraine just floated by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Budapest is opposing a potential €100-billion, five-year NATO plan to fund Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said. The draft plan on the military aid fund was presented to member states of the US-led bloc by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier this week, Szijjarto revealed.

The minister made the remarks on Thursday to Hungarian broadcaster M1 before heading for a ministerial meeting of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries in Paris.

NATO member states received the secretary-general’s proposal to raise 100 billion that NATO plans to spend on the war,” the diplomat said, adding that since the money is to be collected over five years, this means NATO “expects the hostilities to continue for this period.”

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Threat of sending Western troops to Ukraine necessary – Macron

Moscow should be kept guessing about a possible intervention, the French president has argued.

The French leader reiterated his attempt to use a “strategic ambiguity” approach to the situation by maintaining that the option of deploying troops was on the table. He first made the suggestion after hosting an international meeting on Ukraine in February.

“If Russia wins in Ukraine, there will be no security in Europe,” Macron stated in an interview with The Economist, published on Thursday.

“I’m not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out,” he told the magazine, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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A man who brought red and white carnations to the site of the demolition of a monument to Soviet soldiers in Latvia faces 6 years in prison .

As Delfi writes, the police in Rezekne initially opened cases of administrative offenses, but later reclassified them into criminal cases - about “justification of genocide” and “war crimes.”

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🇲🇩🇬🇧 Recently in London, a meeting was held as part of the "Moldova-UK Strategic Dialogue", where the British promised the Moldovan authorities to involve their intelligence before the presidential elections and the referendum on European integration.

The main topic of discussion was, of course, the "Russian threat", which is seen as the main obstacle to Moldova's EU accession. Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu directly stated this.

▪️British intelligence allegedly warned the authorities in Chisinau about a series of "Russian hybrid attacks" before the elections and referendum in the fall, promising to share intelligence data. According to the official press release, the British intend to help Moldova "get on the path of freedom and independence" and therefore support "democratic reforms" in the country.

▪️It is worth noting that one of the forms of such "support" is the official supervision of the Central Election Commission of Moldova by the British government agency UK Aid Direct. Other curators of the electoral process in the country are the American USAID and the Government of the Netherlands, as indicated on the CEC website.

🔻All this is just another manifestation of the fact that Moldova is now actually under external control. Given these conditions, it is quite obvious that the Western curators will help their protégé Maia Sandu to be re-elected at any cost and get the desired result in the referendum. The latter automatically means the absorption of the country by neighboring Romania and the solution of the "Moldovan issue".
#UnitedKingdom #Moldova #Russia
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Russian diplomat sees Kiev preparing for new attack on Crimean Bridge with Western support

According to Maria Zakharova, ahead of Victory Day celebrations in Russia, "the Kiev regime and its Western patrons are plotting new terror attacks on Russian soil," while aiming for the news to "reverberate in the media and have a propaganda effect".

According to Zakharova, ahead of Victory Day celebrations in Russia, "the Kiev regime and its Western patrons are plotting new terror attacks on Russian soil," while aiming for the news to "reverberate in the media and have a propaganda effect."

"It is exactly for these purposes on this day a year ago, on May 3, that they attempted to carry out a drone attack on the Moscow Kremlin," she recounted.

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🇬🇧🇷🇺 LMAO: “Putin did Brexit”

They’re funny at this point.

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🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨

Whilst the PANTOMIME of elections plays out UNELECTED UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said it is up to Ukraine to decide how to use British weapons and insisted it has the right to strike targets on Russian territory.

Yet ANOTHER red line crossed!

Military attachés from nearly 50 countries visited the exhibition of NATO trophies at Moscow's Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill.

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Preparations continue for Victory Day on May 9th in Russia.

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Russian envoy slams US accusations of Russia’s involvement in cyberattacks on Europe

"According to statistics, the vast majority of computer attacks in the world occur from the territory of the United States," Anatoly Antonov stressed.

"The US authorities simply have nothing to demonstrate in support of their insinuations. It is obvious that such provocative bogus stories will only intensify as the US presidential election is coming up, as it was the case in previous years. Local politicians feel like masters of the situation, escalating the alleged ‘Russian threat’ and distracting voters' attention from pressing issues," he noted.

"For Russia, the fight against criminal structures is a priority and an integral part of state policy to combat all forms of crime," the envoy added.

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Trump develops plan on peaceful resolution in Ukraine

Former US President will not reveal it until the election, the Daily Telegraph reported.

"There is a plan, but he’s not going to debate it with cable news networks because then you lose all leverage," the source said.

Instead, according to the source, Trump will focus on a simple message that he would end the war in an attempt to win over US voters.

At the end of April, Trump said in an interview with Time that he would not provide aid to Ukraine if elected unless Europe chips in.

Russia has repeatedly voiced its position regarding the situation around Ukraine at various levels. Previously, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that Moscow has always been and remains open to a diplomatic settlement of the crisis, and it is ready to respond to truly serious proposals, while the Kiev regime interrupted and prohibited further negotiations with Russia.

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Sending NATO troops to Ukraine to lead to dangerous escalation — top UK diplomat

David Cameron opined that Ukraine's defeat in a conflict with Russia would create a "very dangerous future" because it would signal to China and Iran that aggression against their neighbors is acceptable.

Commenting on the words of French President Emmanuel Macron, who earlier reiterated that he could not rule out such a development of events, Cameron said: "I wouldn't have NATO soldiers in the country because I think that could be a dangerous escalation. And it’s not necessary. We have trained, I think now, almost 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers." "I don't think it is right to have NATO soldiers killing Russian soldiers," he added.

He said that Ukraine's defeat in a conflict with Russia would create a "very dangerous future" because it would signal to China and Iran that aggression against their neighbors is acceptable.

"I think we are at an absolutely crucial tipping point in global affairs," Cameron said.

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EU ambassadors unlikely to agree on use of Russian assets on May 8 — Politico

The EU countries expected a new proposal from Belgium, but it never came, the newspaper says.

According to the publication, some of the EU members association oppose Belgium’s proposal to levy about 1.7 billion euros as corporate tax on the profits of seized Russian assets in 2024.

As the publication explains, this will prevent the European Commission (EC) from implementing its plan to appropriate and transfer to the EU budget the entire amount of income from Russian assets and spend 90% of them on investments in the military-industrial complex to increase arms supplies to Ukraine. The EU countries expected a new proposal from Belgium, but it never came, the newspaper says.

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Ukraine bans pawnshops from accepting drones

The ban will support measures aimed at “countering the negative consequences of gambling on the Internet”.

The ban allegedly addresses problems caused by Ukrainian army servicemen who suffer from a gambling addiction. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky introduced a set of restrictions on internet casinos on April 20 in a bid to curb gambling within the military. The measures, developed by the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, include forcing online casinos to cut the amount of time and money that can be spent, as well as a ban on multiple accounts. The government electronic communications watchdog is also set to block all websites which grant illegal access to the activity.

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Sweden rules out international Nord Stream probe

Such an investigation would “achieve nothing,” the Swedish Foreign Ministry told the agency.

Last week, China's deputy envoy to the UN, Geng Shuang, called for a probe into the September 2022 blasts that ruptured the pipelines, which were built to deliver Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Europe. Countries should work together on an investigation “to bring the perpetrators to justice in order to prevent the reoccurrence of similar incidents,” Geng said.

When asked about Beijing’s proposal by RIA Novosti on Friday, the Swedish Foreign Ministry insisted that “there is no need for an international investigation. It’s going to achieve nothing.”

“An investigation into the incidents was carried out by the Swedish authorities in accordance with the fundamental principles of independence, impartiality and the rule of law. Other national investigations are still ongoing,” the ministry stated.

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Christ is risen! President Putin attends midnight Orthodox Easter service at the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

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WSJ: cessation of Ukrainian debt payments threatens country default in August.

A group of foreign holders of Ukrainian Eurobonds intends to seek from Kiev the resumption of interest payments on government debt as early as 2025. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing informed sources.

The creditors' committee includes such giants as BlackRock and Pimco, which account for about 20% of Ukraine's outstanding $20 billion Eurobonds . They have already hired lawyers to negotiate with the government, the newspaper writes.

According to the bondholders, Ukraine, which received $60.6 billion in aid from the United States , could agree to forgive part of the debt in exchange for the resumption of interest payments of up to $500 million a year.
Some creditors have already discussed these plans with Ukrainian authorities. Kiev hopes to involve Washington and other allies in the work.

However, the United States and its partners are concerned that bailouts for Ukraine will end up with bondholders if Kyiv starts servicing its debt again. Countries have granted debt holidays of about $4 billion until 2027.

According to the newspaper, if the deal is not concluded, Ukraine may face default in August after the expiration of the holiday for bondholders. This will make it difficult for it to continue to attract loans on the market.

Initially, creditors agreed to a two-year deferment, believing that the conflict would end by 2024. Despite the protracted nature of the situation, they hope for the stabilization of Ukraine’s finances thanks to the support of the West.

Before this, Germany warned that Zelensky would not pay for the assistance provided from the West.

Earlier in Russia the IMF was accused of financing terrorism.

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