🇷🇺🇨🇳 Russia plans to further increase energy supplies to China and attract Chinese investments and technological innovations to the Russian energy complex, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday.

"We are committed to the closest partnership with the Chinese side in the energy sector in all areas of cooperation. We are talking about further increasing the supply of Russian energy resources to the Chinese market, as well as attracting Chinese investments and advanced technological solutions to the fuel and energy complex of the Russian Federation," Novak said at the 20th meeting of the Russian-Chinese intergovernmental commission on energy cooperation in Beijing.

Trade turnover between Russia and China for 2023 has already exceeded 200 billion dollars, a third of these volumes came from energy resources, said Alexander Novak.

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🇷🇺 Latest statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

▪️On the US elections: Putin is ready to work with anyone who understands they now need to be more careful with Russia and take Moscow’s concerns into account

▪️The US is heavily involved in the conflict in Ukraine

▪️The conflict in Ukraine is a hybrid war that the United States organized against Russia

▪️The US knows that Ukraine cannot win the conflict

▪️The Russian Federation is open to negotiations with the United States, but on its own terms

▪️On Trump's words that he will end the conflict in Ukraine in a day: this is too complex a problem for such a simple solution

▪️The United States must realize its responsibility for supporting Kiev and that Washington is only prolonging the conflict

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During Jake Sullivan's upcoming visit to the West Bank, Washington is also trying to deal with the Gaza crisis because "Israel is losing ground in Gaza", Ayman Yousef, Professor of political science and international relations at the Arab-American University in Palestine, told Sputnik.

"The whole agenda is grounded. The overall objective is to deal with the current confrontation. Israel is losing the ground in Gaza. Israel is really not in control. On a daily basis, they lose approximately 7 to 10 soldiers, many of them are colonels and high-ranked officers. So in my own view, [the] Biden administration is trying to balance now its previous strict pro-Israeli policy by showing more overstatements by Jake Sullivan. Even Kamala Harris and William Burns are representing a new political strategy, which indicates the willingness to put more pressure on Israel," he said.

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🇫🇷🇷🇺 French President Emmanuel Macron said he is ready to resume dialogue with Vladimir Putin

"If President Putin has serious proposals and is ready to resume a dialogue that will allow for a peaceful settlement while respecting international law, France will always be a power that will provide support and will spare no effort to achieve a result," Macron said. - “My phone number has not changed.”

Earlier, Putin said that Russia is ready to continue to cooperate with France, adding that there were good working relations with Macron, but he ended them.

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😏 What flies at 6,100 kilometers per hour, can twist and turn in flight, and is very difficult to catch?

It's the latest development in military technology: hypersonic missiles.

🎞 Watch the video with our AI-presenter Nika to learn more about hypersonic missiles, their capabilities, and whether it is possible to stop those deadly birds.

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🏦 Hersh: West Bank crisis is fraught with risk of new regional war

The biggest dispute between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government is not Tel Aviv's Gaza War and mounting civilian casualties in the strip, but the emerging West Bank crisis, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has written on his Substack blog.

Quoting a US official familiar with the matter, Hersh noted that hardliners in the Netanyahu government are cracking down on the Palestinian Authority (PA), which still governs the West Bank where Israeli settlers – "openly supported by the IDF" – are clashing with the Palestinian population.

Israeli officials are said to be irritated by Biden's warnings over the West Bank and want carte blanche to do whatever they want in the region. These clashes are complicating Israel’s efforts to create favorable conditions in the post-war Gaza Strip and risk a wider regional war, according to Hersh's source.

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🇭🇺🇪🇺 Hungary’s Orban has plenty of reasons to reject Ukraine’s geopolitical EU membership push

“In the first category, [Hungary holds] the European Commission to its own ‘rules driven order.’ Namely, Ukraine was already given seven requirements of things to fix in its government and society, such as fighting corruption. Viktor Orban points out that the country has fixed only 3 of the 7 essential tasks, so it is appropriate to postpone consideration of its membership until all EU demands are met,” international affairs observer Gilbert Doctorow told Sputnik.

💬 “The unofficial reasons lie elsewhere,” Doctorow said. “Among them are Hungary's anger over the mistreatment of the Magyar-speaking minority in the West of Ukraine in what were once Hungarian territories; also the threat of economic damage to Hungary from Ukraine's much cheaper agricultural produce.”

As for Ukraine’s EU candidate status, it “does not really mean anything serious,” according to Mysl Polska newspaper columnist Mateusz Piskorski. “Turkiye’s prime minister has said as much, and as everyone knows, that country has been negotiating accession to the EU for more than 40 years, but still has no prospect to join,” Piskorski pointed out. In Ukraine’s case, talk of membership amounts to a “beautiful promise” instead of the money Kiev wants, the journalist said.

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❓Have you seen our fresh episode of the New Rules podcast?

👆Here is a quick peek on what our host Dimitri Simes Jr. discussed with Scott Ritter.

Make sure to subscribe on our X official page to follow our work and watch exclusive content!

🇷🇺 Vladimir Putin says the 2024 presidential campaign in Russia must take place in accordance with the law, and that any outside interference must be suppressed.

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🇮🇱🇵🇸 Latest updates on Palestinian-Israeli conflict:

▪️EU leaders have failed to agree on a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip at the European Council meeting in Brussels, European Council President Charles Michel said.

▪️Israel has temporarily allowed trucks with humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint and their unloading on the territory of the enclave due to the limited capacity of the Rafah checkpoint, the office of the Israeli Prime Minister said.

▪️The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad is tracking Hamas leaders outside of Gaza and will assassinate all of them once the last hostage held in the Palestinian enclave is back on Israeli soil, US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported citing a US official.

▪️Israel has told the US that the current phase of its military operation against Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip should be completed in the coming two to three weeks, CBS News reported, citing US officials.

▪️The US does not believe it makes sense for Israel to occupy the Gaza Strip for the long term, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.

▪️The US believes the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) needs to be revamped and revitalized to better represent the Palestinian people, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.

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🪖 The number of Ukrainian soldiers who have surrendered in the special military operation zone has increased considerably recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

“Work is underway on the exchange of prisoners. By the way, I want to inform you that recently the number of Ukrainian troops surrendering as prisoners of war has sharply increased,” Putin said during a meeting with leaders of parliamentary factions.

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💸 The West is making new attempts to strangle the Russian economy: the US and EU are introducing new sanctions one package after another, and Japan is not lagging behind them, expanding its sanctions policy towards Moscow. However, the Russian economy is not falling apart, but growing. Why is this happening?

🎞 Watch our video to find out

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🇨🇳⚓️ China launches fourth Type 075 amphibious assault ship

China unveiled on December 14 its fourth Type 075 universal amphibious assault ship, boosting naval capabilities amid rising tensions in the South China Sea.
Yet to be officially named, the ship with a length of up to 250 meters and a displacement of 36,000 tons — rivalling US counterparts — has been moved out of dry dock and is now on the outfitting quay for remaining work. The unexpected addition to the Type 075 calss, despite initial reports suggesting a three-ship limit, hints at the possibility of more units in the future.

The move comes amidst increased US military activity in the region, including deploying drone ships and military spending hikes under the Pentagon's "Pacific Deterrence Initiative" — prompting China to enhance military spending.

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According to a poll by the Rand Corporation, 54.4% of Americans would discourage a young person they're close to from joining the US military.

The poll comes as most branches, including the Army, Navy and Air Force, failed to meet their recruiting goals in 2023, and after instituting a large number of reforms in an attempt to raise their numbers.

The study also showed that despite their hesitancy to recommend military service, most Americans still hold overwhelmingly positive views of veterans.

Additionally, a large majority, 61.2%, said they would recommend a young person close to them join an officer program, either through a military academy or the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).

🇺🇸🇫🇮 Why US troops in Finland will make Nordic nation less safe

“Mutual deterrence is fraught with the constant underestimation or overestimation of threats, requires a huge infusion of resources into the military sphere that could be useful in other places, and most importantly, creates conditions for escalation, including unintentional escalation, simply by virtue of very powerful armed forces saturated with various weapons being mobilized and standing opposite one another,” Institute of World Economy and International relations security analyst and researcher Dmitry Stefanovich told Sputnik, referring to the new theater of tensions between Russia and NATO in Europe.

The Finnish-US Defense Cooperation Agreement, expected to be formally signed on December 18 by Finland’s cabinet, sparked alarm in the Kremlin on Friday, with presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying it “will certainly lead” to increased tensions and “pose a threat” to Moscow.

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🌐 Non-Western countries, representing the world's majority, support Russia's intention as BRICS chair to work on a just world, Chinese expert says

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that his country's work under its BRICS presidency will be devoted to fair world order.

Reflecting on this statement, Wan Qingsun, Deputy Director of the Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at East China Pedagogical University, said that it "means that Russia not only intends to move firmly towards building a just world order, but it has also become an expression of the general opinion of non-Western countries that make up the majority on the planet."

"From a realistic point of view, the rise of the group of new economic powers and emerging economies represented by the BRICS has already become an irreversible trend, despite periodic setbacks and difficulties," he added.

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🇺🇸 The US Air Force's Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program, initially estimated to cost $96 billion, is now facing significant potential cuts

Cost overruns could see the cost of each missile rise by up to 50 percent from the 2020 estimate of $118 million, not adjusted for inflation.

That may trigger an official review under a 41-year-old law, potentially leading to the program's termination. The revised total cost for the planned 659 missiles could approach nearly $117 billion.

The Sentinel program, managed by aerospace firm Northrop Grumman, is designed to modernize the US nuclear triad by replacing the old Minuteman III missiles first deployed in the 1970s. The program enjoys broad support from Congress — but there are concerns about rising costs.

👉 Follow the link to learn more

🇵🇸 Al Jazeera has reported the death of its cameraman Samer Abu Dhaki as a result of an IDF air strike on a school in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Abu Dhaki died five hours after from loss of blood being wounded, as the Israeli military did not allow doctors to reach him, the channel said in a statement.

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