🫡 Russian soldier lures Ukrainian kamikaze drone and dodges it

Watch how a Russian soldier tricks a Ukrainian drone operator into wasting his equipment. The masterly fighter serves in the 1st Donetsk Army Corps, according to media.

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🔨With the decision to strike the Houthi positions, Biden hammered another “nail in the coffin” in terms of support from Muslim voters, Newsweek says.

All this is happening against the backdrop of already existing dissatisfaction with the White House over its support for Israel in the Gaza conflict, the publication notes.

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🇷🇺🇮🇷 Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has held telephone a conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Brigadier General Ashtiani, the Russian Ministry of Defense reports.

Military cooperation and regional security were discussed, and respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity was emphasized, the ministry added.

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Russia-Ukraine peace talks won’t get off the ground until NATO puts pressure on Kiev regime

President Zelensky’s quixotic ‘peace plan’ proposal got a cool reception at Davos on Sunday, with officials failing to agree a “clear path forward” and managing only a “more diverse family photo” compared to previous meetings on the matter.

“It is important here to understand…that Ukraine’s position is still not realistic,” Jacques Sapir, a leading Paris-based geopolitical analyst and economist, told Sputnik, pointing to the ‘peace plan’s’ demands that Ukraine regain its lost territories. And “in the mind of Kiev’s rulers, peace is to come through military victory.”

“To achieve a real negotiation beginning and a cease-fire, NATO countries [would have] to give something to Russia, be it a suspension of further arms deliveries till negotiations take place, or a partial suspension of sanctions, and maybe both,” Sapir said.

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❗️ Ukrainian forces lost more than 200 troops, a tank and three infantry fighting vehicles in the DPR. The losses of Kiev regime amounted to over 140 military personnel in the south of the DPR.

🇷🇺🪖 Other statements from Russian MoD briefing on progress of special military op in Ukraine:

▪️ Ukrainian attack was repelled near Kupyansk, and Ukrainian losses amounted to up to 20 people.

▪️ An attack was repelled in the Krasny Liman area, and more than 160 Ukrainian soldiers were killed.

▪️ In the Zaporozhye region, attacks were carried out on Ukrainian positions, while the enemy lost up to 20 soldiers.

▪️ Up to 40 Ukrainian military personnel were destroyed in the Kherson region.

▪️ A fuel base for Ukrainian military equipment was hit, while 25 Ukrainian UAVs and three Tochka-U missiles were shot down.

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Neocon Haley campaign spent thousands on luxury hotels - report

US Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley's campaign has spent thousands of dollars on luxury hotels in the past year, despite claims from her team that she runs a "tight ship" and stays in "affordable" accommodations, Fox News reported, citing a third-quarter disbursements filing by Haley with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Haley's campaign spent more than $11,000 on luxury four-star and five-star hotels, the filing reportedly shows.

This comes as the US is preparing for the first Republican Party nominating contest of the 2024 presidential election cycle on Monday, in the form of caucuses in the state of Iowa.

Haley has emerged as Trump's top competitor and is the most active proponent of an aggressive foreign policy towards Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, and other countries.

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⚡️ For new US military biological projects, funds from the Clinton, Rockefeller, Soros, and Biden foundations are attracted under state guarantees, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said.

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⚡️ In 2023, the Pentagon developed documents suggesting the expansion of a foreign network of US-controlled biological laboratories, the Russian Ministry of Defense said

⚡️ The US is increasing its military-biological potential, this can be seen in the example of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense said

☣️ Key Statements from the Russian Ministry of Defense regarding U.S. biological weapons:

▪️One of the U.S. priorities - biological espionage along the borders of geopolitical adversaries and in anticipated deployment areas.

▪️In 2023, the Pentagon developed documents envisioning the expansion of the U.S.-controlled biolab network abroad.

▪️The U.S. is building up its military-biological potential, as evident in the case of Ukraine.

▪️The U.S. and the UK are engaged in projects to transmit pathogens from animals to humans and study highly dangerous viruses in the post-Soviet space.

▪️The U.S. thwarts any international initiatives for verification of the Biological Weapons Convention.

▪️The U.S. military-biological work aims to form "artificially managed epidemics."

▪️The Pentagon conducted aerobiological experiments using two strains of the natural smallpox virus.

▪️The Russian Ministry of Defense expressed concern about the increase in research on natural smallpox viruses by U.S. military personnel.

▪️The Russian Ministry of Defense handed over dossiers on individuals involved in military-biological activities in Ukraine, including U.S. citizens, to military investigative authorities.

▪️Many U.S. institutions involved in biological programs in Ukraine were previously Pentagon contractors for biological weapons.

▪️The U.S. is attempting to recreate the technology of producing large-scale biological recipes for an offensive program.

▪️The scale of U.S. research and the global biological risks they create demand an independent international investigation.

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🇹🇷 Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan has asked Turkish officials not to participate in the Davos summit because of the organizers' position on the Middle East, Bloomberg reports.

According to Western media, the forum events are not very productive. The Financial Times called the joint photo of the participants the main achievement of the meeting on Ukraine in Davos.

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How the Red Sea crisis has affected the global trade

🔹 Container transport volume plummeted to 70% below expected levels.

🔹 EU exports and imports fell by 2% and 3.1% respectively in a month. In Germany, they fell by 1.9% percent and 1.8%, and in the USA by 1.5% and 1%.

🔹 Suez Canal revenues dropped by 40% in the first 11 days of the year; transit shipments fell 30%.

🔹 The number of ships passing through the Suez canal up to January 11 was 544, compared to 777 last year.

🔹 Major shipping companies, including AP Moller-Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, began to bypass the Red Sea and Suez Canal, choosing longer routes around Africa through the Cape of Good Hope. That increased travel times by over a week and added about 3,500 nautical miles to the journey, along with added costs for delivery of goods and insurance premiums.

🔹 Transportation of a 40-foot (12.2 meters) container from China to Northern Europe now costs over $4,000, almost three times the $1,500 in November 2023.

🔹 Suez Canal's strategic importance: handles 15% of global trade and 30% of container traffic.

🔹 Europe and Mediterranean: most affected regions due to reliance on Red Sea and Suez Canal trade routes.

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The Russian Investigative Committee will conduct a criminal-legal assessment of the actions of all those who committed crimes against the residents of Donbass.

"I can confidently state that the Investigative Committee, for its part, will make a criminal-legal assessment of the criminal actions of all those who participated in the preparation and implementation of criminal plans against the civilian population of Donbass and Novorossiya," Chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin told Sputnik.

The Russian Investigative Committee has opened more than 4,000 criminal cases related to atrocities in Donbass since 2014, he added.

Since the illegitimate coup in Ukraine in 2014, the Kiev regime has committed crimes against civilians in Donbass. It was in response to those atrocities that Russia launched its special military operation on February 24, 2022. According to President Putin, the operation is aimed at protecting the population of Donbass from the genocidal actions of the Kiev regime.

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