Senior Lieutenant Nur-Magomed Gadzhi-Magomedov became the first participant in Russia's special operation to be posthumously awarded the noscript of Hero of Russia. He was 25 years old.

On Defender of the Fatherland Day, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT and Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group, talks about the hero of the special military operation.

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Two years of anti-Russian sanctions in numbers

The EU introduced a 13th package of sanctions that targeted Russia's military-industrial complex today after the US announced additional sanctions earlier this week.

Since 2022, Russia has withstood over 15,000 sanctions in various sectors. The vigorous restrictions cut Russian banks off from international payment systems, restrict tech imports, and have major corporations abandon the Russian market.

Check out Sputnik’s infographics to see an illustrated layout of the number and origin of sanctions Russia has withstood in the past two years.

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Biden says he will announce more than 500 new sanctions against Russia, including export restrictions on nearly 100 entities.

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🐀☠️ Russian secret rat destroyers! Heroes eating corn shells

Some of the Western military equipment delivered to Ukraine has been damaged by... rodents, Figaro reported, citing a French military officer fighting on behalf of Ukraine.

The protective shells on some of the equipment are made of corn shells that is attracting the attention of these pesky creatures, causing damage that wasn't an issue with the sturdy Soviet equipment, the soldier reportedly said.

It seems like nature has a sense of humor, throwing another kind of rats into the the mix of Ukrainian operations.

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Third Finnish mercenary eliminated in Ukraine, Ilta-Sanomille newspaper reported.

According to the report, the mercenary was taken out on Monday in the Artemovsk region.

This is the third Finn killed in the special military operation zone, the newspaper wrote. In total, several dozen Finnish citizens are on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces, but the exact number and duration of their stay in Ukraine is not specified.

The death of the first Finnish mercenary was reported in June, the second in October.

The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly stated that the Kiev regime uses foreign mercenaries as "cannon fodder" and that the Russian military will continue to destroy them throughout Ukraine. Those who have come to fight for money themselves have admitted in many interviews that the Ukrainian military does not coordinate its actions well and that the chances of surviving in combat are slim, since the intensity of the conflict is incomparable to their usual Afghanistan and the Middle East.

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Russia expands its list of EU representatives and officials banned from entering country in response to new EU sanctions - Russian Foreign Ministry

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Special present for the president

It’s cold in Russia and Putin doesn’t wear gloves in winter, the chairwoman of the Federation Council noticed before deciding to give the president some warm gloves.

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Footage of a damaged and abandoned American M1150 Assault Breacher vehicle north of Avdeyevka.

US-made M1150 Assault Breacher technical armored vehicles based on the Abrams tank were transferred to Ukraine in the amount of 6 units.

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❗️ During the week, 37 group strikes with precision weapons were carried out on the facilities of the Ukrainian military industrial complex, military airfield infrastructure, arsenals and fuel bases.

🇷🇺🪖 Other statements from the Russian Defense Ministry briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️ In the Kupyansk region, Russian troops repelled 25 counterattacks. Ukrainian losses during the week amounted to four tanks, 13 armored combat vehicles and more than 390 servicemen;

▪️ In the Kherson region, Ukrainian losses amounted to more than 460 troops and 14 field artillery weapons;

▪️ In the DPR, the total losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the week exceeded 2,560 servicemen, 12 tanks and 31 armored vehicles; in the south of the DPR, Ukrainian losses amounted to 1,195 servicemen and six tanks;

▪️ In the Avdeyevka area, Russian forces repelled 39 counter-attacks. Ukrainian losses amounted to 2,900 servicemen;

▪️ In one week, Russian aviation and air defense shot down seven Storm Shadow missiles, one Patriot air defense missile, four C-200 missiles, one MiG-29 fighter and one Mi-8 helicopter, as well as 652 drones of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

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💥📹 Russian army aviation strike groups continue to operate in the Krasny Liman area.

Each group consists of Ka-52 reconnaissance and attack helicopters, Mi-35 transport and attack helicopters and Mi-8 multipurpose helicopters.

In addition, during the combat flight the pilots will be accompanied by specialists from the search and rescue group and the fire support group.

"Today the task was set to destroy the drone control point of the Ukrainian forces. The flight took place without any peculiarities, the targets were destroyed, the helicopter did not fail. At the end of the attack, the on-board defense system informed the crew about the launch of the Stinger. The on-board defense complex activated heat traps and deflected the missile," said the pilot of the Ka-52.

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Frozen Russian assets: Will there be consequences if seized?

“I do not think that it is possible, on legal grounds, to confiscate the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank, even though these assets are held in some Western countries such as the US, the UK, Germany or France,” Sergio Rossi, professor of macroeconomics and monetary economics at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, told Sputnik.

Touching upon potential ramifications, the pundit suggested that speculation about the possibility of confiscating the frozen Russian assets on a legal basis “could induce a number of European or US stakeholders to seize these assets held in their own countries in order to give them to Ukraine, so as to reduce the expenditures of their own governments in support of Ukraine.”

This may, in turn, “give rise to some reputational risks at international level, since these countries might be considered less trustworthy in managing foreign financial capital, which is thereby subject to confiscation in a not-too-distant future, particularly in view of the existing huge geopolitical tensions,” according to Rossi.

Bloomberg news agency earlier reported that in a letter legal experts from seven countries, including the US and the UK, argued that potential seizure of the frozen Russian assets is allowed under international, citing the ongoing Ukraine conflict as a pretext. The letter did not elaborate on what legal mechanism (if any) these experts could use for possible seizure of the assets.

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Aircraft, tanks, trucks, submersibles, bikes and horses: is there anything Putin can’t handle? (Part 1)

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent flight aboard a Tu-160M strategic supersonic bomber aircraft was far from the only instance of him taking charge of (or sometimes riding as a co-pilot in) various vehicles, planes or even submersibles.

🔸In 2000, Putin flew as a co-pilot aboard a Su-27 jet fighter, even piloting the aircraft himself at some point during the flight.

🔸In 2010, Putin tried his hand at driving a Formula 1 racecar, reaching the speed of 240 kilometers per hour at a race track in Leningrad.

🔸In 2010, Putin personally inspected a federal highway in Russia’s Far East by driving a Lada Kalina car along the road. In 2015, he also took a ride on a Lada Vesta at the resort city of Krasnaya Polyana.

🔸A video snippet from Putin’s vacations in 2010 also suggested that he can drive a snowmobile pretty well.

🔸In 2011, Putin familiarized himself with the inner workings of a T-90S main battle tank while visiting an international military expo in Nizhny Tagil.

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🔸In 2012, Putin had flown a paraglider while participating in an experiment aimed at preserving an endangered species of crane. (Part 2)

🔸In 2015, Putin descended to the bottom of the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea aboard a submersible. He also took part in submersible dives in the Baltic Sea to the wrecks of a 19th century frigate and a World War II submarine in 2013 and 2019, respectively.

🔸In 2018, Putin drove a heavy Kamaz truck across the newly constructed bridge across the Kerch Strait. Driving such vehicles does not seem to be an issue for the Russian president, which he would demonstrate again in 2024 while taking another Kamaz for a spin on the M-12 highway.

🔸In 2019, Putin attended a bike show in Crimea where he demonstrated his motorcycle riding skills. The Russian president also displayed on a number of occasions that he is no stranger to horseback riding, both while vacationing and during events such as his visit to the Moscow mounted police regiment in 2020.

🔸In 2021, Putin was spotted driving an all-terrain tracked vehicle while on vacation in Siberia.

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📹 Footage of Russian Missile Troops eliminating Ukrainian military equipment, including a launcher, a tractor, and an ammunition and transport-loading vehicle of the US-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile system.

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Russian strikes in Dnepropetrovsk hit Ukraine's Yuzhmash drone-assembling workshops, an oil depot and military warehouses, a source told Sputnik.

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Biden mixed everything up again: after meeting with Navalny’s widow, he mistakenly called her Yolanda. His words were published in a message on the White House website and the name Yolanda was crossed out.

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Russia's Tu-160M strategic bomber: US cannot catch up with upgraded White Swan

The Tu-160M strategic bomber is Russia's weapon of deterrence, being an upgraded version of the Tu-160. The new aircraft, which made its debut flight on January 12, has upgraded engines, sophisticated avionics, new weapons control and electronic warfare systems.

"The plane was completely shaken up in terms of avionics, radio-electronic equipment, control systems, everything. That is, from an aircraft of the 20th century, it has become a warplane of the 21st century," Dmitry Drozdenko, a military analyst and chief editor of the Fatherland Arsenal Internet portal, told Sputnik.

"When NATO tried to intercept it, the plane simply folded its wings and in the blink of an eye, it was gone. The American F-35 fighters could not catch up merely in terms of speed," he said.

The Tu-160M is capable of carrying 12 long-range cruise missiles – including the non-nuclear Kh-555 and Kh-101, as well as the nuclear Kh-102 – in two launchers inside the fuselage.

"[The Tu-160M will perform] the same tasks that were previously performed by long-range aviation planes," Andrey Krasnoperov, military expert and Russian Aerospace major, told Sputnik.

"That is, they have a fairly long range, and they are the main carriers of [Russia's] bombs and strategic missiles. It is a weapon of deterrence."

The Tu-160M has no analogs in the world, Sputnik's interlocutors highlighted, adding that the US cannot boast having a similarly efficient, fast and cost-effective strategic bomber.

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