💬 Don't mess with Russia, warns Hungarian PM

The West should take Vladimir Putin's statements on the Oreshnik missile test and the updating of Russia's nuclear doctrine very seriously, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

He noted that there is a different "weight and meaning of the spoken word" in the West and in Russia.

In the West, politics, especially in recent years, is 80% talk and 20% action, so "speeches have no consequences."

"When the Russian president makes a statement, it carries significant weight and consequences…Vladimir Putin, speaking directly to the public on TV, expressly stated that they consider countries that supply such [long-range] weapons to Ukraine as military targets. The West must fully grasp the implications of his words and should not dismiss the president's statement as merely a "communication trick."

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🎥🎥 Lavrov and Ryzenkov speak at joint meeting in Brest, Belarus

👉 Watch the livestream here or follow the link to the Sputnik's website

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📹 Last-chance migrant caravan

People from Central and South America are hoping to cross the border before Donald Trump takes office on January 20, 2025.

The Republican president-elect is threatening to resume construction of a wall between the US and Mexico to solve the problem of illegal immigration once and for all.

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Damaged but not deterred: US investor sets sights on Nord Stream 2 auction

An American investor with a flair for Russian dealmaking is reportedly aiming for the sabotaged Nord Stream 2 pipeline, viewing it as the deal of the century - if not a geopolitical mic drop.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Stephen P. Lynch has approached the US Treasury for permission to bid on the $11 billion project in a Swiss bankruptcy auction, undeterred by sanctions or the less-than-ideal "damaged goods" status of the pipeline.

With many investors likely steering clear due to the geopolitical chaos, Lynch appears eager to step in, arguing that US ownership of the pipeline could be a game-changer - not just for peace talks with Russia but for locking down control of Europe's energy supply.

He’s called it a "once-in-a-generation opportunity," which is certainly one way to describe buying a pipeline that’s both politically radioactive and physically broken.

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🇷🇺 Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov on Russia's use of the Oreshnik missile:

🔸 Russia would prefer if Washington had paid attention to President Vladimir Putin's statements made prior to the Oreshnik test.

🔸 There has been no contact with the current US administration following the Oreshnik test.

🔸 Russia’s military is working on mechanisms to notify Ukraine’s civilian population in the event of plans for new ballistic missile strikes.

🔸 President Putin's main message is that the reckless decisions made by the West to supply missiles to Ukraine cannot go unanswered.

🔸 Russia has demonstrated its capabilities to respond to Western actions by using ballistic missiles.

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📑Unhinged Germany goes ballistic, gears up for potential war with Russia – reports

Germany is implementing contingency protocols in preparation for a large-scale war with Russia, German media reported, citing a classified strategy paper.

Fueled by hyped allegations of a “Russia threat,” the Bundeswehr has reportedly developed comprehensive plans for responding to a potential “maneuver” by Moscow on NATO's eastern flank in its Operation Plan Germany (Operationsplan Deutschland).

Here are some details:

◻️ Identifies infrastructure facilities deemed “particularly worthy of protection for military reasons”;

◻️ Involves possibly moving 200,000 military vehicles across German territory if needed;

◻️ Details the logistics of national defense mobilization, highlighting the significant challenges Germany would face if it became a hub for “tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands” of soldiers, along with military equipment, food, and medicine that would need to be transported east to the front lines;

◻️ Advises businesses to work out plans for crisis scenarios that include stockpiling of diesel generators, securing alternate energy sources such as wind turbines, and stocking up on supplies;

◻️ Tasks territorial command centers with implementing the plan developed by government officials and military leaders, a Bundeswehr spokesperson was cited as saying.

Operation Plan Germany first surfaced following the COVID pandemic, and then earlier in the year, with German Brigadier General Thomas Hambach quoted as saying that the plan deals with issues ranging from “homeland security and the protection of defense-critical infrastructure to deployment planning and national territorial defense.” It also addresses the possibility of rapid NATO troop movements through Germany.

Russian officials ridiculed the Bundeswehr’s rich imagination at the time, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova comparing the leaked plan to a “powerful horoscope,” saying she wouldn’t be surprised if the scenario was provided to the German military by the Foreign Ministry and its notoriously Russophobic chief, Annalena Baerbock.

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❗️Russian forces have liberated the settlement of Novodmitrovka in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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❗️Russian forces struck a defense industry facility in Dnepropetrovsk in response to the use of long-range American and British weaponry.

🇷🇺🪖More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry's weekly briefing on the special military operation's progress:

🔸 The launch of the medium-range ballistic missile "Oreshnik" against Ukraine's defense industry facility in Dnepropetrovsk was successful, with all warheads reaching their designated targets.

🔸 The Russian Sever Battlegroup hit Ukrainian forces, inflicting losses of 2,620 militants.

🔸 Ukraine lost 3,845 militants in the Russian Yug Battlegroup's combat zone.

🔸 Ukrainian forces lost more than 3,210 militants in the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone,

🔸 Ukraine lost up to 975 militants in the Russian Vostok Battlegroup's combat zone.

🔸 Ukraine lost over 2,680 militants in the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup combat zone.

🔸 The Russian Dnepr Battlegroup struck Ukrainian forces, resulting in the loss of up to 530 militants and the destruction of four field ammunition depots.

🔸 82 Ukrainian militants surrendered, with 52 in the Kursk region.

🔸 Russian air defenses shot down two Storm Shadow missiles and 642 Ukrainian drones.

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'Why wouldn't you want to hear from the other side?' - US journo on EU ban of Sputnik and RT

"One of the very first steps they [EU] took legislatively was to ban the platforming, to criminalize the platforming of Russian media like RT and Sputnik," Glenn Greenwald said in an interview with Tucker Carlson.

The journalist to whom Edward Snowden gave his dossier in 2013 noted that the European Union "didn't want their citizens hearing any information from the Russian perspective."

"You can think whatever you want about Russia, but why wouldn't you want to hear from the other side?" he asked.

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Russia’s Oreshnik strike is ‘sending a message’: How has the West reacted?

Western politicians and media have erupted in a flurry of responses to Russia’s Oreshnik medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile strike on a Ukrainian defense manufacturer. The move was announced by President Vladimir Putin as a response to US and British weapon strikes on Russian territory.

What has the media said?

⚪️AP: Russia was “sending a message.” “Signaling — signaling to the Ukrainians. We’ve got stuff that outrages you. But really signaling to the West ‘We’re happy to enter into a competition around intermediate range ballistic missile. P.S.: These could be nuclear tipped. Do you really want to take that risk?’”

⚪️Washington Post: Russian employment of novel firepower is a “threat of more to come”;

⚪️New York Times: Russia’s use of a missile from its strategic arsenal to target a site within range of conventional weapons was meant as “clear warning” to Kiev and its Western patrons;

⚪️Forbes: “After warning US officials of its intention to launch, Russia lobbed a mysterious new ballistic missile,” adding that the attack came “in retaliation for Ukraine’s own deep strikes targeting arms depots and command posts in western Russia”;

⚪️BBC: Use of the Oreshnik was “symbolically important.” This was a “reminder that Russia has a wider arsenal of different and larger missile types and is ready to develop more,” it quoted a military scholar as saying;

⚪️Le Parisien: Putin’s stern face left no doubt: Russia is “ready” for all scenarios in the West’s proxy conflict.

What have politicians said?

🗣Olaf Scholz: Russia's missile strike was a “terrible escalation,” adding that Germany has to work with its allies “to do what prevents an escalation in this war to a war between Russia and NATO”;

🗣 Viktor Orban: “If the president says something in Russia, these are not empty words. This is not a communications ploy.” He emphasized that countries providing military assistance to Ukraine must exercise prudence, “otherwise there may be problems”;

🗣 Keir Starmer: The strike was “reckless and dangerous,” omitting the fact that UK-made Storm Shadow missiles had attacked Russia's Bryansk and Kursk regions, triggering the Russian response;

🗣 White House: The US “will not alter its policy regarding the Ukraine conflict”;

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❗️Houthis claim to have launched hypersonic missile at Nevatim Air Base in southern Israel.

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🇷🇺 Sergey Lavrov's main statements at press conference following the Collegium of the Foreign Ministries of Russia and Belarus:

🔸 Volodymyr Zelensky was afraid of Russia's reaction to the use of long-range missiles on Russian territory and began to accuse his masters of leaving him unarmed.

🔸 The security concept of the Union State and an interstate security treaty are expected to be signed at the Supreme State Council of the Union State.

🔸 On the authorization for Kiev to attack Russia with long-range missiles: The Democrats want to leave the worst possible legacy for the next US administration.

🔸 The content of Russia's updated nuclear doctrine is fully synchronized with security documents to be signed at the Union State’s Supreme State Council.

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💬 Russia’s use of Oreshnik missile is a grave warning to NATO amid danger of a world war – analysts

Russia’s strike on a Ukrainian defense facility using its new Oreshnik hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile is a “a serious warning to NATO,” Robinson Farinazzo, a retired Brazilian officer, told Sputnik.

He underscored that US President Joe Biden crossed "a red line" by authorizing the Kiev regime to strike Russia with long-range American weapons. "Moscow is perfectly aware that this type of attack, technically difficult, can only be carried out with the support of NATO, in this case the US," he said.

Other analysts agree:

🔸 Washington is “provoking an escalation that completely changes the nature of the conflict,” military history expert Ricardo Cabral emphasized.

🔸 The US allowing Kiev to use long-range weapons is "a continued psychological offensive" to test Moscow's tolerance, Venezuelan analyst Vladimir Adrianza noted, adding that the dangerous stage of the conflict stems from the “voracious appetite of the US military, financial and technological complex.”

🔸 Moscow has every right to defend itself against NATO's “sinister and criminal actions," noted Humberto Morales, professor at the Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico.

🔸 President Vladimir Putin has clearly conveyed the message that current events on the international arena demonstrate the “suicidal and irresponsible behavior by the West which threatens total destruction,” Lebanese political scientist Hassan Hmadeh underscored, adding, "The world must stand up to these evil people who are determined to destroy the planet, and the response must be commensurate with their actions."

🔸 Washington's approval for Kiev to use US-made missiles is intended to force Donald Trump’s future administration to “operate in geopolitical chaos,” Venezuelan international relations expert Wilmer Depablos said.

🔸 With less than two months to go before the transfer of power, Biden is trying to make it as difficult as possible for the next president to resolve the Ukraine crisis, Iranian political scientist Emad Abshenas believes.

🔸 Putin's order to use the Oreshnik missile is “a warning to NATO countries amid the growing threat of a world war,” Chinese pundit Sima Pingbang explained, going on to say that the Kiev regime has become “an obstacle to peace” and that “Biden and Zelensky are unable to accept Moscow's victory."

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💬 Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova announced that 46 residents of the Kursk region have returned to Russia as a result of the negotiation process with Ukraine.

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Hezbollah fighters struck an Israeli Air Force technical personnel training base in Haifa with a series of rockets, the movement announced.

The base is located 35 kilometers from the Lebanese border.

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