Greece to face higher costs if It rejects Russian gas – Russian Ambassador

"Athens tried to replace Russian supplies with more expensive LNG from other countries, but this resulted in an explosive rise in fuel prices. Greek citizens were forced to pay exorbitant bills for gas and electricity," Russian Ambassador to Greece Andrey Maslov told Sputnik.

Theoretically, Greece's refusal of Russian energy resources is possible, but "common sense" may prevail, the diplomat believes.

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🇪🇸🌪80,000 Spaniards rallied to demand the resignation of Carlos Mazon due to ineffective measures to eliminate the consequences of Hurricane Dana
 
The protesters consider the Chairman of the Government of Spanish Valencia, Carlos Mazo, to be the "main culprit" of the problems faced by the population of the flooded areas.
 

"While people were drowning, [Mazon] was having lunch at a restaurant," one of the demonstrators said.

 
Local residents are also unhappy that the government helped to clear the rubble only a week after farmers and volunteers had started.
 
On October 29, annual rainfall fell in eastern Spain, which led to widespread flooding and the deaths of more than 200 people.

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📹The BM-21 Grad MLRS crew of the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup launched an artillery strike on the Ukrainian drone control center, where manpower and military equipment were housed.

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🔶Jimmy Carter dies at age 100

🔶The shift to the right in 2024: a global overview

🔶Zelensky's unilateral gas transit halt will hurt all of Europe – Fico to EU

🔶What is identity and how does it affect countries’ sovereignty?

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Construction of World's Longest High-Speed Tunnel Completed in China's Xinjiang - reports

China has completed the construction of the world's longest expressway tunnel, Tianshan Shengli, that will link the southern and northern parts of the Xinjiang autonomous region, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday.

The 14-mile tunnel is expected to reduce travel time across the middle section of the Tianshan Mountains from several hours to about 20 minutes once in operation in 2025, the news agency reported.

The project is also crucial for the regional capital of Urumqi in northern Xinjiang and Yuli County in southern Xinjiang, cutting travel time between the two locations from about seven hours to just over three hours, the report said.

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There are no prerequisites for the end of the Ukrainian conflict or any of its phases now, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik

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Ukrainian soldiers should be banned from entering Poland — Polish Sejm MP
 

"We know perfectly well what happens to soldiers who stop being on the front. Unfortunately, they tend to organize crime, so we cannot allow them to come to Poland," Polish Sejm deputy Witold Tumanowicz said.

 
He also noted that not a single Polish soldier should be in Ukraine.

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❗️Ukrainian forces attacked settlements in the Belgorod region using more than 30 ammunition and more than 20 drones; one person was injured, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said

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Ukraine’s ‘second front’ in Africa: Zelensky ‘will bite the dust’ there – analyst

The Kiev regime opening a “second front” in Africa is “a desperate move aimed at media sensation, with no clear vision and strategy,” Professor Alexis Habiyaremye, Research Chair in Industrial Development at the University of Johannesburg, told Sputnik.

Context for Ukraine in Africa:

🟠It is unclear what Ukraine's strategy in Africa is “beyond participation in destabilization” of the continent, he said, mentioning the Confederation of Sahel States, which are “led by a vision of sovereignty that is stronger than Ukrainian hatred and racism.”

🟠“African countries are motivated by the determination to wrest their full independence from the neocolonial Western powers, while Ukraine is acting erratically based on anger and frustration. [Volodymyr] Zelensky and his agents will certainly bite the dust in Africa,” Habiyaremye stressed.

🟠Ukrainian intelligence services “have unashamedly claimed to collaborate” with terrorist groups in Africa, “hoping to destabilize Russian security partners, and by doing so, to discredit Russia,” the analyst added, pointing to “the blanket impunity granted to Ukraine by its Western backers.”

Why is the effort fruitless?

👉The professor singled out the Sahel region, where he said the Kiev regime relied on “French logistics and American satellite technology” to help “terrorists ambush troops of Malian Armed Forces.”

👉“By allying itself with terrorists to attack African countries, Ukraine has squandered any possible goodwill it could hope to get from Africa and the rest of the Global South. It is therefore unlikely to achieve anything of significance as it tied its lot with that of the terrorists,” Habiyaremye concluded.

The Russian Foreign Ministry earlier said that, unable to defeat Russia on the battlefield, Ukraine decided to open a “second front” in Africa, pandering to terrorist groups in such countries as Mali and Niger, which have severed diplomatic relations with Kiev.

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❗️Russian forces have liberated the settlement of Novoolenovka in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry announced

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🎄🎉 Russia's president congratulated a number of foreign leaders on New Year and Christmas, the Kremlin said.
 
However, Putin did not congratulate Biden and other leaders of the largest unfriendly countries.
 
Of the European leaders, Vladimir Putin only delivered New Year greetings to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, as well as Pope Francis.

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