📊Russia ranks 7th globally in gold reserve growth in 2024

In 2024, Russia ranked seventh in the world in terms of mounting gold and foreign exchange reserves, according to Sputnik's analysis of data from the central banks of 100 countries that reported figures for September.

By the end of September, global central bank assets totaled $14.3 trillion, up from $12.9 trillion a year earlier. China led the pack, adding $263.3 billion to its reserves. Switzerland followed with an increase of $131.9 billion and India ranked third with $118.1 billion.

Germany's reserves grew by $67.2 billion, France's by $66.1 billion and Russia's by $64.7 billion. Other high performers included Singapore ($52.4 billion), Poland ($38.8 billion) and Brazil ($31.7 billion).

Some 20 central banks, including those of Turkiye, Japan and Mexico, expanded their reserves by $10 to $30 billion, while 70 others reported increases of under $10 billion.

But some countries saw their reserves shrink last year. Bangladesh experienced the largest drop, losing $2 billion, followed by the Dominican Republic ($1.4 billion) and Ukraine ($820 million). Other declines were reported by Paraguay, Estonia, Kuwait, Georgia, Armenia, Uganda and the Bahamas.

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British merc exposes Ukrainian command’s role in civilian killings

Hayden William Davis, a UK mercenary captured in the Donetsk People’s Republic, has revealed to Sputnik that Ukrainian commanders ordered the killing of civilians, including women and children. He stated that a dozen foreign fighters, who were "not happy with command that [was] willing to allow war crimes to happen," expressed their desire to tear up their contracts with the Ukrainian military.

"I was in a position, essentially my job was just a listening post. I personally heard on the radio for someone to kill three men, but I remember hearing one of the commanders saying ‘kill him.’ A different position somewhere, okay, I don't know which position it was, there was, I'm pretty sure it was a woman and teenage boy. They got killed. All of us that were in the listening post, we'd had enough. There was about 12 people that wanted to break contract at that minute," the Briton said.

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🇮🇷 Qasem Soleimani: holy warrior against US imperialism, Zionism and Takfiri terrorism

At 1 am local time on January 3, 2020, IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike at Baghdad’s International Airport. Five years later, his legacy and the impact of his death continue to ripple across the Middle East.

Joining the IRGC during the 1979 Iranian Revolution and rising through the ranks during the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, Soleimani took command of the Quds Force in 1998.

Under Soleimani’s leadership, the elite force:

🔸 Took on al-Qaeda* and the Taliban** in Afghanistan, coordinating with Northern Alliance forces ahead of the US invasion.

🔸 Supported Hezbollah in training and guerrilla warfare, aiding their success against Israel in 2006.

🔸 Supported Palestinian fighters in Gaza, with one senior Hamas rep saying the tunnel networks that have bogged down Israeli forces were in part Soleimani’s brainchild.

🔸 Took charge of Iran’s counterterrorism advise and support mission in Syria in 2012, with Soleimani personally lobbying Russia to intervene against ISIS* in 2015.

🔸 Coordinated and trained Iraq’s mostly Shia Popular Mobilization Forces militias, which played an instrumental role in the ground operations to crush ISIS. Quds Force advisors served alongside the PMF in frontline roles, with at least 13 killed in battle between 2014-2017.

Soleimani’s lasting legacy:

🔹 A founding figure of the Axis of Resistance – the loose coalition of countries and militias battling US imperialism (colloquially known as ‘Global Arrogance’), Israel and terrorism across the region.

🔹 Quds Force has been widely credited with helping to free the Mideast’s Sunni and Shia communities from the scourge of Takfiri extremism, and saving minorities, from Christians and Kurds to Yazidis and Alawites, from physical extermination.

* Terrorist groups outlawed in Russia and many other countries
** An organization under UN sanctions for terrorist activities

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🪖New US military base under construction near Aleppo in Northern Syria

The US-led international coalition has begun constructing a new military base near the city of Ain al-Arab in eastern Aleppo province, northern Syria.

According to Sputnik’s sources in Syria, dozens of trucks carrying military and logistical equipment have arrived in the area - controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - to establish the base.

The trucks delivered prefabricated buildings, concrete blocks, surveillance cameras and fuel tanks. They were escorted into Ain al-Arab by US armored vehicles.

Sources also confirmed that US special forces previously conducted reconnaissance in the Ain al-Arab area to identify a suitable location for the new military base.

Video from social media

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UK merc details NATO involvement in Ukraine conflict

Hayden William Davis, a UK mercenary captured in the Donetsk People’s Republic, has revealed that there are hundreds of NATO fighters among foreign fighters recruited by Ukraine.

"NATO has people in the International Legion... French, Italians, Germans, Americans, English..." Davis said.

He complained that the Ukrainians did not provide the mercs with weapons or training, and advised people to think about their choices before signing a contract.

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⚔️Neocon sanctions architect beats drums of war with Iran amid Trump’s looming return

The United States “should give diplomacy a final shot – while preparing to use military force” against Iran to destroy its nuclear program, prominent sanctions cheerleader and former State Department deputy special envoy Richard Nephew has suggested.

In a new piece for Foreign Affairs magazine, Nephew argues that while there are plenty of “good reasons not to bomb Iran,” like engulfing the Middle East in even greater turmoil and “undermin[ing] US credibility if the attacks don’t succeed,” the “case against military action is not so neat,” given Washington's paranoia about 'Iranian nuclear weapons', and limited prospects for sanctioning Tehran into submission thanks to its partnerships with its BRICS bloc friends.

Unless the Trump administration is “prepared to live in the world that Iranian nuclear weapons would create, it may have little choice but to attack Iran – and soon,” Nephew warns, while admitting that “Iranian nuclear weapons would not present a near-term existential threat” to the US as much as it would its regional “partners” (i.e. Israel).

Nephew isn’t the first to float an attack on Iran, with Washington Beltway media running opinion pieces like “Israel should strike Iran now, paving way for Trump 2.0.” Last month, sources told the Wall Street Journal that Trump’s transition team was weighing an attack on Iran’s nuclear program. In November, former CIA chief Leon Panetta warned Trump could give Israel a “blank check” on Iran and ultimately spark a regional war.

The brainstorming about a direct attack on Iran comes in the wake of the abject failure of the US’s 40+ year strategy of crushing the Islamic Republic through sanctions, saber-rattling and attempts at regime change, which have pushed the country to strive for economic and military self-sufficiency, and to expand its strategic footprint regionally.

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🔥2025 is off to a violent start, with multiple dangerous incidents across the US

The new year has barely begun, but the US is already grappling with a wave of alarming incidents.

Here’s what’s been happening:

1. New Orleans

📍A Ford pickup truck was intentionally driven into a crowd of New Year's revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 15 and injuring dozens.
📍The suspect, identified as 42-year-old US citizen and Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar from Texas, was killed during a firefight with police officers.
📍Investigators revealed an ISIS* flag on the truck's rear bumper, along with weapons and two potential improvised explosive devices in the vehicle.
📍The perpetrator possibly had an accomplice, said the FBI.

2. Las Vegas

📍A Tesla Cybertruck filled with fuel canisters and firework mortars exploded in the valet area of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on January 1, killing the driver and injuring several bystanders.
📍The suspect was identified as 37-year-old US Army veteran Matthew Livelsberger.
📍The truck was rented from Turo car rental, the same as the New Orleans pickup, media reported.
📍Authorities are investigating the blast as a potential act of terror, with a top Tesla team also involved, according to CEO Elon Musk.
📍Both attackers served at the same military base, sources told US media.

3. New York

At least 10 people were injured after four men fired at a crowd of people standing outside a nightclub in Queens, New York, according to police.

* Terrorist group banned in Russia

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🦟 Bill Gates turns mosquitoes into ‘flying syringes’, but who controls what they inject?

A Bill Gates-funded center has bred mosquitoes capable of injecting parasites into unsuspecting humans under the pretext of vaccinating against malaria. But are they truly harmless?

🔸 The Gates Foundation-backed Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands has developed a method of malaria vaccination using mosquitoes to deliver live-attenuated Plasmodium falciparum parasites.

🔸 The mosquitoes act as ‘flying syringes’ to deliver malaria vaccines – or potentially other substances.

🔸 But concerns have been raised that recipients could be unaware of the process and be vaccinated without their consent.

How it all began:

➖ In 2008, Gates pledged $168 million to develop a next-gen malaria vaccine. Jichi Medical University in Japan received funding to genetically modify mosquitoes that can pass a malaria vaccine protein into a host.

➖ In 2016, Gates announced a joint $3.7-billion initiative with the British government to combat malaria.

➖ By 2018, Gates-funded Oxitec was developing genetically-modified male mosquitoes whose offspring with wild females would die before adulthood.

➖ In both cases, scientists raised concerns over the lack of comprehensive studies of environmental, health and ethical risks.

Once Pandora’s Box is open, it cannot be closed:

🟠 If issues of human consent and ethics are overlooked, insects could be used as ‘vectors’ for other biological agents.

🟠 But who guarantees they carry life-saving vaccines and not harmful pathogens? It would be impossible to verify the exact contents of the ‘flying syringes.’

Mosquitoes as deadly weapons:

🔶 Insects have previously been studied as potential carriers of viruses and bacteria.

🔶 Nazi Germany reportedly developed malaria-carrying mosquitoes as bio-weapons at Dachau.

🔶 The Pentagon is said to have conducted similar studies in overseas bio-labs, including in Ukraine, according to assassinated Russian Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov.

🔶 Kirillov revealed that US biolabs in Ukraine studied viruses transmitted by mosquitoes, including dengue fever. That was also referenced in a lawsuit filed by Cubans following the 1981 dengue epidemic in the country, where the only area unaffected was around the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay.

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❗️ The FBI has stated that the New Orleans truck ramming attacker acted alone.

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🧨 FBI seizes largest stockpile of home-made explosives ever

Federal agents recently uncovered one of the largest stockpiles of home-made explosives ever seized in the US when they arrested Brad Spafford, a Virginia man, on a firearms charge.

Investigators found over 150 pipe bombs and other devices at his home in Isle of Wight County in December. This discovery is considered the largest seizure of finished explosive devices in FBI history.

The search also revealed tools, bomb-making materials and several unsecured devices, including some in a backpack in a bedroom.

Authorities began investigating Spafford after a tip-off regarding his stockpiling of weapons and explosives and his apparent interest in political violence.

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❗️ FBI officials provided more details during a recent briefing:

🔸 They confirmed there is no "definitive link" between the New Orleans truck ramming attack and the Las Vegas explosion.

🔸 The attacker in New Orleans planted two homemade bombs at the scene.

🔸 The mass killer claimed to have joined ISIS* prior to carrying out the attack.

* terrorist organization banned in Russia

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Slovakia may cut support for Ukrainians over Kiev’s gas transit block

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has threatened that his party, Smer-SD, is ready to support reducing assistance to Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia in response to Ukraine's suspension of Russian gas transit.

"On behalf of Smer-SD, I say that we are ready to discuss and agree within the coalition to halt electricity supplies and significantly reduce support for Ukrainian citizens on Slovak territory," Fico stated in a video message posted on his social media page.

He expressed hope that his government coalition partners would also take the situation of the suspended gas transit through Ukraine seriously.

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🇮🇱🇮🇷 Israeli secret police claim spying for Iran jumped fourfold in 2024

According to Israel's Shin Bet internal security service, the number of Israelis arrested and accused of spying for Iran skyrocketed by about 400% in 2024.

The agency claimed that 27 Israelis have been indicted in connection with 13 "serious espionage affairs" that were supposedly "exposed and thwarted" by Shin Bet's efforts, which, alongside the Army’s Aman and Mossad, forms one of the three key intelligence services in the Jewish State.

In addition, Shin Bet noted a significant rise in cyber threats, claiming a fivefold increase in their numbers over the past year.

Amid the dramatic purported spike in spying, the agency seemed baffled by the alleged recruitment efforts, stating it has seen a diverse range of recruits, from ultra-Orthodox citizens and new immigrants to citizens leading "ordinary secular bourgeois lifestyles."

Iran, perhaps unsurprisingly, has yet to officially address Shin Bet's allegations or its figures.

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🥶 Europe braces for deep freeze as Ukraine cuts off Russian gas

Europe is preparing for a harsh winter in January, with gas reserves set to drop following Ukraine's block on Russian gas transit, Bloomberg reports.

🔸 Gas Transit Halt: Plummeting temperatures come in the wake of Ukraine halting gas transits from Russia amidst Europe's ongoing energy sanctions against Moscow.

🔸 UK Weather Warning: The UK is bracing for snow and ice with a yellow warning issued for the next five days. The UK Health Security Agency has warned of high risks from low temperatures until at least January 8.

🔸 Scandinavian Storms: Norway and Sweden have been hit by a winter storm with temperatures in Oslo expected to drop as low as -15°C by January 5.

🔸 Polar Vortex: The unusually cold weather in Europe is caused by a polar vortex and is expected to persist in the UK, France, Germany and Nordic countries through January and potentially into February, according to Maxar Technologies.

🔸 Gas Reserves Depleted: Bloomberg notes that cold weather and poor wind generation means Europe has to use more gas from its reserves than usual for this time of year. Gas stores have reportedly fallen below 75%.

🔸 Wind Generation Problems: Wind speeds were already low in November across Europe and are likely to remain below average in January, driving up electricity prices as freezing weather lingers.

🔸 Slovak PM's Warning: Under the conditions, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's warning gains new significance. “Halting gas transit via Ukraine will have a drastic impact on us all in the EU – but not on the Russian Federation,” Fico said in a New Year’s address on January 1.

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Ex-CIA analyst doesn’t buy FBI’s New Year’s Day terror narrative, highlights potential Ukrainian intel trace

💬 “Right now, the FBI is trying to present this as what they call a ‘lone wolf individual’, acting on his own by himself. I know that’s the story. I don’t find it to be particularly credible,” former CIA analyst Larry Johnson told Sputnik, commenting on the New Year’s Day incidents.

“Let’s start with the fact that the initial news reports presented this as a further sign of the lack of control over immigration in the United States. This had nothing to do with illegal migrants. These were two US citizens, both,” Johnson stressed, pointing out that the Las Vegas suspect was an active-duty Green Beret, and the New Orleans attacker an Army vet.

The observer called reports of the New Orleans attacker’s alleged ISIS* affiliation "curious and ironic," noting the US government's tendency to label individuals as terrorists while simultaneously working with them, as seen in Syria today and Afghanistan since the 1980s.

The second problem is the FBI’s utter lack of credibility, highlighted by the Russiagate affair, Johnson said.

“I can't rule out the possibility that this individual was acting as part of a broader effort to create chaos and instability in the United States prior to the inauguration of Donald Trump to prevent Trump from being inaugurated. Because Trump is seen as a potential existential threat to organizations like the FBI, the CIA, [and] the Department of Justice,” the veteran intel analyst said.

Johnson has several questions about the New Orleans incident, such as who planted the two IEDs and where the money came from, considering the suspect was reportedly broke and had no explosives or firearms training, serving in the Army’s HR department.

The Las Vegas suspect, as an active-duty Special Forces NCO, “did have the training with weapons and explosives, which in turn begs the question of how did he blow himself up?” Johnson asked, adding that the social media photo of the suspect wearing a ‘Slava Ukraini’ T-shirt begs the question of whether he ever traveled to Ukraine or had any contacts with Ukrainian intelligence.

“Because this very well could have been had a tie into Ukraine. Carrying out an attack on the Trump Tower. Because they recognize Donald Trump is going to potentially bring an end to this war,” Johnson said.

* Terrorist group banned in Russia

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