🛞Roly poly robocops?

A Chinese company is in talks with foreign clients regarding the supply of its spherical patrol robots, the Global Times reports.

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🇷🇺 Key statements from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's daily briefing:

🟠Persecution of the Republic of Srpska’s President Milorad Dodik is political in nature

🟠Trump, unlike Biden, is ready to listen to others, and Moscow sees this

🟠No one expects easy and quick decisions between Russia and the US

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😱Washington's Asian allies fear US may SELL OUT Taiwan in event of conflict – report

As the shell-shocked West tries to process the Trump administration’s bid to recalibrate its relationship with Russia while sidelining Ukraine and Europe, Washington's allies in Asia are grappling with fears of their own.

There are concerns that the United States won’t support Taiwan if the island's tensions with China, which regards the island as its province, escalate, NBC News reported, citing former US officials.

US allies in Asia are “deeply unnerved” by the US president’s recent policy moves, Michael Green, who served on the White House National Security Council under George W. Bush, told the outlet.

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🤡 Polish PM tries to clap back at Trump’s comment that EU was formed to 'screw' the US

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❗️Russian troops liberated the settlement Nikolsky in Russia's Kursk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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📹An enchanting underwater show inspired by "Ne Zha 2" animated movie features main characters Ne Zha and Ao Bing dancing with fish in a mesmerizing blue water scene At Ordos Aquarium in Inner Mongolia, China.

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📹THROWBACK: Nancy Pelosi's shaky denial of insider trading that turned her into a multi-millionaire

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💬 Russia hopes talks with the US in Istanbul will be the first in a series of such consultations, Russian FM spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated.

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❗️Russian forces struck military infrastructure and drone storage facilities in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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

▪️Ukraine lost up to 180 servicemen in the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 310 troops, a Leopard tank and seven armored vehicles in the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Russian aviation shot down seven JDAM bombs and 104 Ukrainian drones.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 150 militants in the Russian Yug Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 210 soldiers and three warehouses in the areas of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Dnepr and Sever.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 215 troops in the Russian Vostok Battlegroup's combat zone.

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❗️The EU attempting to incite street protests in Georgia - Russian Intel

Other key statements from Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) on protests in Georgia:

🟠The EU has decided to shift from promises to pressure in dealing with Georgian politicians.

🟠The EU is determined to bring Georgia back to the path of democracy and European integration at any cost.

🟠Plans are underway to create a range of opposition parties in Georgia to challenge the ruling "Georgian Dream" party.

🟠The EU delegation in Tbilisi has been allocated funds for protests - up to €120 for each participant in anti-government demonstrations.

🟠The EU is also ready to provide Georgian bloggers with up to €50,000 to "promote anti-government sentiments" among the youth.

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🔍Current balance of forces in the Arctic

Insiders have told US business media that Washington has identified the Arctic as a domain for potential cooperation with Moscow on resource and energy exploration and new trade routes.

Who controls what in the Arctic today?

1️⃣Russia: Claims about 50% of the Arctic (2.1M sq. km, including the North Pole) and has the world’s largest icebreaking fleet (45 large vessels) and extensive commercial and military infrastructure to back its ambitions.

2️⃣US: Claims around 10% of the Arctic and recently expanded claims off Alaska, the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean to overlap with Canada. The US has just one heavy icebreaker for sustained operations.

3️⃣Canada: Claims 25% of the Arctic with a 1.9M sq. km continental shelf claim, partly overlapping with Russia’s. Canada has 15 icebreakers, half of them capable of working in the far north.

4️⃣Denmark: Claims 20% of the Arctic via Greenland, including the North Pole. May have a hard time enforcing its claims after scrapping all of its icebreakers. With Greenlanders eying independence, and the US eying Greenland, the Kingdom may have bigger problems to worry about.

5️⃣Norway: Claims 5% (235k sq. km) and operates two Arctic-class icebreakers. Has sought to strengthen its Arctic presence mostly with NATO forces stationed across 13 regional bases.

Note: Due to overlapping claims, the continental shelf claim figures above amount to more than 100%.

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❗️First contacts with the US administration give certain hope - Putin at the FSB board meeting

Other key statements by Vladimir Putin on US-Russian relations:

🟠The current US administration, rejecting the stereotypes and messianic ideological clichés of its predecessors, demonstrates pragmatism and a realistic outlook.

🟠Western elites seek to preserve instability in the world, they will try to undermine the US-Russia dialogue.

🟠The West's actions have led to the unraveling of its own internal systems.

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🇷🇺 Putin congratulates soldiers on Russia's Special Forces Day

The Russian president praised personnel and veterans for their professionalism, selflessness, loyalty to duty and oath, as well as their courage and resilience in carrying out the toughest combat missions.

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Putin: Some of the forces are interested in keeping hostilities and will try to disrupt emerging dialog between Russia and the US

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📹 Curves that defy imagination: A drone captures the mesmerizing flow of the road in Huixian province, China.

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Who’s criticizing the ICC and why?

The International Criminal Court has come under fire from a broad array of critics over its lavish spending, inefficiency and politicized prosecutorial style. Among its critics are leaders and countries, including:

🔸 Slovak PM Robert Fico: “I don’t doubt for a second that the ICC warrants for Vladimir Putin or Benjamin Netanyahu were politically motivated,” Fico said this week. |If someone mentioned the ICC to me a few years ago, I felt seriousness and respect. It’s ridiculous today.”

🔸 Donald Trump: The ICC “has engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel,” the US president argued in an executive order imposing sanctions on the court earlier this month. “The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel, as neither country is a party to the Rome Statute or a member of the ICC.”

🔸 The Kremlin blasted the ICC as “essentially a puppet in the hands of the so-called collective West, which uses it for its own purposes to further increase pressure on our country” after the court issued an arrest warrant against Putin and Russia’s children’s rights commissioner in 2023 for the ‘crime’ of evacuating children from conflict-torn areas of the Donbass.

🔸 China has repeatedly criticized the ICC over its “double standards” and “politicization” over decisions on Russia, North Korea and Myanmar. In November, Beijing reminded the court that it has no right to target Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing, whose country is not a party to the ICC, and urged the court to “uphold an objective and impartial stance, strictly follow the principles of complementarity and cooperation, [and] exercise its functions and powers prudently in accordance with the law.”

🔸 Multiple African leaders and the African Union have also attacked the ICC over the years over its perceived “neocolonial” and racialized anti-African bias. At one point in 2017, South Africa, Burundi and the Gambia even threatened to withdraw.

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Negotiations lasting over 6 hours between representatives of Russia and the United States concluded in Istanbul, reports a Sputnik correspondent.

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📹Dozens reportedly injured in a stampede following a blast at a meeting of M23 rebel leaders with residents in DR Congo

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🇷🇺 Key statements by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

▪️Moscow hopes the meeting with the United States in Istanbul will be the first in a series of consultations that will help bridge differences.

▪️The main irritant in Moscow-Washington relations for a long time has been the lack of contact.

▪️Ukraine's entry into NATO would mean a sharp and uncontrollable escalation of the conflict.

▪️The Paris meetings on Ukraine revealed contradictions among Western countries.

▪️Only after Brussels abandons its militaristic approach can we talk about the EU making a constructive contribution to the Ukrainian settlement.

▪️Moscow intends to use all political means to avoid a bad situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

▪️The verdict against President of the Republika Srpska of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik is an act of revenge, and not a fair court decision.

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