Is the US preparing to recognize Russia’s control over new territories?

Everything US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff said about Russia’s new regions is true, says Samir al-Khatib, an expert on international politics and Russia.

💬 “There’s an unspoken consensus—these territories are de facto Russian, even if the West won’t say it aloud,” al-Khatib told Sputnik. “Trump understands Biden’s mistakes in backing Kiev and is working to fix them.”

The commentator believes the upcoming US-Russia talks in Jeddah will be crucial: “If an agreement is reached, we’ll see major progress on the status of the territories under Russian control.”

In a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, Witkoff said that the regions “are Russian-speaking.”

💬 “There have been referendums where an overwhelming majority indicated they want to be under Russian rule,” the envoy added. “The Russians are de facto in control. The question is: will the world acknowledge that?”

Mustafa Shalash, Director of South Asia Studies at the Arab-Eurasian Research Center, agreed that “for Russia, the status of these regions is settled. The US may soon recognize this, adopting a more realistic approach under Trump’s team.”

💬 “Witkoff’s diplomacy signals a shift—Americans are bypassing European and Ukrainian obstacles and engaging directly with Russia. We could be on the brink of a major breakthrough in resolving the Ukrainian crisis,” he told Sputnik.

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The talks between the Ukrainian and US delegations have concluded in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

Deputy Head of Volodymyr Zelensky’s Office Pavlo Palisa declined to comment on the outcome of the talks. He only stated that the Ukrainian delegation would not be meeting with the Russian side in Riyadh.

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MIC, bankers and NATO big winners of Europe’s push to fight proxy war against Russia to bitter end

The UK, France and Germany are leading the charge in “advocating policies guaranteed to ensure that any peace plan fails,” Dr. George Szamuely says, commenting on the ramping up of the militarization of Europe as Russia and the US try to hammer out a peace deal in Ukraine.

💬 “If they insist on continuing to pour weapons into Ukraine, if they insist, as French President Macron does, to send NATO troops into Ukraine…that will absolutely ensure that no peace agreement will be possible and that the war will continue,” Szamuely, a senior research fellow at the Global Policy Institute, explained.

Europe’s current crop of elites is a far cry from their predecessors, from Willy Brand and Helmut Schmidt to Helmut Kohl, the academic noted, trying to prevent peace “instead of acting as facilitators of a peace deal between the US and Russia.”

Quo Vadis?

While European inflexibility may seem surprising, given the economic pain its industries, farmers, and ordinary citizens have suffered as a direct result of the current crisis, Szamuely points out that there are major beneficiaries whose reasons for rejecting peace are clear:

🔸 Europe’s military-industrial complex, “which will now enjoy a great deal of investment,” especially after Germany removed constitutional “debt break” restrictions, which essentially means “limitless debt for limitless military spending.”

🔸 Bankers, because borrowing to fuel Germany’s militarization will mean issuing bonds, which will make the economy increasingly financialized. “They’re going to make a lot of money through raising bond yields, and that’s understandable given Friedrich Merz’ background at BlackRock,” Szamuely said.

🔸 NATO, which, as a “self-perpetuating machine” that “keeps creating threats, panicking a population, forcing people to spend more on the military,” requires tensions with countries like Russia “to justify its continued existence and its continued expansion.”

💬 “So it helps the NATO sector…it helps the financial sector, it helps the military-industrial complex. But ordinary Europeans get nothing whatsoever out of this,” Szamuely summed up.

The image is AI-generated

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❗️The Russian delegation has arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Talks with the US delegation will begin on Monday morning, Grigory Karasin, chairman of the Federation Council’s International Committee and head of Russian delegation, told Sputnik.

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📹 WATCH: Turkish police PEPPER SPRAY crowd protesting the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu

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📹 The situation near Vezneciler metro station in Istanbul’s central Fatih district remains tense as large numbers of people continue to arrive at a protest rally in the Saraçhane area.

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🎥 Protesters in support of arrested Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu have taken to the streets in Ankara.

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🔸 MIC, bankers and NATO big winners of Europe’s push to fight proxy war against Russia to bitter end

🔸 Where are NATO weapons sent to Ukraine ending up?

🔸 Trump’s push to jump-start nuclear talks sparks NEW TENSIONS

🔸 Europe will spend itself into ‘BANKRUPTCY’ if it tries to meet NATO’s draconian defense demands

🔸 Five factors behind the decline of US military shipbuilding

🔸 Google’s multi-billion-dollar Wiz deal: A backdoor for military intel?

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Deep state cleanup op? What SECRETS Biden-appointed attorney Jessica Aber could take with her to the grave

The 43-year-old former US Attorney for Eastern Virginia was found dead at home Saturday, two months after her resignation, serving from 2021-2025.

Aber led 300 prosecutors and staff, handling high-profile cases seemingly aimed at protecting the Biden administration and its agenda:

🟠 She spearheaded the prosecution of James Gordon Meek, an ABC News journalist working on an expose challenging the Biden narrative on the disastrous 2021 pullout from Afghanistan.

Meek’s home was raided, he was charged with possessing child porn, and sentenced to 6 years behind bars in 2023.

🟠 Also in 2023, in a historic first, Aber spearheaded a patently unlawful but politically expedient attempt to charge four Russian troops for ‘war crimes’ against a US national in Ukraine. The politicized case petered out, as the accused are not Americans.

🟠 In 2021, Aber was charged by whistleblowers with helping to inflate US “domestic terror” stats after Jan 6 to justify a bigger DoJ budget, supporting the Biden narrative that Trump supporters were the biggest internal threat to America.

🟠 A key Democratic operator, Aber helped convict ex-Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell in 2014 on corruption charges.

SCOTUS overturned the ruling in 2016, but the Republican was left with $27M in legal bills, a broken marriage, and the trauma of prosecutors threatening his kids. Talk about a classic case of targeting one’s political enemies.

Israel and Big Tech

🟠Aber led the prosecution of ex-CIA officer Asif Rahman, indicted last fall for leaking Israel’s attack plans on Iran. He pleaded guilty in January.

🟠 She also oversaw Amazon’s failed bid to punish employees accused of a land deal scheme, promising to assign her “best prosecutors.” A judge dismissed the case—which highlighted the DoJ’s attempt to use the law to support big business.

Let’s sum up:

Covering Biden’s behind in Afghanistan? Check.

Helping his administration pursue its propaganda war against Russia? Check.

Supporting the narrative labeling pro-Trump protesters as “domestic terrorists?” Check.

Failing to use her powers to investigate the president despite credible evidence pay-to-play corruption? BIG check.

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❓Europe’s high-tech headache: What happens if Uncle Sam pulls the plug?

European leaders are starting to realize that their shiny, high-tech weapons come with a Made-in-USA catch. According to The Washington Post, there’s growing anxiety that the Trump White House might stop servicing the complex US-made systems Europe relies on – like missile defenses, spy drones and early-warning aircraft.

The fine print? Some of the gear can only be maintained by US firms, and even European-made equipment with American parts is tangled in Washington’s rules.

As one European official put it, “It’s not like Trump can push a button and all our planes fall from the sky…”

Dependency: it’s not just a feeling – it’s a policy.

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