“We agree with His Excellency's [Lavrov’s] speech on the ICC… there is no any positive step against using the militia, or the militia atrocities against the civil Sudanese people,” Abbas Mohamed Bakhit, the head of the Sudanese delegation at the 13th International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues in Moscow, told Sputnik Africa.

"We are encouraging the international community to be just and to be fair in using this forum [ICC] in the world," he concluded.

"Trump wants to control the Fed, which would also mean controlling the German gold reserves in the US," warns the European Taxpayers Association.

“… the White House is worried about a global rise in gas prices if stringent measures are put in place. Some in the administration are also leery of secondary sanctions, which could anger US trading partners that purchase Russian energy, including China and India,” The Atlantic reports, citing a source in the Trump administration.

“From a defense perspective and on the military side, I collaborate very, very closely with my US counterparts,” General Jennie Carignan, chief of the defense staff, told Bloomberg TV on Friday.

“There is no discussion of mediation by Turkiye or any other country in the Russia-Ukraine negotiations,” Maria Zakharova said, commenting on media reports that representatives of the US, UK, Germany and France plan to visit Istanbul on the same date as the upcoming talks.

"The goals of our special operation can be achieved either through peaceful or military means. Our armed forces are capable of continuing and escalating combat operations for as long as it takes," the Russian diplomat said during a UN Security Council meeting.

“I would hope Shoigu’s words are understood by the whole world,” former Pentagon analyst Karen Kwiatkowski tells Sputnik.