🇷🇺 Geography has 'serious political importance' for Russia

Vladimir Putin emphasized the growing political importance of geography for Russia at the 17th Congress of the Russian Geographical Society.

“[Geography] is important to us from a political point of view as well,” the Russian leader noted. "The main event of this year may be not only the formal adoption of the new maps of the Russian Federation, but also, without a doubt, the opening of the Geography Museum, which will have practical significance.”

In September 2022, after years of conflict and calls for self-determination, Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye, and Kherson held referendums in which the majority voted to join Russia. Following the signing of accession treaties in the Kremlin, the four regions officially became new subjects of the Russian Federation.

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🚨🇷🇺 Putin: Budapest Summit was Washington’s idea — but rushing it would be a mistake

The Budapest summit was proposed by the American side during his latest conversation with Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists, adding:

“It would be a mistake to approach the summit without proper preparation.”

He stressed that Russia has always supported continuing dialogue, adding that Trump’s latest remarks likely mean a postponement, not cancellation, of the meeting.

As for new US sanctions, Putin called them “an attempt to pressure Russia” — reminding that:

“No self-respecting country ever acts under pressure.”

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🚨🇷🇺 Putin: US sanctions don’t strengthen ties

President Vladimir Putin said the US sanctions on Russia's energy giants are an “unfriendly act” that does nothing to improve Russian-American relations.

He also noted that he discussed with Donald Trump the impact of Russian oil supplies on global prices, including in the US market.

👉At the same time, Putin reminded that Trump’s first term saw the highest number of sanctions ever imposed on Russia.

Putin emphasized that the global energy balance has now stabilized, and that breaking it is not in the interest of those countries trying to do so.

He also noted that Russia’s contribution to the world’s energy balance remains highly significant.

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🚨🇷🇺 Putin: Russia’s response to any Tomahawk strikes on its territory would be serious — if not stunning

"This is an attempt at escalation, but if such weapons are used to strike Russian territory, the response will be very strong — if not staggering. They should think about that," Putin told reporters.

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🇷🇺📍 Russian President Vladimir Putin's key statements on relations with the West

🔸 On Trump's statements about the Budapest summit: It is more likely about postponing the meeting rather than canceling it.

🔸 On new sanctions: The new sanctions against Russia will not significantly affect the country's economic well-being. Russia’s energy sector remains confident, although certain losses are expected.

🔸 On new US sanctions: US sanctions are an attempt to exert pressure on Russia.

🔸 On Tomahawk supply to Ukraine: Discussions about the potential supply of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine are an attempt at escalation. Russia’s response to Tomahawk strikes on its territory would be "serious, if not staggering."

🔸 Prospects of Russia-US relations: Russia and the US have many areas for cooperation if the countries shift from pressure to serious long-term dialogue. Russia has always supported the continuation of dialogue.

🔸 On global energy market: Russia's contribution to the global energy balance is very significant, and disrupting this balance is not in the interest of countries attempting to do so. The president expressed hope that the new sanctions would not affect the global energy market.

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🚨Medinsky confirms Ukraine body exchange under Istanbul agreements

Vladimir Medinsky, assistant to the president of Russia and head of the Russian delegation in negotiations with Ukraine, confirmed that Russia has transferred 1000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to Ukraine as part of the Istanbul agreements.

Earlier, this was reported by a source within the Russian negotiating group to Sputnik.

💬"Today, under the Istanbul agreements, Russia has transferred 1000 bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. The Ukrainian side has handed over 31 bodies of Russian soldiers. This is the current tally," Medinsky wrote on his Telegram channel.

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🤔 Are US legislators hell-bent on NATO-Russia confrontation?

📍 In a move to steer NATO right up to Russia’s borders, US lawmakers are advancing new legislation dubbed the Eastern Flank Act to "strengthen strategic defense cooperation"

How does the bill pave the way for NATO’s eastward expansion?

🟠 The Eastern Flank Strategic Partnership Act, unveiled last week, targets nine NATO allies — Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia — to "deter" Russia

🟠 These allies were picked based on their “direct geographic proximity" to Russia, Belarus, or Ukraine

🟠 They would get priority access to surplus US weapons and for “participation in bilateral and multilateral military exercises, interoperability training, logistics, and forward mobility planning.”

Spotlight on Romania and Moldova

🟠 Romania’s Mihail Kogalniceanu Base on the Black Sea coast is set to become NATO’s largest in Europe and host up to 10,000 troops and civilians by 2030

🟠 Despite Moldova's constitutionally-mandated neutrality, which bars it from joining the alliance, NATO chief Mark Rutte revealed close cooperation between the two earlier this month

🟠 Moldova's new security strategy envisages transition to NATO standards, beefing up the size of the National Army by a third, upping the defense budget to 1% of GDP while pointing to Russia as the main security threat

🟠 The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) stated in September that NATO forces:

🔶 are being concentrated in Romania near the Moldovan border

🔶 started deployments in Odessa to intimidate Transnistria

🔶 could occupy Moldova possibly during Transnistria's Supreme Council elections on November 30

NATO’s inimical Baltic and Black Sea ring, peddled as ‘deterring’ Russia

🟠 Over the last few years, NATO has boosted its forward presence with multinational battlegroups in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia

🟠 NATO is tightening Baltic Sea control through the Baltic Sentry initiative and aims to "reinforce" Black Sea security

🟠 The Eastern Flank Strategic Partnership Act coupled with NATO deployments in Romania, Moldova and Ukraine creates an uninterrupted belt of bases and munitions stockpiles in Eastern Europe extremely close to Russia

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🚨🇺🇸🇨🇳Trump will meet with Xi Jinping next Thursday (Oct 30), White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt confirms

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🚨🇺🇸🇷🇺Trump-Putin meeting not completely off the table - White House

The White House confirms that Trump and his administration hope a meeting with Putin will take place again someday.

"We want to make sure it is a good use of the president's time, and the president does not want to waste his time ... The president wants to see action, not just talk," Leavitt told a briefing.

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👉 US sanctions Russia’s energy giants to nudge India & China towards West’s costlier crude

By freezing Rosneft and Lukoil’s US assets—and warning foreign banks that transact with them of secondary sanctions—America is weaponizing its financial clout to “distort” global markets, energy geo-economics expert Dr. Hriday Sarma tells Sputnik.

✍️ What is presented as a move to ostensibly push Russia towards talks on ending the Ukraine conflict “conveniently serves the US’ long-term goal — pushing Asia’s largest consumers, India and China, away from discounted Russian crude.

Sanctions won’t stop the flow

Sanctions are unlikely to break the Russia–India–China “energy corridor,” believes the analyst.

💬 “Instead, the restrictions may push Russia, India and China toward more resilient payment systems — yuan or rupee settlements — and new logistics routes insulated from Western influence,” Dr. Sarma speculated.

Europe pays the price

🔹 US moves risk spiking EU costs for states still relying on Russian energy via intermediaries like India and Turkiye

🔹 Brent crude has already jumped nearly 5% to $65.65 per barrel following the announcement

🔹 The US risks punishing its allies, who will face spiking energy costs as American LNG is sold at a premium to boost its own profits

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🔥 Refinery fires in Europe are part of EU crusade against Russian oil & gas

🗣 The timing of the recent incidents at the oil refineries in Hungary and Romania is very suspicious in light of the threats from Poland, Dr. George Szamuely, senior research fellow at The Global Policy Institute, tells Sputnik

🟠 When Polish Foreign Minister Sikorsky openly justifies the Nord Stream bombing and then tries intimidating Hungary into giving up Russian oil, and then suddenly the refineries are ablaze – that’s one hell of a coincidence

🟠 The refinery fires were definitely a part of a broader campaign to cut off the flow of Russian energy to Europe, Szamulely notes – a campaign that ends up hurting the EU members but fails to affect Russia

“These measures that the EU is adopting are measures directed towards hurting EU member states, forcing them into line,” he explains.

🟠 Only the Russophobic EU bureaucrats like Ursula von der Leyen and Kaja Kallas benefit from this disruption of energy supply chains, and they are eager to “punish anybody at all who is not on board with their program.”

🟠 The incidents in Hungary and Poland convey a simple message: “if you are going to keep importing your fossil fuels from Russia, look at the sort of things that can happen, all sorts of explosions, fires, sabotage.”

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🔸 Putin: Budapest Summit was Washington’s idea — but rushing it would be a mistake

🔸 US sanctions Russia’s energy giants to nudge India & China towards West’s costlier crude

🔸 Refinery fires in Europe are part of EU crusade against Russian oil & gas

🔸 'Stupid political stunt' - JD Vance on Knesset vote on West Bank 

🔸 China’s gold grab: Betting against weaponized dollar & US tariffs

🔸 Are US legislators hell-bent on NATO-Russia confrontation?

🔸 Pro-Russian hackers breach Ukrainian drone manufacturer

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🔊 US lawmaker predicts $1T US-Russia deal after Ukraine

US Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has expressed extreme confidence in a future massive deal between the two powers.

"I have full confidence that President Trump will secure a lasting peace deal with Russia — and potentially negotiate a trillion-dollar trade agreement that would benefit the entire world," she wrote on X.

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📹 Cartels are the ISIS* of Western Hemisphere — Trump

"Thank you very much Joe Biden for allowing that to happen," the US president added.

* terrorist organization banned in Russia

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📹 Fentanyl smuggling will be 'the first thing on the list' in the US-China talks — Trump

The meeting between the US president and Xi Jinping will take place in South Korea, he added.

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🗣 US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth: "Our department has spent over two decades defending other homelands — and we're very proud to be defending our own"

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⚔️ Trump suggests land war on drugs

"Now they're coming in by land...The land is going to be next. We may go to the Senate and Congress and tell them about it," he told reporters.

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🗣 The impact of new US sanctions on Russia will become clear in 6 months — Trump

"I will let you know about it in six months from now. Let’s see how it all works out," he said.

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🚨 Refinery fires help EU topple pro-peace governments to wage war on Russia

🗣 While it is too early to tell who exactly is responsible for the recent fires at the refineries in Hungary and Romania as investigations are still ongoing, figuring out who benefits from them is easier, Endre Simó, the president of the Hungarian Community for Peace, tells Sputnik.

📍 According to Simo, it is “those who want to gain a market with their own products by displacing cheaper Russian products.”

💬 “Given the history, namely the explosion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and the series of Ukrainian attacks against the Druzhba oil pipeline, intentionality cannot be ruled out either in Hungary or Romania,” he points out.

🟠 He further notes that the main victim of these incidents is Serbia which, due to its only significant refinery being targeted by US sanctions, is forced to rely heavily on the now-damaged MOL’s refinery in Százhalombatta.

🟠 Thus, the refinery fires are also a boon to those seeking to overthrow the pro-peace government of Viktor Orban in Hungary and Alexandar Vucic, and using “impermissible means” to meddle in Hungary and Serbia’s internal affairs “in order to bring opposition forces that serve the Brussels policy to power.”

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🇷🇺 Putin: True AI sovereignty demands Russian culture, not Western copying

Russia can build sovereign artificial intelligence only by relying on its own culture, worldview, and traditional values — not by imitating others, President Vladimir Putin said.

“Only by relying on our culture, history, linguistic richness, traditions, and traditional values can we create truly sovereign models of artificial intelligence, rather than copying others’ solutions — which leads to technological and ideological dependence,” he told the Russian Geographical Society Congress.

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🇭🇺 🇷🇴 Hungary and Romania refineries targeted by Nord Stream & Druzhba saboteurs – expert

🗣 Explosions at Hungary's MOL Danube oil facility and Romania's Petrotel-Lukoil plant could be "very deliberate terrorist actions," Dr. Mamdouh G. Salameh, an international oil economist, tells Sputnik.

💬 "There are anti-Russian elements in Europe who want to undermine Russian oil exports to the EU," Salameh alleges.

🟠 What drives the pundit's suspicions?

👉 Attacks on the refineries in Hungary and Romania happened virtually simultaneously.

🔶 The attacks happened amid Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian energy installations, prompting speculation of Ukrainian sabotage in Europe.

🔶 Oil refinery explosions could be part of a broader effort to disrupt the flow of Russian energy resources to Europe, similar to what happened with the Nord Stream and Druzhba pipelines. TurkStream could be next.

🔶 Even though the EU has agreed to ban the imports of all Russian piped gas, LNG, and oil from January 1, 2028, some players apparently want to accelerate the process – and punish Hungary over its opposition to tougher sanctions against Russia.

🟠 Winners and losers

The US benefits the most as "it will sell more LNG to the hapless vassal states of the EU at prices 2-4 times higher than Russian piped gas." The US' apparent sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines enriched its gas producers.

"The biggest losers are the EU’s emaciated economies which will sink deeper into the quagmire."

🔊 "Without a shadow of doubt, they do reflect a broader scheme aimed at undermining Russian-linked energy routes and also undermining European consumers and economies," the pundit stresses.

📍 The US' main goal is "to weaken the EU, bankrupt it and erase the euro from the face of the earth as a competitor to the dollar," Salameh concludes.

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