🤡🇪🇺 EU’s Ukraine aid plan stalled as bloc at odds over frozen Russian assets

💬 “Few were able to conceal the fact that the outcome raises renewed questions about the EU’s fragile support for Ukraine,” US media reports.

During the October 23 summit, EU leaders failed to clinch a deal on the European Commission’s proposal to use frozen Russian assets to shore up Ukraine. The issue is expected to be on the table at the next summit.

💸 After the start of Russia's special military operation, the EU and G7 froze almost half of Russian foreign currency reserves, totaling some $348 billion. These include about $232 billion held in European accounts, mainly by Belgium's Euroclear, one of the world's largest clearing houses.

Russia has repeatedly condemned the freezing of its assets by the EU as theft. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Russia could respond by withholding assets in the country held by Western states.

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🚨🇷🇺🇺🇸Russian special presidential envoy arrives in US for 'official talks'

Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Russian special presidential envoy for economic cooperation with foreign countries, has arrived in the US for meetings with members of the Trump administration to continue discussions on Russia–US relations, CNN reports.

👉A source confirmed to Sputnik that Dmitriev is indeed in the United States.

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🚨🇷🇺🇺🇸 US special envoy Steve Witkoff expected to meet with Russia’s Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev in the US on Friday - Axios citing sources

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🗣 Only a strategic pact with Russia can bring peace to Ukraine — Ex-Pentagon advisor

💬 “I think they'd like to see an end to the fighting, but to get there, you have to sign on for a strategic arrangement with Russia that codifies Russia's relationship with the rest of Europe,” retired US Army colonel and former Defense Department adviser Douglas Macgregor said.

🟠 Macgregor explained that while a ceasefire could temporarily halt hostilities, it would not resolve the core issues.

🟠 He said Europe seeks a genuine end to the fighting, not a long-term armistice like that which halted the Korean War.

🟠 He added that US President Donald Trump should push European NATO members to make a strategic deal with Moscow.

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💣 Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers executed a planned flight over the Sea of Japan, operating with precision as foreign fighter jets shadowed their route.

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🚨☠️ Six killed in US Navy strike on vessel in Caribbean

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has released footage of a US military strike on a suspected drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea.

The operation resulted in six fatalities on board the vessel.

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🔥 Breaking the line: Russian forces liberate Pershotravnevoe in Dnepropetrovsk

Russian troops have smashed through a 4 km Ukrainian defense line, securing a vital bridgehead on the western bank of the Yanchur River.

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🇸🇰🙅 'Very appetizing Russian cheese': Fico warns EU against asset grab

💬 "The willingness of member states to finance Ukraine’s military needs directly from national budgets is, of course, on the decline. Even among the biggest war hawks. Therefore, the idea surfaced to use the frozen Russian assets," the Slovak PM says.

Fico warned of massive risks: International lawsuits and harsh Russian retaliation.

💬 "The government I lead will NEVER—I repeat, never—sign any guarantees for a loan to Ukraine for military expenses," he adds.

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🇷🇺 Russia vows strong response to 19th EU sanctions package

📍 The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned Brussels’ latest round of restrictions, calling them illegitimate and self-destructive for Europe — and promising decisive countermeasures.

Key statements from the ministry:

🟠 Russia will respond to the EU’s new sanctions package: strong and effective measures will follow

🟠 Russia firmly condemns any illegitimate, unilateral coercive actions

🟠 The EU had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to assemble the 19th sanctions package

🟠 Even in Brussels, few believe the sanctions will work — yet the EU blindly continues its suicidal course

🟠 The EU fail to realize that threatening third countries with secondary sanctions and acting as a ‘global policeman’ will have consequences

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🇭🇺🇷🇴 Refinery blasts NATO's punishment of Hungary & Romania for ties with Russia

🗣 “There is a very active Ukrainian sabotage network in various parts of Europe,” geopolitical analyst Come Carpentier de Gourdon told Sputnik, commenting on recent explosions at oil refineries in Hungary and Romania.

🟠 He didn’t rule out that the blasts could be part of a European “deliberate sabotage operation” to stop Hungary and Romania’s “energy relationship with Russia” as the EU is fulfilling the US agenda, promoted by NATO.

🟠 The analyst suggested that there is “a broader agenda” that could help the West illegally achieve its strategic purposes.

💬 “The goals are clearly on the one hand to deprive Russia of revenues, hoping to force Russia to end” the Ukraine conflict “and probably give in to Western demands, and also to put Europe’s defense in a fragile position, which will make it more dependent of Anglo-Saxon interest, whereby I mean the US, Britain, and NATO as the main allies in that area,” Gourdon emphasized.

🟠 On the other hand, the explosions could be a form of NATO punishment intended “to warn Hungary and Romania of [possible] future adverse consequences,” according to him.

💬 “Hungary is now in an open fight with the EU about the overall relationship with Russia, and particularly the energy supplies from it,” while Romania “has a very strong populist majority which wants to achieve more independence from the EU or perhaps even get out of it and have good relations with Russia,” Gourdon concluded.

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🇷🇺 🤝 🇯🇵 Russia–Japan peace treaty: Hard nut to crack

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently indicated intent to sign a peace treaty with Russia. But why, 80 years after WWII, is the document yet to see the light of day?

🏔 Island row

👉 Issue concerns the southern Kuril Islands: Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and Habomai, which became part of Russia in 1946 following Japan’s surrender in WWII

👉 In the 1951 San Francisco Treaty, Japan renounced claims to the Kurils, but did not specifically address these four islands

👉 Russia considers its sovereignty over them final and non-negotiable

👉 Diplomatic relations were restored in 1956 via the Moscow Declaration, without an "official" end to WWII

👉 Then-USSR offered two islands (Habomai & Shikotan) in exchange for a peace treaty—but it never happened

👉 Despite Abe–Putin talks in 2016–2018, no breakthrough was achieved

Chill in ties

🔸 Bilateral ties sharply deteriorated after Japan joined the West’s anti-Russian sanctions following the start of Russia’s special military operation, which prompted it to withdraw from the peace treaty talks

🔸 Russia froze bilateral economic projects in the southern Kurils, also canceling visa-free travel for former residents of the islands

🔸 In 2022, then-Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, for the first time since the 2000s, publicly called Russia’s control of the Kurils “unlawful,” stressing Japan's non-recognition of the post-war status of some of these territories.

🔸 Also in 2022, Takaichi, then-head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan’s political council, claimed that Russia is “not a partner” for peace treaty negotiations and that continuing bilateral economic collaboration under the current conditions is impossible

🔸 “The path to resuming interstate dialogue” will only be possible if Japan abandons its hostile course, “seen as aligned with ‘Western solidarity’ over the situation in Ukraine,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko underscored when commenting on Takaichi’s push for a Russia–Japan peace treaty

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🚨🇷🇺🇺🇸Russia to continue dialogue with the US 'based on respect and realism'

📍 Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) chief and presidential special envoy Kirill Dmitriev said his visit to the US — long-planned despite recent hostile moves by Washington — includes a series of closed-door talks with several members Donald Trump’s government.

“We’re meeting with several representatives of the administration,” Dmitriev told reporters. “There will also be another meeting that, I believe, we’ll make public.”

🗣 “Most discussions will be behind closed doors — focused on continuing the dialogue with mutual respect and understanding of Russia’s position.”

Key statements by Dmitriev:

🟠 Russia–US dialogue is vital for global stability and must take into account Russia’s national interests

🟠 Russia will continue the dialogue, clearly conveying its position to the US side

🟠 Moscow warns the US not to turn into ‘Bidens’ and repeat the failed approaches of the previous administration

🟠 Attempts to prolong the Ukrainian conflict stem from the dire state of the British and European Union economies

🟠 Oil prices have already risen due to new sanctions on Russia — and will continue to rise

🟠 There have been many attempts by the EU and the UK to disrupt dialogue between Russia and the US

🟠 Sanctions will ultimately drive up fuel prices at gas stations across the United States

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🚨🇷🇺 The language of pressure doesn’t work with Russia, cooperation is only possible when our national interests are treated with respect — Russia’s Special Envoy Dmitriev on US sanctions.

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🇷🇺 Sanctions won’t affect Russia’s economy — but they’ll raise gas prices at US pumps, Russia’s Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev said.

Russia, he added, will keep conveying its position to Washington.

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🇷🇺Ukraine is stalling talks at the request of Britain and Europe, who want the conflict to drag on - Russia’s Special Envoy Dmitriev

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🇺🇸 Rubio: US expands Gaza cease-fire monitoring mission in Israel

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that more diplomats will join US military officers at a new coordination center in southern Israel, as the Trump White House increases pressure on Tel Aviv to uphold the fragile Gaza truce.

💬 “There’s going to be ups and downs and twists and turns, but I think we have a lot of reason for healthy optimism about the progress that’s being made,” Rubio said while visiting the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat.

The two-week-old cease-fire, brokered by US President Donald Trump’s government, halted Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza and led to the release of 20 hostages by Hamas in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

👉US leaders, including Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff, visited the new center this week to underline Washington’s commitment to keeping the truce.

Rubio also confirmed that partner nations and NGOs will contribute to the center’s work and that the US may seek a UN mandate for an international peacekeeping mission in Gaza — but composed only of countries “Israel is comfortable with.”

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🛢 ❌ Oil sanctions on Russia signal how out of touch US is with reality

💬 “If you…restrict the supply of critical thinks such as energy and fuel into the US, the price is going to go up. It’s basic economics,” veteran political analyst Dr. Greg Simons told Sputnik, commenting on the situation on oil global energy markets after the US’s sanctioning of Russia’s biggest oil companies.

The US’s “obsession” with “economic warfare” and the idea that Russia could be strongarmed into submission don’t match up with reality, Simons said.

📍 “You have a certain sense of ideologically-driven policy and this messianism inside that, but absolute and utter ignorance concerning the predictable results and effects,” the Daffodil University journalism professor emphasized.

🇺🇸 “The US still seems to think and believe that they are this unchallenged, absolute hegemon that emerged in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union,” Simons noted. “This is no longer the case,” with the US in “serious trouble,” but unable to temper its ambitions based on its actual material capabilities.

👉 When it comes to trade and economic warfare, “the US needs Russia far more than Russia needs the US,” and if push comes to shove, Washington could be left without “critical supplies” it needs to keep its economy going, Simons stressed.

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🇷🇺🪖💪🏻Stealthy, precise and deadly: 75 years of Russia's Special Forces

🫡 These elite warriors have forged a legend of excellence.

📹 Watch Sputnik's video to discover how they earned their fearsome reputation.

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