🇺🇸🔨 US pressure on global gold producers could spark geopolitical firestorms

💬 “Pressurizing gold-producing countries is becoming a hallmark of US foreign policy,” a report by Russia’s Roscongress Foundation points out.

In the current financial system, gold is the only real alternative to the greenback as the global reserve asset—until the dollar order is replaced, the scramble to control gold stockpiles will intensify, driving major powers to target resource-rich nations like Venezuela and Nigeria, according to the survey.

💬 “Venezuela, a major hub of unrefined gold used to support a multipolar monetary system, is facing sharply increased US pressure, including efforts to oust President Maduro and consideration of direct military options,” the reports underlines.

Donald Trump has also ordered the Pentagon to prepare for possible military action in Nigeria, accusing it of insufficient measures to stop violence against Christians, the report wraps up.

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🇷🇺 Russia joins top three global maritime powers

📑 According to a study by the IMEMO RAS reviewed by Sputnik, Russia now ranks as the world's third-biggest maritime power in the 2025 global index.

📍 Russian researchers have calculated the Maritime Power Index (MPI) for 100 nations, evaluating their combined naval, shipbuilding, logistical, and economic potential. The report confirms Russia retains its position as the world's third-largest maritime power with a 6.6% share, noting that the top ten nations collectively account for nearly 60% of global maritime power.

Check Sputnik's infographic to find out more!

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🇷🇺💪 Russia: The indispensable resource superpower

🤔 How much oil, gas, coal, metals, rare earths and mineral wealth does Russia really have?

👉 Watch our explainer to find out.

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🟠 US’s Ukraine peace play: the latest developments

🟠 UK preparing contingency plan to undermine Trump’s peace push – Russian Foreign Intel

🟠 Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kyrgyzstan for a three-day visit

🟠 Russia: The indispensable resource superpower

🟠 US pressure on global gold producers could spark geopolitical firestorms

🟠 Russia joins top three global maritime powers

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❌ ‘My proposal is to forget about the 28 points’ – Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak

Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said the original 28-point US plan on Ukraine was “unacceptable” and should now be treated as history, arguing that talks must focus only on the revised draft, Axios reported.

Yermak refused to scrap Kiev’s NATO ambitions but conceded: “We are living in reality now. We are not in NATO,” Axios quoted him as saying.

The Financial Times reported that Washington’s proposal has been reduced from 28 to 19 points, with several provisions removed or amended after consultations with Ukraine and its Western backers.

Russia, meanwhile, is awaiting the updated draft. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would respond after seeing whether the new version matches the “spirit and letter” of the understanding reached between Presidents Putin and Trump in Alaska.

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🚨 US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow – Trump

President Donald Trump said he has directed his special envoy Steve Witkoff to travel to Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin, while Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will meet Ukrainian officials to discuss the peace plan.

Trump said his team has made “tremendous progress” toward ending the Ukrainian conflict, claiming that the original 28-point US peace plan has been “fine-tuned” and now has only “a few remaining points of disagreement.”

He added that he hopes to meet Putin and Zelensky “soon,” but only when a deal to resolve the conflict is final or in its “final stages.”

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🚀 Russian Angara 1.2 launch vehicle blasts into orbit with MoD payload onboard

🔶 Taking off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk Region on Tuesday, the rocket entered its pre-calculated orbit as planned, and was picked up by ground tracking shortly after. A stable telemetry connection has been established, and onboard systems are functioning normally.

💬 “At the designated time, spacecraft were launched into their target orbits, and picked up by control by ground-based assets of the Aerospace Forces,” the MoD said.

🔶 The Angara 1.2 is a two-stage small-lift launch vehicle produced by Khrunichev Space Center. A member of the Angara rocket family, the Angara 1.2 is designed to launch payloads of up to 3.5 tons into low-Earth orbit, or 2.4 tons into sun-synchronous orbit. The rocket itself has a launch mass of about 171 tons. It began regular flights in April 2022.

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🇷🇺📄 Putin approves new national policy strategy through 2036

President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree approving the Strategy of State National Policy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2036.

According to the document, the long-term strategy is designed to coordinate the work of federal and regional authorities, local governments and other institutions in the sphere of national policy, and to strengthen cooperation with civil society.

The implementation measures will be approved by the government.

The decree notes that interethnic relations in Russia are currently stable, and that the updated strategy is aimed at preserving national unity, territorial integrity and internal stability.

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🤡 France and EU to finalize solution on Ukraine financing using frozen Russian assets – Macron

President Emmanuel Macron said a coordinated EU solution on Russian assets will be agreed “in the coming days” to secure funding and “give Ukraine visibility and maintain this pressure,” Reuters reported.

Macron also announced that the so-called Coalition of the Willing will establish a new working group on security guarantees for Ukraine, led by France and the UK, with close involvement from Türkiye and — for the first time — the United States.

💬 “Over the next few days, we will finalise each party’s contributions and finalise these security guarantees,” Macron said, calling them essential for negotiating a “credible peace” and for “maintaining pressure on Russia.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier emphasized that there is no legal way to seize frozen Russian assets. He called such actions “deception and theft,” adding that “it seems the old instincts of colonizers and pirates have been awakened in the Europeans.”

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❌ ‘Fake’ — Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev slams Bloomberg report

Russian Special Presidential Envoy Kirill Dmitriev has rejected a Bloomberg publication claiming to show a trannoscript of an Oct. 29 phone call between him and Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, calling it “Fake” on X.

Bloomberg claimed the alleged call discussed ways of dealing with the US on the Ukraine peace plan — a claim Dmitriev dismissed as false.

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🚨 ‘It’s moving in one direction’ — Trump on Russian forces’ advance

Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One, President Donald Trump said the situation in Ukraine is “just moving in one direction,” adding that territory discussed in peace talks “might be gotten by Russia anyway” in the coming months.

💬 “Look, the way it’s going, if you look, it’s just moving in one direction. So eventually that’s land that over the next couple of months might be gotten by Russia anyway,” Trump emphasized.

Trump said negotiations are ongoing and described the territorial issue as “a long, complicated process.”

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🚨 'I don’t have a deadline' on Ukraine deal – Trump

Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One, President Donald Trump said he has no fixed deadline for reaching a settlement on the Ukraine conflict, adding that he expects progress “in the very near future.”

Trump said talks are continuing and confirmed that US envoy Steve Witkoff is set to travel to Moscow for further discussions.

On the substance of the peace plan, Trump described a halt to fighting and that Russia “don’t take any more land” as concessions being discussed within the framework of the US proposal.

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🇺🇸🇻🇪 'I might talk to him. We’ll see' – Trump on possible talks with Maduro

Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One, President Donald Trump said he may speak with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, noting that discussions are underway among staff.

💬 “If we can save lives, if we can do things the easy way, that's fine. And if we have to do it the hard way, that's fine, too,” Trump said when asked why he would consider talking to Maduro.

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🇺🇸🇨🇳 Trump expects to be 'pleasantly surprised' by Xi on trade

Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One, President Donald Trump said he recently discussed trade and US farm product purchases with Chinese President Xi Jinping and said he expects to be “pleasantly surprised” by Beijing’s actions.

Trump added that he has a “great relationship” with Xi and confirmed plans to visit China in April.

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💸 $1.2B to fight MOLD and change mattresses – Hegseth boasts proudly

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has announced that $1.2 billion is being poured into fixing barracks where, by his own list, troops live amid:

🔹 clogged showers and sewage overflows

🔹 brown tap water and months-long hot water outages

🔹 mold growth, broken windows, gas leaks

🔹 fire alarms that don’t work and “non-existent heating”

All this required a special “barracks task force” and a Pentagon briefing – just to buy new locks, cameras, furniture and mattresses for 81 barracks and 15,000 soldiers.

While Washington celebrates finally dealing with mold and rusty pipes, Russia is busy developing strategic systems like the Poseidon unmanned underwater vehicle and Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile – different levels of “readiness,” to put it mildly.

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