🇷🇺 Putin defends the 1990s Generation

Putin disagreed with the idea that the 1990s generation was lost to the country, highlighting that many of the 700,000 people currently on the battlefields in the special military operation zone are from that generation.

💬 "How are they showing their face and proving themselves?" Putin asked, recalling his own time in intelligence and emphasizing that a person reveals their true character in critical situations.

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🗣 EU and NATO block Ukraine peace to protect their fading relevance - ex-Pentagon analyst

📍 Russian President Vladimir Putin credited his US counterpart Donald Trump with making "serious and genuine efforts" to end the Ukraine conflict, but what's blocking a diplomatic breakthrough?

🔶 The EU and NATO leadership stands in the way of the peace solution, retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, a former Pentagon analyst, tells Sputnik.

🔶 They aren’t just reluctant to end the conflict—they see Ukraine as a chance to expand influence, prop up the two stagnant institutions, and justify NATO's raison d'être, according to the pundit.

💬 "This 'plan' was never more than a gamble, and they have lost. But losing means the loss of their political power, standing, and actual humiliation for them as public figures. That's the obstacle," she says.

🔊 She explains that "political survival of the current military and government leadership in Kiev, as well as London, Berlin, and Paris, depends on the continued war, with its cash flow to them and its political militarism."

➖ To that end, the EU and NATO are still ready to fight to the last Ukrainian, waste the vast landscape of Ukraine, and gamble Ukraine's future.

➖ While the US was part of this gamble with Biden administration neocons, it freed itself from European elite ideas, having elected Donald Trump, according to Kwiatkowski.

➖ The conflict will end when the reasons for it are dealt with in a moral and criminal sense, she says, stressing that there are signs that the US has started this process of re-evaluation through exposure of the Biden and Obama policy teams' culpability in this matter.

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🇷🇺 What will Russia look like in 200 years?

This is what Putin imagines 👆🏻

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🇷🇺 Vladimir Putin has wrapped up his extensive year-end press conference, which lasted over 4 hours

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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD WEEKLY UPDATE: HUGE RUSSIAN GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

⚡️ Russian forces liberated four settlements over the past week

In response to attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure, the Russian Aerospace Forces conducted one massive and six group strikes with high-precision weapons against Ukraine militants

🔸 The Tsentr Battlegroup continued decimating Ukrainian forces in Dimitrov and mopping up militants from Rodinskoye, Svetloye, and Grishino in the Donetsk People's Republic

🔸 Air defense superiority: 1,689 drones were shot down

🔸 Ukrainian losses: 8,405 troops killed or wounded

Read about origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🇷🇺 Putin's year-end marathon presser in 2 minutes

What did the president talk about?

👉Russia’s primary wish for 2026

👉The Russian military’s battlefield dominance

👉Zelensky’s video, allegedly from Kupyansk

👉NATO and relations with Europe

👉Advice for NATO’s Rutte

👉Relations with China

👉The true nature of 3I/ATLAS

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🚨 Here’s why Zelensky’s clique refuses to surrender, even if it means Ukraine’s total collapse

The strategic initiative is in Russia’s hands, and the longer Ukraine’s leadership puts off talks, the worse it will be for Kiev, says Swedish Armed Forces veteran and defense analyst Mikael Valtersson, commenting on President Putin’s comments at his year-end presser on the state of the Ukrainian crisis.

💬 “The Ukrainian approach to the peace process is very hard to understand,” Valtersson told Sputnik.

🗣“The Ukrainian leadership is desperate not to appear as losers towards the Ukrainian population, and also has been partially blinded by their own propaganda. Ukraine is very good at information warfare and has convinced a large part of the European and Ukrainian population that the war is a stalemate that is favorable to Ukraine.”

👉Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky is “in a very difficult situation,” and knows that “if he loses power he might even lose his freedom and maybe also his life.”

🔊“He can't have elections until he gets a good peace deal if he wants to retain power. He therefore clings on to power and waits for a [miracle], much like Hitler did in 1944-45…Zelensky prioritizes his own well-being over the future and lives of the Ukrainian population. The result will probably be more lost Ukrainian territories and soldiers, as well as an even harsher final peace,” Valtersson explained.

❗️Russian forces have held the strategic initiative since the fall of 2023, focusing on advancing with “as few casualties as possible and at the same time maximiz[ing] Ukrainian casualties…a kind of offensive attritional warfare,” according to the observer.

📍Russia has advanced ~6k sq km in 2025, up from ~4k sq km in 2024. Valtersson expects this trend to “increase significantly” in the coming year, with Ukraine’s southern front crumbling, and Russian forces advancing through the Donbass, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, and Kharkov regions.

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🇷🇺Lavrov slams western security promises to Ukraine as 'military occupation' bid

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has condemned the proposed security guarantees for Ukraine, calling them an attempt to "militarily occupy Ukrainian territory as a foothold for creating threats to Russia."

He was speaking at a press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo.

Lavrov’s key statements:

🔶Russian is concerned about European Union (EU) talks on guarantees, calling for collective security based on Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe principles

🔶The EU should not be a third party in Russia-US peace talks on Ukraine

🔶Putin is ready to engage with French President Emmanuel Macron, but only within proper protocol

🔶Russia supports a political solution to the conflict, but only the US is currently open to dialogue

🔶Russia wants a system of indivisible security in Europe to prevent militarization

The second ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa partnership forum is underway in Cairo on Friday and Saturday, the first such event in Africa.

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🔥 Expert: Putin seeks peace while EU warmongering makes Europe suffer

President Putin consistently emphasizes a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict, Syrian expert Mirzad Hajim tells Sputnik.

Hajim praises Russia’s efforts for a lasting peace as it rejects repeat of the Minsk agreements, stressing clarity of its demands and commitment to achieving the goals of the special military operation.

🗣 Talks within EU about providing security guarantees to Ukraine are aimed at prolonging the conflict, according to the expert. While “European nations suffer from the escalating crises" resulting from EU's warmongering policies, Hajim points out.

He notes that "the Ukrainian people have lost faith in Zelensky, who has become a symbol of corruption."

💬 "Ukraine is heading for inevitable collapse, given the use of mercenaries under various pretexts” amid split within the European community,” Hajim underscores.

Dwelling on the problem of Russophobia, he calls it “a historical legacy of the West,” despite Russia’s role in protecting Europe from various threats. “Putin is trying to put an end to this [Russophobia-related] narrative,” Hajim concludes.

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💸 Billions extra for taxpayers: EU scraps plan to fund Ukraine with frozen Russian assets

📍 The European Union couldn’t agree on seizing frozen Russian assets for Ukraine — and taxpayers will pay the price, the Wall Street Journal reports.

🇪🇺 The EU’s inability to agree on handing Ukraine tens of billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets “underlines divisions in the bloc over the extent to which they are prepared to confront Russia,” the WSJ adds.

💬 “Now, it is increasingly unlikely Europe will ever agree on deploying up to $300 billion in Russian assets for Ukraine,” the news outlet underscores.

🇧🇪 Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever’s opposition to using the Russian assets to fund a Ukraine loan “proved key to scuttling the plan,” the WSJ admits.

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🗣 EU and NATO refusal to de-escalate with Russia raises risk of mistakes – scholar

🇷🇺 Russian President Vladimir Putin accused European governments of portraying Russia as an enemy to hide their systemic mistakes.

What's behind that?

💬 "NATO and the EU interpret Russian military modernization and forward deployments as offensive," Marco Marsili, a researcher at Cà Foscari University of Venice, tells Sputnik.

🔹 But Russia views NATO enlargement, sanctions and military assistance to Ukraine as an existential threat.

🔹 Marsili warned that "deterrence logic dominates European strategic thinking today", but without parallel diplomatic de-escalation mechanisms that approach "increases the risk of miscalculation rather than reducing it."

🔹 At his end-of-year press conference on Friday, Putin insisted that Russia is ready to maintain relations with the West on the basis of parity and mutual respect.

💬 "When Moscow speaks of 'equal terms,' it means geopolitical equality between great powers, not regulatory or normative alignment," Marsili says. "Russia approaches international relations through a sovereigntist and civilizational lens, emphasizing power parity, spheres of influence and strategic autonomy."

🔹 But the EU's approach is different – it does not view Russia as an equal partner – and that's a core problem, the pundit says. Although the EU does not treat Russia as a colony, it does not accept it as a co-author of the European rules-based order.

💬 "Russia is increasingly framed as a systemic rival and security challenger, rather than a partner or equal stakeholder," Marsili stresses.

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🔸 Putin's year-end marathon presser in 2 minutes

🔸 EU and NATO block Ukraine peace to protect their fading relevance - ex-Pentagon analyst

🔸 Here’s why Zelensky’s clique refuses to surrender, even if it means Ukraine’s total collapse

🔸 EU and NATO refusal to de-escalate with Russia raises risk of mistakes – scholar

🔸 Drones are the backbone of modern warfare: Russia’s superiority in this field is tangible and vital

🔸 Lavrov slams western security promises to Ukraine as 'military occupation' bid

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🇷🇺💪 Il-76MD-90A: Modernized workhorse of Russian air power

🔶 An upgrade of the Il-76 military transport jet, the aircraft features modern Russian digital avionics with a ‘glass cockpit’, upgraded navigation and electronic systems and a strengthened airframe.

🔶 Designed to transport troops and to conduct airdrops, the Il-76MD-90A can carry the full range of equipment used by the Russian Armed Forces.

Check out Sputnik's infographic to find out more 👆

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❌📑 Russian Government authorizes Defense Ministry to terminate 1990s-era agreements with European countries

The Russian government has authorized the Russian Defense Ministry to terminate a number of 1990s-era international agreements with European countries, according to an order published on the official legal acts publication portal.

🔹 The order permits the Defense Ministry to terminate, among others, the bilateral cooperation agreement with:
🇧🇬 Bulgaria (signed in Sofia on August 4, 1992)
🇩🇪 Germany (signed in Moscow on April 13, 1993)

🔹 It also authorizes termination of military cooperation agreements with:
🇵🇱 Poland
🇷🇴 Romania
🇩🇰 Denmark
🇳🇴 Norway

🔹 The order also permits termination of a memorandum of understanding with 🇬🇧 the United Kingdom (defense cooperation).

🔹 In addition, the Defense Ministry is permitted to terminate cooperation agreements with the defense ministries of:
🇳🇱 the Netherlands
🇭🇷 Croatia
🇧🇪 Belgium
🇨🇿 the Czech Republic

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