🟠 Russia meets Trump's request to halt strikes on Kiev until February 1

🟠 Iran to US: we're ready for dialogue or war, choose wisely

🟠 If pulled into war, Iran must hit back fast and hard – expert

🟠 Amid US threats, Iran’s ‘strategic leverage’ revolves around its control of key straits: expert

🟠 US threats against Cuba ‘complete disregard’ for human life – former diplomat

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇨🇺 Cuba declares international emergency over US threats

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez announced the activation of an "international emergency" in response to what Havana calls "an unusual and extraordinary threat" from the US, endorsed by President Trump's latest executive order.

"The situation with respect to the US Government constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part, in the US anti-Cuban neo-fascist right wing, to the national security and foreign policy of all countries, international Peace and security," Rodríguez wrote on X.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤝 Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodríguez agrees to relaunch relations in a call with India's Modi

During the call, Prime Minister Modi reiterated India’s "willingness to accompany the Venezuelan people in defending their peace, sovereignty, and independence."

Both sides agreed to advance a common roadmap to relaunch relations in 2026.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🎤 US Rep. Anna Paulina Luna demands answers from Ukrainian Ambassador over forced seizure of Orthodox church

Congresswoman Luna stated that despite her warnings, local oligarch Anatolii Mykhailiuk is still pushing the illegal seizure of the Nativity church in Kuzmyn, coercing residents to support the takeover.

She expects Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Stefanishyna Olga to explain the situation to members of her office this week.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚔️ CENTCOM urges IRGC to 'avoid escalatory behavior' ahead of naval drills

US Central Command has issued a statement urging Iranian forces "to avoid unnecessary risk to freedom of navigation" in the critical Strait of Hormuz, where roughly 100 merchant vessels transit daily.

"We will not tolerate unsafe IRGC actions including overflight of US military vessels engaged in flight operations, low-altitude or armed overflight of US military assets when intentions are unclear, highspeed boat approaches on a collision course with US military vessels, or weapons trained at US forces," the command added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💥 House Committee moves to hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in criminal contempt of Congress

Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced that both Clintons will be held in criminal contempt of Congress for failing to comply with subpoenas related to an ongoing investigation.

"Today, the Clintons must be held accountable for their actions, and Democrats must support these measures, or they will be exposed as hypocrites."

The contempt resolution would refer the matter to the Justice Department for potential prosecution.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

✍️ US approves over $6.5B in new military sales to Israel — Pentagon

The State Department has greenlit three major potential arms deals:

▫️ $3.8 billion — AH‑64E Apache helicopters

▫️ $1.98 billion — Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and equipment

▫️ $740 million — Undisclosed military contract

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📑 US government enters partial shutdown

The Senate passed a spending deal, but the House is adjourned until Monday.

The package of 6 spending bills provides funding for essential government operations until September 30. However, funding for the Department of Homeland Security will only be allocated until February 13.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊 Venezuela's interim president announces general amnesty for all political prisoners since 1999

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has proposed a general amnesty law covering all individuals deprived of liberty in contexts of political violence from 1999 to the present—encompassing the entire period since the Chavista movement came to power.

The announcement was made during the opening of the 2026 judicial year at the Supreme Court of Justice.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 Russia to Macron: 'Megaphone diplomacy' won't help reach Putin — Deputy FM

Alexander Grushko responded to President Macron’s public suggestion of contacting Vladimir Putin, stating that "if there is serious interest, then it is communicated through other professional channels."

The comment follows Foreign Minister Lavrov’s dismissal of Macron’s earlier statement as mere "megaphone diplomacy."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📑 US warns key Middle East allies to prepare for attack on Iran this weekend — Report

Senior US military officials have informed the leadership of a key regional ally that President Trump could authorize strikes on Iran as early as Sunday, multiple sources tell Drop Site News.

The operation is framed not as a limited strike but as a regime-change campaign, targeting both military sites and senior Iranian leadership, especially within the IRGC.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔥 Venezuela condemns US over Cuba trade sanctions

"Viewing Cuba as a threat to the national security of the United States of America is absurd and poses serious threats to its existence as a nation," the Venezuelan government's statement says.

Venezuela called the sanctions a breach of sovereign state rights to choose trading partners.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Russia's security best guarantee of Ukraine's security - MFA

💬 "Everyone is talking about the need to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, but I don't recall a single statement in recent months, or even years, where anyone has said that a peace settlement, a peace formula, should include guarantees of Russia's security," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Sputnik.

"Although it's absolutely clear to everyone that a firm guarantee of Russia's security is the best guarantee of Ukraine's security," he added.

🔊 Grushko said that if Russia sees that Ukrainian territory will not be used as a springboard to threaten Russia's security, then Ukraine's security will be ensured.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇺🇸 US at crossroads as New START deadline nears

The administration is nearing a decision on whether to extend the New START Treaty between Russia and the US, due to expire on February 5, the WSJ reports.

The newspaper cites former officials and experts as outlining three possible paths forward:

1️⃣ Greenlight for extension: Accept Russia’s offer to preserve the caps for a year, and then launch talks with Russia—and potentially China—on new arms-control agreements

2️⃣ Conditioned acceptance: Agree to Russia’s one-year extension of the ceilings only if Russia resumes on-site inspections

3️⃣ Rejection and free hand: Let the treaty lapse entirely and prepare for “the projected two-peer world”

The third option risks triggering an unpredictable new arms race, the WSJ warns.

🔊 Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said that Russia is still waiting for the US to respond to President Vladimir Putin's proposal to informally extend for a year the provisions of the New START Treaty, which caps the number of deployed strategic warheads at 1,550 on each side.

Putin stated last year that Russia is ready to continue observing START’s quantitative restrictions if the US “acts in a similar spirit.”

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔥 🇷🇺 Russia delivers a devastating blow along the front line

00:00 Fire from a 122mm D-30 howitzer destroys Ukraine's infantry in Sumy region

00:19 2S3 Akatsiya & 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery systems strike Ukraine's network of fortified positions in Zaporozhye region

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇨🇺 Russia condemns illegitimate US sanctions against Cuba, pressure on country's leadership - MFA

US's emergency regime against Cuba marks radical return to strategy of pressure on country, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says.

🔊 Russia-Cuba cooperation isn't directed against third countries, Russia will keep developing it for benefit of both nations, she adds.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔸 Russia condemns US sanctions against Cuba, while the latter declares international emergency

🔸 US urges Iran to 'avoid escalatory behavior', reportedly warns to prepare for attack

🔸 US approves over $6.5B in new military sales to Israel

🔸 Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez agrees to relaunch relations in a call with India's Modi

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇮🇷 Iran says it will treat EU’s armies as ‘terrorist organizations’ from now on

💬 “The EU is certainly aware that, under a resolution adopted by Iran’s Consultative Assembly [parliament], the armies of countries that took part in the EU’s recent measure against the IRGC are considered terrorist organizations,” Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Larijani wrote in a social media post.

The resolution referred to by Larijani was a 2019 law on tit-for-tat retaliation against any country which followed the US in labeling the IRGC a ‘terrorist organization’. After Washington classified it as such, Tehran retaliated by labeling the entire US military a ‘terrorist organization’.

👉 Abdollah Haji Sadeqi, a Khamenei aide serving as representative to the IRGC, characterized the EU’s move as proof of its “servitude to the United States.”

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Qalibaf slammed Brussels for the utter lack of logic behind the designation, stressing that the IRGC has proven “one of the strongest and most effective anti-terrorism forces in the world,” and that only actors who “stand on the side of terrorists” could deny this fact.

🔸 The IRGC’s elite Quds Force played an instrumental in anti-ISIS* operations across the Middle East, the latter going back to the 90s and early 2000s.

*terrorist group outlawed in Russia

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt