🇷🇺🇨🇳 West's strategy to split Russia and China fails – Shoigu

💬 "Westerners dream day and night of how to create discord in the strategic partnership of our states. I would like to emphasize once again: Moscow and Beijing will not sit idly by and tolerate biased insinuations," Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said.

Western countries have made it a rule to justify their actions by the threat from Russia and China, the official added.

Earlier in the day, Shoigu met with China's FM Wang Yi and discussed the changing international and regional security situation.

Shoigu said that his talks with Wang were very substantive, during which they discussed the schedule of contacts, including at the highest level.

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🚨🇺🇸🇮🇷 Trump on Iran: ‘We have the biggest, most powerful ships in the world over there’

💬 “Hopefully we’ll make a deal”, the US president told journalists.

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🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran reveals the recipe for a deal with US

The talks between US and Iran could be resumed, but only if the US were to pursue a fair and equitable deal to ensure that there is no nuclear weapons, just as Trump put it, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CNN.

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🇺🇸🇨🇺 ‘We’re talking to the people from the highest levels in Cuba’ – Trump

The US president thinks a deal between the US and Cuba will be achieved.

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⚔️ Israel assassinated Hezbollah engineering division head

The Israeli military has confirmed the targeted killing of Ali Dawoud Amich, a senior figure in Hezbollah's engineering unit.

According to the IDF, Amich was responsible for rehabilitating terror infrastructure in southern Lebanon, despite the established Israel-Lebanon ceasefire.

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🔊 Sheinbaum denies discussing oil supplies to Cuba with Trump

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated her administration never discussed Cuban oil with President Trump.

Despite US sanctions, Mexico will continue to send humanitarian aid to Cuba, including oil supplies, she added.

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📑 US and Israel chiefs of staff hold secret Pentagon talks — Report

US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Dan Caine, met with Israeli military chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Reuters reported, citing US officials.

The meeting was not previously announced and details were kept secret.

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🗣 Sahra Wagenknecht warns German elites push for nuclear weapons

The leader of a German party has sharply denounced a growing cross-party push for Germany to help develop European nuclear arms.

"What utter madness! It’s not more nuclear weapons that enhance our security, but diplomacy, nuclear disarmament, and international treaties," she wrote on X.

She warns that stationing US intermediate-range missiles in Germany makes the country a "bullseye for a nuclear war."

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🔍 Turkiye, Egypt, Qatar are preparing US-Iran talks in Ankara — Report

A meeting is being organized in Ankara between US envoy Steve Witkoff and senior Iranian officials, mediated by three regional powers, Axios reported citing sources.

A US official confirmed the potential meeting could take place in Turkiye.

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📹 Venezuela exports first LPG despite sanctions

Venezuela’s interim president announced the first shipment of liquefied petroleum gas has sailed, calling it a "historic achievement for the well-being of the people."

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🗣 US and Russia will negotiate even after New START expires — expert

"Even after the end of this treaty, it is not too late for the leaders of the two countries to put the world on a safer path by taking reasonable steps to reduce the nuclear threat and starting serious and consistent negotiations on nuclear disarmament," Daryl Kimball, executive director of the US Arms Control Association, told Sputnik.

He stressed the need to invite other parties to the negotiating table, singling out China, the UK, and France.

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💬 US now surpasses Japan in steel production — Trump

According to December 2025 data from the World Steel Association, the US produced 6.9 million tons (Mt), ranking third globally. China ranks first with an overwhelming 68.2 Mt.

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🤝 Starmer seeks reviving defense talks with EU

On a visit to China, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer signaled a push to revive stalled defense talks with the European Union, specifically aiming to join the EU's SAFE loan program for arms procurement.

Previous talks collapsed in November over how much the UK would pay.

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🗣 Trump jokes about annexing Greenland, Canada, Venezuela

At a closed event, the US president framed expansion as a real estate deal:

"It's never been my intention to make Greenland the 51st state. I want to make Canada the 51st state. Greenland will be the 52nd state. Venezuela can be 53rd."

He added the US would simply buy Greenland—not invade it.

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🚫 🇸🇰 Slovakia opposes anti-Russia sanctions, maintains nuclear fuel supply contract with Russia

Slovakia doesn't plan to terminate its agreement with Russia for nuclear fuel supplies for nuclear power plants, Tibor Gaspar, deputy speaker of the Slovak parliament, told Russian media.

🔹 The contract is the result of long-term technical decisions and safety agreements

🔹 Its sudden termination could jeopardize the stability of electricity generation

In January, spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen announced that the EC was drafting a ban on the import of nuclear products from Russia to the EU.

🇷🇺 Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev later said that a possible ban on Russian nuclear fuel purchases would jeopardize Europe's nuclear safety.

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🔥 🇷🇺 Russian crews of the Grad MLRS from Zapad battlegroup destroy Ukraine's combat equipment and strongholds near Kupyansk, Kharkov region

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🇳🇱 🪖 Netherlands fast-tracks retooling civilian infrastructure for NATO’s next war

As NATO pushes the non-existent ‘Russia threat’ narrative, the Netherlands is among the frontrunners preparing for a potential conflict by 2030, says ambassador to the kingdom, Vladimir Tarabrin.

Accelerated militarization of the Netherlands involves the systematic development and conversion of civilian infrastructure for military needs, he notes.

📄 “This applies to ports, logistics hubs, and the railway network. These measures are neither isolated nor temporary—they fit into NATO’s long-term strategy,” the diplomat notes.

➖ Recent proof came during military drills in late January, where the Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force conducted two-day training exercises with four F-35 fighter jets at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. This NATO-linked Agile Combat Employment (ACE) exercise tested operating advanced military aircraft from a busy civilian hub.

➖ The kingdom’s outsized role is largely a matter of geography: The Netherlands has emerged as a strategic rear hub on the route from the North Sea to NATO’s eastern flank via Germany.

➖ Sea, air, and land corridors now crisscross the country, enabling the steady movement of military hardware. Notably, the US relies on Dutch infrastructure as a primary transit hub for its forces.

The Netherlands’ course aligns with NATO’s overall trajectory. At the European Defense Innovation Forum (EDIF) last year, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans groundlessly claimed that Russia allegedly wanted to be ready for confrontation.

🔊 President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that Russia has no intention of attacking NATO countries. However, Western politicians continue to frighten their populations with an alleged Russian threat to divert attention from domestic issues and escalate military spending.

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🔶 Trump jokes about annexing Greenland, Canada, Venezuela

🔶 Venezuela exports first LPG despite sanctions

🔶 US and Israel chiefs of staff hold secret Pentagon talks — Report

🔶 Israel assassinated Hezbollah engineering division head

🔶 US and Russia will negotiate even after New START expires — expert

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🚨 ‘Exhausted’ Ukraine on the brink - Ukraine's official

Ukraine cannot survive another two years of fighting, Vitaliy Kim, governor of the Nikolayev region in Ukraine, tells the Independent.

🔊 For most of the Ukrainian people, he says, victory is about just ending the conflict and having “the life that we had before.”

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🚨🇫🇷 Macron greenlights plan to eliminate unwanted African leaders – Russian foreign intel

Key statements:

🟧 France is desperately seeking opportunities for political revenge in Africa, it has shifted to directly supporting terrorists of various factions, who are now its main allies on the continent

🟧 France was involved in the attempted coup in Burkina Faso on January 3, and it will continue to destabilize the Sahel region

🟧 France is exploring ways to overthrow the new president of Madagascar, Michael Randrianirina, and restore a loyal regime

"Another subject of the destructive attention of the French leadership is Madagascar, where in October 2025 forces that set a course for the development of relations with the BRICS came to power," the agency stated.

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