🇷🇺🇺🇸📑 New START treaty: Key points & future prospects

The strategic nuclear arms reduction treaty known as the New START is set to expire on February 5, 2026.

Its key points:

The treaty’s focus is limiting and reducing the strategic offensive weapons possessed by the US and Russia, including:

🟠 Total number of deployed nuclear warheads - 1,550

🟠 The number of deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and nuclear-capable heavy bomber aircraft – 800

🟠 The number of both deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and heavy bombers – 700

History of the New START

🟠 The New START treaty was signed on April 8, 2010, by then-Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama

🟠 On-site inspections of each other's facilities by the US and Russian teams were first suspended during the global coronavirus pandemic in 2020

🟠 Unilateral Western sanctions and travel restrictions imposed on Russia in 2022 made it problematic for the Russian inspection teams to visit US nuclear sites

🟠 In 2023, Russia announced the suspension of its participation in the New START treaty, as Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that Western powers provided military assistance to Ukraine and enabled Ukrainian attacks against Russian airfields that host strategic bomber aircraft

🟠 Putin also argued that nuclear arms reduction mechanisms should also include the UK and French nuclear arsenals due to both countries being NATO allies of the US

🟠 At the same time, Russia continued to abide by the treaty’s restrictions and announced its willingness to continue doing so for one more year after the treaty expires

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💰🇺🇸 US territory acquisitions: a history of strategic land deals

From the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 to the potential acquisition of Greenland in 2026, the United States has expanded its territory through key land deals.

Notable purchases include Louisiana from France, Alaska from Russia, and the Panama Canal Zone.

Other significant acquisitions include Florida from Spain, the Philippines from Spain, and the Virgin Islands from Denmark.

Will Greenland be the next chapter in this historic expansion?

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💸 'Sell America' signals eroding trust in weakening US dollar, stocks & treasuries - expert

Global investors have recently been reducing exposure to US assets - what's behind the trend?

💬 "This trend is driven by concerns over US tariff threats, unpredictable and constantly changing foreign policies, and a desire to reduce exposure to potential US economic instability," Paul Goncharoff, veteran financial analyst and general director of consulting firm Goncharoff LCC, tells Sputnik.

The phenomenon that gained traction in financial circles after last April’s tariff shock is called 'Sell America'.

🟠 'Sell America' has its roots as far back as 2008 and has gradually become "the serious elephant in the room throughout the markets," the pundit notes.

🟠 Investors shifted to buying silver and gold – traditional safe havens

💬 "Investors, particularly foreign entities, are now openly dumping US treasuries and stocks while the dollar weakens," Goncharoff explains.

What’s happening now is a clear reassessment of US risk, with many seeing the country as a less reliable place to invest and a highly politicized manager of money and assets, according to the expert.

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🪖🇷🇺 ‘They are weaker nowadays’

Russian soldiers share the details of the liberation of Ternovatoye settlement in the Zaporozhye region.

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🚨🇺🇸🇮🇳 US ​President ‌Trump has ‌spoken ​to Indian Prime Minister ​Modi, the ​US ambassador to India, ‍Sergio ‌Gor, ‍wrote on X

"Stay tuned", the ambassador added, which apparently means that the details of the conversation are coming soon.

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🤝 Beyond New START: China, France & UK must be brought into new nuclear deal - analyst

While extending the New START treaty – as Russia suggests – is a “pragmatic option,” the ideal outcome would be a new text that takes into account not only the nuclear arsenals of the US and Russia, but also those of China, France, and the UK, Dmitry Stefanovich, founder of the Vatfor Project, tells Sputnik.

NATO members France and the UK are actively building a ‘nuclear umbrella’ over Europe “aimed squarely at Russia,” the expert reminds, so they must be part of any future talks.

💬 “Achieving that would require continuous, sustained engagement — something that is currently almost completely frozen,” says the expert.

🌍 US looks beyond old limits

Given China’s fast-growing nuclear arsenal, many US policymakers now see the need to exceed previous bilateral agreements with Russia, Stefanovich speculates.

💬 “China possesses the capacity to destroy the US outright — and that capability is expanding at a pace Washington struggles to match,” the think tank fellow says.

However, Trump’s proposal for a new agreement that includes China is unrealistic in the short term, since arms control diplomacy “requires years of painstaking negotiations.”

🇨🇳 China weighs costs vs benefits

As competition with the US moves from economics to deterrence, China, which promotes a no-first-use policy for nuclear weapons, is warming to the idea of rules, notes the expert.

However, it is “opting to shore up vulnerabilities” first.

For China, “the costs of limiting its arsenal outweigh the benefits of joining formal agreements,” speculates the expert.

As for Russia and China, they already have a successful track record of bilateral arrangements, such as those on ballistic missile launch notifications, along with multilateral documents limiting military activity in border regions.

💬 “China understands the value of such mechanisms when they align with its interests,” notes the analyst.

Ultimately, how this all develops will depend not only on the fate of New START, but also on the outcome of the upcoming spring Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, he concludes.

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🚨🇺🇸🇮🇳 Trump shares details of his phone call with Modi

🟠 “We spoke about many things, including trade”

🟠 “We agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India, whereby the United States will charge a reduced Reciprocal Tariff, lowering it from 25% to 18%”

🟠 “They will likewise move forward to reduce their Tariffs and Non-Tariff Barriers against the United States, to ZERO”

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💥🪖 The Battle of Stalingrad: When Russia turned the tide of World War II

February 2, 1943, marks the end of the pivotal battle of World War II – the Battle of Stalingrad.

It started on July 17, 1942, when Nazi German armies, following their defeat at Moscow, pushed towards resource-rich southern regions of the Soviet Union.

By October 1942, the Nazis managed to force their way into Stalingrad and seize control of a large portion of the city, only for their advance to grind to a halt as they became bogged down in brutal urban fighting.

Despite the initial successes of the Nazi forces, Russian defenders of Stalingrad simply refused to give up, holding their ground against all odds as every street and every house in the city became a battlefield.

As the Nazis kept trying to take control of the city, on November 19 the Russian forces struck back.

Operation Uranus, an offensive targeting the flanks of the Nazi battlegroup in Stalingrad, successfully concluded on November 23 and resulted in the Nazi German 6th Army led by General Friedrich Paulus being cut off and trapped in the city.

On January 10, Russian forces launched the final offensive against the encircled Nazi troops.

Unable to withstand the fury of the Russian troops and continue resisting, Paulus (who was by that time promoted to field marshal by Adolf Hitler) and what was left of the 6th Army finally surrendered on February 2.

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🇷🇺 Foreign military presence in Ukraine is unacceptable for Russia - MFA

Russia would regard the deployment of any foreign military forces or infrastructure in Ukraine as foreign intervention, and would treat them as legitimate targets, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

While responding to questions following Sergey Lavrov’s press conference, the ministry also stated that:

🟠 Any offers on peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict require scrutiny to ensure that they are acceptable for Russia

🟠 Any attempts to negotiate with Russia using ultimatums are inherently absurd and doomed to fail

🟠 Resolving the Ukrainian conflict is impossible without restoration of the rights of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, its priests and the faithful

🟠 Russia is thankful to the UAE for its efforts to facilitate the peaceful resolution of the conflict; over 4 thousand people were freed in prisoner swaps mediated by the UAE

🟠 Since last summer, Moscow handed over to Ukraine over 12,000 bodies of slain Ukrainian soldiers and received over 200 bodies of killed Russian soldiers in return

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💸 From 'Sell America' to global realignment: BRICS de-dollarization helps handle US-driven financial storm - expert

The sell-off of US assets is a harbinger of "a new world trade and power order," Paul Goncharoff, veteran financial analyst and general director of consulting firm Goncharoff LCC, tells Sputnik.

The consequences of the erosion of trust in the US market policy, which translated into a Sell America trend "are surfacing on an almost daily basis, from diplomatic gaffes, unapproved (by Congress) military adventures and intentions, [and] the ever-more-rapid de-dollarization the markets are living through," according to the pundit.

💬 "This perfect storm of dissonances and unpredictability from the world’s hegemon underlines what BRICS was created to avoid and, to a large extent (not painlessly), is overcoming, first through the use of national currencies and not the hitherto mandated US dollar."

💬 "This inevitably leads to new power blocs politically and economically," Goncharoff concludes, suggesting that the world is at a "historic inflection point of global realignment."

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💬 Ukraine’s entry into EU would be its 'collapse' - Serbia's former deputy PM

"The collapse of the EU, the long-term collapse, began long ago, but it will become palpable on January 1, 2027, when Ukraine joins the EU... Because this shows that all those reforms and the speeches of politicians - they are the most ordinary lies, not even concealed," former Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin tells Sputnik.

In his opinion, once Ukraine joins the EU, the bloc will never be the same, especially for opposing member states like Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

The current US-EU conflict is "the new reality we must get used to and accept," he says, adding that there is a "Berlin Wall" in the EU again.

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🔊 We must dominate space — Hegseth

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stated plainly that US dominance must extend beyond Earth, framing space as the "ultimate high ground" in future conflict.

"Any infantryman knows this. Whoever controls the high ground controls the fight."

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🔊 Trump hints at 'good news' on Ukraine talks

President Trump stated that efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict are progressing "very well."

While speaking with reporters, he downplayed the UN's role in the process, saying, "The UN is involved a little bit."

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