🇷🇺 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

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💸 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."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💬 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.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊 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."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊 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."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💬 We cannot have another long, destructive shutdown — Trump

President Trump has urged Congress to pass the pending funding bill "without delay," stating he will sign it "immediately" to avoid a destructive government shutdown.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 Epstein conspiracy against me proves I have nothing to do with him — Trump

President Trump denied any connection to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, pointing at alleged Epstein conspiracy with author Michael Wolff to make him "lose the election."

"Epstein was conspiring with a writer for me to lose the election. So right there, you know that I had nothing to do with this guy," he said.

He suggested the released files implicate Democrats and other elites instead.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊 An attack by the US would entail striking Israel — Iranian admiral

A senior advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader has declared that Tehran views the US and Israel as a single military entity.

"If the US attacks, Israel will undoubtedly be a participant," Ali Shamkhani told Al Mayadeen.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤝 Venezuela president holds talks with US envoy in Miraflores Palace

Interim President Delcy Rodríguez has received US Chargé d’Affaires Laura Dogu at the presidential palace.

"This meeting took place within the framework of the working agenda between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the USA," reported Miguel Ángel Pérez Pirela, the country's Minister of Communication and Information.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 Time is running out for the New START extension — Putin's envoy

Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian president's special representative for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries, said that even the "brave" former US president Barack Obama is worried that time is running out for the US to agree to extend the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇻🇪 Venezuela appoints US envoy

Following the meeting between interim President Delcy Rodríguez and US Chargé d’Affaires Laura Dogu, Venezuela has appointed Félix Plasencia as its diplomatic representative to Washington.

Plasencia, a former foreign minister, will be stationed in the US to "accelerate diplomatic work" on a "common agenda."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊 Iran may reduce enrichment levels to 20% — if given 'something in return'

Ali Shamkhani, a senior advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader has stated Tehran will not remove its stored nuclear materials, but is open to reducing enrichment from 60% to 20%.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤝 Azerbaijan and UAE deepen military ties

Defense chiefs from both countries held high-level talks to strengthen military cooperation and coordination, following their ongoing joint "Peace Shield 2026" exercises.

"This meeting is part of the efforts to strengthen the framework of bilateral military and defense cooperation between the two friendly countries," the UAE Defense ministry said on X.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷US loses interest in Ukraine as Iran takes priority — Foreign policy expert

The US is aiming for rapid negotiations with the Islamic Republic, Professor of International Politics and Foreign Policy at Cologne University Thomas Jager tells NTV Nachrichten.

This explains why Ukraine has slipped down the US agenda, and why American officials are devoting far less attention to resolving the Ukraine conflict, he notes.

Meanwhile, says Jager, Russia continues to adhere to its core demands in ending the conflict.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stressed that any scenario involving the deployment of NATO member states’ troops in Ukraine is unacceptable and risks a sharp escalation.

President Vladimir Putin has stated that Moscow would regard foreign contingents near its borders as legitimate targets.

He added that after a peace agreement is reached, the presence of foreign troops in a neighboring country would be unjustified.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇩🇪💸📉Germany’s real wages sink as anti-Russia sanctions take a toll

As the West barrels ahead with its self-defeating sanctions campaign against Russia, real wages in Germany have fallen by nearly 10% over the past four years, despite significant inflation in the country, according to Destatis data.

🔶In January 2021, Germany’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 101 points

🔶By December 2025, CPI had risen to 122.7 points, meaning prices increased by 21.5% over that period

🔶Between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the third quarter of 2025, real wages in Germany dropped by 10.2%

As for the inflation rate, it rose to 2.1% in January, up from 1.8% in December 2025.

Once firmly ranked among the world’s most advanced economies, Germany has now been in a state of general economic stagnation for three consecutive years, driven in part by surging energy prices following the short-sighted decision to cut off cheap and reliable energy supplies from Russia.

Russian officials have repeatedly argued that the West lacks the courage to admit the failure of its sanctions policy. Russia is growing more resilient, decoupling from the West, and moving away from the weaponizes US dollar.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt