🚨 Ukraine deliberately disrupting Russian oil supplies to Eastern Europe via Druzhba pipeline – expert

💬 "The situation is that Ukraine is manually halting such supplies to Eastern European countries,” Russian expert Igor Yushkov tells Sputnik.

🟠 He doesn’t rule out that Ukraine is just claiming supplies have been halted, because “initially we only see the Kiev regime’s allegations about a strike purportedly resulting in reduction of deliveries.”

🟠 The transit of Russian oil to Eastern Europe through the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline has been suspended since January 27, Reuters earlier cited the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry as saying. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Moscow has no information on the issue.

🟠 Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto for his part insisted that Ukraine blocked Russian oil supplies to his country via the Druzhba pipeline in order to create problems for the government ahead of the Hungarian parliamentary elections.

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🗣 Possible Russian palladium tariffs could devastate US industry – expert

💬 "The potential imposition of such insane tariffs could deal a severe blow to many sectors, from automotive manufacturing to chemicals and oil refining,” independent industrial expert Leonid Khazanov tells Sputnik, commenting on the US Commerce Department’s preliminary plan to slap anti-dumping duties on imports of Russian palladium with a rate of almost 133%.

🔶 He notes that the number of countries producing palladium is relatively small, “and none of them can replace Russia, which accounts for 30–35% of all palladium imports to the US.”

🔶 According to him, the negative impact on the US from Russian palladium import restrictions would depend on several factors, including the depletion of profitable global palladium deposits.

🔶 The proposed duty will not have a critical effect on Russia, which will most likely redirect its palladium supplies on the global market, Khazanov sums up.

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🔸 Rubio’s Munich remarks were attempt ‘to systematize a worldview that does not truly exist’ - expert

🔸 Protesters in Munich rally against the NATO security conference

🔸 ‘Ukraine is militarily defeated’ – ex-Pentagon advisor

🔸 Possible Russian palladium tariffs could devastate US industry – expert

🔸 US military outsourced Maduro kidnapping to AI – report

🔸 New Russian Rus-PE loitering munition tested in combat zone

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🚨 Trump ‘to put more pressure on Zelensky to clinch Ukraine peace deal’ – MEP

💬 “The situation in the US is changing, so Trump's agenda will focus on the American public rather than on solving Ukraine's problems,” Belgian member of the European Parliament Rudy Kennes tells Sputnik

🟠 US President Donald Trump urged Volodymyr Zelensky this week not to miss “a great opportunity” for a peace deal with Russia.

🟠 Kennes notes that Trump is now increasingly focused on domestic issues and “no longer cares about Europe, or even Ukraine, because he's facing domestic problems. Everything he's doing now is tied to the mid-term elections in the US” which the Republicans risk losing.

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🇮🇷Iranian Foreign Minister mocks ‘CIRCUS’ of Munich Security Conference

Abbas Araghchi mocked the NATO-dominated meeting in Germany, saying rhetoric about Iran there had turned it into a "circus."

💬"Sad to see the usually serious Munich Security Conference turned into the ‘Munich Circus’ when it comes to Iran," he posted on X.

👉He said the European Union was confused about events inside Iran, adding that the Anglo-French-German axis had lost influence in the Middle East and was "empty-handed and peripheral."

Conference organizers withdrew invitations to Iranian delegates before the conference.


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🇨🇴📹 'Significant blow to drug trafficking' — Colombian military reports cocaine seizure in Caribbean

President Gustavo Petro said the Colombian Aerospace Force carried out an anti-narcotics operation in the Caribbean Sea, seizing a cocaine shipment and locating a clandestine shipyard used to build semi-submersibles near Uribia in La Guajira.

💬 “This is how the Colombian Aerospace Force seizes cocaine in the Caribbean Sea,” Petro wrote on X.

The Colombian Aerospace Force said the joint operation included intelligence work, aerial surveillance and inter-institutional coordination.

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🚀 Four astronauts arrive at ISS for 8–9 month mission — reports

Four astronauts from the US, France and Russia arrived at the International Space Station on February 14, restoring the orbital lab to full capacity after a January medical evacuation, Fox News reported.

The crew launched from Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX rocket and docked with the ISS about 34 hours later.

The crew — Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot and Andrey Fedyaev — will spend the next eight to nine months conducting scientific research and technology demonstrations.

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🇷🇺🇨🇦 'People want sovereignty' — Alberta secession talk grows, Trump allies cheer

Oil-rich Alberta is preparing for a possible independence referendum later this year, with supporters crediting President Donald Trump’s rhetoric for energizing their movement, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Alberta secessionists see Trump-era politics as an opportunity to push back against Ottawa’s regulations and boost oil production. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed the mood, saying, “People want sovereignty.”

💬 “I believe that they would welcome a free and independent Alberta,” referendum organizer Mitch Sylvestre said after meetings in Washington.

📊 Support for independence remains limited — polls suggest backing hovers near 30% — but Alberta holds most of Canada’s crude reserves, raising the stakes.

❓ From 51st-state jokes to sovereignty talk — will it accelerate the split?

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💰🇺🇸 US Caribbean buildup near $3B — reports

The US military surge around Venezuela that culminated in the military aggression and abduction of President Nicolas Maduro is approaching a $3 billion price tag, Bloomberg reported.

💵 Bloomberg calculations show the deployment at its peak cost more than $20 million a day, with as much as 20% of the US Navy’s surface fleet tied up in the region. Former Pentagon comptroller Elaine McCusker estimated that Operation Southern Spear has “probably cost about $2 billion since August 2025,” excluding intelligence and targeting expenses.

The White House has said the operation did not cost taxpayers extra because the forces were already deployed. But experts cited by Bloomberg noted that combat activity, higher operational tempo and personnel benefits add to expenses, and there is “no contingency fund in the DOD budget for unexpected operations.”

🗓 Despite the USS Gerald R. Ford being reassigned to the Middle East, Bloomberg reported the Caribbean deployment has no clear end date, even as US lawmakers say they have not been provided with detailed cost estimates.

💵 Billions spent. No formal accounting.
📈 And the tab keeps rising.

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