Free Republic

The European Union expects to hold talks with United States officials as it assesses Donald Trump's demands for the bloc to buy more U.S. fuel, a spokesperson said Tuesday. “The priority is to have a conversation, to engage early, discuss common interests and then be ready to negotiate,” said Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, the European Commission’s spokesperson for energy, responding to a question from POLITICO. The remarks come hours after Trump was sworn in for a second term as U.S. president. The freshly inaugurated president quickly put the EU in his crosshairs, telling reporters, "The one thing they can do quickly is...

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico held one-on-one talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin late Sunday evening as part of a bid to secure continued access to cheap Russian fossil fuels. Fico's decision to travel to Russia for trade talks will prove controversial among his fellow EU leaders, and defies the bloc's public commitments to end its reliance on Moscow for gas imports. The leftist-populist Slovak politician arrived in the country for what Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov called a "working visit," posed for pictures and shook hands with Putin.

Putin Quote: “during the course of the special military operation, it has become clear there are shortages of many things — precision-guided munitions, communications equipment, aircraft, drones and so on.” “We have them, but unfortunately we don’t have enough of them,” he said, according to state media. As well as drones, “modern anti-tank weapons are needed, and modern tanks are needed.”