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The conversation between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin scheduled for Tuesday is indeed being prepared, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing in response to a TASS question, APA reports. "Yes, this is indeed the case," he emphasized. "Such a conversation is being prepared for Tuesday," the spokesman added.

The Trump administration is placing more restrictions on Russia's oil, gas and banking sectors by further restricting Russian access to U.S. payment systems, according to four people familiar with the plans. The Treasury Department on Wednesday let lapse a 60-day exemption put in place by the Biden administration in January that allowed specific energy transactions involving sanctioned Russian banks to continue. By letting the waiver lapse, the banks may no longer access U.S. payment systems to conduct major energy transactions. The Russian financial institutions that had been exempt from sanctions included Vnesheconombank, Bank Financial Corporation Otkritie, Sovcombank, Sberbank, VTB Bank,...

With America’s drone technology a disappointment on the battlefield, defense startups have joined forces with Ukrainian manufacturers to build better, war-proven aircraft for the U.S. military. U.S. startups have spent billions of venture-capital dollars in hopes of developing the small drones that the Pentagon says it needs for future conflicts, but many have produced only expensive aircraft that don’t fly very well. Ukrainian drone makers, meanwhile, have mastered mass-producing drones despite limited resources and are looking for new customers and capital. Now, the two sides are coming together, and the unlikely pairing is getting attention from the Defense Department. Southern...

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s religious beliefs do not alter the current status of the United States as an unfriendly country toward Russia. His remarks came after Rubio appeared on television with an ash-marked cross on his forehead, symbolizing the start of Lent. Speaking to reporters, Peskov emphasized that Washington is not a friendly partner to Moscow at this time. However, he noted that efforts are ongoing to restore and revive bilateral relations. Despite this, he asserted that the broader political reality remains unchanged. When asked about Rubio’s public religious expression, Peskov clarified...

Vladimir Putin 'regrets' triggering a full-scale war costing hundreds of thousands of lives, his closest international ally has claimed. Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko said: 'We haven't talked about it, but I know him well. 'Putin didn't expect it would turn into such a war.' The close Putin crony told interviewer Mario Nawfal on X: 'When he saw a huge number of people dying, Putin instantly agreed to the negotiations to stop the conflict.' This was earlier in the war, in 2022, and, Lukashenko claimed, Putin was ready to negotiate 'on NATO, on demilitarisation, on denazification', as he described it, 'on...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he is open to offering the US access to rare minerals, including from Russian-occupied Ukraine. This comes after US President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed for Ukraine to give up some of its minerals in exchange for support, in a deal which is currently being finalised, according to a Ukrainian minister. In a state TV interview on Monday, Putin said he was ready to "offer" resources to American partners in joint projects, including mining in Russia's "new territories" - a reference to parts of eastern Ukraine that Russia has occupied since launching a full-scale invasion...

-snip- Asked about unconfirmed reports on Telegram and X that U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff may have flown into Moscow, Peskov said he had no information about the matter and that no meetings with him were on the agenda. Later on Tuesday, Rosaviatsia, Russia's aviation regulator, issued a statement in response to what it said were media questions and reports after flight tracking services showed a private jet landing in Moscow from the United States. The regulator said it was a one-off technical flight from Washington to Moscow related to "humanitarian cooperation" of a medical nature. It did not...

On February 9, the players, coaches and owners of either the Philadelphia Eagles or Kansas City Chiefs will win a coveted Super Bowl ring. The rings, which are understood to cost between $30,000 (£24,000) and $50,000 (£40,000), are widely considered to be one of the most iconic and beautiful awards in sport today. Few people are more familiar with the gleaming pieces of jewellery than New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who watched his iconic side win six Super Bowls. Yet, the multi-billionaire only has five rings, as Russian president Vladimir Putin has the other one. Kraft, 83, visited Russia...

This is the dramatic moment a low-flying Vladimir Putin warplane is shot down by Ukrainian troops and explodes into a huge fireball. The £11million Su-25 attack warplane was captured smashing into the ground near the village of Zaitsevo, close to a major battle scene in Toretsk, Donetsk region. The pilot ejected and is “alive and safe”, according to reports. The plane was hit by a shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missile, confirmed the Ukrainians. Footage apparently showed a Russian rescue helicopter plucking the Su-25 pilot to safety after he had hidden in the forest. However, the rescue Mi-8 helicopter was attacked by Ukrainian...

Russia has got so desperate it has had to go back to one of the most old-fashioned ways to carry bullets and guns during a war. The Soviet army had to start using donkeys and horses to carry ammunition in Ukraine – something that hasn’t been done for over a century. Military blogger Kirill Fedorov wrote on his Telegram channel that Putin and his soldiers have started to send the animals to the front line. He said that an official government transport list says these animals include horses, camels and deer. He wrote: ‘The fighters were given a donkey to...

President Trump is prepared to double down on US sanctions for Russia to bring about an end to its war on Ukraine, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, his special envoy to the conflict, exclusively told The Post this week — but he knows both Kyiv and Moscow will have to make concessions to end the “industrial-sized” killing in Europe’s largest country. Sanctions enforcement on Russia are “only about a three” on a scale of one to 10 on how painful the economic pressure can be, Kellogg said. The US sanctions themselves — such as those targeting Russia’s lucrative energy sector —...

The United States' 'America First' policy has disturbing similarities to the slogan 'Germany above all' used by the Nazis to assert national superiority over others, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned. In an op-ed for the magazine 'Russia in Global Affairs' published on Tuesday, Lavrov argued that Washington's approach undermines the UN Charter and the post-war global order built on sovereign equality. He noted that this principle was enshrined in the Yalta-Potsdam agreements signed in 1945 by the USSR, US, and UK, shaping the modern international system. With the administration of US President Donald Trump back in power, Washington's...

-snip- Serhiy Dubovik, deputy head of Ukraine's Central Election Commission, said it would take at least four to six months to prepare so that campaigning could start ahead of an election, given the displacement of voters and widespread destruction. Millions of Ukrainians still live abroad, millions more are internally displaced by the war, a fifth of Ukraine is occupied and front-line areas have been devastated. -snip- Zelenskyy's public trust rating is above 50%, according to opinion polls, although it has dropped since Russia's Feb. 24, 2022 invasion, when it rose to over 90% as Ukrainians rallied around the flag. The...

-snip- Late on February 2, Trump said talks with Ukraine and Russia were going "pretty well." "We have meetings and talks scheduled with various parties, including Ukraine and Russia. And I think those discussions are actually going pretty well," he added without being specific. Hours earlier, Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, warned both sides will have to make concessions if they hope to negotiate a settlement to the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "has already indicated he will soften his position on land," Kellogg said. "And [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is going to have to soften...

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are seen by Russia as possible venues for a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, two Russian sources with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters. -snip- Saudi Arabia and the UAE did not respond to requests for comment. The Kremlin declined comment. But both Trump and Putin have developed friendly relations with rulers of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Trump said on Sunday that his administration had "meetings and talks scheduled with various parties, including Ukraine and Russia." When asked about those remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said...

The Kremlin has accused President Trump of attempting to erode Russia and China’s nuclear potential with his plan for an Iron Dome missile defence system. The programme was “yet another confirmation of the US focus on turning space into a scene of armed confrontation and deployment of weapons”, Maria Zakharova, the chief spokeswoman of the Russian foreign ministry, said. Trump issued an executive order on Monday mandating a process to develop an “Iron Dome for America”, a reference to the aerial defence shield used by Israel. Zakharova said that this implied “a sharp intensification of the US national missile defence...

Russia slammed Donald Trump’s plan for an ‘Iron Dome’ missile defence shield in a nuclear weapons space war row. Moscow said the move was designed to weaken Russian and Chinese nuclear deterrence. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also stressed that Russia saw the “Iron Dome” plan as confirmation of a US intention to turn space into a theatre of military confrontation. Trump signed an order on Monday for the implementation of a next-generation US missile defence shield against ballistic, hypersonic, cruise missile and other forms of aerial attack. The plan is believed to be modelled on the defensive dome...

NATO fighter planes were scrambled today amid a brutal Russian missile and military drone onslaught on civilian, energy and military sites in Ukraine. Harrowing footage showed residents in Poltava screaming after a strike destroyed ordinary apartment blocks triggering fires amid the debris of smashed buildings. The wave of attacks by Vladimir Putin - which led to power cuts in multiple regions - came soon after Donald Trump announced in the Oval Office that his administration was actively talking to Moscow. “We are having very serious discussions about that war, trying to get it ended,” said the US president. On whether...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing a backlash from within the Kremlin over his pro-China policy, with elites fearing that Moscow is becoming a 'colony' of Beijing. Vladimir Putin is facing intense criticism from rival factions within the Kremlin over his China policy, which could worsen Russia's economic crisis, with earlier reports suggesting China is 'bailing' Russia out by buying distressed assets. Since the start of the Ukraine conflict - where Russia have endured huge personnel losses - in February 2022, Putin has strengthened political and economic ties with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, boosting their bilateral trade to a record...

Syria’s ruler Ahmad Al Shara has demanded that Russia hand over former president Bashar Al Assad and an estimated $2 billion dollars in liquid assets held by the Assad family in Russian banks, during a meeting in Damascus, two sources told The National. The meeting with a Russian delegation led by deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov also focused on other issues thorny but reached no agreement beyond maintaining contact, the sources said. “Handing over [Bashar Al] Assad and all senior officers who escaped to Russia was the top of the list,” said a member of the new political staff at...