Key statements from the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's daily briefing:
 
on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline:
 
▪️Peskov said that he had not heard about Russian Gazprom's desire to put Nord Stream 2 up for sale and give it into the hands of the United States. Earlier, Western media reported on the desire of American investor Stephen Lynch to purchase the gas pipeline if it is put up for auction as part of the bankruptcy procedure of the operator of the Nord Stream 2 AG project.
 
▪️One can only wonder why the German leadership is not guided by economic considerations and does not use Nord Stream 2
 
▪️ Nord Stream-2 does not need to be restored; the gas pipeline can be started immediately
 
on key topic for NATO meeting:
 
▪️Unfavorable dynamics for Ukraine at the front may be the topic of a meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels
 
on Russia's approach to relations with the Global South:
 
▪️ Russia actively cooperates with the countries of the Global South in sensitive areas of criminal law; this interaction will continue
 
▪️It is important for Russia to establish contacts with the leadership of Afghanistan
 
on results of the tests of the Oreshnik:
 
▪️The statements voiced by Putin after the tests of the Oreshnik were well heard by countries of the Collective West; there is no doubt about it

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Protest in Greece against arrival of NATO chief

Thousands rallied in the heart of Athens, the Greek capital, to oppose the arrival of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, according to a report by Sputnik.

Demonstrators chanted "uninvited," demanding an end to Greece's involvement in international conflicts and the closure of American military bases. The crowd also called for an end to all military assistance to Ukraine.

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🇷🇺🪖Key statements from the Russian Defense Ministry's daily briefing on the special military operation's progress:

🔸 The Russian Zapad Battlegroup repelled five Ukrainian counterattacks. Ukrainian losses amounted to 440 militants;
 
🔸 Ukrainian losses in the area of responsibility of the Russian Vostok combat group amounted to 125 soldiers;
 
🔸 Ukrainian forces lost up to 485 militants in the area of responsibility of the Russian Yug Battlegroup;
 
🔸 Ukrainian losses in the zone of responsibility of the Russian Tsentr combat group exceeded 450 fighters;
 
🔸 Russian air defense systems shot down six Hammer-guided aerial bombs, one HIMARS multiple launch rocket, and 71 aircraft-type drones, 56 of them outside the special military operation zone.

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📑‘Problematic reality’: WH seeks $5.7 billion in emergency funding for Virginia-class submarines

The US president’s Office of Management and Budget has issued a request to Congress for about $5.7 billion in emergency funding to tackle extra costs regarding the Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines, American media cited a senior navy official as saying.

Approximately $3.5 would go towards addressing the cost overruns, while the remainder will be split between submarine prime contractors General Dynamics Corp. and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. for increased wages and “other productivity enhancements,” the official said.

The official made it clear that the navy also projects delivery delays of 24 to 36 months for the aforementioned vessels.

“Our Virginia-class fast attack submarine program is not where it needs to be right now. The program and the shipyards are not producing submarines at the rate that our national security strategy and the national defense strategy require,” the source stressed.

This comes after House Defense Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert said that a shortfall in funding for Virginia-class attack submarines is projected to grow to $17 billion over the next six years, adding that the US Navy suffered from persistent delays and cost overruns in the service's shipbuilding program.

The Defense News earlier reported that the situation with the Virginia-class submarines remains “a problematic reality” for the navy, which currently has 49 such vessels, despite a formal requirement for 66.

The National Interest magazine, for its part, noted that the navy’s submarine fleet is “under congressional scrutiny for repeated delays and rising costs” – problems that “won't be easy to fix.”

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❗️Ukrainian losses amounted to more than 250 militants and four tanks in Russia's Kursk region in one day, where two Ukrainian soldiers surrendered, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

In total, during the military operations in the Kursk region, Ukrainian forces have lost more than 35,760 soldiers and 221 tanks.

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❗️Senior UK Embassy diplomat carried out intel work threatening Russia's security — FSB

The second secretary of the political department of the UK Embassy, ​​Wilkes Edward Pryor, carried out intelligence and subversive work that threatened Russia's security, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said.

"Edward Pryor, the second secretary of the political department of the UK Embassy in Moscow, Wilkes, who was sent to Moscow through the Directorate of Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the UK Foreign Office and who replaced one of the six UK intelligence officers expelled from Russia in August as a cover, intentionally provided false information when receiving permission to enter our country, thereby violating Russian law," the statement read.

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UK Ambassador to Russia Nigel Casey has been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

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Kill zone in Kurakhovo: Why does Ukraine panic over Russian advances near the city?

The situation in the Kurakhovo sector has become the worst for Kiev regime forces in the Ukrainian conflict zone, Ukraine’s top General Syrsky laments as Russian troops seem poised to deal a crushing blow to Ukrainian forces there.

A contingent of Ukrainian troops ended up being trapped in a kill zone to the south of Kurakhovo and is currently being obliterated by Russian forces, the head of the Russian Civic Chamber's commission on sovereignty Vladimir Rogov told media.

Why is Kurakhovo so important?

The city of Kurakhovo holds significant strategic and economic importance to Kiev, says Ret. Col. Anatoly Matviychuk, a Russian military expert and veteran of combat operations in Afghanistan and Syria.

🔻The military value

Kurakhovo is as the lynchpin of Ukrainian defenses in the region, with its fall opening the way for the Russian troops to Pokrovsk (formerly Krasnoarmeysk), a key logistical hub for Kiev, Matviychuk explains.

🔻Economic value

He points out that Kurakhovo is important for Kiev from the economic standpoint as well, since the local coal mining area is currently the only place under Ukrainian control where coking coal is produced.

What might happen when Kurakhovo falls?

The impending liberation of Kurakhovo will result in a large contingent of Russian troops being freed up to strike deep past the Ukrainian defensive lines, Matviychuk suggests.

“There are roads and railways leading all the way to Kramatorsk,” he elaborates. To the left lies Dnepropetrovsk, that would become a frontline city and a logistical center that no longer helps Ukrainian military recoup its economic and financial losses.”

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'Russia is very interesting for ASEAN' — Chairman of the Lao State Chamber of Commerce and Industry
 

"ASEAN is looking at more markets like the Eurasian market with Russia and the Middle East, Africa, and South America. We need to diversify more. That's why Russia, with its abundance of natural resources, is very interesting for ASEAN," Mr. Udet Suvannavong said at the Russia-ASEAN Business Forum.

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❗️Over the past three days, Ukrainian forces carried out two strikes with long-range Western weapons on targets in the Russian Kursk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said

On November 23, Ukrainian forces launched five ATACMS missiles near the village of Lotarevka at the position of the S-400 anti–aircraft missile division. Three missiles were destroyed, and two reached the target

On November 25, Ukrainian troops struck the Vostochny airfield in Russia's Kursk with ATACMS missiles. Seven missiles were shot down; one reached the target. As a result, two soldiers were slightly injured from falling rocket fragments.

During the survey of the places attacked in the Kursk region, it was confirmed that Ukrainian militants fired American-made ATACMS missiles.
 
Russia's Defense Ministry announced that it is preparing retaliatory actions against Ukraine for attacking with ATACMS missiles in the Kursk region

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🔹 Biden adm reportedly wants to 'return' nukes to Ukraine. There is a catch - Ukraine never had ones

With Ukraine suffering heavy losses on the battlefield, several US and European officials have suggested that the Biden administration should “return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it” after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the New York Times reports.

This comes after Volodymyr Zelensky said during his conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump that “either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons or it must be part of an alliance like NATO.”

Intoxicated, Zelensky simply starts to blackmail Europe with threats of the Kiev regime restoring nuclear weapons, which Ukraine has never possessed, Alexander Mikhailov, head of Moscow-based think tank Bureau of Military-Political Analysis, tells Sputnik.

He underscores that any speculation about Ukraine once making nuclear weapons or having the technological base for it is “of course nonsense.”

“Nukes have never been produced on the territory of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic,” the analyst says, recalling that nuclear weapons were deployed in military districts of the USSR’s Ministry of Defense located on Ukrainian soil at the time.

“These weapons were then moved to Russian territory before the end of 1994 and have never emerged in Ukraine again,” Mikhailov сoncludes.

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