The Kremlin's full report on the phone conversation between the Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan:
 
🔶On the initiative of the Russian side, Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
 
🔶The presidents discussed in detail the issues related to the crash of an Azerbaijani Airlines passenger plane on December 25 near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
 
🔶During the conversation, it was noted that the Azerbaijani passenger aircraft repeatedly tried to land at the airport of the city of Grozny.
 
🔶At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defense systems repelled those attacks.
 
🔶The Investigative Committee of Russia has opened a criminal case under Article 263 of the Criminal Code (violation of the rules of traffic safety and operation of air transport). Initial investigative actions are underway; civilian and military specialists are being interrogated.
 
🔶Currently, two employees of the General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan are in Grozny, where they work together with representatives of the General Prosecutor's Office and the Investigative Committee of Russia.
 
🔶The relevant services of Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are closely cooperating at the disaster site in the Aktau city area.

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⚡️ Russia’s 2024 BREAKTHROUGH: 190+ settlements liberated!

4,500+ sq km reclaimed, 190+ settlements freed. It’s only the beginning! 😏

Watch the explosive video and see the shocking advances on Sputnik’s animated map.

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Elon Musk will finance the right-wing British Reform UK party, said its leader Nigel Farage
 
The politician recently met with Musk at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. According to Farage, they agreed that the billionaire would make the donation "in a reasonable amount" so that it would be legal.
 
At the same time, the Times wrote that the businessman intends to allocate 100 million pounds to Reform UK, but Farage called the reports about this amount "nonsense."
 
This is not the first time Musk has supported the right-wing in European countries; for example, he recently said that only the Alternative for Germany party could save Germany. However, his support then was only in words, not financing.

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Yemeni movement Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, said it carried out a hypersonic missile attack on an Israeli air force base in the Negev region.

"The missile force of the Yemeni Armed Forces, with the help of Allah Almighty, targeted the Nevatim air base of the Israeli enemy in the Negev region in southern occupied Palestine using a hypersonic ballistic missile, type Palestine 2. The missile successfully hit its target," the statement read.

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🌋New activity of Kilauea volcano recorded in Hawaii
 
The Kilauea volcano, the most active on the island of Hawaii, is once again bubbling with volcanic activity.

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❗️Russian energy corporation Gazprom will halt gas supplies to Moldova from 8 am Moscow time on January 1 due to Moldovagaz's debt.

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Terror tactic: What is Ukraine’s special chemical belt?

The Kiev regime has developed a new illegal tactic to conduct warfare using a special chemical belt, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated. Chemical terrorism is a real threat posed by the Ukrainian special services, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said.

Where is the special chemical belt located?

The special chemical belt tactic rides roughshod over the Chemical Weapons Convention by detonating containers with hydrocyanic acid and ammonia along highways and at major transport junctions near a number of settlements in southeastern Ukraine, such as the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk People's Republic and Kupyansk in the Kharkov region.

What’s the goal of the chemical belt?

The purpose is to “significantly complicate” the offensive operations of Russian forces and give Kiev additional time to complete construction of defensive lines in the Zaporozhye region, as well as the Kharkov and Sumy regions.
Is the US involved?

The number of toxic substances used by Ukrainian militants was produced and were in service only in the US, the ministry’s report says.

“This clearly points to specific curators of the Ukrainian special services and the Kiev regime as a whole, who have not been averse to direct participation in the terrorist activities of their proteges.”

The Kiev regime has repeatedly used banned Western-supplied agents against Russian forces in the Ukraine conflict zone. More than 400 cases of Kiev’s use of chemicals such as BZ, prussic acid, chlorine cyanide, and riot-control chemical agents have been recorded in Ukraine since 2022.

In February 2022, the Russian Defense Ministry discovered the existence of 30 US-funded military biological laboratories in Ukraine. Russia accuses the US of spending over $200 million to develop biological weapons at the facilities.

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Electricity deficit and loss of fees: How halting Russian gas transit will backfire for Ukraine

The Kiev regime's decision not to extend the transit of Russian gas to Europe beyond January 1 is set to backfire on the country, despite Zelensky putting on a brave face.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has warned that his country would halt electricity exports to Ukraine if Kiev stops supplying Russian gas to Central Europe.

If Fico follows through, Ukraine will likely face more power shortages.

▪️Dependence on electricity imports: Ukraine relies heavily on around 1.7-2.1 gigawatts (GW) of electricity imported from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania.

▪️Loss of Slovakia's imports: Slovakia alone exported 2.4 million megawatt hours of electricity to Ukraine between January and November, a 152% year-on-year increase.

▪️Uncertain compensation: It is unclear whether Poland, Hungary, and Romania could compensate for the loss if Slovakia ceases its electricity exports to Ukraine.

▪️Increased demand and shortages: The International Energy Agency warned in September that peak demand could reach 18.5 GW this winter in Ukraine, with an estimated supply deficit of 6 GW.

Additional impact of halting gas transit

▪️Loss of transit fees: Ukraine is set to lose $0.8-$1 billion annually in transit fees from Russian gas.

▪️Virtual reverse system: The transit of Russian gas through Ukraine facilitated the "virtual reverse" system, where gas was bought by Kiev from European traders. Despite reduced consumption since 2022, this system was still in use.

▪️Pipeline modifications: Halting Russian gas transits will force Ukraine to modify its pipeline system and operate it differently.

▪️Challenges in gas distribution:

🔸A decrease in pressure in the main gas pipelines would hinder the transportation of gas produced in the Poltava and Kharkov regions to western regions, analysts assume.

🔸Conversely, delivering gas from underground storage facilities in the west to central and eastern regions will become more difficult, they warn.

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🇷🇺🇰🇿 Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Kremlin said.

The leaders exchanged condolences in connection with the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane near the city of Aktau on December 25.

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❗️Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved by decree a new strategy to counter extremism in Russia.

The Ukrainian crisis is being used by unfriendly countries to unleash hybrid wars against Russia and fuel Russophobic sentiments, according to the strategy.

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❗️Key-points from the new strategy to counter extremism in Russia:

▪️Extremism is designated as one of most difficult problems of modern Russian society;

▪️Russophobia and xenophobia been added to list of basic concepts in the strategy;

▪️Global areas of instability contribute to growth of threats to Russia due to the risk of terrorist organizations entering the country;

▪️Russia intends to organize cooperation within the UN, BRICS, SCO, CIS, CSTO to fight against extremism and terrorism;

▪️Strengthening of nationalist formations, including in Ukraine, supported by external forces are becoming a serious extremist threat;

▪️Risks associated with extremism in Ukraine spreading to neighboring countries and regions;

▪️Expected result of the implementation of the strategy is the neutralization of undesirable foreign NGOs' activities.

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The Moldovan Socialist Party is demanding that the government call an emergency meeting with national energy firm Moldovagaz to discuss it's debt settlement to Russian corporation Gazprom.

The investigation into why the company has debts should be transparent, the politicians noted, according to a message published on the party's Telegram channel.

Earlier, Gazprom announced it would halt gas supplies to Moldova on January 1 due to Moldovagaz's debt.

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❗️Houthis shoot down US MQ-9 drone with a missile in the sky over Yemen's province of Al-Bayda, according to a Houthi representative.

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Trump will restore US rule of law by pardoning January 6 protesters – CIA veteran

"If Trump follows through on his promise [to pardon January Sixers], then he will be restoring the rule of law instead of the rule of arbitrary power," retired CIA intelligence official Larry Johnson tells Sputnik.

According to Johnson, Trump's "action to correct the abuse is surrounding the incarceration of the January 6 protesters will put the judicial system on notice that it must follow the law and be blind with respect to people’s political views."

On January 6, 2021, a crowd of supporters of then-President Donald Trump breached the United States Capitol Building in Washington, DC, over concerns that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

The CIA veteran believes that the incident was a staged intelligence operation, carried out by FBI agents and undercover operatives with support from both the CIA and the Pentagon, and coordinated with Democrats.

Johnson elaborates that the subsequent Democrat-led January 6 panel was nothing short of a "political show trial that matched anything done during the Stalin era in the Soviet Union."

He assesses the persecution of January Sixers as an "overreach by the Department of Justice" aimed at intimidating Trump's base.

President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly pledged to pardon most of January 6th actors, stressing that he would begin addressing this issue "in the first hour" of his presidency.

To date, over 1,100 individuals have been convicted, with more than 600 sentenced to prison terms. Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the right-wing Proud Boys movement, received the longest sentence—22 years in federal prison.

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