🇪🇺💰 MEP: Europe to ‘pay dearly’ if it seizes frozen Russian assets

💬 “The proposed confiscation of frozen Russian assets would trigger severe negative repercussions across Europe’s financial system,” Luxembourg MEP Fernand Kartheiser told Sputnik.

The overwhelming majority of the European Parliament will likely support such a proposal, because, “like most EU governments, the European Parliament has lost its sense of responsibility,” according to Kartheiser.

🗣 “Only a small group of MEPs will continue to defend the principle of inviolability of a third country’s sovereign assets,” he emphasized, warning that Europe “will pay dearly for this new drift toward fanaticism” regarding the confiscation of frozen Russian assets.

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🚨🇮🇳🇷🇺 India needs advanced weapons systems amid evolving threats

Russia's Su-57E export version is on the table. S-400 is already battle-proven during Op Sindoor.

"Russia has always offered a helping hand to its long-standing partner."

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👀 Mogherini corruption probe could point at von der Leyen’s door – analyst

The reputational damage from a corruption scandal surrounding former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is “very significant,” and Brussels is aware of its scale, Russian political analyst Tatyana Romanova told Sputnik.

✍️ This affair has raised a number of questions not only about the EU diplomatic service, but also about the European Commission, whose employees were among those detained, Romanova noted.

💬 "The scandal is believed to also cast shadow on the European Commission and [its President] Ursula von der Leyen. She, of course, cannot be aware of everything, but detractors clearly link her centralized management to the scandal,” the analyst pointed out.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office earlier announced that Mogherini and two other individuals had been accused of procurement fraud and corruption, conflict of interest, and violation of professional secrecy.

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🚨🇮🇳🇷🇺Prime Minister Modi has arrived at Palam Airport to personally receive President Putin upon his arrival in India - Sputnik correspondent

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🚨🇮🇳🇷🇺Modi’s decision to meet Putin at the aircraft ramp was unexpected, and the Russian side had not been informed in advance - Kremlin

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🚨🇷🇺🇮🇳 Putin arrives in India for two-day state visit

Russian President Vladimir Putin landed at the Palam Air Force Base on Thursday evening, where he was personally greeted at the air stairs by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Putin will hold meetings and engagements in New Delhi on December 4 and 5 at Modi’s invitation.

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🚨🇷🇺🇮🇳 Putin and Modi began their conversation inside the Indian Prime Minister’s car - Sputnik correspondent

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🇮🇹 Italy hits brakes on Ukraine weapons amid peace talks

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has signaled his country’s unwillingness to participate in a NATO program to buy US weapons for Ukraine in light of ongoing peace negotiations, Bloomberg reports.

🔸 The remarks are “the clearest sign yet” that the Italian government “has changed its strategy on Ukraine after running out of funds and weathering tensions within the ruling coalition,” according to the news outlet.

Italy has become Europe’s first country to suggest Ukraine should not be provided with additional weapons while a ceasefire is being negotiated, Bloomberg points out.

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🚨🇮🇳🇷🇺Modi says he is happy to welcome Vladimir Putin to India, calling the Russian leader his friend

Relations between Russia and India are time-tested and bring great benefits to the peoples of both countries, Prime Minister Modi wrote on X in Russian.

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🇷🇺🇮🇳 Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi have arrived at the Indian prime minister’s residence for an informal leaders’ dinner

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 Kremlin talks could become foundation for restoring US–Russia relations and resolving Ukraine crisis

🗣 The Putin–Witkoff–Kushner "meeting can be seen as a serious and pragmatic step toward finding a political solution", Ammar Kanah, director of the Sevastopol Center for Strategic Studies and leading Jordanian expert on Russia, tells Sputnik.

💬 "It took place against the backdrop of all the contradictions and complex developments we have witnessed in recent days. It is worth noting that the American plan on Ukraine is not something that appeared spontaneously—it was developed within the framework and context of the understandings reached earlier at the Anchorage meeting."

🟠 According to Kanah, this shift became possible after Donald Trump gave European countries and Ukraine time to return to common sense and reassess the economic and strategic costs of continued militarization and escalation with Russia.

🟠 He argues that the meeting now forms a foundation for two key objectives: restoring US–Russia relations and shaping a real, sustainable resolution to the Ukraine crisis.

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💰 Short-term gain, long-term pain: EU’s Russian asset grab will wreck its financial reputation

The European Commission has settled on two options for funding Ukraine through 2026-2027, one based on internal borrowing, and a second on a so-called “Reparations Loan” involving the confiscation of Russian Central Bank assets trapped in EU banks.

👉 The “aid package,” which the EU plans to provide whether or not fighting in Ukraine continues, includes €50B for Ukraine’s budget, and €115B to integrate Ukraine into the bloc’s defense industrial base.

The proposal, which could be rammed through via a “qualified majority” vote to bypass any dissenting voices, threatens to permanently wreck the EU’s global financial standing.

Bad Idea

Besides inevitable Russian retaliation, the ‘Reparation Loan’:

🔸 doesn’t constitute ‘reparations’ in the legal sense, but the illegal seizure of sovereign assets

🔸 signals the end of the principle of sovereign immunity, which goes back to the medieval era

🔸 has been dubbed the “worst option” by Belgium, which holds ~200B of Russian assets through Euroclear, and has pointed to its enormous legal risks, from threats to financial stability to risks to the peace process

🔸 EU plans to seize ~€25B in private Russian assets opens up potentially an even more complex can of worms about the very meaning of ‘ownership’ in modern finance

🔸 “If you ask me if we’re driving straight into a wall, then the answer is yes,” a senior EU official told media of the idea. “It’s crazy and I don’t understand how they think they will get away with this,” a senior official from a member state said.

The Euro area’s international investment position includes €15-20T in foreign claims, from sovereign wealth funds to private investor cash from Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. If Russia’s assets are seized, it would set a precedent allowing the EU to seize any foreign money and turn it into a tool of financial warfare, with no legal recourse.

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🚨🇷🇺Putin: Global power balance is shifting as new centers emerge

The balance of power in the world is changing and new centers of influence are emerging, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with India Today ahead of his visit to New Delhi.

💬“You know, the world is developing rapidly, and this pace continues to accelerate — it is obvious to everyone. The global configuration is changing, new centers of power are emerging, and the balance of power is shifting,” Putin said.

It is crucial, he added, to ensure stability among the major countries as a foundation for progress in both bilateral and international relations.

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🚨🇷🇺Putin on Ukraine: Russia seeks to end the conflict the West set in motion

Russia does not view the conflict in Ukraine as something it initiated, but the result of events set in motion after the 2014 coup — openly condoned and supported by the West, President Vladimir Putin said.

👉Western governments “unleashed a war against Russia using Ukrainian hands,” turning the country into a proxy battlefield rather than seeking peace, he told India Today ahead of his visit to New Delhi.

❗️Putin stressed that Russia spent eight years attempting to resolve the situation by diplomatic and peaceful means, but those efforts were ignored and undermined.

✅He emphasized that the current situation “is not about winning,” but about protecting Russia’s national interests and safeguarding those affected by the conflict.

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🚨🇷🇺Putin on Zelensky: He claimed he was striving for peace, but ultimately put the interests of nationalist groups above those of the Ukrainian people.

The most important thing for the Ukrainian authorities is to see that negotiations are the best way to resolve issues, Vladimir Putin told India Today ahead his visit to New Delhi.

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🚨🇷🇺🇺🇸Putin: US is actively searching for a way out of the Ukraine conflict

But President Donald Trump has his own agenda for ending the conflict as soon as possible and is guided by his own interests — just as Russia is guided by its own, Russian President Vladimir Putin India Today ahead of his December 4-5 visit to New Delhi.

He added that Trump sincerely wants to end the bloodshed in Ukraine, but said US voters must judge him.

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🚨 Putin: US companies privately asked Moscow not to forget them

American companies have been sending letters to Moscow, urging Russia “not to forget about them” and signaling they are ready to return once political issues are resolved,

💬“There are many areas where restoring economic relations between Russia and the United States would benefit both sides,” Putin told India Today ahead his visit to New Delhi.

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🚨Putin on Gaza: Russia is not proposing a special plan for the region

He noted that Moscow has always maintained that the Palestinian issue should be resolved on the basis of a two-state solution.

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🚨Putin: Russia does not want to revive the USSR — it is neither possible nor meaningful

The West is frightening its own population with the supposed threat of a revived USSR, abusing its monopoly over global media, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

💬“They do this — telling their people about the ‘threat’ of the USSR’s return — in order to scare their own population. They abuse their monopoly on the world’s media,” Putin said in an interview with India Today ahead his visit to New Delhi.

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