🤝 Iran will host crucial Pakistan-Taliban talks with Russia, China at the table

Iran is preparing to host a new round of high-stakes mediation between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban government on December 16–17.

Unlike previous talks in Doha, Istanbul, and Jeddah, this session will include China and Russia as mediators.

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🔊 US will help Europe with security guarantees for Ukraine — Trump

The US will attend Saturday's meeting between Ukraine and the European leaders if "there's a good chance" it will result in progress.

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🤝🇹🇲 Turkmenistan's neutrality allows to build relations with all countries — Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Ashgabat to take part in the celebrations for the 30th anniversary of Turkmenistan's declaration of neutrality.

"The path of neutrality was adopted once. It has justified itself because, on this serious basis, it makes it possible to work with virtually all countries without conflicts," Putin said during his meeting with the national leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

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🎤 Von der Leyen fires back at Trump: 'Only voters decide leaders'

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen responded to the leaked US National Security Strategy that outlined plans to "pull away" EU member states.

"It's the voters who decide who is the leader, and nobody else is supposed to interfere, without any question."

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🤝 Brazil offers mediation between Venezuela and US

Brazilian President Lula held talks with Nicolás Maduro and offered Brazil's diplomatic mediation to de-escalate rising tensions in the Caribbean sea.

Caracas condemned the US moves as a provocation aimed at destabilization, calling the recent seizure of the oil tanker by US forces an act of "international piracy".

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🗣 Trump: 'European nations report I might as well be their leader too'

President Trump claimed that European countries now see him as their de facto leader.

"They listen to us and they respect us like they've never respected us before," he told at the Congressional Ball.

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💬 Dmitriev: Trump warns rejecting his peace plan could lead to WW3

Russia’s special presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev quoted President Trump acknowledging that continued escalation — and refusal of his peace proposal — risks triggering World War III.

"Warmongers like Mark Rutte are unmasked. Let us prevent their lies and globalist ideology from destroying humanity," Dmitriev wrote on X.

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🎤 US Senator: Israel stonewalling probe into journalist killing

Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) publicly accused Israel of providing "no serious investigation" and conflicting answers regarding the October 2023 tank strike in Lebanon that killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded others.

📑 Welch stated the IDF has "stonewalled" all inquiries and given contradictory reports on whether its probe is closed or active.

The lawmakers described a “broader pattern of impunity” for attacks on journalists and Americans.

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🇷🇺🤝 🇹🇲 Putin lays wreath at Neutrality Monument in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

The Russian president has arrived in Ashgabat to take part in a forum dedicated to the International Year of Peace and Trust, International Neutrality Day, and the 30th anniversary of Turkmenistan's permanent neutrality.

Vladimir Putin will also hold a number of bilateral meetings.

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🇻🇪 Seizure of oil supertanker ‘new phase of US’ pressure on Maduro’ – media

US forces seizing the Skipper tanker off the coast of Venezuela on December 10 aims to deny Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro “a lifeline of oil revenue and force him to relinquish power,” Bloomberg reports.

👉 The seizure of the tanker is “just the beginning of a new phase in the Trump administration’s ramped-up pressure campaign” against Maduro, according to the news outlet.

The Venezuelan leader’s inner circle is doing its best to find ways to “adapt to a scenario where the US could seize other sanctioned ships,” Bloomberg points out.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier said the Skipper’s crew is suspected of shipping sanctioned oil from Venezuela to Iran. The Venezuelan authorities accused the US of "an act of international piracy" and pledged they would appeal to international bodies

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🔥 Putin: Search for solutions to problems in international arena should be conducted taking into account positions and opinions of all countries

Turkmenistan enjoys well-deserved respect and authority both in the Central Asian region and globally, the Russian president at the International Year of Peace and Trust forum.

Russia will provide assistance to Turkmenistan during its 2026 chairmanship of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), he added.

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❌ Europe will not show pragmatism by Christmas to settle Ukraine deal - Professor Sachs

💬 "I don’t expect pragmatism in Europe before Christmas, but there are always Christmas miracles!," a prominent US economist, Jeffrey Sachs, told Sputnik.

Earlier today, the Financial Times reported that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner gave Volodymyr Zelenskyy a matter of days to respond to a US-proposed peace plan to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, with Trump aiming to finalize it by Christmas.

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🚨 Ex-chief of Zelensky's office Yermak personally supervised import of spent nuclear fuel to Ukraine – Russian MoD

Other statements by the Russian Defense Ministry:

🔶USAID may be implicated in testing pharmacological drugs on the Ukrainian population

🔶Ukrainian forces are using banned chloropicrin in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics; caches of the chemical warfare agent have been discovered in the Belgorod region

🔶Expansion of NATO military-biological programs creates threats to the biological weapons non-proliferation regime

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🔸 Putin lays wreath at Neutrality Monument in Ashgabat

🔸 US will help Europe with security guarantees for Ukraine — Trump

🔸 Want to know where US military assets are located in Latin America & the Caribbean?

🔸 Leaked docs show Trump's plan to undermine EU

🔸 US preparing to seize more tankers off Venezuela — Reports

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🗣 Ukraine graft scandal blows up US anti-Russian sanctions agenda – ex-CIA analyst

With corruption on such a scale, it has become extremely difficult to portray Ukraine as an innocent victim, former CIA analyst Larry Johnson told Sputnik.

Johnson said he has information about one vocal American supporter of sanctions against Russia receiving substantial funds as part of a Ukrainian corruption scheme.

👉 In light of the graft issue, that person is unlikely to keep pushing for the anti-Russian sanctions, according to the ex-CIA analyst.

Ukraine’s NABU anti-corruption watchdog launched a major operation in the country’s energy sector last month, uncovering bags of foreign currency during raids. Searches targeted then-Justice Minister Herman Galushchenko, the Energoatom energy company, and businessman Timur Mindich, who had already left the country.

NABU then charged seven people involved in an energy sector corruption scheme, including Mindich and former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov. Shortly after, the Ukrainian parliament voted for dismissing Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk in connection with the graft scandal.

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📹LIVE NOW: Putin holds bilateral meetings in Ashgabat

👉Watch live in our Telegram

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🇷🇺🇹🇲Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Turkmenistan’s President Serdar Berdimuhamedow following the forum dedicated to the International Year of Peace and Trust, International Neutrality Day, and Turkmenistan's 30th anniversary of permanent neutrality

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🇷🇺🇮🇷Vladimir Putin met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Turkmenistan, where Putin is attending a forum on peace, neutrality, and Turkmenistan’s 30 years of permanent neutrality.

Their previous meeting took place in China during the SCO summit.

Russia and Iran are discussing cooperation in gas and electricity.

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🚨🇷🇺Kremlin aide to Zelensky: Donbass is Russian, FULL STOP

In response to Volodymyr Zelensky's idea of holding a nationwide referendum on territorial issues, Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov reminded that, under Russia's Constitution, the entire Donbass region is considered part of Russia.

Earlier, Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne reported that Zelensky had suggested the possibility of a "nationwide referendum" on territorial questions.

💬“Donbass is Russian. The entire region. It’s in the Constitution. By the way, happy Constitution Day,” Ushakov said.

Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🇷🇺🇹🇷 Putin meets Erdogan in Turkmenistan

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ashgabat, where they discussed the International Year of Peace and Trust, Turkmenistan's neutrality anniversary, and the situation in Ukraine.

Their last meeting was in September at the SCO summit in China.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov says:

🔶 Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed regional and international issues, including the Ukraine conflict

🔶 There are no major problems in Russo-Turkish relations and they are developing across all areas

🔶 The broad nature of bilateral relations helps counter external pressures.

🔶 Putin and Erdogan touched on European attempts to seize Russian assets, agreeing that would undermine the international financial system

🔶 Turkiye awaits the opening of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant being built by Rosatom

🔶 Erdogan invited Putin to visit Turkiye, which will be arranged when possible

🔶 Putin and Erdogan are in regular contact and have a strong rapport

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