📑 White House orders military focus to 'quarantine' Venezuelan oil — Report

The White House has directed US forces to concentrate almost exclusively on enforcing an oil quarantine against Venezuela for at least the next two months, a US official told Reuters.

US military buildup in the Caribbean started in support of anti-narcotics operations against Venezuela.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚔️ US amphibious assault group heads toward Venezuela — Satellite imagery

Satellite data shows a major US naval convoy moving toward Venezuela, including the special operations command ship Ocean Trader and the USS Iwo Jima.

The movement follows the White House order to focus on a Venezuelan oil "quarantine," with over 15,000 troops, 11 warships, and F-35s now deployed in the Caribbean.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

👀 ‘Strip poker’ politics: In-denial Zelensky is world’s ‘highest-paid actor’ - Ex-CIA officer

Volodymyr Zelensky is proving time and again just how detached from reality he is, says former CIA officer Larry Johnson says.

He’s grown so accustomed to backing from his European patrons that he is blind to the objective situation in the country and on the battlefield.

💬 “Zelensky reminds me of the guy playing strip poker who's sitting there in his underwear… I mean, he's just he's divorced from reality... Look, he understands he's the highest paid actor in Europe, in the world, in fact. And his job has been simply to be the front man to convince the west to pump billions of dollars into Ukraine.”

For him, his clique, and those in the West pulling the strings “it’s all about money… It's the Benjamins,” says Johnson.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇮🇳 🇷🇺India stands firm on Russian oil as US tariffs hit

Indian companies are buying oil from Russia based on commercial viability and its attractive price, Indian Ambassador to Russia Vinay Kumar told Sputnik.

💬 "It is obvious that the price is an important commercial consideration. That is why the companies buy crude oil in this market. But I am not aware of the current commercial negotiations," Kumar said.

When asked whether US sanctions against Russian oil intimidated Indian companies, Kumar said that "they will take the decisions which is in their best commercial interest."

On August 27, an additional 25% tariff on imports from India, imposed by US President Donald Trump, went into effect, bringing the total tariff rate to 50% - one of the highest rates set by Washington. This decision is linked to an alleged sharp increase in India's oil purchases from Russia and the failure of trade negotiations.

India considers these actions unfair and unjustified, but it emphasized readiness for dialogue and further search for compromise. Indian authorities have also said that US criticism was selective, as similar purchases of Russian oil continued by China and the European Union.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔥 Frontline firestorm: Russian Grad, Tulip & Msta-S systems in action

Watch as fortified positions, UAV control points, and ammo depots of the Ukrainian forces are eliminated in Zaporozhye, Kharkov, Sumy, and Donetsk regions.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔸 No signs of nuclear powers preparing tests — IAEA

🔸 Ukrainian conflict could end within 90 days — US NATO envoy

🔸 Israeli forces launch major West Bank raids during Christmas

🔸 North Korea is building new nuclear-powered submarine — Report

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔍 Europe’s war hawks want Ukraine bled dry so they can feast on the carcass - retired US Lt. Col.

Europe’s elites are not invested in ending the Ukraine conflict, points out retired US Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis.

Behind all the rhetoric about support and “enduring peace,” they are perfectly content to see the war drag on.

They know full well where everything is going, and “they'll use the carcass of whatever's left of Ukraine and then they'll say, that's more reason why we're going to continue to paint Russia as this evil empire… and say that now we need to spend even more,” he says.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔥✈️ Russia’s Su-35S jet dominates the skies as special military op’s top warplane

Rostec's United Aircraft Corporation has delivered another batch of Su-35S multirole fighters to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

👉 This fighter jet stands out as one of the most highly sought-after aircraft within the Russian military.

According to reports, the warplane holds the distinction of having destroyed the highest number of targets throughout the course of the special military operation.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 Russian MFA spox issues diagnosis: West suffering from new mutant strain of Nazism

Western nations are plagued by a virulent resurgence of nationalism and Nazism, comparable to the outbreak witnessed eight decades ago, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

In the 21st century, this Nazi mind virus mutated into Russophobia, which the West has succumbed to, she added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Russia denies Bloomberg claim about changes to its Ukraine peace plan

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calls the report a “fake” with no credible Kremlin sources.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

⚡️ SVYATO-POKROVSKOYE IN DONETSK PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC FREED

📍 The liberation of Svyato-Pokrovskoe creates the preconditions for an offensive on Slavyansk, the next major fortified area in the path of Russian forces.

▫️ The Russian Armed Forces struck airfield and port infrastructure supporting the activities of the Ukrainian army

▫️ The Tsentr Battlegroup thwarted an attempt by a Ukrainian Armed Forces brigade to break through in the southeast of Grishino settlement in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR)

▫️ Russian forces continue to eliminate encircled Ukrainian units in the city of Dimitrov in the DPR

▫️ Air defense superiority: 472 drones shot down

▫️ Ukrainian losses: around 1,445 troops killed or wounded

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

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🎄 Putin sent Christmas greetings to Trump - Kremlin

A telegram was sent; no phone call is planned today.

Other key statements from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

🔶 Materials on a possible Ukraine settlement, passed to Vladimir Putin by Kirill Dmitriev, are currently being analyzed in the Kremlin

🔶 Future contacts with the American side will depend on Putin’s decisions following this analysis

🔶 The Kremlin has taken note of reports about Volodymyr Zelensky’s Christmas address, describing it as strange, uncultured, and aggressive

🔶 Peskov also questioned Zelensky’s ability to make adequate decisions in light of that address

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💥 Peace talks are last chance for Ukraine — Ex-US Army officer

The recent 20-point peace plan presented by Ukraine is a "non-starter" for Russia as it includes nothing that is important to it, former US officer and analyst Daniel Davis wrote on X.

💬 "[The US-proposed draft] is probably the last chance we have to get anything good for Ukraine. If we refuse to give Russia any of the major terms they’re looking for, then the only path left to Russia is military conquest," he said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📆 2025 in retrospect: Revisiting the year's historic events

This year was full of truly remarkable moments, yet, some of them stand out as truly significant milestones:

🟠 The high-stakes Putin-Trump summit in Alaska

🟠 Victory Day at 80 – Commemorating the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany and militaristic Japan in WWII.

🟠 Russia’s military advances – 5,000 sq km liberated in the special military operation

🟠 Gaza war end

🟠 Pope Francis death and the election of Robert Prevo as the new pontiff

… and many more.

📹 Watch to find out!

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇺🇸 Renowned US investor calls Russia–US tunnel idea 'wonderful'

💬 “It [tunnel] would be wonderful if it were easy to drive between Russia and the United States, even into Alaska,” Jim Rogers said, commenting on the idea of a tunnel between Russia's Far East and the US' Alaska via the Bering Strait.

👉 He also expressed hope that the project could one day be realized.

📍 Earlier, Russia’s presidential envoy for investment and economic cooperation Kirill Dmitriev confirmed that the idea of a Russia–Alaska tunnel is being discussed, without providing further details.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt