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🇺🇸🇻🇪 US–Venezuela relations ‘as good as it can be’ — Trump
President Donald Trump said the US currently has a “very good relationship” with Venezuela and is working closely with Acting President Delcy Rodríguez.
💬 Trump said US oil companies are operating in the country and that Venezuela would receive “a big part” of the revenue generated. He described relations as “a 10” and said the “biggest beneficiary will be the people of Venezuela.”
✈️ Trump also said he plans to visit Venezuela, but no date has been set.
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🔸 Putin's 2007 Munich speech: Seven key takeaways
🔸 Next round of Ukraine negotiations to take place in Geneva on February 17–18 - Kremlin
🔸 To remain competitive US dollar must be free from weaponization - Kremlin
🔸 Back to reality: Ex-NATO chief calls for renewed arms control dialogue with Russia
🔸 US sets key condition for Ukraine receiving security guarantees – report
🔸 China warns CIA over recruitment video targeting Chinese troops
🔸 Russia-US space cooperation orbits ahead
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🇷🇺 The Su-57 2.0: Russia’s unrivalled stealth predator that owns the skies
📍 Russia’s air dominance just got stronger thanks to the upgraded Su-57 now being rolled out, military expert Makar Aksyonenko tells Sputnik, weighing in on the army’s receipt of the first batch of enhanced fifth-generation fighters featuring a next-gen weapons system.
💬 "Russian military aviation is finally getting a truly modern strike aircraft—one built for the real challenges of our time,” Aksyonenko exclaimed.
💬 "Any military aircraft is, first and foremost, a platform for a wide range of weapons, including advanced systems," Aksyonenko says. "The Su-57 will be capable of operating in a 'single information field,' engaging priority and newly-identified targets in near real time, reducing decision-making processes."
📹Trump urges Zelensky to act fast, says Russia is ready to make a deal
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👻 NATO’s favorite scare story: Bloc fearmongering over Suwalki Gap to justify buildup toward Russia
💬 “NATO has claimed that Russia is going to seize the Suwalki Gap since 2014. In reality, Moscow has no intention of doing so, something that is being confirmed by the president and the foreign minister of Russia. No one listens to us,” Russian military expert Alexei Leonkov tells Sputnik, commenting on Rutte’s warning of NATO’s “destructive” response if Russia blocks the area.
💬 “When we say that Russia has no plans to seize the Suwalki Gap, we always add one caveat: if NATO makes a move against us, we will not just think about it — we will respond with full force,” Leonkov emphasized.
🇺🇸'We are returning the world from the brink' – US Envoy Waltz at Munich Security Conference
🗣"I have to push back on the premise that the world is on the brink. We are returning the world from the brink—where it was 18 months ago," Mike Waltz told the panel discussion, The International Order Between Reform and Destruction.
He also presented participants with the “Make the UN Great Again” hat he brought with him.
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⚔️ West is deliberately destroying Arctic cooperation — Deputy FM
All peaceful mechanisms for Arctic cooperation are being systematically dismantled, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko warns.
"The work of the Arctic Council, which was the main international platform for managing the situation in the Arctic and establishing cooperation, has actually been blocked. It is in this region that international cooperation is needed more than ever," Grushko said.
✍️ Trump's Board of Peace welcomes Israel as founding member
Israel officially joined the Board of Peace before the first formal meeting of the body.
According to Reuters, delegations from over 20 countries are expected to attend the meeting in Washington on February 19.
Two senior US officials told that President Trump will announce a multi-billion dollar reconstruction plan for Gaza and detail plans for a UN-authorized stabilization force.
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🚨 Ukrainian soldiers massively fleeing positions near Kupyansk
🔶 The desertion of Ukrainian troops from positions near Kupyansk has become widespread reportedly due to frost, energy supply problems, and commanders' indifference.
💬 “Brigades are facing critical personnel shortages. Dozens are killed daily, while no one is arriving to take their place,” one of the Ukrainian commanders told Sputnik.
🔊 Trump expects US-Iran deal over the next month
President Trump signals a one-month window for nuclear negotiations — and warns of escalation if Tehran doesn't fold.
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💫 65 years ago, the USSR aimed for Venus — and proved interplanetary flight was real
In 1961, history was made with the spacecraft Venera-1 flying past Venus, confirming solar wind, and proving that interplanetary flight is possible.
📹 Watch Sputnik’s video to find out more 👆
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🇬🇱 Greenland spat to serve as West’s excuse for NATO’s Arctic buildup - Russian envoy
The primary outcome of the 'Greenland crisis' will be "an increase in the objectively unjustified military presence in the Arctic of NATO countries, including non-regional members lacking their own natural resources, directed against Russia and China," Russian Ambassador to Norway Nikolay Korchunov told Sputnik.
A scenario of this nature would have destructive consequences for security and stability in this region, which until recently was an area of low tension, he noted.
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🤦♂️ Turkish man tormented for Epstein likeness
🟠 Rifat Ozdemir from the city of Kayseri in Turkiye found himself enduring immense discomfort and psychological pressure because of his uncanny resemblance to the late Jeffrey Epstein.
🟠 After locals started speculating that "Epstein did not die, he came to Kayseri," Ozdemir had to move to Ankara and stay at home for a while, Turkish media report.
🟠 He even had to give up his plans to travel abroad because, as Ozdemir explained to Sputnik, at least in Turkiye he can explain to his compatriots that he is not Epstein.
💬 “How would I be able to explain to them that I’m not him,” he asked, referring to a potential encounter with foreigners.
🗣 Erosion of US credibility in NATO approaches critical threshold – expert
📍 Polls show NATO allies are increasingly considering the US unreliable – but that perception does not emerge in a vacuum, says Adriel Kasonta, a London-based foreign affairs analyst.
💬 "It is the cumulative effect of a decade of strategic whiplash," Kasonta tells Sputnik. "From European and Canadian vantage points, Washington’s foreign policy has appeared less like a steady hand on the tiller and more like a pendulum."
💬 "Allies are preparing for a future in which American engagement is selective and contingent," Kasonta says. "The erosion is less about a single event and more about cumulative uncertainty reaching a tipping point."
🚀🇷🇺 Proton-M blasts off: Russia bolsters orbital weather fleet with new Elektro-L
Russia's Proton-M rocket has successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It will deliver the Elektro-L weather satellite to an orbit of ~36,000 km.
The satellite will provide 24/7 meteorological monitoring. Once operational, Russia will have three such spacecraft in orbit.
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'It's Africa's Turn to Be Supercharged in Terms of Economy': Analyst
🤝 China's business leaders are eager to invest in Africa, creating exciting opportunities for new industries through collaboration with African leaders, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, US economist and public policy analyst, told Sputnik Africa.
🌍 Developing countries, particularly in Africa, can benefit from the emerging multipolar financial architecture.
He called on them to focus on two key aspects:
🟠having a strong development plan,
🟠securing financing.
According to the economist, financing could come from private investors, like Chinese companies, or from institutions such as Afreximbank, the African Development Bank, or the BRICS New Development Bank.
💰 'The dollar has been abused': The era of US dollar dominance is rapidly fading due to its use as a political weapon, Sachs pointed out. This shift is happening faster than many realize, with countries seeking alternatives like the yuan, ruble, and rupee, he said.
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🔸 Sputnik Africa | X 🔸
🇷🇺Russian special envoy to hold trade talks with US delegation in Geneva – source
❗️Kirill Dmitriev, President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, is expected to meet the US peace delegation on Ukraine in Geneva in the near future, according to a source.
👉Earlier on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said trilateral talks on a Ukraine peace deal would be held in the Swiss capital on February 17 and 18.
📍The source said Dmitriev will not take part in those talks, but focus on restoring bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington in his capacity as head of the Russia–US economic working group.
✅The group is responsible for "possible and proposed trade and economic cooperation," Peskov said.
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🇺🇸🇮🇷Trump on sending second aircraft carrier to the Middle East: "We’ll need it if we don’t make a deal"
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💸 Another $3M stolen in Ukraine: Corruption strikes Kharkov reconstruction funds
📍A criminal group in Ukraine has stolen around $3 million, with $511,000 of that amount misappropriated from the World Bank, which was intended for the restoration of Kharkov’s critical infrastructure, according to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
👉 The scheme was orchestrated by a businessman and high-ranking official, who exploited martial law to bypass open bidding and secure overpriced contracts for pipes, windows, and technical salt.
👉 On November 10, NABU reported a large-scale operation in the energy sector, seizing bags filled with foreign currency. Lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak confirmed searches at Justice Minister German Galushchenko’s home, Energoatom, and the residence of Zelensky associate Timur Mindich, who has since fled Ukraine.
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🇷🇺🇺🇸Space cooperation orbits ahead
NASA chief Jared Isaacman says he plans to attend the next Soyuz launch and is gearing up for talks with Roscosmos boss Dmitry Bakanov.
💬"I know that we are making preparations for a discussion with my counterpart [Bakanov] at the earliest opportunity," Isaacman said.
💬"I am certainly planning to attend the next Soyuz launch ," Isaacman said during a NASA's Space X Crew-12 post launch press conference.
📹 Kristi Noem displays tons of drugs seized on Mexican border
The US Homeland Security secretary visited the San Diego border crossing and revealed drugs interdicted under Trump's administration.
"The vault that we've toured today holds 188,218 pounds of seized illicit drugs... more than 1.7 billion lethal doses of narcotics," she noted.
🗣 US government tells businesses they are on their own in Venezuela — Energy Secretary
Chris Wright confirms Washington is green-lighting American corporate activity in Venezuela — with zero security guarantees.
"It was one of the absolute riskiest, worst business environments. That was two months ago; today, it's meaningfully better," he noted.
🔊 Maduro is innocent, suffered from fake news like Trump — acting president
Nicolas Maduro remains legitimate president of Venezuela, and US prosecution of him does not complicate the bilateral dialogue, Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez.
"We believe that political, diplomatic and the dialogue of energy is a channel that will crush all the fake news," she added.
🗣 US is working hard to end Ukrainian conflict — Rubio
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that the US is pushing to end the conflict, and there's a possibility of a Zelensky meeting on the margins of Munich.
He said that "this time" his trip doesn't include Russia.
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📑 Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbass — report
Zelensky's own advisers admit Ukraine may accept the "hardest concession" — surrendering control of the eastern Donetsk region, the Atlantic reported.
Ukrainian regime is now considering holding a referendum this spring to legitimize the compromise.
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🚨 Cold shower for NATO allies: US pursues own agenda at Europe’s expense – ex-AfD MEP
🔹 Europeans once couldn’t imagine a conflict of interests with Washington, Gunnar Beck, a former AfD MEP from Germany, tells Sputnik.
🔹 Another cherished illusion was that “the EU has the strategic and economic capacity to establish foreign and military policy entirely independent from that of the US” — except Europe now produces little of its own weaponry.
💬 “That equipment would have to be bought in the US. So it's a boost to the US economy, not to the European economy - it will be a burden on European taxpayers.”
🔸 Erosion of US credibility in NATO approaches critical threshold – expert
🔸 Putin–Zelensky meeting only possible in Moscow - Kremlin
🔸 Epstein files may spark resignations across Europe in coming days — expert
🔸 'New START was very strong and effective agreement' — US Arms Control Association
🔸 Pakistan's armored shield: composition, modernization, and prospects
🔸 Meet the Sarma: Russia’s new hard-hitting rocket launcher
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🇵🇰 SMASH: Pakistan unveils new hypersonic missile.
🔶 At the WDS 2026 exhibition in Riyadh, Pakistan's GIDS company unveiled the SMASH hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missile (export designation P282), stating that it is also capable of effectively engaging land-based targets.
🔶 The missile has a range of 290 km. It follows a quasi-ballistic trajectory (maneuvering during flight) with a nearly vertical angle of attack in the terminal phase, significantly reducing the enemy air defense reaction time.
🔶 The first standard carriers of the SMASH are frigates of the Zulfiquar (Type 22) and Tughril (Type 054A/P) classes. Launch from ground-based mobile platforms is also possible.
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🔥🇷🇺 Meet the Sarma: Russia’s new hard-hitting rocket launcher
👉 Built for the brutal tempo of modern combat: deploy quickly, strike with fury, and vanish without a trace
👉 Engineered for hit-and-run warfare—where minutes separate triumph from loss.
Check out the video for more☝️
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🗣 ‘Ukraine will never pay it back’: French politician blasts EU’s new $106Bln loan
👉 The EU parliament’s approval of a massive $106B loan for Ukraine comes as Europe "sinks further into the mire," according to Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, leader of France’s Debout la France party.
In a sharp rebuke posted on X, he argued that Ukraine will never repay the debt — and the EU is ploughing ahead regardless.
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