Category: Russia

US Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Block Military Aid to Ukraine Until Southern Border Secured

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – American lawmakers introduced a bill to block military aid to Ukraine until the US southern border is secured, Rep. Matt Rosendale said on Tuesday.
“Today, Representative Rosendale introduced the Secure America’s Borders First Act. This bill would prohibit the U.S. government from providing military and security assistance to Ukraine until the border wall system on the southern border is completed, and operational control of the southern border is achieved,” the statement said.
The Republican lawmaker’s bill is co-sponsored by Representatives Andy Biggs, Bob Good, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, Jody Hice, Mary Miller, Ralph Norman, Bill Posey, and Randy Weber.

Russians bought record number of gold bars in 2022, data shows Reuters | February 3, 2023 | 4:54 am Intelligence Europe Russia and Central Asia Gold

Russia’s sovereign gold stockpile is the fifth-biggest in the world. (Image from Vladimir Putin’s website)

Russians bought an all-time record number of gold bars in 2022, finance ministry data showed on Friday, as tax cuts on precious metals encouraged people to stock up on bullion as a safe asset.

Moscow scrapped its 20% VAT on physical gold trades for individuals last March in a bid to draw people away from using the US dollar as a safe haven.

According to the data, Russians bought over 50 tonnes of gold bars in 2022, ten times more than the year before. The most sought after were 1 kilogram bars which accounted for about 60% of those sold.

The figures are not yet final and only cover the period ending November 2022, the finance ministry told Reuters.

State-controlled VTB Bank said it sold 33.8 tonnes of gold bars to customers in 2022, with clients holding 50 billion roubles ($711 million) worth of the metal.

Read More

Nobody told me we’re at war – NATO state’s president The US and Germany might be at war with Russia, but that is news to Croatia, said Zoran Milanovic

File photo: Croatian President Zoran Milanovic speaks in Hungary, January 21, 2023. © Noemi Bruzak/MTI via AP

Commenting on the German foreign minister’s declaration that Europe is “fighting a war against Russia,” Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said on Thursday that this was news to him, and wished Berlin better luck than in WWII.

Croatia “should in no way help” Ukraine militarily, Milanovic said while visiting the port city of Split. “Do you want us to enter the war?”

Framing the Ukraine conflict as one between Washington and Moscow, he reminded reporters that he was criticized for merely echoing the words of Kiev’s defense minister, about the current conflict being a “proxy war” between NATO and Russia.

“Now the German foreign minister says we must be united, because I quote, we are at war with Russia. I didn’t know that,” Milanovic said. “Maybe Germany is at war with Russia, but then, good luck, maybe this time it turns out better than 70-odd years ago.”

The Croatian president was baffled to hear such a claim from the leader of the German Greens, which he said used to be a pacifist party equally against the US and the USSR, and not from Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Read More