Kelin, Russia Ambassador to UK, on peace: We stand for diplomatic solution, but we don’t want on our border a puppet state created by Western governments, adversarial to us, where the Russian language is discriminated and the Russian Orthodox Church has been ousted. 1/
Q: Most of the world would say you guys started this fight.
Kelin: That is not true. It is said by those who do not want to learn history. Things started in 2014 after the illegal turnover of the legal government in Kyiv by people based on Nazi ideology. 2/
Kelin: European countries do not work for peace. UK, France, Germany stand for continuation of fighting. The defense industry continues to work. It is beneficial for their economies, so they don't need to explain that their political mistake put their economy in a poor state. 3/
Brussels is attempting the biggest financial strike on Russia since 2022: a plan to leverage €210bn in frozen Russian state assets and turn them into a long-term Ukraine war loan - using emergency powers that bypass Hungary’s veto, the FT reports. 1/
The European Commission wants a “reparations loan” backed by up to €210bn of immobilised Russian central bank assets.
The first tranche(€90bn) would fund Ukraine’s budget for 2026–27. Kyiv would repay only after Russia pays reparations. 2/
To make this possible, Brussels invokes Article 122, an emergency clause allowing action without unanimity.
The goal is to prevent Russia-friendly states like Hungary or Slovakia from killing sanctions that currently must be renewed every 6 months. 3/
Alexander Stubb writes in FA the post-1945 order is collapsing. The world is shifting from rules to hard multipolar power.
Three blocs — West, East, South — now drive geopolitics. Middle powers like Brazil, India, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey decide outcomes.
1/
He warns the West has 5–10 years to prove it can act without double standards, share real power and treat the global South as an equal partner. If it fails, the next order will run on deals, not rules and small states will get crushed.
2/
Stubb’s UN reform plan is:
- Add 5 permanent seats (2 Africa, 2 Asia, 1 Latin America)
- Abolish the veto
- Suspend any state that violates the UN Charter which would have suspended Russia after 24 Feb 2022.
3/
Now it is buying tanks, building suicide drones, deploying troops abroad and committing €460 billion to rearmament
Isaac Stanley-Becker in The Atlantic shows how a nation built on “never again” is preparing for war again. 1/
Lt. Gen. Freuding says the old U.S.-led order is “really cut off.”
During Trump’s freeze on Ukraine weapons, Germany received no warning. German officers now hunt for information through their embassy because their Pentagon contacts have gone silent. 2/
Berlin’s answer is the Zeitenwende — Germany’s declared “turning point.”
The government vows to build “the strongest army in Europe” and, for the first time since WWII, is permanently stationing 5,000 troops abroad — Panzerbrigade 45 in Lithuania by 2027. 3/
Rutte: If it takes too long for Russia to compromise in the peace talks, we’ll keep the weapon flow to Ukraine going, thanks to the U.S., Europe, and Canada.
Sanctions are also biting Russia. Together, they will pressure Putin and change his calculus. 1/
Rutte: I'm glad the U.S. president broke the deadlock with Putin and started the peace process.
Last night's talks were important, but I won’t comment on every step. We’re closely coordinating with the U.S. More steps are to come. 2/
Q: Yesterday, Putin threatened Europe with war again. What is your message for him?
Rutte: I'm not going to react to every thing Putin is saying. We've seen him in military clothes, dressed like a soldier at the front, but not [actually] at the front. It was quite far from the front. 3/