Bessent: India buying Russian oil was inevitable. That’s why we gave a 30-day waiver.
The oil was already on the water and refineries needed supply. Otherwise it would have gone to China. It’s unfortunate Russia benefits, but we hope only for a short time.
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Bessent: Our actions were not about China. They were about U.S. interests. Venezuela had become close to a failed narco-state.
The goal is to protect the Western Hemisphere and support Latin American countries moving toward market economies and closer ties with the U.S.
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Bessent: When I flew to Argentina last spring, we had to avoid Bolivia because it had closed its airspace to U.S. military aircraft.
Now Bolivia is becoming an ally again. Chile also shifted back. This is a chance to strengthen economic and security ties with the U.S.
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Bessent: The military operation was meant to stop Iran from protecting its nuclear program with missiles.
If nothing had been done, in a year or 18 months Iran could have had two or three times more missiles and weapons.
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Zelenskyy: The US and Gulf states asked Ukraine for anti-drone systems. We remember how long we waited for help in the first days of the war. Now we help those who helped us first.
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Zelenskyy: Sanctions on Russia must remain. If you lift sanctions control, Putin earns money.
He puts this money into Shahed drones and sends them to Iran, and the Iranian regime uses them to strike American bases or airports.
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Zelenskyy: Criticism exists, and the fact that you know about it shows democracy is alive in Ukraine
In Russia there is no criticism. One person decides everything and everyone else obeys
Japan may introduce Ukrainian combat drones into its military.
Tokyo is studying the purchase of Ukraine-made attack UAVs to strengthen defense capabilities, relying on Kyiv’s battlefield experience against Russia, Kyodo News. 1/
Ukraine has proposed a defense technology exchange.
Kyiv is open to sharing drone technology in return for Japanese weapons, but cooperation may require a bilateral arms transfer agreement to protect sensitive information. 2/
Japan is investing heavily in unmanned warfare.
The draft FY2026 defense budget allocates ¥277.3B ($1.7B) for drones and the new SHIELD program to defend remote islands. 3/
Russian Duma adopting law permitting extraterritorial armed forces engagement to free detained Russians.
It would legitimize armed attacks on Western courts and detention centers. Moscow is preparing for systematic body-snatching operations — CEPA. 1/
Putin fears finding himself in The Hague on 2023 ICC warrant.
ICC also seeking former Defense Minister Shoigu and General Staff chief Gerasimov for roles in Ukraine war atrocities. Message underlined by January’s US operation to seize Venezuelan dictator Maduro. 2/
Kremlin used this tactic before. Exactly 20 years ago Putin legalized use of Russian special forces in offensive operations abroad for first time.
Presented as response to attack on Russian diplomats in Baghdad June 2006, but legislation already drafted months earlier. 3/
Fiona Hill: What Putin is negotiating now is President Trump handing over Ukraine to him, forcing Ukraine to capitulate, forcing new elections in Ukraine and basically demilitarizing and neutralizing Ukraine so that Ukraine turns into essentially Belarus. 1/
Fiona Hill: Pandering to Putin, trying to bribe Putin, trying to flatter Putin, trying to incentivize Putin with promises of economic largesse, that is just not going to work. 2/
Fiona Hill: Trump is only thinking about his personal relationship with Vladimir Putin, and he feels that he's been thwarted by the media and everybody else's scrutiny on the election. I don't think we ever had any evidence that the election had been tipped by Putin. 3/
Russia built a new secret assassination unit after GRU Unit 29155 was burned across Europe.
Center 795 was designed to be harder to trace, more autonomous, able to do from battlefield sabotage in Ukraine to killing abroad.
It was compromised by Google Translate, The Insider. 1/
Center 795 was created in Dec 2022 by Russia’s General Staff as Military Unit 75127.
Unlike Unit 29155, it reported directly to Valery Gerasimov and was built as a “full-cycle” shadow army handling intelligence, surveillance, sabotage, and assassination. 2/
The unit was embedded inside Kalashnikov Concern at Patriot Park outside Moscow. Officers were put on the Kalashnikov payroll.
Training was disguised as “test shooting” linked to arms production. 3/