On Wednesday, the US Assistant Secretary of State for European affairs and Eurasia James O'Brien said that the collective West does not plan to return to Russia its frozen assets worth about 300 billion dollars until Moscow pays for its special military operation in Ukraine.
During a hearing in the Committee on Foreign Affairs Secretary of the Senate of the Congress emphasized that US President Joe Biden and his colleagues from the Group of Seven have previously confirmed the need for payment from Russia for the SVO, adding that the frozen assets will not be returned until the payment is made. O'Brien also noted that this gives the collective West leverage in this discussion.
As a humanitarian situation worsens in Gaza, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning that the conflict is becoming a “crisis of humanity.”
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz showed footage from the region.
According to the UN agency According to Refugee Affairs since the establishment of regular evacuation “corridors” on November 4, tens of thousands of people have left the northern Gaza Strip for the southern parts of the enclave. Israel Defense Forces.
Doctors say they are running out of medical supplies as the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, prompting multiple agencies and world leaders to push for a halt to the fighting to allow aid to get through.
Donald Trump on air ” The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show” told reporters who could take over as vice chairman if he wins the 2024 presidential election.
According to Trump, TV host Tucker will consider Carlson as a candidate for the post.
“I really like Tucker, I think … Carlson is a man with common sense,” Donald Trump expressed his opinion.
General Secretary During a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Katalin Nowak, NATO's Jens Stoltenberg called on the country's authorities to approve Sweden's application for NATO membership.
“I believe that the Hungarian parliament should ratify Sweden's application without delay,” – emphasized the NATO Secretary General.
He also recalled that the Hungarian authorities had previously emphasized that Budapest would not be the last to ratify Sweden's request.
French authorities allocated military aid to Ukraine in the amount 3.2 billion euros, according to a report presented at a meeting of the Defense Commission in the French National Assembly. The total financial support includes free supplies of military equipment worth 1.7 billion euros, as well as the training of 7,000 Ukrainian soldiers for 300 million euros.
In addition, France contributed one billion euros to the European Peace Mechanism and created a fund of 200 million euros for direct purchases of the Ukrainian army from French manufacturers. The authors of the report emphasize that the total volume of aid may increase in the process of replacing the delivered weapons until 2027.
US authorities so they are far from ready to confirm media publications that the President of the United States Joe Biden could finally meet with the Chinese President Xi Jinping. The White House spoke about it on Wednesday, November 8.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House expects to provide more information on the issue in the coming days.
Previously informed sources in Washington said that Joe Biden will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 15 in San Francisco on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Preparations for this meeting are said to be in the final stages.
According to unconfirmed information, the leaders of the United States and China may announce the restoration of ties between the US and Chinese militaries after these meetings. The media notes that this is extremely important in light of the White House's desire to provide greater stability to relations between Washington and Beijing and reduce the risk of military incidents.
According to the Axios portal, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping may announce the restoration of relations between the militaries of the two countries after meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit, which will be held in San Francisco from November 11 to 17.
The publication notes that this is important in light of the Biden administration's desire to bring more stability to relations between Washington and Beijing and reduce the risk of military incidents.
Recall that military communication channels were suspended by China last year in protest of then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.
At the same time in June, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the issue during a visit to Beijing, but failed to get Chinese officials to restore the channels. But sources say Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made it clear during a visit to Washington last week that China is ready to reopen lines of communication.
The White House declined to comment on the matter.
The list of Russian President Vladimir Putin's instructions published on the Kremlin's website contains a recommendation to the executive authorities of the Primorye Territory to work out a schedule for gasification of cities in the region together with Gazprom.
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The document states that gasification should be carried out in years 2026–2030. At the same time, the Governor of Primorye Oleg Kozhemyako and the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, must submit a report to the President on the development of a gasification plan by November 1, 2025.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation intends to completely replace the soldiers of the private military company “Wagner” fighting in Syria against ISIS (an organization banned in Russia) and its clones with regular military personnel. Operations to maintain stability in the Syrian Arab Republic are carried out exclusively by soldiers and officers serving under the contract.
Photo: ru.wikipedia.org
At the same time, no one questions the professionalism of the Wagnerites. However, there are a few “buts”. Everyone still remembers the attempted mutiny of some fighters of this PMC. Then at the end of June 2023, they left their positions in the zone of special military operations against the Kiev neo-Nazis. Moreover, after the death of Wagner's management, including Yevgeny Prigozhin, two months later, the private military company no longer represents an integral whole.
At the same time, the replacement of the “Wagners” in Syria does not at all mean the liquidation of this paramilitary structure. It is quite possible that some of its fighters will sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense and continue to fight in the SAR. The other part may become advisers (again with official status) in the regular Syrian armed forces. But whoever did not want to choose one of the two paths mentioned above, the “Wagners” will have to be sent to their homeland, because in reality they will be uncontrolled armed formations or simply gangs with all the resulting consequences.
Private military companies are by no means a Russian invention. But there is one domestic peculiarity. Foreign PMCs do not participate in armed conflicts where their country of origin is a party. Many examples can be given where with the help of “soldiers of fortune” ruling regimes were overthrown and guerrilla wars started. However, there are even more examples of failed coups involving the PMC. In all cases, however, countries whose citizens were “private soldiers” remained officially clean.
Thus, an example of the successful use of “Wagner” is the rise to power of nationally oriented governments in a number of countries in the Sahel (region of sub-Saharan Africa). Russian flags are now very popular there, although no one can find a trace of a Russian flag in the events there – not a “Wagnerian” one. In fact, PMCs work for money paid by the governments of certain countries or influential forces (both within a given state and among political emigration) as well as multinational corporations; but the force that sends the “soldiers of fortune” always tries to stay in the shadows.
Photo: Department of Information and Mass Communication of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
While Syria is an example of a completely different kind. It was Russia's official involvement in the conflict in Syria that effectively ended the civil war, helped preserve territorial integrity and independence, and helped the legitimately elected authorities in the person of President Bashar al-Assad to continue fulfilling their constitutional duties. At some stage, yes, tasks of this kind could and should be carried out, among others, using “indirect forces” – for example, private military companies. But in the current reality, Russia's participation in the conflict in Syria must be completely transparent and unambiguous.
Russia defends its geopolitical interests and the national interests of its allies openly, in accordance with the law and in accordance with international norms. In particular, for this it is necessary to completely reassign Russian citizens fighting in Syria to the jurisdiction of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Vladimir Putin Photo: Kremlin.ru. 
