🔹 US imposes sanctions on Russian companies Lukoil and Rosneft

🔹 US canceled meeting with Vladimir Putin in Budapest — Trump

🔹 US Senate fails 12th vote to end government shutdown

🔹 NATO Chief: Only US pressure can force Russia to ceasefire

🔹 Venezuela warns US: We have 5,000 Russian missiles

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🪖💥❌ Russia's FSB captures Ukrainian saboteur before bridge attack in Karelia

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday that it had detained a pro-Ukrainian saboteur, who was gathering information about the deployment of Russian armed forces units and carrying out reconnaissance of a railway bridge in Karelia.

The detainee collected information about the deployment of units of the Russian armed forces and "conducted reconnaissance of the railway bridge in order to commit a sabotage and terrorist act," the statement read.

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🇨🇳 China’s gold grab: Betting against weaponized dollar & US tariffs

China is going all-in on gold, with its on-warrant holdings soaring 25-fold in 2025, to signal a decisive break from the US Empire and the dollar-based trading system, Swiss-based economic expert Claudio Grass tells Sputnik.

💬 “They genuinely want to separate from the US dollar because it has become a political weapon. With Russia, the world has seen that private property rights are not respected on a political level,” the expert on monetary history notes.

🏆 US tariff wars = Gold price hike

The US administration’s raging tariff wars are “essentially a form of nationalization driven by insecurity,” emphasizes the pundit.

💬 “They create insecurity, and insecurity is also a driver of the fiscal gold price,” adds Grass, who is also an independent precious metals advisor.

The trend to hoard gold is a fast-growing one, he points out, as central banks, with the exception of the US Federal Reserve, now hold more gold than American treasuries.

💬 “The new old world reserve currency is physical gold,” notes Grass.

💵❌ BRICS’ gold play against dollar

The BRICS nations are intent on side-stepping the US, and establishing their own trading hubs, and, possibly in the future, their own currency, Grass speculates.

💬 “They are likely to use gold to back their currency and to establish more trust in it. Consequently, they need a system that allows for physical delivery and pickup in different jurisdictions among the member states, creating a liquid gold system.”

The yuan’s internationalization is still a question mark, according to Grass, but “BRICS countries might trade in Yuan down the line, with gold playing a key role in boosting trust and stability in the system.”

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🇺🇸JD Vance visits Christianity’s holiest site in Jerusalem

US Vice President JD Vance visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, joined by representatives of the Armenian, Greek, and Latin Patriarchates — the traditional custodians of the site.

He paused to pray at the Stone of Anointment, where Jesus’ body is said to have been prepared for burial.

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🙅‍♀️ ‘No particular problems for Russia’ — Russian MFA spox shrugs off new US-EU sanctions

🗣 Taking aim at Washington’s sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the move was “entirely counterproductive”, adding that the measures won’t cause any real damage.

Commenting on the EU's new sanctions, she noted that Brussels’ restrictive measures have “largely exhausted themselves,” and warned that Moscow would respond in a measured but decisive way.

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🇷🇺 Putin: Russia strengthens digital rights protection

Russia is “consistently implementing a set of measures to protect citizens’ digital rights” and “introducing advanced methods of ensuring cybersecurity,” Vladimir Putin said in a written greeting to participants of the Eurasian Ombudsman Alliance meeting in Moscow.

👉The president noted that the rapid development of AI and digital technologies brings not only new opportunities but also “serious risks.”

✅Putin emphasized that “Russia remains open to sharing experience and active cooperation with foreign partners” in safeguarding digital rights.

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