Trump's decision to assassinate Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while Iran was in active negotiations with the president's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner has reinforced a growing sense among hard-liners in Moscow that diplomacy is fragile - perhaps even pointless - in a world in which the United States is willing to use military force to achieve its goals.
The Hungarian tax authority has just confirmed it detained seven people and two cash-in-transit vehicles coming from Austria towards Ukraine, saying it is pursuing criminal proceedings on suspicion of money laundering. The contents of their transit has also been confirmed as per earlier statement by Ukraine's state-owned Oschadbank. But the authority pointedly said that one of the seven men arrested was a former general of the Ukrainian intelligence services.
In some countries, we're going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out. Trump told reporters, although he did not clarify which countries might benefit from this potential policy shift. At present, the United States enforces sanctions that restrict oil trade with several nations, including Iran, Venezuela, Russia, Syria, and North Korea.
An Arab human rights non-governmental organisation (NGO) has filed a request for United Kingdom sanctions to be lodged against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over incitement to violence and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. British law firm Deighton Pierce Glynn filed the request on Tuesday with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on behalf of the Arab Organisation for Human Rights UK (AOHR UK), seeking targeted financial and travel sanctions against the Israeli leader.
Ukrainian officials have left for Geneva, Switzerland, where another round of negotiations aimed at ending the war with Russia is set to take place. On the way to Geneva. The next round of negotiations is ahead. Along the way, we will discuss the lessons of our history with our colleagues, seek the right conclusions, Ukraine's Chief of Staff Kyrylo Budanov posted on his Telegram channel on Monday,
Writing on Telegram, Pushkov criticised Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, French President Emmanuel Macron, and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, arguing that European leaders have offered "no serious answers" for why they should be involved in talks already led by the United States. Pushkov suggested that EU ambitions risk "derailing even the fragile negotiations that are already underway," framing European efforts as symbolic rather than substantive.
Nicolas Maduro showered Vladimir Putin with praise during his visit to Moscow on Victory Day in May 2025. The Venezuelan leader described Russia as "a key power of humanity" and the two heads of state signed a cooperation agreement. But on January 3, Russia stood back and watched as the US forcibly brought Maduro and his wife to New York, where they are being tried for drug trafficking.
"The UK has provided enabling support to the United States at their request to interdict the vessel Bella 1 today."
Five European countries the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands have accused Russia of poisoning and killing opposition leader Alexey Navalny in 2024 based on lab results from a sample taken from his body. The five governments said in a statement on Saturday that tissue samples conclusively confirmed the lethal toxin epibatidine. The poison is found in wild dart frogs from South America.
The superseding indictment alleges that Maduro and other top Venezuelan public officials have, for the past two decades, worked closely with international drug trafficking organizations to ship illicit drugs into the US while enriching themselves. The validity of the US complaint against Maduro and wife Cilia Flores is likely to be challenged in federal court in the New York on Monday over whether, as a foreign head of state, he can be put on trial in the US.
