The future chairman of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, said he believes that restricting Russia's access to the international interbank SWIFT system will have a "nuclear bomb" effect on the world markets.

"Loss of confidence in the SWIFT system could be like an atomic bomb for the capital markets, as well as goods and services markets," the DPA news agency quoted Merz as saying. "I foresee a massive economic downturn in our economies if something like this happens. …

Russia continues to amass its troops on the border with Ukraine, which may indicate a possible invasion in the coming days, said the head of the National Security Bureau of Poland Paweł Soloch.

"Of course, the situation is a stalemate, but we must be prepared for what the British Defense Minister said, that Russia may attack Ukraine in the coming days," PAP new agency quotes Soloch as saying.

Speaking about a possible scenario that Russia can use to attack Ukraine, Solokh noted that "any …

Belarus and Russia will hold military exercises in the western and southern regions, said Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

According to him, the exercises were agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin in December and will be a response to the "difficult situation" on the borders of the Union State.

"These should be regular exercises to work out a certain plan in the confrontation with these forces: the West (the Baltic States and Poland) and the south (Ukraine)," BelTA news …

Sweden's Armed Forces have beefed up their units on the island of Gotland amid growing Russian military activity in the Baltic Sea. Earlier this week, Danish media reported that three ships of the Russian Navy entered the Baltic Sea through the Danish Great Belt Strait, DW reported.

The Swedish public broadcaster SVT published footage showing the arrival of military personnel and equipment in the island. The troops and equipment were delivered by ferry to the administrative center of the …

Russia is moving Iskander missile systems from at least two brigades of the Eastern Military District to the west. According to an investigation of the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), the Russian missile systems are being deployed to Ukrainian borders.

In a TikTok video, which was taken in the Far East and published on Twitter on January 11, the CIT identified a 9K720 Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system. Another video, filmed in the Sverdlovsk region and posted on January 13, …

The European Union is gathering information in connection with the behavior of the Russian gas conglomerate Gazprom, which in 2021 sharply reduced gas supplies to its key sales market.

“The behavior of the Russian gas monopoly, which accounts for more than a third of all gas consumed by the European Union, raises questions,” said European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager.

"It is indeed thought-provoking that a company, in view of increasing demand, limits supply. This is quite …

Russia is not even going to discuss U.S. demands for the withdrawal of its troops from the borders with Ukraine, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, reports RBC news agency.

Lavrov called these demands of Washington "unacceptable."

"[U.S. Deputy Secretary of State] Sherman spoke not only about withdrawing military units from the border with Ukraine, as they say, but about these troops going back to the barracks. Sherman said just that, including publicly at a press conference. I do …

Russia sees no reason to continue security consultations with the United States, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

According to Ryabkov, who led the Russian delegation in the Geneva talks, Washington "actually said no" to the key elements of the draft agreements proposed by Moscow in December.

These are the refusal to expand NATO (including the admission of Georgia and Ukraine to the Alliance), the withdrawal of the bloc's infrastructure to the borders of 1997 and the non- …