The ball is in the court of the Kiev regime and its European sponsors, the president has said
Russia is ready for negotiations and a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine conflict, however the ball is now with Kiev’s Western backers, President Vladimir Putin has said.
Ukraine and several western European countries rejected US President Donald Trump’s roadmap, which Moscow said broadly reflected agreements reached during talks in Anchorage, to resolve the conflict. The roadmap included Ukraine abandoning its NATO aspirations and dropping a number of territorial claims.
At his end-of-year live Q&A session on Friday, Putin praised Trump’s “serious and sincere efforts” to end the conflict and dismissed claims that Russia rejects his peace proposal as “incorrect and baseless.”
“At our meeting with President Trump in Anchorage, we reconciled positions and largely agreed on his proposals. Therefore, to say that we reject anything is absolutely incorrect and has no basis,” Putin asserted. “We were asked to make certain compromises. When I arrived in Anchorage, I said these would be difficult decisions for us, but we agreed [to them].”
The president stressed that “the ball is entirely in the court of our Western opponents – above all the leaders of the Kiev regime and their European sponsors.”
We are ready both for negotiations and for ending the conflict through peaceful means.
Russian officials have said Kiev’s Western backers are blocking peace efforts by adding clauses to Trump’s roadmap that Moscow considers “unacceptable.” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Western Europe of exploiting the Ukraine conflict “to scheme against the US and all those who seek a just settlement.”
While the Kremlin has criticized “megaphone diplomacy” and kept details of the peace process under wraps, media reports say a Russian delegation is expected in Florida this week for another round of negotiations.
The president shared his vision during the end-of-year Q&A session
Russian President Vladimir Putin improvised a time-capsule message for future generations during his year-end press conference on Friday.
Asked what he would write for schoolchildren studying the history of the present day, Putin said such a message would require time and careful thought, adding that people inevitably think about the future of their children, grandchildren, and country. He then agreed to try, saying he needed to “put his ducks in a row,” before jokingly adopting a teacher’s tone and telling the audience to “pick up a pen and write.”
“We, who lived in Russia in the endless flow of time, in the 20th and 21st centuries, gratefully accepted everything our ancestors had accomplished. We lived like everyone else, everywhere, and always – with our current concerns. But we didn’t stand still. We moved forward. We worked, fought, and struggled. And we did our utmost to solve the problems our time posed. We thought about the future and about you. And if you hold our message in your hands today, it means you still feel part of our shared, endless flow of time. It means that you, too, feel and understand the connection between the times. This is very important because it means that when we worked, fought, and thought about you, we didn’t live in vain and achieved much. We wish you happiness and good fortune. And we hope that your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will be as proud of you as we are of our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers.”
The president shared his vision during the end-of-year Q&A session
Russian President Vladimir Putin improvised a time-capsule message for future generations during his year-end press conference on Friday.
Asked what he would write for schoolchildren studying the history of the present day, Putin said such a message would require time and careful thought, adding that people inevitably think about the future of their children, grandchildren, and country. He then agreed to try, saying he needed to “put his ducks in a row,” before jokingly adopting a teacher’s tone and telling the audience to “pick up a pen and write.”
“We, who lived in Russia in the endless flow of time, in the 20th and 21st centuries, gratefully accepted everything our ancestors had accomplished. We lived like everyone else, everywhere, and always – with our current concerns. But we didn’t stand still. We moved forward. We worked, fought, and struggled. And we did our utmost to solve the problems our time posed. We thought about the future and about you. And if you hold our message in your hands today, it means you still feel part of our shared, endless flow of time. It means that you, too, feel and understand the connection between the times. This is very important because it means that when we worked, fought, and thought about you, we didn’t live in vain and achieved much. We wish you happiness and good fortune. And we hope that your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will be as proud of you as we are of our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers.”
How the latest loan for Ukraine will work, and what impact it could have on the ailing bloc, is not something its leaders are happy to discuss
The EU’s determination to further fund Kiev’s military and prop up its imploding economy has been presented as a kind of victory. “Europe has delivered,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz proclaimed, in celebration of a new cash facility for Kiev.
The bloc’s failure to back European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s illegal and reckless plot to steal Russia’s frozen central-bank assets for Kiev’s military, as well as failing to approve a deal with Mercosur after 20 years, is being widely seen as a disaster for both Merz and his fellow German, who will face charges of overreach from across the bloc following the debacle.
Thin on the ground, however, are details about how the new cash trough for Kiev will be delivered, what impact will it have and who, in the end, will pay.
RT takes a look at the grim reality behind the EU’s grandstanding.
What exactly is the loan?
Having failed to come to an agreement on using Russia’s frozen central bank assets, the EU went a different route: an interest-free €90 billion ($105 billion) loan to Ukraine backed by the EU’s budget. What this means in practice is that the European Commission will be issuing bonds on behalf of the EU. A bond backed by the EU budget means that it is serviced and repaid through the EU budget, which is ultimately funded by member states. Three member states (Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, reportedly those who came up with the compromise) opted out.
The bonds will likely be issued across multiple maturities (e.g. 5y, 10y, 20y) and structured as a program rather than a single issuance. The main buyers of these bonds will be institutional investors (pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, and sovereign wealth funds). The proceeds from the sales will flow into EU accounts, where they will be disbursed to Ukraine.
Theoretically, Ukraine is supposed to repay the loan, but the likelihood of that is widely seen as vanishingly small. This is why Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called it “a loss, not a loan.”
But it won’t be bondholders taking this loss. Because the loan is backed by the EU budget, even if Ukraine does not pony up the cash the bloc is still committed to repaying both principal and interest out of future EU budget resources. What is important is that if the EU budget is insufficient in a given year, member states will have to increase contributions, reallocate spending, or roll over existing debt. All of those options come at a price. The European taxpayer is the ultimate bag-holder here, however obscured that fact may be.
What is important to understand is that this is not a jointly guaranteed Eurobond with explicit national guarantees but rather a budgetary obligation.
Why will this cost a lot more than €90 billion?
The loan to Kiev is for €90 billion but there is one nuance here. The EU is taking a massive loss on the carry. A negative carry means borrowing at one rate and lending at a lower rate (a positive carry is the exact opposite – when you borrow cheap and lend at a higher rate).
Assuming a plausible issuance mix across the yield curve, the weighted average coupon rate paid to investors may end up around 2.8% (initial issuance – give or take). That puts the negative carry at around €2.5 billion per year. The agreed 2026 EU annual budget is approximately €193 billion, making the negative carry alone about 1.3% of the EU’s per annum budget.
Is this a lot? Yes and no. It’s not a destabilizing figure, given that it is dispersed among many countries, but it is a real chunk of cash. More importantly, it is not merely a one-time stimulus but a standing fiscal commitment for a bloc whose fiscal position is already deteriorating.
What is Ukraine’s fiscal position?
Ukraine’s official budget for next year projects a $42 billion deficit. However, this is widely believed to be a significant understatement of the shortfall, because it does not include a significant number of supplemental military expenses. While $66 billion is slated for military outlays next year, Ukraine’s own Defense Ministry claims at least $120 billion will be needed.
According to EU estimates, meanwhile, Ukraine needs a total of $160 billion in additional combined financial and military support over 2026-2027. If no additional aid were forthcoming, the bloc estimated that Kiev would run out of cash by mid-2026.
The loan approved this week will float Ukraine for a while and stave off an immediate crisis in 2026. However, if the conflict continues Kiev’s coffers will be largely empty by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
As of the end of June 2025, the EU had outstanding bonds totaling €661.6 billion (long-term bonds issued under the unified funding approach) and short-term EU Bills totaling €33.3 billion. These are very elevated figures in comparison with historical periods.
Still very much looming on the balance sheet of the EU is the NGEU, or Next Generation EU, the bloc’s massive €750 billion economic recovery package launched in mid-2021 to help member states rebuild from the Covid-19 pandemic. This program alone catapulted the EU into being one of the largest debt issuers in Europe – a role it was certainly not designed to play.
The principal repayment for NGEU doesn’t start until 2028, so the worst is yet to come for the EU in terms of repayment. Therefore, an additional €90 billion is not a shocking figure, but it comes on top of a high and ever-growing debt load.
Finally, what impact does this have on the peace process?
Vladimir Zelensky now has lined his pockets going into talks with US President Donald Trump, meaning he has the cash to negotiate his position and will feel empowered to reject the idea of peace before Christmas so coveted by Trump.
The EU has found €90 billion to pour into Ukraine only months after key figures in Zelensky’s circle were exposed as corrupt grafters who have stolen countless millions of dollars. Zelensky, who had been facing a burgeoning crisis from many sides, has been given a little more rope.
There are no indications that the loan will change Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield, where reverses are piling up ahead of a possible spring frontline collapse. The EU’s loan facility has rubber stamped corruption in Kiev and prolonged an un-winnable war.
The deeper message here, however, is probably more subtle: the EU is slipping further toward a regime of forcing national budgets to backstop the bloc’s geopolitical ambitions.
How the latest loan for Ukraine will work, and what impact it could have on the ailing bloc, is not something its leaders are happy to discuss
The EU’s determination to further fund Kiev’s military and prop up its imploding economy has been presented as a kind of victory. “Europe has delivered,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz proclaimed, in celebration of a new cash facility for Kiev.
The bloc’s failure to back European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s illegal and reckless plot to steal Russia’s frozen central-bank assets for Kiev’s military, as well as failing to approve a deal with Mercosur after 20 years, is being widely seen as a disaster for both Merz and his fellow German, who will face charges of overreach from across the bloc following the debacle.
Thin on the ground, however, are details about how the new cash trough for Kiev will be delivered, what impact will it have and who, in the end, will pay.
RT takes a look at the grim reality behind the EU’s grandstanding.
What exactly is the loan?
Having failed to come to an agreement on using Russia’s frozen central bank assets, the EU went a different route: an interest-free €90 billion ($105 billion) loan to Ukraine backed by the EU’s budget. What this means in practice is that the European Commission will be issuing bonds on behalf of the EU. A bond backed by the EU budget means that it is serviced and repaid through the EU budget, which is ultimately funded by member states. Three member states (Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, reportedly those who came up with the compromise) opted out.
The bonds will likely be issued across multiple maturities (e.g. 5y, 10y, 20y) and structured as a program rather than a single issuance. The main buyers of these bonds will be institutional investors (pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, and sovereign wealth funds). The proceeds from the sales will flow into EU accounts, where they will be disbursed to Ukraine.
Theoretically, Ukraine is supposed to repay the loan, but the likelihood of that is widely seen as vanishingly small. This is why Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called it “a loss, not a loan.”
But it won’t be bondholders taking this loss. Because the loan is backed by the EU budget, even if Ukraine does not pony up the cash the bloc is still committed to repaying both principal and interest out of future EU budget resources. What is important is that if the EU budget is insufficient in a given year, member states will have to increase contributions, reallocate spending, or roll over existing debt. All of those options come at a price. The European taxpayer is the ultimate bag-holder here, however obscured that fact may be.
What is important to understand is that this is not a jointly guaranteed Eurobond with explicit national guarantees but rather a budgetary obligation.
Why will this cost a lot more than €90 billion?
The loan to Kiev is for €90 billion but there is one nuance here. The EU is taking a massive loss on the carry. A negative carry means borrowing at one rate and lending at a lower rate (a positive carry is the exact opposite – when you borrow cheap and lend at a higher rate).
Assuming a plausible issuance mix across the yield curve, the weighted average coupon rate paid to investors may end up around 2.8% (initial issuance – give or take). That puts the negative carry at around €2.5 billion per year. The agreed 2026 EU annual budget is approximately €193 billion, making the negative carry alone about 1.3% of the EU’s per annum budget.
Is this a lot? Yes and no. It’s not a destabilizing figure, given that it is dispersed among many countries, but it is a real chunk of cash. More importantly, it is not merely a one-time stimulus but a standing fiscal commitment for a bloc whose fiscal position is already deteriorating.
What is Ukraine’s fiscal position?
Ukraine’s official budget for next year projects a $42 billion deficit. However, this is widely believed to be a significant understatement of the shortfall, because it does not include a significant number of supplemental military expenses. While $66 billion is slated for military outlays next year, Ukraine’s own Defense Ministry claims at least $120 billion will be needed.
According to EU estimates, meanwhile, Ukraine needs a total of $160 billion in additional combined financial and military support over 2026-2027. If no additional aid were forthcoming, the bloc estimated that Kiev would run out of cash by mid-2026.
The loan approved this week will float Ukraine for a while and stave off an immediate crisis in 2026. However, if the conflict continues Kiev’s coffers will be largely empty by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
As of the end of June 2025, the EU had outstanding bonds totaling €661.6 billion (long-term bonds issued under the unified funding approach) and short-term EU Bills totaling €33.3 billion. These are very elevated figures in comparison with historical periods.
Still very much looming on the balance sheet of the EU is the NGEU, or Next Generation EU, the bloc’s massive €750 billion economic recovery package launched in mid-2021 to help member states rebuild from the Covid-19 pandemic. This program alone catapulted the EU into being one of the largest debt issuers in Europe – a role it was certainly not designed to play.
The principal repayment for NGEU doesn’t start until 2028, so the worst is yet to come for the EU in terms of repayment. Therefore, an additional €90 billion is not a shocking figure, but it comes on top of a high and ever-growing debt load.
Finally, what impact does this have on the peace process?
Vladimir Zelensky now has lined his pockets going into talks with US President Donald Trump, meaning he has the cash to negotiate his position and will feel empowered to reject the idea of peace before Christmas so coveted by Trump.
The EU has found €90 billion to pour into Ukraine only months after key figures in Zelensky’s circle were exposed as corrupt grafters who have stolen countless millions of dollars. Zelensky, who had been facing a burgeoning crisis from many sides, has been given a little more rope.
There are no indications that the loan will change Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield, where reverses are piling up ahead of a possible spring frontline collapse. The EU’s loan facility has rubber stamped corruption in Kiev and prolonged an un-winnable war.
The deeper message here, however, is probably more subtle: the EU is slipping further toward a regime of forcing national budgets to backstop the bloc’s geopolitical ambitions.
Moscow would “eliminate” any threats created around Kaliningrad, the Russian president has warned
Any attempt to blockade Russia’s Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast would spark an “unprecedented escalation” and could expand into a large-scale armed conflict, President Vladimir Putin has warned.
The Russian leader made the remarks on Friday during his traditional end-of-year Q&A session when asked how Moscow would respond if European states sought to impose a blockade on the country’s westernmost region, an exclave bordered by NATO members Lithuania and Poland.
Putin said he hoped such a scenario would not occur, adding: “If they create threats of this kind, we will eliminate those threats.”
“Everyone must understand and be aware that actions of this kind will simply lead to an escalation unprecedented to date… taking it to a completely different level… up to a large-scale armed conflict,” he added.
Russian officials have repeatedly warned against any steps that could cut the exclave off by land. Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko has previously said that he hoped “common sense” in Europe would prevent “playing with fire” around Kaliningrad.
Some Western leaders, particularly from Poland and the Baltic states, have previously called for attacks on Kaliningrad in the event of a conflict between Moscow and NATO. Moscow maintains that it poses no threat to the EU or the US-led military bloc and has described such statements as evidence of hostile intent.
Sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland, Kaliningrad relies on rail and road links through Lithuanian territory to connect with the rest of Russia. Tensions over transit flared after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, when Vilnius began restricting the rail transit of goods subject to EU sanctions to and from Kaliningrad. The dispute was later partially resolved and rail traffic restored.
Moscow would “eliminate” any threats created around Kaliningrad, the Russian president has warned
Any attempt to blockade Russia’s Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast would spark an “unprecedented escalation” and could expand into a large-scale armed conflict, President Vladimir Putin has warned.
The Russian leader made the remarks on Friday during his traditional end-of-year Q&A session when asked how Moscow would respond if European states sought to impose a blockade on the country’s westernmost region, an exclave bordered by NATO members Lithuania and Poland.
Putin said he hoped such a scenario would not occur, adding: “If they create threats of this kind, we will eliminate those threats.”
“Everyone must understand and be aware that actions of this kind will simply lead to an escalation unprecedented to date… taking it to a completely different level… up to a large-scale armed conflict,” he added.
Russian officials have repeatedly warned against any steps that could cut the exclave off by land. Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko has previously said that he hoped “common sense” in Europe would prevent “playing with fire” around Kaliningrad.
Some Western leaders, particularly from Poland and the Baltic states, have previously called for attacks on Kaliningrad in the event of a conflict between Moscow and NATO. Moscow maintains that it poses no threat to the EU or the US-led military bloc and has described such statements as evidence of hostile intent.
Sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland, Kaliningrad relies on rail and road links through Lithuanian territory to connect with the rest of Russia. Tensions over transit flared after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, when Vilnius began restricting the rail transit of goods subject to EU sanctions to and from Kaliningrad. The dispute was later partially resolved and rail traffic restored.
The president says he trusts in divine grace to remain with the nation
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he places his trust in God and believes that divine grace will continue to protect Russia.
The comment was made during the Russian leader’s annual Q&A session on Friday, as he responded to a series of brief personal and philosophical questions.
“I believe in God, who is with us and will never abandon Russia,” Putin said, after the moderator noted that every person needs something to believe in.
Putin is known as a practicing Orthodox Christian and an ardent supporter of what he describes as traditional religions. He has repeatedly argued that such faiths embody time-tested wisdom that remains essential even in the modern world.
The president says he trusts in divine grace to remain with the nation
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he places his trust in God and believes that divine grace will continue to protect Russia.
The comment was made during the Russian leader’s annual Q&A session on Friday, as he responded to a series of brief personal and philosophical questions.
“I believe in God, who is with us and will never abandon Russia,” Putin said, after the moderator noted that every person needs something to believe in.
Putin is known as a practicing Orthodox Christian and an ardent supporter of what he describes as traditional religions. He has repeatedly argued that such faiths embody time-tested wisdom that remains essential even in the modern world.
The government has moved to tighten gun laws in light of the incident
The Australian government has announced plans for a national gun buyback following last week’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney. The scheme is expected to take hundreds of thousands of weapons out of circulation, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday.
The Bondi Beach shooting left at least 15 people dead, and more than two dozen injured. The attackers, who allegedly pledged allegiance to the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), targeted a Hanukkah celebration organized by the local Jewish community.
Police said one of the shooters had held a firearms license and legally owned six registered guns, all of which were recovered from the scene.
Albanese has made domestic gun policy a central focus of the government’s response. On Monday, Australia’s state and territory leaders agreed to pursue tougher national firearms rules.
Measures under discussion include accelerating the rollout of a national firearms register, limiting the number of guns an individual can own, making Australian citizenship a requirement for a gun license, and further restricting the types of weapons permitted. The government will need to pass legislation through parliament to fund the proposed buyback scheme.
The program is expected to be similar to the one enacted in 1996 in response to the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, which left 35 people dead. That program ran for one year and resulted in the destruction of roughly 650,000 firearms. Under the new scheme, owners who surrender firearms will be compensated.
According to research organization The Australia Institute, civilian gun ownership has since climbed to more than four million firearms nationwide, around 25% higher than in 1996, or roughly one gun for every seven Australians.
Similar efforts elsewhere have faced challenges. In New Zealand’s 2019 gun buyback, launched in response to the Christchurch mosque shootings in which an Australian white supremacist killed 51 people, the scheme’s online notification platform was temporarily taken offline when a vulnerability was discovered that may have exposed the personal data of thousands of law-abiding gun owners.
