The bloc should assert its interests without delegating responsibility to others, Jean-Noel Barrot has said
The European Union needs a direct channel of communication with Russia, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has said. The bloc has refused to communicate with Moscow for four years, folllowing the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.
The remarks echo growing concern among EU members that their influence has been reduced by US President Donald Trump, who for months has sought to broker an end to the Ukraine conflict through direct talks with both Kiev and Moscow. French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have called on the EU to appoint a special envoy to Russia to ensure the bloc has a seat at the table.
In an interview with Liberation published on Sunday, Barrot said France had “never ruled out, in principle, engaging with Russia,” provided such talks were conducted transparently with Ukraine and the EU and were “beneficial.”
“The Europeans, who are now Ukraine’s main financial and military backers, must have a channel to assert their interests, without delegating responsibility to anyone else,” he said.
In December, Macron urged Europe to reopen talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to help resolve the Ukraine conflict, warning that otherwise negotiations could proceed without European involvement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that Putin was open to dialogue with Macron if there was “mutual political will.” Any potential conversation, however, should not be used by one side “to read lectures” to the other and must serve a clear purpose, he said.
The Russian and French leaders last had a phone call in July. The conversation was their first direct contact since early 2022, when the Ukraine conflict escalated.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, however, has ruled out any direct talks with Moscow, saying last month the bloc has nothing to “offer” Russia and will instead rely on “more pressure” over negotiations. She dismissed reopening diplomatic channels, arguing that US concessions to Ukraine are already significant and the EU has no leverage to entice Moscow.
Meanwhile, Russian officials have repeatedly stated they are open to good-faith negotiations, provided the West respects Russia’s security concerns and abandons the goal of inflicting a strategic defeat through Ukraine.
The Western-backed toppling of the government set the stage for the ongoing conflict with Russia
Convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein discussed potential business opportunities in Ukraine following the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev, newly released documents show. He discussed the matter with Ariane de Rothschild, head of the Swiss private banking firm Edmond de Rothschild Group.
Last week, the US Department of Justice released its additional batch of Epstein-related files. Among them is a March 2014 email exchange in which de Rothschild said she wanted to discuss Ukraine in an upcoming meeting. Epstein’s reply stated: “ukraine upheaval should provide many opportunites , many [sic].”
Earlier document releases highlighted business ties between the two. In 2015, after de Rothschild became CEO of the group, she negotiated a $25 million contract with Epstein for “risk analysis and the application and use of certain algorithms” for the bank. In 2013, he asked for her help in hiring a female personal assistant, whom he said should be “multilingual, organized.”
Epstein also put de Rothschild, who married into the Swiss banking family in 1999, in touch with Kathryn Ruemmler, a Goldman Sachs partner and former White House counsel under President Barack Obama. Ruemmler’s firm was subsequently hired to advise the group on US regulatory matters.
The 2014 Maidan mass protests resulted in a coup that ousted President Viktor Yanukovich. Members of the Obama administration helped fuel the unrest and to select officials for the new Ukrainian government. The toppling of Yanukovich violated a German- and French-mediated de-escalation deal and set Ukraine on a path toward conflict with Russia.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring a child for prostitution and received a “sweetheart deal,” which many attribute to his elite connections and possible intelligence ties. However, he was arrested again in 2019 and charged with sex trafficking, and died in a prison cell while awaiting trial in what authorities called a suicide.
The negotiations had been planned for Sunday but were moved due to scheduling issues, Dmitry Peskov has said
The second round of trilateral talks between Russian, Ukrainian, and US delegations will take place in Abu Dhabi later this week, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said. He cited scheduling issues as the reason for the postponement of the talks, which had been planned for Sunday.
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky said on Sunday that the meeting in the UAE capital had been rescheduled for February 4 and 5.
Peskov told journalists on Monday that “negotiations in Abu Dhabi were indeed planned for Sunday, but additional coordination of the schedules of the three parties was required.”
The second round of the trilateral talks will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, he said. “We can confirm this.”
The initial round of trilateral negotiations, held in Abu Dhabi on January 23 and 24, marked the first time that representatives from Moscow, Kiev, and Washington had sat down together since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Despite the meeting being described as “constructive,” it failed to produce any concrete agreements.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said territorial issues remain “a bridge we haven’t crossed,” adding that “there’s active work going on to try and see if both sides’ views on that can be reconciled.”
Moscow insists any settlement must include Ukraine’s withdrawal from Donbass regions that voted to join Russia in 2022 referendums and recognition of the country’s new borders, including Crimea. Zelensky has repeatedly said that “under no circumstances” will Kiev agree to any territorial concessions.
While calling a diplomatic solution preferable, Russia says it is ready to achieve its goals through military means if the talks fail.
The postponement of the Abu Dhabi talks followed a surprise trip to Florida on Saturday by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, where he met with US envoy Steve Witkoff, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and White House Senior Adviser Josh Gruenbaum.
Witkoff said Washington was “encouraged by this meeting that Russia is working toward securing peace in Ukraine.” Dmitriev described the discussions as “constructive.”
Brussels can’t make peace with Moscow until it breaks its habits
Relations between Russia and the European Union are now at their lowest point since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The economic and cultural ties that once connected us were largely severed in 2022.
Today, our neighbors are effectively finishing the job. They are doing so in two ways: by introducing ever more trade restrictions, and by sustaining a climate of military hysteria that justifies higher defense spending and the gradual dismantling of Western Europe’s welfare model.
Yet even in this bleak landscape, a faint glimmer of hope has appeared. The recent confrontation with the United States over Greenland has forced EU leaders to rethink their place in the global order. For years, the bloc’s members treated the US as a reliable strategic rear. That allowed them to align almost automatically with Washington. But this year, Western European capitals were reminded that America is a power with its own interests, which may sharply diverge from theirs. Unconditional loyalty has suddenly begun to look like a strategic risk.
From this realization flow conclusions that, until recently, would have been politically unthinkable in Western Europe. Dependence on American gas, it turns out, is no better than dependence on Russian gas. Except that imported LNG from across the Atlantic is far more expensive. More broadly, the United States, given its capabilities and assertiveness, can itself become a source of pressure and even a military risk. These thoughts are still spoken quietly, but they are no longer taboo.
Against this backdrop, the first cautious voices in favor of renewing dialogue with Russia have emerged inside the EU. What is notable is that they are not coming from marginal far-right forces, but from mainstream figures such as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. Their statements remain hedged: we need to talk, they say, but the time is not yet right. Still, the very fact that the possibility of future relations with Moscow has returned to the political discourse marks a qualitative shift in the thinking of Western Europe’s elites.
If the EU is serious about standing on its own feet, it will eventually have to resolve the Russian question. For now, however, Brussels remains trapped in an outdated worldview. Its foreign policy is still overly ideological, rooted in the early 2010s. Its leaders continue to speak about a “rules-based world order” and to treat states whose political systems differ from their own liberal democratic model as inherent threats. This mindset also explains the EU’s confrontational approach to China, which from the outside often looks strategically self-defeating.
A genuine and pragmatic dialogue with Russia would require Western Europe to move beyond these assumptions. It would also mean abandoning the posture of moral superiority that flows from them. This is not a simple shift: it involves rethinking how the bloc understands power and sovereignty.
A second necessary step would be a sober recognition that the EU’s interests end where Russia’s begin. Just as Moscow once accepted the Baltic state’s accession to NATO as a geopolitical reality, Brussels must accept that Ukraine, in one form or another, will remain in Russia’s strategic focus. Western European policy should be built around this fact, not around ideological narratives about an existential struggle between democracies and autocracies.
Finally, before relations with Moscow can truly improve, the EU would need to distance itself more decisively from Washington. Despite current tensions with the Trump administration, many leaders still hope that the storm will pass and that transatlantic relations will return to their old pattern. But this is likely an illusion. Only once this illusion fades will Western Europe be able to define its own long-term interests clearly, and to see how important cooperation with Russia could be in that context.
None of this will happen quickly. Meaningful change will probably begin only with a partial generational shift in the EU’s political class. Leaders who built their careers on confrontation with Russia will gradually give way to more pragmatic figures. The first signs may appear within a year, with elections in France and Italy. A more decisive turning point could come with the electoral cycle in Germany and Britain in 2029, unless early votes intervene. A European parliament vote is also scheduled for that year.
If, by the end of that cycle, figures like Kaja Kallas are replaced in European diplomacy by politicians closer to the pragmatic line of Giorgia Meloni, it will signal that Western Europe is finally adjusting to a more realistic understanding of the world. That, in turn, could open the door to a gradual de-escalation with Russia. Until then, confrontation will likely remain the dominant framework. Not because it is inevitable, but because the EU has not yet completed its own political and strategic rethink.
This article was first published by the online newspaper Gazeta.ru and was translated and edited by the RT team
An attack is not imminent, American officials have told the outlet
The US is not ready to strike Iran as it needs to deploy more air defenses to the Middle East to be able to repel a possible retaliation, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing unnamed American officials.
Over the past few weeks, Washington has dispatched what US President Donald Trump described as a “massive and beautiful armada” to the Middle East, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, to pressure Tehran into accepting a new nuclear deal.
Despite the buildup, American airstrikes on Iran “aren’t imminent” because Washington needs to make sure that Israel, its Arab allies and US forces in the region are properly protected, the WSJ said in an article on Sunday, citing its sources.
The Pentagon is currently moving additional Thaad battery and Patriot air defense systems to bases hosting American troops in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and elsewhere, defense officials told the outlet.
After the US and Israel bombed the Iranian nuclear facilities last June, Tehran responded with attacks on Israel as well as by striking the al-Udeid American air base in Qatar. The damage to the US facility was limited due to the Iranians giving advanced warning to Washington.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Sunday that any US military action would have far-reaching consequences across the Middle East, saying that “they should know that if they start a war this time, it will be a regional war.”
Later in the day, Trump dismissed Khamenei’s remarks, but left the door open to diplomacy. “Of course he is going to say that,” the president noted. “Hopefully we’ll make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, then we’ll find out whether or not he was right.”
The head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, who held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday, said that progress was being made toward negotiations with the US.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also urged dialogue between the sides, stressing that “any forceful actions can only create chaos in the region and lead to very dangerous consequences.”
The president has floated the idea of expanding the country to include Canada, Greenland, and Venezuela
US President Donald Trump has said he plans to expand the country by adding Canada, Greenland, and Venezuela as new states, later describing the remarks as a joke, the Washington Post has reported, citing eyewitnesses.
Trump reportedly made the comments at the annual Alfalfa Club dinner on Saturday, an exclusive gathering of CEOs, politicians, and other Washington luminaries. It was the first time he had addressed the club, whose members include JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, philanthropist David Rubenstein, and outgoing Federal Reserve chairman Jerome H. Powell, according to the newspaper.
“So many people in the room I hate. Most of you I like,” Trump told the audience. He added that he might cut his speech short to watch the “invasion of Greenland,” before adding: “We’re not going to invade Greenland. We’re going to buy it.”
“It’s never been my intention to make Greenland the 51st state. I want to make Canada the 51st state. Greenland will be the 52nd state. Venezuela can be 53rd,” Trump quipped.
Trump has repeatedly made acquiring Greenland a policy objective, arguing that the autonomous Danish island’s strategic location and resources are crucial to US security. He has also claimed that Denmark is too weak to defend it from a supposed Russian or Chinese threat – a charge dismissed as implausible by Copenhagen, Moscow, and Beijing.
Last year, Trump said Canada would be better off as the “cherished” 51st state of the United States, repeatedly referring to Canadian prime ministers as “governors.” He argued this was the only way to resolve trade disputes between the two countries. More recently, Trump threatened a 100% tariff on Canadian goods if Ottawa pursues closer trade ties with China.
In Venezuela, the US conducted a military raid in early January that captured President Nicolas Maduro and brought him to New York to face charges. Washington has since demanded “total access” to the country’s oil sector.
Speaking during a cabinet meeting last week, Trump said his administration was “getting along really well” with Venezuela’s interim leadership and confirmed that major US oil companies were scouting new projects in the country.
Sahra Wagenknecht has warned that nuclear rearmament would violate international law and make the country a target
German politician Sahra Wagenknecht has condemned growing calls for her country to take part in nuclear rearmament, calling the proposals “madness.”
Germany is prohibited from developing nuclear weapons under international law, including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Two Plus Four Treaty, the 1990 agreement that enabled German reunification in return for limits on its military capabilities, including renouncing nuclear arms.
Earlier this month, Kay Gottschalk, the parliamentary finance policy spokesman for Alternative for Germany (AfD), said that Berlin “needs nuclear weapons,” arguing that Europe can no longer rely on US protection.
In a post on X on Sunday, Wagenknecht, who previously served in the Bundestag and founded the Bundnis Sahra Wagenknecht party, said that “the cross-front for the nuclear rearmament of Germany is growing.”
“Following advances by AfD politicians for a German nuclear weapon, CDU warmonger Roderich Kiesewetter and former Green foreign minister Joschka Fischer are now also calling for Germany’s participation in a European atomic bomb. What madness,” she wrote.
Fischer said last week that Europe must pursue nuclear rearmament, with Germany taking the lead. Kiesewetter proposed in turn that Berlin could instead “contribute financially” to a European nuclear umbrella that Finland, Sweden, and Poland are planning to develop.
Wagenknecht argued that Germany’s proposed acquisition of nuclear weapons would constitute a serious violation of Berlin’s international legal obligations and would undermine the global system of nuclear arms control. She also warned that US intermediate-range missiles planned for deployment in the Federal Republic, which are capable of striking targets deep inside Russian territory, pose a major security risk.
“The missile deployment undermines the nuclear balance between the US and Russia and massively increases the danger for Germany to become the target of a nuclear strike in the event of conflict,” she wrote.
Instead, Wagenknecht called for Germany to lead a diplomatic disarmament initiative and demanded the withdrawal of US nuclear weapons from German territory. “US atomic bombs out! No US intermediate-range missiles in Germany!” she added.
Former envoy to the US Peter Mandelson is seeking to avoid “further embarrassment” after documents suggested the late child sex offender sent him $75,000
Former British ambassador to the US Lord Peter Mandelson has resigned from the Labour Party after newly released US documents revived scrutiny of his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson, who was dismissed from his post in Washington last year following revelations about a ten-page “love”letter to his “best pal” Epstein, announced on Sunday that he was stepping down from party membership to avoid causing “further embarrassment.”
In a letter to Labour’s general secretary, Hollie Ridley, Mandelson denied any wrongdoing and said he believed allegations that Epstein made financial payments to him more than 20 years ago were “false,” citing his lack of any record or recollection of receiving the money.
“While investigating these matters, I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and am therefore stepping down from membership,” he wrote. Mandelson also reiterated an apology to Epstein’s victims, saying their voices “should have been heard long before now.”
The US Department of Justice released a new tranche of documents on Friday under legislation mandating the disclosure of federal records linked to Epstein. The files include bank statements that appear to show three separate payments of $25,000 from Epstein’s JP Morgan accounts to bank accounts linked to Mandelson between 2003 and 2004.
The documents also include emails and photographs involving Mandelson, including redacted images showing him standing beside an unidentified woman. Mandelson said he could not place the location or circumstances in which the images were taken. The Justice Department cautioned that the files were released without context and that being named in them does not automatically imply criminal wrongdoing.
Mandelson was removed from his post as Britain’s ambassador to the United States last year after earlier disclosures revealed continued contact with Epstein following the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor. He has previously said he deeply regretted maintaining the relationship and described Epstein as a “charismatic criminal liar.”
The latest revelations, which also include new documents and photographs featuring former Prince Andrew, have triggered renewed political backlash in London. A Conservative Party spokesperson accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of failing to expel the “completely disgraced” Mandelson sooner. Liberal Democrat and Labour figures have also said Mandelson, Prince Andrew, and anyone with relevant knowledge of Epstein’s activities have a moral obligation to share any information they possess with US authorities.
Iran’s Supreme Leader has accused Washington of seeking to “devour” the country and seize its oil
US President Donald Trump has said the world would soon “find out” whether Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was correct in warning that an American attack would ignite a regional war, adding that there is still time to make a deal.
In recent weeks, the United States has increased its military presence in the Middle East, deploying the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, additional guided-missile destroyers and advanced air defense systems in what Trump has described as a “massive and beautiful armada.”
Khamenei warned on Sunday that any military action against Iran would have far-reaching consequences across the Middle East, much bigger than after the US-Israeli attack last summer.
“They should know that if they start a war this time, it will be a regional war,” Khamenei said in a speech in Tehran marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He accused Washington of seeking to “devour” Iran and seize its oil and natural gas resources.
Asked by reporters about the warning, Trump dismissed the remarks but left the door open to both diplomacy and force.
“Of course he is going to say that,” Trump said. “Hopefully we’ll make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, then we’ll find out whether or not he was right.”
Tensions have remained high since US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last June and amid Washington’s promise to punish Iran for its crackdown on violent anti-government protests.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Iranian leaders over the unrest and has suggested that Iran needs “new leadership,” while also urging protesters to continue demonstrating and “take over” state institutions.
Khamenei, in his speech, characterized the protests as a foreign-backed plot, calling the unrest a “sedition” similar to past movements against the Islamic Republic. Iranian authorities have blamed the violence on “terrorists” supported by the US and Israel in order to justify a military intervention.
The head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, who held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Friday, said that progress was being made toward negotiations. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also indicated that diplomacy could resume, although no formal talks with Washington were currently planned.
The demonstration was organized by the Patriots party in support of the farming community
French protesters tore up an EU flag during a rally in central Paris at the weekend, calling for the country’s withdrawal from the bloc to protect the farming community from Brussels’ damaging policies.
The demonstration, which drew more than 1,000 people, was organized by Florian Philippot, the leader of the Patriots party, a sovereignist movement campaigning for “Frexit.”
In a video posted on his X account on Sunday, Philippot is seen holding the EU flag alongside a man he described as an “angry farmer.” The pair rip the flag in two and throw it into a cheering crowd, as demonstrators wave French tricolors.
Avec Alexandre Patte, paysan en colère, on se débarrasse du torchon bleu à étoiles ! (vidéo ⤵️)
Terminé !
Comme un nombre croissant de paysans, il sait que seul le FREXIT sauvera l’agriculture française ! 🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/krhLgdog5J
“With Alexandre Patte, an angry farmer, we get rid of the blue dishcloth with stars! It’s over!” Philippot wrote. “Like a growing number of farmers, he knows that only FREXIT will save French agriculture!”
The politician argued that almost everyone in France is now suffering because of EU policies. He described the rally as “a national march for France’s exit from the EU and for the restoration of our independence,” as cited by TASS.
The wave of farmer protests in France escalated last year following the proposed free trade agreement between the EU and the South American bloc Mercosur. French farming unions have warned that the deal would bankrupt domestic producers with cheaper imports from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia, which are not subject to the same regulatory standards.
An Elabe poll conducted in December 2025 indicated that about eight in ten French people support the farmers’ grievances.
🚨 UPDATE: In a jaw-dropping act that's sending shockwaves across Europe, the mayor of the town of Magnanville ceremonially took down the European Union flag in front of the town hall.
The mayor chanted, "Down with the EU, Ursula von der Leyen out – Viva la France!" pic.twitter.com/IKG2xdeICg
Last week, the mayors of the towns of Magnanville and Gargenville in the Seine Valley removed EU flags from the façades of their town halls in a symbolic show of support for farmers.
“Down with the EU, Ursula von der Leyen out – Vive la France,” Magnanville mayor Michel Lebouc said after lowering the flag. His counterpart in Gargenville, Yann Perron, said French agriculture deserved protection.
