US REPRESENTATIVES have launched a campaign in the Philippines to recruit local citizens to fight on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
She reported on Thursday: ‘According to incoming information, US representatives have launched a campaign in the Philippines to recruit local citizens to fight on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces.
‘The American company RMS International, based in Florida, is recruiting candidates.
‘Preference is given to former employees of the Philippine police and security agencies and retired military personnel.’
Zakharova clarified that ‘citizens of that country who sign a contract are issued a Schengen work visa at the consular section of the German embassy in Manila.’
Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops in the Kharkov Region are refusing to fight and are sabotaging orders of their commanders, Russian military expert Andrey Marochko told TASS.
He said: ‘Reports are coming that a tactical unit of the Ukrainian army, which was to be deployed to the Kharkov Region, is sabotaging orders from the higher command.
‘A mechanised unit of the Khortitsa battlegroup reports that it is not ready, as it is equipped with only 40% of vehicles of what it should have. About the same situation is with manpower.’
According to Marochko, Commander of Ukraine’s Kharkov battlegroup Mikhail Drapaty has warned about tough measures against commanders who do not implement orders.
The European Union is preparing for a direct military confrontation with Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Thursday.
‘The core of the military policy pursued by NATO countries and the European Union, which has subordinated itself to the alliance, is to prepare the economy, infrastructure, logistics, society, and military for a direct armed conflict with Russia,’ Grushko stated at a meeting of the Expert Council of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs.
The meeting discussed the prospects for changes in the political situation between Russia and the EU.
According to the senior diplomat, Russia’s relations with European countries are currently in a state of deep crisis.
‘By demonising Russia, they are promoting the idea that a military conflict is inevitable unless Moscow is stopped, suffering a strategic defeat,’ Grushko said.
Moscow is working on tit-for-tat measures in response to the ban of the European Union on the issue of multi-entry visas to Russians, Grushko added.
‘Embassies of the European Union stopped issuing multi-entry visas for probably about a week, although they continue calls,’ the diplomat said. The decision on the notification regime for Russian diplomats in accredited EU countries will come into force on January 25 of the next year, Grushko noted.
He stressed: ‘It is not yet clear how it will be administered, how it will actually function but nevertheless already now, naturally, we are working on our tit-for-tat measures.
‘This is because the entire system of diplomatic, political ties is known to be based, among other things, on the principle of equal rights. The same applies to tourists as well. We consider it as the general hostile policy pursued by EU countries.’
These measures showed the ‘huge hypocrisy’ of Brussels, the deputy minister said. ‘While initially they introduced sanctions and said that the sanctions are a tool of punishment, this is not against Russian people, then these 19 packages are actually an attempt to collectively punish all the Russians. They reached an effect that is reverse to the anticipated one – the consolidation of Russian society and understanding that our cause is just,’ Grushko added.
Hungary’s oil and gas exempt from US sanctions
HUNGARY’S exemption from US sanctions against Russian oil and gas supplies will remain in effect as long as US President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban are in office, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in an interview with Radio Television Serbia.
‘We know that relations between the President and the Prime Minister will be good as long as President Trump remains in office and Prime Minister Orban is head of government, and this exemption will remain in effect,’ the Foreign Minister stressed.
On October 22, the US Department of the Treasury included Rosneft, Lukoil, and their subsidiaries in a new package of anti-Russian sanctions, which would take full effect on November 21.
The United States believes the restrictions it has imposed will serve as a lever of pressure on Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine.
The Hungarian government noted that new US sanctions against Russian oil and gas companies could harm the interests of the country, which continues to receive the bulk of its energy supplies from Russia under long-term contracts.
On November 7, at a meeting at the White House, Orban convinced Trump of the need to grant Hungary an exemption from sanctions that could hinder supplies through the Druzhba oil pipeline and the TurkStream gas pipeline.
Later, several Western media outlets reported citing sources within the US administration that the exemption was granted for one year. Budapest insists the exemption will be permanent.
However, Brussels is destroying Europe’s energy security by cutting it off from hydrocarbon supplies from Russia, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in the interview with Radio Television Serbia.
‘The European Union and Brussels are chiselling away at European energy security with a huge hammer, cutting themselves off from Russian energy sources,’ he said.
Szijjarto noted that the EU is not concerned with the rational energy policy pursued by some European nations and does not take into account the role geographic location plays in energy supplies.
‘Due to its infrastructure and geography, Hungary cannot isolate itself from Russian energy sources,’ the Foreign Minister said.
He added that the pipeline from Croatia has low capacity compared to Hungary’s needs.
Hungary continues to receive the bulk of its gas (under long-term contracts with Gazprom) via the TurkStream pipeline and its branches through Bulgaria and Serbia.
In 2024, 8.5 billion cubic metres of gas were delivered to the country via this route. As Szijjarto said earlier, approximately the same volume of supplies is expected this year.
- Moscow has decided to shut down the Polish consulate in Irkutsk, Siberia, effective December 30, 2025, as a response measure, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced.
‘On November 27, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Polish Ambassador to Russia (Krzysztof Krajewski) to convey its decision about the closure of Poland’s consulate in Irkutsk, effective December 30, 2025,’ Russia’s MFA said.
The move comes in response to Poland’s decision to revoke permission for the Russian consulate in Gdansk to operate, effective December 23, the ministry explained.
Russia’s diplomatic agency dismissed Warsaw’s recent decision to close the last Russian consulate in Poland under what it called an absurd pretext as a ‘an openly hostile and groundless move.’
‘The Russian side once again warns those mulling unfriendly attacks against our country for momentary political gain that the Russian Federation will not leave such moves without an appropriate and painful response,’ the Russian Foreign Ministry concluded.
