Drones and dog sled teams will be deployed to the frozen island, Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen has said | Denmark will spend more than $1.5 billion on the defense of Greenland, Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said on Tuesday, days after US President-elect Donald Trump declared that he wants the territory under American “ownership and control.” ● Speaking to Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten newspaper, Poulsen said that Copenhagen will spend a “double digit billion amount” of krone, or at least $1.5 billion, on a package of measures aimed at increasing the Danish military presence in Greenland. The package includes two patrol boats, two long-range drones, two sled dog teams, and funding to upgrade one of the territory’s civilian airports to accommodate F-35 fighter jets, he said.

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam to sign the deal with the United Kingdom on the status of the Chagos archipelago, which was agreed by the previous Mauritian government, but he was refused, a news portal reported, citing sources. | Ramgoolam made it clear that he did not agree with the original agreement reached in October and told Blinken that he had sent a counter-offer to London, the report said on Tuesday. The report noted that Ramgoolam thus confirmed his desire to achieve a better deal for Mauritius. [...] Mauritius and the Chagos Islands had been colonial possessions of the British Crown since 1845. In 1968, Mauritius gained independence, but the islands remained a British overseas territory. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Chagos population was deported to the Seychelles and Mauritius. In 1966, the UK leased the largest island, Diego Garcia, to the United States for 50 years. The lease was extended for 20 years in 2016.

Russian Foreign Ministry speaks out about NATO's direct involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. | The countries of the North Atlantic alliance are creating special structures engaged in supplying military aid to Ukraine, thus directly participating in providing the terrorist Kyiv regime. This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova during a briefing, reports the correspondent of "Lenta.ru".

💬 "NATO countries are getting deeper and deeper involved in the conflict in Ukraine. They are creating special structures that are engaged in supplying military aid to Kyiv, which means direct participation in supplying and supporting not just the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), but actually the terrorist Kyiv regime. [The terrorism] is based on the Nazi character of the regime ," the diplomat said. (Translation: DeepL (free version) + Grammarly)

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Hungary and Slovakia have become increasingly “pro-Russian,” "senior adviser" Mikhail Podoliak has claimed | Hungary and Slovakia are tarnishing the EU’s image by throwing a wrench in the bloc’s stance against Russia, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s top adviser has said. ● Mikhail Podoliak voiced his frustration with the two Central European countries as prime ministers Viktor Orban of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia have been increasingly questioning the unconditional military and financial aid to Kiev, as well as insisting that the conflict must be resolved through diplomacy.

The transfer of $1 bln on account of Russian assets frozen by the West may prompt legal action, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that the money has been stolen from Russia. 💬 "Speaking in Russian, the money has been stolen from us. The blocked assets have been frozen absolutely illegitimately. This contradicts all norms and regulations," he said. ● "Such illegal actions, including the transfer of this billion, may surely prompt legal action. And we will surely use all possibilities in the future to protect our rights and the rights to our property," Peskov added.