US quietly removes sanctions from firms accused of supplying Russia’s military

I want to thank the personnelente site for the link to this article. Hugs https://personnelente.wordpress.com/2025/12/21/another-stab-in-the-back/

Is tRump a controlled asset or just a useful old idiot, does it matter. He is giving Putin everything he every wanted. The fact is he has decided to be Putin in the west while he lets Russia and China divide up Europe and the Asia. Hugs

https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/12/19/us-quietly-removes-sanctions-from-firms-accused-of-supplying-russias-military/

Treasury offers no explanation for lifting restrictions on Cyprus, Dubai, Turkish, and Finnish companies.

byBenjamin Murdoch

19/12/2025

2 minute read

The White House in Washington DC, USA. Illustrative image via Wikimedia Commons.

The United States has removed sanctions from several foreign companies previously accused of supplying equipment to Russia, including items linked to its defense and military-industrial sectors.

The changes were published on the US Treasury Department’s website on December 18, without any explanation for the move.

Cyprus-based investment firm and its owner delisted

Among the firms removed is Cyprus-based Veles International Limited and its owner, Dmytro Buhaienko. While the company is tied to an investment group based in Moscow, US sanctions remain in place against its Russian legal entities.

Veles was originally sanctioned in 2023 for operating in Russia’s financial sector and working with wealthy Russian private individuals.

Dubai and Turkish firms linked to military exports also dropped

Other companies taken off the sanctions list include Dubai-based 365 Days Freight Services FZCO and Türkiye’s Etasis, both of which had been linked to exports of restricted equipment used for military purposes in Russia.

When 365 Days was originally sanctioned in November 2023, the Treasury said the company “specializes in moving high-value goods and computer components” and “has shipped high-priority goods, including machines for the reception, conversion, and transmission of data, to Russia.”

Finnish supplier of optoelectronic equipment removed

The Treasury also lifted restrictions on Finland’s Hi-Tech Koneisto and its director, Yevheniia Dremova. The company had supplied optoelectronic and laboratory equipment to Russian firms already under sanctions.

Turkish machine tool supplier delisted; Russian buyer remains sanctioned

CPS Proses Kontrol Urunleri, a Turkish company, had previously been sanctioned for sending German- and US-made machine tools to a Russian defense contractor. While the company itself is no longer under US sanctions, the Russian contractor it supplied remains restricted.

US authorities did not indicate whether the removals reflect changes in compliance, enforcement priorities, or broader sanctions policy toward Russia.

The delistings come as White House negotiators have met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to push a US deal to end the war in Ukraine, and days after the Treasury extended authorization for Lukoil-branded gas stations outside Russia to continue operating.

Kremlin says new US security strategy accords largely with Russia’s view

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/kremlin-says-new-us-security-strategy-accords-largely-with-russias-view-2025-12-07/

By Guy Faulconbridge and Lidia Kelly

December 7, 202511:16 AM ESTUpdated December 7, 2025

Item 1 of 2 A general view on the Spasskaya tower of the Kremlin and St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, Russia May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

[2/2] The Russian flag flies on the dome of the Kremlin Senate building behind Spasskaya Tower in Moscow, Russia June 2, 2025. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

Summary

Kremlin praises US National Security Strategy

Kremlin says NATO statements are encouraging

Kremlin cautions that some in US will see it differently

MOSCOW, Dec 7 (Reuters) – The Kremlin on Sunday welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s new national security strategy and said it largely accorded with Russia’s own perceptions, the first time that Moscow has so fulsomely praised such a document from its former Cold War foe.

The U.S. National Security Strategy described Trump’s vision as one of “flexible realism” and argued that the U.S. should revive the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which declared the Western Hemisphere to be Washington’s zone of influence.

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The strategy, signed by Trump, also warned that Europe faces “civilizational erasure”, that it was a “core” U.S. interest to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, and that Washington wanted to reestablish strategic stability with Russia.

“The adjustments that we see correspond in many ways to our vision,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television reporter Pavel Zarubin when asked about the new U.S. strategy.

Such fulsome public agreement between Moscow and Washington on the tectonic plates of global politics is rare, though they did cooperate closely after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union on returning nuclear weapons from former Soviet republics to Russia, and after the deadly Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

TRUMP’S STRATEGY LARGELY ACCORDS TO RUSSIA’S VIEW

During the Cold War, Moscow portrayed the United States as a decadent capitalist empire doomed by the historical certainties of Marxism, while U.S. Ronald Reagan in 1983 called the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and the “focus of evil in the modern world.”

After the Soviet collapse, Moscow expressed hopes for a partnership with the West but as Washington moved to support the enlargement of the NATO alliance, as outlined in President Bill Clinton’s 1994 strategy, tensions began to mount. They were pushed to breaking point under President Vladimir Putin, who rose to the top Kremlin job on the last day of 1999.

Asked about the pledge in the U.S. document to end “the perception, and preventing the reality, of the NATO military alliance as a perpetually expanding alliance”, the Kremlin’s Peskov said it was encouraging.

But Peskov also cautioned that what he said was the U.S. “deep state” saw the world differently to Trump, who has used the term to refer to an allegedly entrenched network of U.S. officials who seek to undermine those who challenge the status quo, including Trump himself.

Critics of Trump say there is no such thing as a “deep state,” and that Trump and his allies are trafficking in a conspiracy theory to justify an executive-branch power grab.

WASHINGTON AND MOSCOW LOOK TO CHINA

Since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, U.S. strategies have designated Moscow as an aggressor or a threat that was trying to destabilise the post-Cold War order by force.

In comments to the state-run TASS news agency, Peskov said calling for cooperation with Moscow on strategic stability issues rather than describing Russia as a direct threat was a positive step.

The Trump strategy describes what it calls the Indo-Pacific as one of the “key economic and geopolitical battlegrounds”, saying it would build up U.S. and allied military power to prevent a conflict with China over Taiwan.

Russia pivoted to Asia – and China in particular – after the West imposed sanctions on Russia for the war in Ukraine and Europe sought to wean itself off Russian oil and gas.

Trump in March told Fox News that “as a student of history, which I am — and I’ve watched it all — the first thing you learn is you don’t want Russia and China to get together.”

Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Philippa Fletcher

There’s a Glaring Omission on the White House’s List of Trump’s New Tariffs

There’s a Glaring Omission on the White House’s List of Trump’s New Tariffs

Sarah RumpfApr 2nd, 2025, 5:55 pm

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump announced a long list of new tariffs on Wednesday, and observers swiftly noticed a rather glaring omission.

In a Rose Garden press conference Wednesday afternoon, the president declared it to be “Liberation Day” and announced a series of sweeping new tariffs, including 10% on virtually all imported goods, 25% on foreign automobiles, and a long list of what he described as “reciprocal tariffs” on dozens of countries around the world.

The markets were rattled after Trump’s plans were confirmed, with U.S. stock futures plummeting in after-hours trading. CNN reported that gold, “considered a safe having amid economic and political uncertainty,” went the opposite direction, and “the most actively traded gold futures contract in New York briefly rose above $3,200 a troy ounce, a record high.”

Numerous commentators have criticized the new tariffs for not just the economic havoc they were poised to spark, but for falsely categorizing value-added taxes and other sales or corporate taxes as tariffs.

The White House tweeted a series of tweets with the countries included in the “reciprocal tariffs.”

Not on the list? Russia. Also absent: Belarus, which has been actively allied with Russia in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine is on the list, as are many other former Soviet satellites and republics. Multiple social media accounts posted about Russia’s absence from Trump’s list of the new tariffs.

NOTUS reporter Jasmine Wright reported that a White House official claimed that the reason for Russia’s omission was that sanctions imposed after the war with Ukraine began had “already rendered trade between the two countries as zero.”

That does not seem to be accurate.

Trade between Russia and the U.S. did in fact drop significantly after the invasion of Ukraine, but not to zero. A Forbes article from Jan. 2024 described it as “plummeting to lowest levels since [the] demise of Soviet Union,” but still reported that the November YTD total at that time was $4.81 billion.

The website for the Office of the United States Trade Representative provides an even lower number for 2024, but the total was still several billion dollars and showed a trade deficit:

U.S. total goods trade with Russia were an estimated $3.5 billion in 2024. U.S. goods exports to Russia in 2024 were $526.1 million, down 12.3 percent ($73.5 million) from 2023. U.S. goods imports from Russia totaled $3.0 billion in 2024, down 34.2 percent ($1.6 billion) from 2023. The U.S. goods trade deficit with Russia was $2.5 billion in 2024, a 37.5 percent decrease ($1.5 billion) over 2023.

tRump is owned by Putin, gave Putin the entire country.

US Withdraws From Intl Probe On Russian War Crimes

… is the latest indication of the Trump administration’s move away from President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s commitment to holding Mr. Putin personally accountable for crimes committed against Ukrainians.

The group was created to hold the leadership of Russia, along with its allies in Belarus, North Korea and Iran, accountable for a category of crimes — defined as aggression under international law and treaties that violates another country’s sovereignty and is not initiated in self-defense.

https://x.com/KyivPost/status/1901522368620601697

How much more obvious does it need to be that 45/47 has been compromised and is serving the interests of the Russian government?

Trump May Recognize Crimea As Russian Territory

Such a request would align the Trump administration with the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long seen Crimea as his nation’s territory.

Trump weighs recognizing Crimea as Russian territory in bid to end war.Any alliance with the US is worthless and untrustworthy.Taiwan is watching this one closely.www.semafor.com/article/03/1…

— Noelle (@finallynoelle.dems.social) 2025-03-17T18:54:17.634Z

Trump: I’ll Be Speaking To Putin About War On Tuesday

Gabbard Retweets Lies Posted By Kremlin Propagandist

Now read the posts below. As noted here before, Ian Miles Cheong has never stepped foot in the United States, yet he is frequently retweeted by prominent cultists including Elon Musk.

And Russia’s friend China also loves the shutting down of Voice Of America. Hugs

China Celebrates Trump’s Gutting Of Voice Of America

The Trump administration axed Voice of America, and China's state media are delighted…www.nbcnews.com/news/world/c…

— Leila Grant (@leilagrant.bsky.social) 2025-03-17T14:23:38.200Z

Some of the worst of the republicans.

Canada is furious at tRump for the bullying treatment they are receiving. But Canada is not a small country that tRump can bully with impunity. The border is a treaty. tRump has no legal authority to violate it, especially for his personal gain. Ask yourself why tRump and crew want Canada to be only one state? It is made up of thirteen administrative divisions: ten provinces and three territories. Why not bring all of them in to one big country. Because that would wipe out the republicans, they wouldn’t win elections. Canada is far more progressive than the US. But again why does tRump want Canada. Because they have a much higher standard of living, longer life expectancies, the government works much better for the people than in the US. It would stop people in the US from pointing to the north and saying … “see they understand how to do it, why can’t we”. Now tRump is on to something great he is just too stupid to realize it. I would love to see the three major countries in the Americas join as one state, with equality and inclusion of all. Something like the EU but closer. Eventually it could include the lesser nations. Think of the ways these countries could help build a better future for all if it could be one country. But tRump doesn’t want Mexico because those people are mostly brown in his mind, Canada is white in his mind. He should have watched more Star Trek. Hugs

Trump Told Trudeau US-Canada Border Treaty Is Invalid

Stop the testing tRump demanded during his first term. If we don’t admit the bad thing exists we can pretend it doesn’t hurt us. Right. Tell that to every frightened child. The free tests are very important to people on a limited budget and it is a way to keep co-workers safe. If these people can test themselves before they go to work then they might not spread what they have to their friends, family, and fellow workers. In the story after this one is about a pregnant Texas woman unvaccinated who had measles and never told the hospital staff when she went in to deliver her baby. She exposed every one of the newborns there, she exposed all the woman who gave birth, their families and the staff. All of them should sue her if any of the newborns have issues or die. These people are so stupid. The US used to have massive infant / child mortality over measles. If it did not kill you, like covid it can leave lasting organ damage. It will make the other newborns getting their vaccinations in question. Selfish people who have not lived through the horrifying consequences of these preventable diseases, so they ignore history and science. How many children need to needlessly suffer for them to wake up? Hugs

Trump Administration Ends Free At-Home COVID Tests

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Newborn Babies Exposed To Measles At Texas Hospital

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Texndoca day ago

The Governor and Lt Governor have referenced “measles’ on their Twitter 0 times. Dan Patrick has however posted about renaming the New York Strip the Texas strip, served with Gulf of America shrimp, 5 times”.

USDA Cancels $11M In Funding For NC Food Banks, Asheville Must End Diversity To Get Hurricane Relief

I love how people who never served in any branch of the military feel they know all about what it takes to do so. I love that people who claim to honor the Vet’s and then cut all funding that would actually help veterans and military people. It is like the pro-life crowd that claims they need to erase the LGBTQ+ people from society to protect the children then slashing all funds for feeding and caring for those very same children. Hugs

Musk Brands Decorated Combat Veteran/Astronaut And Dem Senator Mark Kelly A “Traitor” For Visiting Ukraine

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Study after study has been done by both serious military leaders and hate groups. It doesn’t matter who does a serious study of LGBTQ+ people in the military as they all show that LGBTQ+ are great assets for the military that increase military effectiveness. I have often told the story of how my sub unit begged me to reenlist when I was saying good by the site went down and I was the one that got us back on the bird. But the new company commandeer was a homophobe Christian and he told me he would destroy me if I reenlisted. The unit lost a grand technician with a great future in the military due to bigotry. Compare the personal life of Pete Buttigieg a gay man who was in the military, seen action in Afghanistan and is in a stable same sex marriage with children to the life of the new straight cis Christian Nationalist Pete Hegseth. Hegseth often called kegseth by late night TV hosts, has married and devoiced several times currently on his third marriage, he has been married three times, his first wife, who he admitted to cheating on five times, is Meredith Schwarz. He is also stepdad to Rauchet’s three children so Trump’s appointee for Secretary of Defense has four biological children and is stepdad to three. He is credibly accused of being a drunken jerk who harasses women, has committed domestic violence on one of his wives. Really a moral guy compared to the gay guy though right because he has the right religion and is straight cis. Hugs.

Trump Shares “No LGBTQs” Symbol On Truth Social

Read the full article. The Washington Times is a far-right outlet founded and owned by the Unification Church – which is better known as the Moonies. Surely homocons Scott Bessent and Richard Grenell are thrilled with a no-gays symbol.

My but all those pesky freedoms in the constitution being thrown away as fast as possible. Freedom to protest the goverenment, the freedom of the press. You know the very things keeping the government in check. Look the democrats said the project 2025 was designed to destroy democarcy and install a authoritarian dictatorship such as Russia or Hungry. Wake up and act because tRump / republicans want to make it illegal to do anything that is not supportive of the cult leader. Think about what is being protected in the stories below, it is the profits of the wealthy and the ability of the cult leader to simply ignore any law or normal decency that displeases him. Hugs.

I’ll be reposting this on many stories I’m sure…
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The GOP clearly hates American values.

https://www.joemygod.com/2025/03/bondi-vows-to-jail-anyone-funding-tesla-protests/

Felon Vows To Prosecute Outlets That Displease Him

The setting was part of an effort to emphasize the power of the institution Mr. Trump controls through loyal and compliant appointees.

CNN’s Jake Tapper just noted on-air that in the same breath in which Trump raged about a “weaponized” justice system, he vowed to himself weaponize that same system against reporters and outlets that serve up anything other than lavish praise.

Think about this :

A convicted felon lectures the Dept. of Justice on what should or should not be ‘allowed’, – having just pardoned over a hundred other convicted felons.

Alice in Wonderland would be embarrassed.

All this is carefully planned and orchestrated.

Everything Trump is doing almost exactly mirrors what Orban did to take control in Hungary. In fact, it’s uncanny how similar the takeover is.

If you want to see what Trump does next, look to Hungary.

tRump has a problem. First he promised he could solve this before being sworn in to office. Now he talked tough and attacked Ukrainian leader Zelenskyy while saying he would hold Putin to the agreement with the strongest sanctions / efforts. Yet when Ukraine agreed to a cease fire and Russia did not … where was tRump’s big tough talk. He back tracked and demanded that Ukraine give in more. Now when Putin simply used the pause to attack and take over a large part of the region in the fighting, tRump is silent on his promises to make Putin agree to the cease fire. In fact again he attacks Zelenskyy as the real problem and the other countries supporting Ukraine. He guys if you just stop supporting Ukraine and agree with the US / Russia we can stop this war right way. He will not and never can say a bad thing about his boss Putin, he has been compromised and is desperate to change reality. Hugs

Trump: When I Said That I Can End Russia-Ukraine War In 24 Hours, “I Was Being A Little Bit Sarcastic” [Video]

Along with the above, those that claim tRump is not a racist simply never worked with / for him and don’t watch what he says about people. Remember that he wants only white South Africans to be able to come to the US on a fast track, he wanted to annex Canada but not Mexico who he has accused of sending the US rapists and murders, he asked in a meeting why we can’t get more European white people to move to the US. His company was sued by the US government which won the case for not allowing black people to move into his apartment buildings. Any claim tRump is not a bigot or racist denies reality. In tRump’s mind and many of his racist white supremacist whites must always be in charge over those not white. Hugs

with Mr. Trump having accused Mr. Ramaphosa’s government of discriminating against South Africa’s white minority

Rubio Expels South Africa’s Ambassador To The US

Trump had already issued an executive order last month cutting all funding to South Africa over some of its domestic and foreign policies. The order criticized the Black-led South African government on multiple fronts, saying it is pursuing anti-white policies at home and supporting “bad actors” in the world like the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran.

How long before Trump calls for invading South Africa? Rather obviously, this was done as a favor to Elon Musk, who is wildly unpopular in his home country.

Trump’s “Antisemitism Czar” Retweets Anti-Semites

Read the full article. That Trump’s so-called antisemitism czar is merrily retweeting notorious anti-Semites is classically Trumpian. Terrell last appeared here in January when he declared that Los Angeles’s “DEI firefighters have no intention of putting out those wildfires.” Yesterday Terrell called for a new federal commission on “anti-white bias.”

Again look at what these countries have in common. Being not white is OK if you are wealthy but if you are not, being not white is a ban from tRumpstaia. Hugs

NYT: Trump Plans To Restrict Visitors From 43 Nations

In those cases, affluent business travelers might be allowed to enter, but not people traveling on immigrant or tourist visas. Citizens on that list would also be subjected to mandatory in-person interviews in order to receive a visa. It included Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Turkmenistan.

This one is so clear. The criminal is demanding his crime files never be released. Why? If he was as innocent as he claims he is why not release the files for the public to see? Because he was guilty as hell and this judge was compromised and working with the tRump team to do everything possible to stall the case until possibly he could be reelected making the charges go way. He was guilty. Look the facts are clear, he had the files, he was asked to return them, he refused, then told the government he did not have anymore, the government went into his domicile and found he did have them. What never came out was why he wanted so badly to have these files that was reported he picked himself and why he was desperate to hold on to them. Everything I have written is fact! It is reality! So apparently there is so much more in those files that tRump is terrified will come out. Why? again if he is innocent then let the files show it. But he hides and wants the files hidden and destroyed. Hugs