Russia's National Wealth Fund shrank to $148.4 billion as of January 1, down $38.1 billion in a month, as the government took out cash to plug its budget deficit, data showed on January 18.
Hungary is threatening to hold up the EU’s sanctions regime against Russia unless nine individuals are removed from the list, including one of “Putin’s favorite oligarchs”
Hungary is once again threatening to water down the European Union's sanctions regime against Russia by insisting nine people be removed from a list of restrictive measures imposed on more than 1,300 individuals and 170 entities in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
U.S. elder statesman Henry Kissinger on January 17 said Russia's invasion shows there is no longer a point to keeping Ukraine out of NATO, the long-held aspiration of Kyiv that he once opposed.