@RapidResponse47
WATCH: Education Secretary-designate Linda McMahon's full opening statement before the Senate HELP Committee. Teaching 8 year old children they may be pan sexual
10:42 AM · Feb 13, 2025
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https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1890063961904800001
13 Feb, 2025 20:57
Kremlin reveals Putin-Trump call details
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov says the presidents spoke for nearly 1.5 hours and have agreed to meet soon on neutral territory
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, spoke for nearly 90 minutes by phone on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed, adding that the two heads of state had agreed to first meet in a third country, with official state visits likely to follow.
The call marks the first known direct interaction between the US and Russian heads of state since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022.
In an interview with Russia 1 television on Thursday,Peskov described the conversation as constructive, adding that the two leaders concurred that the administration of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had done “enormous damage”to US-Russian relations. Putin and Trump agreed that “even the most complex problems should be resolved through peace negotiations,” according to Peskov.
Aside from extending invitations to each other to visit their respective nations,the two heads of state “agreed to quite swiftly organize and hold a working meeting somewhere in a third country,” the official stated.
Hours after the phone call on Wednesday, Trump told journalists at the White House that the talks would take place in Saudi Arabia.
No NATO for Kiev, Ukrainian territorial concessions, venue for talks with Putin: Key takeaways from Trump’s briefing
Peskov, in turn, pointed out that “no decision has been made as to where it will take place, but Saudi Arabia indeed cropped up.” The Russian official added that“both Russia and the US said that [Saudi Arabia] is a place that really suits everyone,” given both nations enjoy good relations with the monarchy.
Peskov noted that the fact that bothpresidents had expressed a willingness to engage in dialogue was a “very important achievement”that has “set in motion an apparatus of aides, ministries and so on, that will now gradually begin dialogue and prepare the next contacts.”
The Kremlin spokesman declined to comment on which side had initiated the call, merely stating that “President Trump, already during his campaign and after the elections before the inauguration, said that he was going to call President Putin.”
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday,Trump wrote that he and the Russian president had among other things talked about the “great benefit that we will someday have in working together,” as well as their shared desire to put an end to the Ukraine conflict.
https://www.rt.com/russia/612678-peskov-reveals-details-trump-putin-call/
The Russia leadership is happy about this event, and of course both leaders must be careful and dutiful in handling this matter. It's nice to see how much Russia is talking about this event.
13 Feb, 2025 23:27
Russian programmer thanks Putin and Trump for his release
The high-profile prisoner exchange was secured just ahead of a phone conversation between the US and Russian leaders this week
Russian crypto businessman and computer programmer Aleksandr Vinnik has returned to Moscow as part of a prisoner exchange deal with Washington, after spending more than seven years in Greek, French and American jails.
Vinnik arrived at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport late Thursday evening, a day after American schoolteacher and former diplomat Marc Fogel, jailed in Russia on drug trafficking charges, returned to American soil.
“I want to say thank you to everyone. First and foremost, to President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. To [Foreign Minister] Sergey Lavrov, our chief diplomat. To all diplomats, all special services, all the people, lawyers, all my relatives and friends, everyone. And especially my family,” Vinnik told RIA Novosti upon his return.
“You can also thank Trump. Without him, it would probably have been difficult,” Vinnik added. Detailing his journey, Vinnik said that he was transported on a special flight from the US to Moscow, with a refueling stop in Poland.
The head of the Russian State Duma’s International Affairs Committee,Leonid Slutsky, has called Vinnik’s return “another victory for Russian diplomacyand all the services and departments involved in the process of his release.”
“Vinnik, like many other Russians, was extradited to the United States…under the notorious ‘extraterritorial’ law and spent almost eight years in prison without actually receiving a court sentence,” the parliamentarian noted.
Vinnik, a computer programmer involved in crypto, was arrested in Greece in 2017. Both Russia and the US, as well as France, had sought his extradition at the time on various charges, including hacking, fraud, and money laundering.
In 2020, he was extradited to France, yet ultimately ended up in US custody two years later. He eventually pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit money laundering in May 2024.
In the US, Vinnik stood accused of laundering between $4 billion and $9 billion through the now-defunct BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange platform. In Russia, he had faced similar charges – albeit involving much smaller sums of money – of illegally obtaining around $8 million through “computer information fraud.”
Over the years, Vinnik has repeatedly expressed his readiness to face the charges at home rather than anywhere else, citing the desire to stay closer to his family.
“I am already home, with my family. I still don’t believe it,” Vinnik remarked upon reuniting with his family, though he noted that his children were asleep at the time.
Vinnik’s mother shared her emotions with RT, saying she “couldn’t say a word” when she finally saw her son after so many years. “He hasn’t been broken [after prison]. He’s the same, he’s so kind-hearted to people, he hasn’t become bitter,” she added.
https://www.rt.com/russia/612681-vinnik-putin-trump-prisoner-exchange/
Feb, 12 2025 19:29
Kremlin comments on what prisoner exchange means for Russia-US relations
The release of American citizen Marc Fogel could contribute to a gradual rebuilding of trust, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
The release of US citizen Mark Fogel, who was jailed in Russia, is unlikely to facilitate a breakthrough in relations between Moscow and Washington but could contribute to a gradual rebuilding of trust, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said.
Fogel, a former US Embassy employee, was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow in 2021 and sentenced to 14 years behind bars the following year for drug trafficking. At the time of his arrest, he was a teacher at an elite Anglo-American school in Moscow. Fogel returned to the US on Tuesday as a result of a negotiated exchange between Russian and US officials.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday,Peskov confirmed the exchange deal, noting that all such agreements are preceded by “meticulous work.”
He added that a Russian national is set to be freed from detention in the US and return to Russia in the coming days, but did not specify his identity.
According to CNN, citing a Trump administration source on Wednesday, the Russian set for release is computer programmer Aleksandr Vinnik, who was arrested in Greece in 2017 on request of the US on suspicion of money laundering. Vinnik was ultimately extradited to the US where he pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy in 2024. He reportedly faced up to 20 years in prison.
Vinnik’s lawyer later confirmed to RT that his client is set to be released from US custody.
“While such deals are unlikely to become a breakthrough moment, they still represent important steps toward strengthening mutual trust, which is currently at its lowest point,” Peskov stated.
Fogel has become the first American detained in Russia to be released during US President Donald Trump’s second term.
Trump, who personally greeted Fogel at the White House late on Tuesday, said that another detained American would be released on Wednesday, without providing further details.The US leader also said he appreciated what Russian President Vladimir Putin did to facilitate the deal.
“We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually. I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war and millions of people can stop being killed,” Trump told journalists, referring to the Ukraine conflict.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CNN on Wednesday that while Fogel’s release is not linked to ending the Ukraine conflict, he believes it’s a “good sign” that Russia was willing to cooperate.
Putin and Trump held a phone conversation later on Wednesday.The two leaders primarily discussed the Ukraine conflict while backing the idea of resolving it through diplomacy, according to the Kremlin.
https://www.rt.com/russia/612577-us-russia-fogel-exchange-kremlin/
(Funny thing how the media calls Trump a dictator,while Bidan Broke Diplomacy and was a dictator.)