As US priorities move away from the EU, NATO faces a fragmented future shaped by Russia fears, French autonomy and Germany’s military revival
The headlines are filled with reports of growing discord inside NATO. Donald Trump openly questions the value of allies who, in his view, fail to carry their share of the burden. Western Europe complains about the unreliability of its American patron while simultaneously pledging loyalty to the Atlantic all
As US priorities move away from the EU, NATO faces a fragmented future shaped by Russia fears, French autonomy and Germany’s military revival
The headlines are filled with reports of growing discord inside NATO. Donald Trump openly questions the value of allies who, in his view, fail to carry their share of the burden. Western Europe complains about the unreliability of its American patron while simultaneously pledging loyalty to the Atlantic alliance. Beneath the daily noise, however, something far more significant is taking place: the gradual transformation of Europe’s political and military order.
For decades, the United States guaranteed Western Europe’s security while those Europeans concentrated on prosperity and welfare. That arrangement now appears increasingly unstable. Washington’s strategic priorities have shifted toward Asia and the confrontation with China. Europe remains important as a logistical and political platform for American power, but it is no longer the unquestioned center of US grand strategy.
Trump didn’t create this process, though he has accelerated it dramatically. His irritation with NATO is not simply personal caprice. It reflects a deeper American conclusion that the era of underwriting Western European security indefinitely has become too expensive and strategically distracting.
The alliance itself was built for another age and another purpose. NATO was designed to contain the Soviet Union and anchor American influence in Europe. It was never intended to become a global instrument for confronting China. Yet this is precisely the direction in which many in Washington would like to push it.
These Europeans, however, do not share America’s sense of urgency regarding Beijing. For most of them, China is an economic competitor, not an existential threat. Russia, by contrast, remains the central security obsession of much of the bloc, especially in Northern and Eastern members.
This divergence is beginning to reshape NATO from within.
France has emerged as the loudest advocate of greater Western European strategic independence. Paris retains a long tradition of military autonomy and still possesses something few other European powers can claim: a genuinely independent nuclear deterrent. France cannot realistically replace the American nuclear umbrella over Western Europe, but it increasingly seeks to position itself as the ideological leader of a more self-reliant bloc.
Britain, meanwhile, continues its traditional balancing act between the EU and the United States. London insists on its independence from Brussels while simultaneously searching for external support from Washington. Northern and Eastern states remain intensely hawkish and committed to confrontation with Russia, regardless of whether the Americans remain fully engaged. Southern Europe appears far less enthusiastic, distracted instead by migration, economic stagnation and domestic instability.
As so often in European history, however, the decisive factor will likely be Germany.
Much of post-war Europe was built around one central idea: Germany must never again become an independent geopolitical force. After 1945 the country was divided, militarily constrained and tightly integrated into Western structures under American supervision.
Even German reunification in 1990 was accepted partly because Germany remained embedded inside NATO. At the time, many believed that anchoring a unified Germany within the Atlantic alliance was the safest possible arrangement for Europe.
Ironically, that very decision became one of the starting points of today’s geopolitical crisis. NATO expansion eastward created a security architecture that Moscow increasingly viewed as hostile and destabilizing.
Now, three and a half decades later, Europe may again face the prospect of a Germany becoming strategically autonomous, though this time under entirely different circumstances.
Former Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a “new era” in 2022 following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. For some time the slogan appeared largely symbolic. Under Germany’s current leadership, however, concrete changes are beginning to emerge.
Berlin is discussing accelerated rearmament, expanded military infrastructure and legislative changes aimed at increasing recruitment for the Bundeswehr. The debate over compulsory military service, once politically unthinkable, has returned to the mainstream.
Recent comments by Franz-Josef Overbeck, the Catholic military bishop of the Bundeswehr, are revealing. Overbeck openly called for Germany to send forces to the Strait of Hormuz and argued that compulsory military service should be restored not only for men but also for women.
His reasoning was blunt. Germany, he argued, can no longer remain on the sidelines in an increasingly dangerous world.
Many within Germany’s political establishment likely agree with him privately. Politicians, however, remain cautious because German society is still deeply uncomfortable with militarism and foreign deployments. Decades of post-war political culture have created a pacifist instinct that remains powerful among voters.
The bishop, unlike elected officials, can speak more freely.
At the same time, Germany faces mounting economic difficulties. This is not merely a temporary downturn. The old German economic model rested heavily on cheap Russian energy and export-driven industrial growth, not to mention stable globalization. Much of that foundation has eroded.
As a result, discussions that would once have been politically toxic are now occurring openly. Militarization is increasingly presented not simply as a security necessity, but also as a potential engine of economic renewal.
Only a few years ago such arguments would have sounded extraordinary in Germany. Today they are becoming part of mainstream debate.
This is where the historical dimension becomes impossible to ignore.
German political culture has long been characterized by discipline and a tendency to follow strategic paths with remarkable determination once a consensus forms. In calmer periods this can be an enormous strength. In moments of geopolitical confrontation, however, it can become dangerous.
The path on which Russia once again serves as Germany’s principal antagonist is deeply familiar from European history.
For decades after the Second World War, many believed that lesson had finally been learned. Economic interdependence between Russia and Germany was supposed to make large-scale confrontation irrational. The collapse of that assumption has shocked much of Europe.
Trump’s pressure on NATO is therefore acting as a catalyst for changes that were already underway. Western Europe is being pushed, reluctantly and unevenly, toward greater military independence. Whether this ultimately strengthens NATO or gradually hollows it out remains unclear.
The alliance is unlikely to collapse outright. Institutions of this scale rarely disappear suddenly. More likely is a gradual transformation into something narrower and more fragmented.
A core bloc focused primarily on containing Russia may emerge within NATO, while the United States shifts more of its attention toward Asia.
Whether such a bloc becomes effective will depend above all on Germany. If Berlin fully embraces rearmament and strategic emancipation from American oversight, Europe’s political landscape could change profoundly and by the end of Trump’s presidency, this process may already be far advanced.
Thus, once again, Europe may discover that history is not something safely confined to textbooks. The old rivalries and anxieties that shaped the continent for centuries have an unsettling habit of returning precisely when people convince themselves they are gone forever.
This article was first published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta, and was translated and edited by the RT team
The phaseout would deepen the bloc’s dependence on more expensive US gas, the Slovak prime minister has warned
The EU plan to phase out Russia as an energy supplier will end in the US reselling Russian oil and gas to Europe at far higher prices, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has warned.
Speaking in Bratislava on Sunday, Fico said Washington has “a huge interest in buying all transit infrastructures” across the European continent.
“So the Russ
The phaseout would deepen the bloc’s dependence on more expensive US gas, the Slovak prime minister has warned
The EU plan to phase out Russia as an energy supplier will end in the US reselling Russian oil and gas to Europe at far higher prices, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has warned.
Speaking in Bratislava on Sunday, Fico said Washington has “a huge interest in buying all transit infrastructures” across the European continent.
“So the Russians will supply the Americans with gas and oil at standard prices, and the Americans will sell it to us with an American high-margin surcharge. Are we such idiots already?” he said.
Already, “the share of Russian liquefied gas in Europe is increasing,” Fico added, pointing out the hypocrisy of Brussels singling out countries like Slovakia to pressure over Russian fuel supplies. “So we can’t, but France can buy liquefied gas from Russia.”
Contrary to the EU, Bratislava’s position is to “diversify the supply options for all fuels,” he said.
In February, the European Commission doubled down on long-standing plans to phase out Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027.
While the US-Israeli war on Iran and the subsequent fuel crisis have pushed Brussels to prepare for “the worst-case scenarios,” the EU will not abandon its pivot away from Russian liquefied natural gas, the bloc’s energy chief, Dan Jorgensen, told the Financial Times last month. Brussels will instead rely on more expensive supplies from the US and other partners, he said.
Just last week, Washington launched a multi-billion dollar push to invest in and build a major US pipeline project in Central and Eastern Europe, which still imports Russian gas via the TurkStream pipeline and its extension – Balkan Stream.
According to Moscow, such US projects, as well as sanctions against Russian oil companies, are part of a sweeping strategy to capture the energy market.
Washington is aiming to monopolize all international energy supply routes in an attempt to attain global economic dominance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told TV BRICS earlier this year.
Prime Minister Evika Silina has dismissed Andris Spruds after unmanned aircraft violated the country’s airspace
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina has dismissed Defense Minister Andris Spruds after Ukrainian drones hit oil storage facilities on the Baltic state’s territory.
“The drone incident this week clearly showed that the leadership of the defense sector failed to deliver on its promise of a safe sky over our country,” Silina wrote on X.
Sh
Prime Minister Evika Silina has dismissed Andris Spruds after unmanned aircraft violated the country’s airspace
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina has dismissed Defense Minister Andris Spruds after Ukrainian drones hit oil storage facilities on the Baltic state’s territory.
“The drone incident this week clearly showed that the leadership of the defense sector failed to deliver on its promise of a safe sky over our country,” Silina wrote on X.
She added that Spruds had lost both her trust and the trust of the public.
Spruds, however, stated that he had already decided to resign himself. He accused the prime minister of rushing to announce his dismissal for political reasons and lying about informing him and his party, the Progressives, in advance.
The incident highlights growing tensions and security concerns in the Baltic states amid the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
Several NATO countries bordering Russia have recently reported cases of Ukrainian unmanned aircraft entering their airspace and crashing instead of striking targets inside Russia. Earlier this week, Latvian officials said two drones – which the Russian military identified as Ukrainian Lyuty-type fixed-wing aircraft – crossed into the country overnight. One remains unaccounted for, while another sparked a fire near the town of Rezekne, roughly 40 km from the Russian border.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga commented on the scandal on Friday, claiming he had addressed the issue with Riga and apologized to the three Baltic states and Finland. The top diplomat also attempted to shift the blame to Russia.
Peace talks will remain stalled until the Ukrainian military leaves Donbass, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said
The Ukrainian military needs to pull back from Donbass for the peace process to move forward, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said. Talks between Moscow and Kiev will remain stalled until then, he told journalist Pavel Zarubin, adding that the Ukrainian government knows this.
Russia and Ukraine have held several
Peace talks will remain stalled until the Ukrainian military leaves Donbass, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said
The Ukrainian military needs to pull back from Donbass for the peace process to move forward, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said. Talks between Moscow and Kiev will remain stalled until then, he told journalist Pavel Zarubin, adding that the Ukrainian government knows this.
Russia and Ukraine have held several rounds of talks, including with US mediation, since early 2025, when President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The process has slowed down following the latest US-mediated meeting in Geneva in February.
According to Ushakov, any new meetings will not change the situation unless Ukrainian troops are withdrawn. “Until [Ukraine] makes the step, one can hold some more rounds, dozens of rounds [of talks] but we will remain in the same spot,” he said.
“They know in Ukraine that it must be done and they will do it sooner or later,” the presidential aide stated. Ushakov also said that Moscow maintains close contacts with Washington when it comes to the peace process, adding that Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, could visit Russia “soon.”
“The US is now more preoccupied with the Middle East crisis but they are not abandoning the Ukraine issue,” he told Zaurbin, while saying that Moscow and Washington “actively communicate by phone.”
Earlier this week, Ushakov called a potential Ukrainian withdrawal from Donbass “one serious step” that would greatly advance the settlement process. Military action would cease after that, he stated on Thursday.
The two Donbass republics voted to join Russia together with two other former Ukrainian territories – Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions – in autumn 2022. In March, President Vladimir Putin stated that only between 15% and 17% of the Donetsk People’s Republic remains under Kiev’s control. In April, the Russian military reported fully liberating the neighboring Lugansk People’s Republic.
The Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly refused to both recognize the status of the new Russian regions or to cede any territory to Moscow. It also maintains that recapturing the regions incorporated into Russia is one of its ultimate goals.
France is illegally harvesting its citizens’ data, while accusing social media platforms of doing the same, the entrepreneur has alleged
Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov has accused France of hypocrisy after prosecutors expanded a criminal investigation into Elon Musk’s X. Durov said French authorities were violating citizens’ privacy while accusing the social media platform of similar conduct.
The entrepreneur made the remarks on Sunday, just day
France is illegally harvesting its citizens’ data, while accusing social media platforms of doing the same, the entrepreneur has alleged
Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov has accused France of hypocrisy after prosecutors expanded a criminal investigation into Elon Musk’s X. Durov said French authorities were violating citizens’ privacy while accusing the social media platform of similar conduct.
The entrepreneur made the remarks on Sunday, just days after the Paris prosecutor’s office announced that it would seek new charges against X over alleged illegal sexual deepfakes made by the platform’s Grok AI, as well as unlawful data extraction and other crimes.
“The French government is accusing X of the very things the French government itself is doing,” Durov tweeted.
The French government is panicking. They know a major political shift in 2027 will expose their misdeeds – so they’re trying to silence free speech platforms under whatever pretext they think they can get away with.
He called on the international community to back X against what he called the French state’s “immoral assault” on the social media app.
French investigators initially launched their investigation of X and Grok in January, alleging that the platforms’ algorithms were biased and accusing the company of illegal data gathering and of possessing and spreading sexualized deepfakes created by its AI, including images involving minors.
The tech mogul has denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the legal action as a “political attack.”
Last month, the US Department of Justice reportedly denied a request from French prosecutors to cooperate in the investigation. US President Donald Trump’s administration has long been critical of what it has called attacks on free speech and political opposition in the EU and UK.
Durov’s Telegram has also faced legal troubles in France. The entrepreneur was arrested at a Paris airport in 2024 and indicted on a dozen charges after French prosecutors accused him of being complicit in crimes committed using his social media platform. Durov has since been allowed to leave France, despite the ongoing investigation.
RT explores how Moscow repeatedly pleaded for a second front years before D-Day
Long before the D-Day landings came to symbolize the decisive turning point of the Second World War in many Western narratives, the Soviet Union had already spent years bearing the brunt of the war against Nazi Germany, suffering massive losses while repeatedly urging Britain and the US to open a second front.
By June 1944, when Allied troops landed in Normandy, the S
RT explores how Moscow repeatedly pleaded for a second front years before D-Day
Long before the D-Day landings came to symbolize the decisive turning point of the Second World War in many Western narratives, the Soviet Union had already spent years bearing the brunt of the war against Nazi Germany, suffering massive losses while repeatedly urging Britain and the US to open a second front.
By June 1944, when Allied troops landed in Normandy, the Soviet Union had already spent almost three years bearing the brunt of the war, grinding down Hitler’s forces on the Eastern Front after suffering devastating losses and the brutal occupation of much of its territory.
Not only did 27 million Soviet citizens died during the war – a toll unmatched by any other Allied nation – approximately 70% to over 80% of all German military deaths in WWII occurred on the Eastern Front, fighting the USSR. Yet in much of today’s Western discourse, the Soviet role in defeating Hitler is often overshadowed.
The issue resurfaced recently after US President Donald Trump delivered a Victory in Europe Day statement praising the US and Britain for defeating Nazi Germany without mentioning the Soviet Union.
RT’s Caleb Maupin argued that many Western countries that later formed NATO remain uncomfortable acknowledging the scale of the Soviet sacrifice in World War Two, saying it conflicts with the anti-Russia narrative that has dominated in recent decades.
Kiev should keep its UAVs away from Estonian territory, the country’s defense minister has said
Ukraine should not be using Estonian airspace for drone attacks on Russia, the Baltic nation’s defense minister, Hanno Pevkur, has said.
Over the past few weeks, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland have reported several cases of Ukrainian UAVs crashing in their territory. Moscow previously accused NATO members of quietly permitting Ukraine to targe
Kiev should keep its UAVs away from Estonian territory, the country’s defense minister has said
Ukraine should not be using Estonian airspace for drone attacks on Russia, the Baltic nation’s defense minister, Hanno Pevkur, has said.
Over the past few weeks, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland have reported several cases of Ukrainian UAVs crashing in their territory. Moscow previously accused NATO members of quietly permitting Ukraine to target Russian territory, particularly energy facilities in northwestern Leningrad Region.
Earlier this week, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said that he told Vladimir Zelensky that Helsinki deems Ukrainian aircraft entering its airspace “unacceptable.”
Speaking about incursions by Kiev’s UAVs on Sunday, Pevkur said that the Estonian authorities “will start dealing with this very quickly now.” Kiev would have to explain “what exactly it means and what they themselves had in mind by it,” he added.
“Certainly, the easiest way for the Ukrainians to keep their drones away from our territory is to control their activities better,” the defense minister said, as cited by ERR website.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said earlier this week that Kiev has every right to carry out attacks inside Russia, but added that Tallinn is concerned about the possibility of more serious incidents involving UAVs.
“Russia could take control of Ukrainian drones and send them toward us,” Tsahkna claimed.
Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds previously declined to criticize Ukraine, insisting that it “has every right to defend itself.” Breaches of Riga’s airspace by foreign aircraft will continue as long as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine remains unresolved, Spruds claimed, blaming Moscow for the incursions.
Kiev is considering sending Ukrainian expert teams “to help directly strengthen the airspace” of the four countries, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga wrote on X on Friday.
Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said in April that either Western air defenses are proving ineffective against Ukrainian UAVs or the Baltic States and Finland “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia.”
The president has recently threatened NATO members with withdrawals over their refusal to back the war on Iran
US President Donald Trump has indicated that moving American troops from Germany to Poland is on the table. The statement comes as the Pentagon prepares to withdraw around 5,000 soldiers from the Western European nation over the next year.
Trump first announced plans to withdraw the troops from the country earlier this month. The announc
The president has recently threatened NATO members with withdrawals over their refusal to back the war on Iran
US President Donald Trump has indicated that moving American troops from Germany to Poland is on the table. The statement comes as the Pentagon prepares to withdraw around 5,000 soldiers from the Western European nation over the next year.
Trump first announced plans to withdraw the troops from the country earlier this month. The announcement came shortly after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Washington “obviously has no strategy” in the Iran war and that the US “is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership.”
Trump has since gone on to warn that the Pentagon would be “cutting a lot further than 5,000” of the roughly 36,000 active-duty service members from Germany.
“Well Poland would like that,” Trump told journalists on Friday when asked about the prospect. “We have a great relationship with Poland. I have a great relationship with the president. ... I like him a lot, so that’s possible.”
Polish President Karol Nawrocki said on Wednesday that Poland is prepared to host US troops withdrawn from Germany and that he would personally lobby Trump to redeploy them eastward. However, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned on Monday that Warsaw should not “poach” troops from its allies.
Trump has also threatened more members of the US-led military bloc with troop withdrawals. Last week, the US president claimed he would consider removing some American soldiers stationed in Italy and Spain, stating that the former hadn’t been “of any help” to the US as the latter had been “absolutely horrible.”
Spain has denied the use of a naval base near Cadiz for strikes on Iran and closed its airspace to US aircraft involved in the campaign, with officials and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemning the war as illegal and unjust.
Italy has also denied access to its air base in Sicily, citing the need for prior authorization. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the conflict has worsened regional instability and driven up energy prices, and called Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV over his opposition to the war “unacceptable.”
The US president has repeatedly called NATO a “paper tiger” after allies refused to join the US-Israeli bombing campaign in the Middle East, and has accused the bloc of failing to properly support US efforts in Ukraine.
Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz are pushing global inventories toward operational ‘stress’ and ‘floor’ levels, the outlet has reported
Global oil inventories are shrinking at the fastest pace on record amid continuing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg has reported.
The outlet cited data from Morgan Stanley on Saturday showing that global oil stockpiles fell by about 4.8 million barrels per day between March 1 and April 25. The f
Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz are pushing global inventories toward operational ‘stress’ and ‘floor’ levels, the outlet has reported
Global oil inventories are shrinking at the fastest pace on record amid continuing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg has reported.
The outlet cited data from Morgan Stanley on Saturday showing that global oil stockpiles fell by about 4.8 million barrels per day between March 1 and April 25. The figure surpasses previous inventory drawdown records tracked by the International Energy Agency, it added.
The Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast normally carries about one-fifth of the global oil and LNG trade. Tanker traffic through the waterway has remained heavily disrupted following the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran and repeated accusations by both sides of violating a fragile ceasefire.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump warned that Washington may revive and expand “Project Freedom,” a naval operation in the Strait of Hormuz, if a peace deal is not reached with Iran. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that military options remain on the table if diplomacy fails.
If disruptions continue, commercial oil inventories could fall to “operational stress levels” by June and reach “operational floor” levels by September – meaning stockpiles would approach the minimum volumes needed to keep pipelines, export terminals, and refineries functioning efficiently, Bloomberg wrote.
The US, which has increased crude and fuel exports to offset global supply disruptions, has also been drawing down its domestic inventories, Bloomberg noted. According to Energy Information Administration data, US fuel stockpiles recently fell to 11% below the five-year seasonal average. Despite President Trump’s claims that the US “doesn’t need” the Strait of Hormuz, the country still imports some crude oil from Persian Gulf producers.
The disruption of Gulf oil flows has reinforced the importance of Russian energy supplies despite a push by the EU to phase out imports of fossil fuels from the sanctioned country. According to media reports, Brussels has delayed plans for a permanent ban on Russian oil amid concerns that removing more crude from the market could tighten fuel supplies and push energy prices higher across the bloc.
Incidents during commemorative events were reported in Spain, Poland, Germany and other countries
Scuffles broke out in several European cities as Ukrainian nationals and pro-Kiev activists tried to disrupt Victory Day celebrations across the continent on May 9.
Russian expats in Europe and members of local civic organizations marked the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany by laying flowers at memorials to Soviet troops and participati
Incidents during commemorative events were reported in Spain, Poland, Germany and other countries
Scuffles broke out in several European cities as Ukrainian nationals and pro-Kiev activists tried to disrupt Victory Day celebrations across the continent on May 9.
Russian expats in Europe and members of local civic organizations marked the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany by laying flowers at memorials to Soviet troops and participating in ‘Immortal Regiment’ marches, carrying portraits of their relatives who fought in the Great Patriotic War. The commemorative events went on despite provocations by supporters of Ukraine.
The ‘Immortal Regiment’ march in the Spanish city of Barcelona was peaceful until participants were approached by a group of protesters, who also carried an anti-fascist banner, but began chanting anti-Russian slogans. The tensions escalated into a brief physical altercation between the sides, with the provocateurs retreating before the police could intervene.
In the Polish capital, Warsaw, pro-Kiev activists attempted to disrupt the flower laying ceremony at a Soviet memorial cemetery. They set up banners with nationalist slogans and used loudspeakers to play obscene songs. Footage captured a woman being pushed after attempting to snatch the Russian flag from one of the activists. Major clashes were avoided due to a large police presence in the area.
Minor scuffles occurred outside a Soviet memorial in Berlin’s Treptower Park after protesters carrying Ukrainian flags arrived on the scene, with at least two people being arrested. The German police also detained a number of people across the city for violating a ban on displaying Russian and Soviet symbols.
Members of the Ukrainian community wrapped in national flags also attempted to interfere with Victory Day celebrations in the Swiss city of Geneva, shouting nationalist slogans and singing Ukrainian songs.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier this week that “there were, there are and there will be provocations” during commemorative events, but that Moscow was ready for them. In a separate interview with RIA Novosti, Zakharova suggested that in Europe “many are being paid” to display hatred towards Russia.
Around 27 million Soviet citizens lost their lives during the Second World War, with Moscow repeatedly accusing the US and EU of distorting historical truth and trying to belittle the key role of the USSR in the victory against Nazi Germany.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has urged dialogue with Moscow after attending its Victory Day commemorations
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has pushed back against what he described as a “new Iron Curtain” between the EU and Russia, calling for the restoration of pragmatic dialogue with Moscow instead of continuing “hatred.”
Fico, who has described himself as one of the EU’s “black sheep” over his stance on Russia, was the only sitting EU l
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has urged dialogue with Moscow after attending its Victory Day commemorations
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has pushed back against what he described as a “new Iron Curtain” between the EU and Russia, calling for the restoration of pragmatic dialogue with Moscow instead of continuing “hatred.”
Fico, who has described himself as one of the EU’s “black sheep” over his stance on Russia, was the only sitting EU leader to travel to Moscow for Victory Day celebrations on May 9 and to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, drawing harsh criticism from Brussels and several member states.
In a video statement posted on Facebook on Saturday, Fico accused the EU of downplaying the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany. Speaking aboard the Slovak government jet while returning from Moscow, he warned that Brussels’ Russia policy was damaging the bloc’s competitiveness and energy security.
He also shared footage of his visit.
“I reject a new Iron Curtain between the European Union and Russia. We are interested in standard, friendly, and mutually beneficial relations with this world power,” Fico said.
He argued that the EU was making a “huge mistake” by relying on sanctions and military support for Ukraine instead of direct political dialogue with Moscow.
He said his talks in the Kremlin focused heavily on energy cooperation, accusing the EU of pursuing an “ideological” policy of cutting off Russian energy supplies at the expense of European competitiveness.
“We cannot, just out of hatred for Russia, replace one energy dependence with another – this time American,” he argued. According to energy data, the US supplied more than half of the bloc’s liquefied natural gas imports in 2025.
The European Commission has reportedly removed a proposal to fully phase out Russian oil imports from its near-term agenda amid concerns that the Iran war and continuing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz could further raise fuel prices and destabilize European energy supplies.
Members of the community attempted to storm a recruitment center after a local man was seized by the press gang
Ukrainian enlistment officers have reportedly opened fire at members of the Roma community who were attempting to storm a recruitment center in Transcarpathia, western Ukraine.
The incident occurred in the village of Mezhgorye on Saturday after a press gang seized a local man, according to Ukrainian journalist Vitaly Glagola. Around 30
Members of the community attempted to storm a recruitment center after a local man was seized by the press gang
Ukrainian enlistment officers have reportedly opened fire at members of the Roma community who were attempting to storm a recruitment center in Transcarpathia, western Ukraine.
The incident occurred in the village of Mezhgorye on Saturday after a press gang seized a local man, according to Ukrainian journalist Vitaly Glagola. Around 30 people reportedly gathered outside the enlistment office and tried to force their way inside by hurling objects and breaking down doors.
The journalist claimed that several shots were fired using a pistol and a Kalashnikov rifle. He added that officials initially denied the shooting, saying that only two blank rounds had been fired, which contradicted footage in which “at least four shots” could be heard.
“Now even the testimony of the TCC employees themselves does not match,” Glagola wrote on Telegram.
The confrontation was later confirmed by the Regional Territorial Recruitment Center and Social Support office, which acknowledged that a group had attempted to storm the military facility, “ignoring the lawful demands of military personnel.”
The “threat was localized, and the attack was repelled,” the office added in a statement on social media.
Faced with mounting losses, widespread desertion, and a shortage of willing recruits in the conflict with Russia, Ukrainian recruitment squads have increasingly resorted to coercion and brute force to fill the ranks.
The practice, commonly known as “busification,” involves military-age men being seized on the streets, at workplaces, and in residential areas before being taken to enlistment centers against their will and reportedly dispatched to the front after only cursory training.
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