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Russia unmoved — Putin uses annual presser to entrench Kremlin's peace demands

Russian President Vladimir Putin used his annual end-of-year press conference on Dec. 19 to reaffirm the Kremlin's maximalist demands for ending Russia's war in Ukraine, rejecting territorial compromise while repeating false claims about the invasion. Opening the tightly choreographed event, Putin said Moscow remains willing to engage in peace talks only on the terms he first outlined last year, insisting that Ukraine has shown no readiness to discuss territory. "We are ready and willing to en

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Since early December, the Russian ruble has continued to strengthen against global currencies: on Dec. 7, it reached a value of only 76 rubles for one U.S. dollar, a figure unseen since May 2023. It soon dropped to 79 rubles per U.S. dollar, an exchange rate close to one seen on the eve of Russia's full-scale war. Ruble's strength came despite increasing sanction pressure by the Trump administration, which began targeting Russian oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft in October. The measures, which f

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