In U.S. dollar terms, that “cost” is a staggering $11.9 billion hit to the Russian economy. To put that into perspective, Venezuela is second-placed, taking a much more modest $1.91 billion hit to its already ravaged economy.

President Trump's actions in Venezuela also are causing unease in Western nations and giving the Kremlin fresh talking points to defend its war in Ukraine.

RUSSIA has torpedoed the latest Trump-backed bid to end the Ukraine war, issuing a furious rebuke amid fears of a “significant air attack” on Kyiv. Mad Vlad’s Ministry of Foreign

The US raid on Venezuela has exposed the limits of ties between Moscow and Caracas – while pointing the way for potential strategic opportunities for Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Washington’s new era of gunboat diplomacy.

The push for tax collection comes as Russia's growth has slowed to a near standstill nearly four years after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It is the latest in a series of attacks by Ukrainian naval and air drones on Russia-bound tankers in the Black Sea, as Kyiv looks to damage Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers transporting the oil which is so critical to Moscow’s wartime economy.

Russia's foreign minister said Ukraine had attacked the Russian president's state residence with drones, while Kyiv called the accusation a lie.

Hours after Trump declares Russia and Ukraine "closer than ever" to peace, Moscow claims a failed drone strike will alter its negotiating position.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a letter that he will support Putin's policies unconditionally and permanently, North Korean state media KCNA said on Friday.

January, President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine will have dragged on longer than the war on the Eastern Front that ended with the fall of Berlin in May 1945.

Over the past two weeks, Russian authorities tried hard to protect an oil tanker that the Americans wanted to seize. On Christmas Eve, Moscow permitted the ship to fly the Russian tricolor, a symbolic warning for U.S. forces to keep their distance.