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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during the Doha Forum 2024 on Dec. 7, 2024.
Russia ends missile deployment ban
Moscow had signaled the move in October, when it refused to commit to an extension of its New START nuclear arms treaty with Washington, scheduled to expire in February 2026. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated Sunday that there were currently “no conditions” for a strategic dialogue with the US.
Russia had already suspended its participation in New START in 2023 over US aid to Ukraine and in November 2024 fired an intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik” at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in response to strikes on its territory by Ukrainian forces with US and British missiles – an act Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened last week to repeat. With components of the Oreshnik allegedly reliant on Western technology, however, Russia faces potential hurdles in this latest chapter in the post-Cold War arms race.
Hard Numbers: Biden’s big Taiwan mouth, foreign troops in Mozambique, Putin’s approval, unsold cars in Caracas
2: For the second time, President Joe Biden has signaled that America would respond with military force to defend Taiwan if China invades, reversing more than four decades of US "strategic ambiguity" on the issue. The White House immediately walked the comment back (again), but Beijing has taken note.
24: That's the number of countries that have sent troops to fight a jihadist insurgency in northern Mozambique since October 2017. Rwandan forces managed to retake two key ports in recent months, but fighting in the resource-rich Cabo Delgado region continues.
1: Vladimir Putin’s approval rating fell by all of one point over the last month. Despite sanctions, war, and Russia’s increasing isolation, 83% of Russians surveyed by the Levada Center still approve of their president’s leadership. Do these numbers mean much? Watch our interview with Levada boss Lev Gudkov.
1,886: No one cares about cheap gas when they can't afford to purchase a car or truck due to hyperinflation. Venezuelans bought only 1,886 light vehicles last year, a 99% drop from the country’s peak in 2006-2007, despite lifting a ban on importing used vehicles in 2019.This comes to you from the Signal newsletter team of GZERO Media. Subscribe for your free daily Signal today.
People fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine arrive at Suceava train station in Romania.
Hard Numbers: Displaced Ukrainians, pro-Russia parties banned, Japan invests in India, Mexico City’s new airport
10 million: Ten million Ukrainians — almost a quarter of the country's population — have already fled their homes amid the Russian invasion, the UN refugee agency said on Sunday. Most of the externally displaced have gone to neighboring Poland.
11: Ukraine has suspended 11 pro-Russia political parties while martial law remains in place. One of them is the Opposition Platform For Life, which holds about a tenth of seats in parliament and is led by Viktor Medvedchuk, Moscow's top ally in the country.
42 billion: Japan will invest $42 billion in India over the next five years, PM Fumio Kishida announced on Saturday during his visit to Delhi. Separately, Kishida is hoping to convince Indian PM Narendra Modi to formally oppose Russia’s war in Ukraine, which Modi has so far refused.
2.5: On Monday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will inaugurate the capital’s new airport, one of his flagship infrastructure projects. But the terminal is located so far from downtown Mexico City that critics say the trip could take up to 2.5 hours, longer than most domestic flights.