MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Ukraine intensifies attacks on Russia amid peace plan discussions, and the EU’s eastern flank leaders gather in Helsinki to discuss the Russian threat. Meanwhile, the United States ramps up operations off Venezuelan coasts. These stories topped Wednesday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.

 

Izvestia: Kiev intensifies attacks on Russia amid peace plan discussions

Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russia amid an active negotiation process. Since the second half of November, the number of attacks has increased by almost one-third, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told Izvestia. In parallel, EU leaders issued a joint statement outlining security guarantees for Kiev. According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Washington will be able to provide those if Ukraine agrees to territorial concessions. Experts argue that Kiev is seeking to involve the United States in a direct confrontation with Russia.

On December 16, Vladimir Zelensky visited the Netherlands for talks with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof and the Netherlands’ top diplomat and defense chief. During his visit, he also took part in a conference in The Hague to launch an International Claims Commission for Ukraine.

Ukraine’s desperate attempts to demonstrate military successes to its sponsors come against the backdrop of more active talks: on December 14 and 15, Berlin hosted consultations on a peace plan between Washington and Kiev. Among other topics, the Berlin meetings discussed security guarantees for Ukraine that envisage maintaining the size of Ukraine’s army at 800,000 troops, providing a response mechanism for any breaches of a ceasefire, and deploying a European-led multinational force as part of the coalition of the willing.

The multinational force issue is mostly aimed at putting pressure, primarily on US President Donald Trump, political analyst Vadim Siprov believes. "Should the Europeans send their troops to Ukraine or should an armed incident take place, this could be used as a pretext to invoke NATO’s Article 5," he told Izvestia.

As the United States is not going to fight Russia, it should not be expected to support this initiative. Nor is the United States likely to pursue any bilateral deal with Ukraine, Siprov argued. According to him, Kiev will seize the opportunity to draw Washington into a military conflict with Russia, a scenario that is unacceptable to the Americans. Therefore, the expert added, one should not expect any guarantees that would require direct US commitment.

 

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: EU's eastern flank leaders see Russia as key threat

On December 16, the leaders of Sweden, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria gathered in Helsinki for a one-day meeting. The Eastern Flank Summit, the first of its kind, was hosted by Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo with a view to outlining protective measures against Russia and requesting solid funding from the European Union to enhance defense.

"Russia remains a threat to Europe today, tomorrow and in the near future," the Finnish head of government argued. Even if there is peace in Ukraine, Russia will still be a threat as it could move its military forces closer to the Finnish border and the Baltic border, Orpo insisted.

The idea behind the Helsinki summit was to "send a blunt message to Brussels" and press for dedicated funding to strengthen defense along the EU’s eastern flank. Related projects include border security, enhanced air defenses, fighting drones and improving ground forces mobility.

Nadezhda Arbatova, head of the Department of European Political Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta the goals of the Helsinki summit are not contingent on a Ukraine settlement. "The eight Helsinki leaders argue that Europe has already entered a protracted period of confrontation and that once-buffer European countries will become frontier countries in the event of a war with Russia," the expert stressed.

According to her, while the eastern flank countries form an integral part of the Western security alliance, covered by NATO’s Article 5 on collective defense, they continue to be driven by a feeling of vulnerability and anxiety about their future. "NATO’s expansion, it turns out, that has been a bone of contention between Russia and the West, has failed to assure these countries of their own security, especially amid a creeping US withdrawal from Europe. This means that Russia’s neighbors will have greater participation in the EU’s defense initiatives and projects to strengthen NATO’s European pillar, which will increasingly become a format of interaction between the EU and the US," Arbatova believes.

 

Izvestia: US ramps up operations near Venezuela amid blockade fears

Washington has increased its military presence near Venezuela’s coasts as it keeps attacking vessels it says are trafficking drugs to the United States. The latest US strike targeted three boats, killing eight people, while over the past several months at least 90 people have been killed. Meanwhile, the White House is still warning of a ground invasion.

Earlier this week, Trinidad and Tobago granted approval for US warplanes to transit its airports, and the Dominican Republic issued the United States a similar authorization in late November. In addition, The Wall Street Journal reported, the US military is moving F-35A fifth-generation stealth strike fighters, the Boeing EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, Sikorsky HH-60W helicopters and Lockheed HC-130Js to Puerto Rico. Earlier, the US deployed tanker aircraft designed to refuel fighters and bombers in the air to the Dominican Republic. The White House has defended the moves as essential to fight narco-terrorists.

"Today, we can see that Trump is acting more in favor of imposing a naval and air blockade on Venezuela, while he has refrained from a direct invasion due to political and military risks," Yegor Lidovskoy, director general of the St. Petersburg-based Hugo Chavez Latin American Center, told Izvestia. "Actions in this direction will undoubtedly be continued. As regards the likelihood of a direct ground invasion, it has also been considerable," he added.

Caracas has adjusted and strengthened its defense strategy against the backdrop of external threats, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro told a senior-level meeting of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).

Earlier this month, Venezuela announced that 5,600 new recruits had been sworn into its armed forces. The decision was made amid "growing imperialistic threats," according to pro-government media outlets. This is in addition to a massive mobilization of 200,000 personnel and a similarly sized police force across the Latin American country.

 

Vedomosti: US to overhaul its military command with reduced focus on Europe, Middle East

The US Department of Defense is mulling changes at the military’s highest ranks, The Washington Post (WP) reported, citing sources. Potential moves would shift resources from the Middle East and Europe and focus primarily on expanding military operations in the Western Hemisphere, the sources specified. Among other things, the Pentagon is discussing establishing an Arctic Command that would report to Americom, the WP said.

This would cut the total number of US commands from 11 to eight, with US Indo-Pacific Command, Cyber Command, Special Operations Command, Space Command, Strategic Command and Transportation Command remaining intact.

The plan to reform US combatant commands may come not only amid a shift in military-political priorities but also because of the need to streamline control of the military by the US political leadership, Oleg Krivolapov, head of the Department of Military-Political Studies at the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies, explained to Vedomosti. "On the one hand, there’s clearly no need to reform Indo-Pacific Command, which is a long-term priority in any case. On the other hand, US Space Command’s status could become more complex even as the Trump administration may view it as no less of a priority than Indo-Pacific Command," the expert continued.

The final plan, when and if it is ever adopted, will seek a leaner budget and a push to maintain and strengthen the US posture in the Western Hemisphere and the Asia-Pacific, Vladimir Pavlov, a research fellow at the MGIMO Institute of International Studies, said. These changes will entail not so much a reduction in the number of human resources but rather an increase in their combat readiness and military recruitment based on an analysis of the latest updates in military affairs, the expert explained.

 

Kommersant: Portfolio investors positive on next year’s global economic growth

The largest fund managers are optimistic about the global economic outlook for 2026. The bullish sentiment is fueled by sustained economic growth amid monetary easing by global central banks. As a result, fund managers have sharply reduced the amount of cash in their portfolios, bringing its share to record lows. Simultaneously, they have been investing more in equities, mostly in emerging markets and EU companies that look undervalued compared with the US stock market.

Market players have revised their basic expectations for the coming year. Fears that trade wars would slow down the US and global economies have not materialized, with recent data showing continued growth. "In Europe, fiscal stimulus through higher infrastructure and defense spending supports the economy, while increased investment in data centers has mostly bolstered the US economy," portfolio manager at Doveritelnaya brokerage Dmitry Terpelov told Kommersant.

While the Russian market has been effectively cut off from Western capital by mutual restrictions and is driven more by domestic variables, mechanisms of responding to global sentiments have persisted. "As a rule, any positive developments in the global economy are accompanied by rising prices for oil and other energy resources, as well as higher metal and fertilizer prices, which directly affect Russian exporters," Ruslan Klyshko, director of the wealth management department at AF Capital, noted. According to him, progress in peace talks and further easing of the Bank of Russia’s key rate remain the key triggers for the Russian stock market over the year-ahead horizon.

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