Europe

MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/: Western borders of the Union State and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) are reliably protected, and a barrier for NATO forces have has been created thanks to the joint forces group, deployed in Belarus, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement ahead of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s working visit to Belarus.

GENEVA, January 18. /TASS/: Budapest is not supplying weapons to Kiev because it is concerned about the safety of ethnic Hungarians in western Ukraine, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told the CNBC TV channel on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

ST. PETERSBURG, January 18. /TASS/: Russia’s victory is unavoidable, it is based on the unity of the Russian people, the heroism of special operation fighters and the operation of the military-industrial complex (MIC), Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his visit to the Obukhov State Plant (an Almaz-Antey subsidiary) Wednesday.

The head of state noted that the Russian military-industrial complex produces as many air defense missiles as all world producers combined. In addition, Putin noted a number of other components that assure him of Russia’s victory.

LUETZERATH, Germany, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Environmental activist Greta Thunberg swiftly resumed campaigning on Wednesday after she was briefly detained in Germany during a protest against a coal mine expansion, tweeting that protecting the climate was not a crime.

"Yesterday I was part of a group that peacefully protested the expansion of a coal mine in Germany. We were kettled by police and then detained but were let go later that evening," tweeted Thunberg, whose whereabouts are unclear.

"Climate protection is not a crime."

MOSCOW, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that the United States was attempting to "contain" both Russia and China with the help of other countries, but they were alert to its "games".

Lavrov told a news conference that the West saw both countries as a threat - Russia right now, and China in the longer term as a systemic rival.

He said Washington was not powerful enough to keep in check both countries at once, so was mobilising Europe, Japan and others to join it.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Ukraine needs a "significant increase" in weapons at a pivotal moment in Russia's invasion and such support is the only way to a negotiated peaceful solution, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

Defence leaders from around 50 countries and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will hold talks at Germany's Ramstein Air Base on Friday, the latest in a series of meetings since Russian forces swept into Ukraine nearly 11 months ago.

Jan 18 (Reuters) - The increasingly prominent head of the Russian private military group Wagner on Wednesday took aim at the Kremlin administration for failing to block the U.S.-owned video sharing platform YouTube.

"YouTube is the information plague of our time," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a statement posted on his Telegram channel, alleging, without evidence, that 40% of the videos on the platform were "politicised and directed against Russia".

MOSCOW, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that the United States had assembled a coalition of European countries to solve "the Russian question" in the same way that Adolf Hitler had sought a "final solution" to eradicate Europe's Jews.

Lavrov, who caused an international furore last year with remarks about Hitler, said Washington was using the same tactic as Napoleon and the Nazis in trying to subjugate Europe in order to destroy Russia.

MOSCOW, Jan 18 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia's powerful military-industrial complex was ramping up production and was one of the main reasons why his country would prevail in Ukraine.

Speaking to workers at a factory in St Petersburg that makes air defence systems, Putin said overall military equipment output was rising even as demand for it was growing because of what he calls Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia will achieve its objectives in Ukraine despite a “hybrid war” waged by the West against Moscow, the top Russian diplomat said Wednesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the goals of Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine are “determined by Russia’s core legitimate interests” and will be fulfilled.

“There must be no military infrastructure in Ukraine that poses a direct threat to our country,” Lavrov said, adding that Moscow also intends to make sure the rights of ethnic Russians in Ukraine were protected.