ACTUAL NEWS: Tuesday, April 22nd 2025 Daily Briefing
- Olga Nesterova
- Apr 22
- 12 min read
QUICK HITS
Tomorrow, the U.S. delegation in London [was supposed to] officially propose recognizing Crimea as Russian and freezing the front line as part of a potential peace agreement — Washington Post reported.
Then the latest news came in:
"Secretary of State Rubio said he would skip the next stage of the Ukrainian cease-fire talks. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not accept any deal that recognized Moscow’s legal control of Crimea."
Special envoy Kellogg will still travel to London to attend the meeting.
President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, will visit Moscow this week for a new round of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine, the White House said on Tuesday.
My take: This is the moment where the U.S. and EU arrive at a true fork in the road.
What began as bold claims of “finishing the war in 24 hours” evolved into talk of reopening embassies in D.C. and Moscow, lifting sanctions, encouraging business investments, and celebrating curated “heartfelt” moments between the murderous Putin and a real-estate mogul turned on-the-job diplomat, Witkoff. And now, it ends with the capitulation of the world’s largest democracy — the not-so-United States of America.
Shame. And more than that: deep disappointment and sadness.
What’s already been done — to our partners, and more importantly, to the very system that underpins our democracy — will take decades to undo. It will require humility, countless apologies, and a sustained effort of goodwill to make America as “great” as it was before January 20th, 2025.
The Kremlin’s Wish List: Moscow Eyes a Grand Bargain with Trump Over Ukraine
As Russia considers negotiations with Washington, officials aim far beyond a ceasefire—seeking a historic realignment of global power, The Moscow Times reports.
As Moscow signals readiness for possible talks with Washington to end its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials are aiming for much more than a battlefield pause. The Kremlin is pursuing what it views as a once-in-a-generation opportunity: a grand bargain that would reset the global order in its favor, enshrining Russia’s dominance in the post-Soviet space and securing symbolic and strategic recognition from the United States.
According to multiple sources close to the Kremlin, Russia’s leadership believes U.S. President Donald Trump might be open to a sweeping deal. In pursuit of that, officials have begun assembling an array of incentives designed to appeal directly to Trump’s personal interests, ranging from economic partnerships and rare earths deals to geopolitical gestures involving Iran and North Korea, and even resurrecting plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow.
“The main thing is that they don’t interfere in our affairs,” one senior Russian official said of the U.S. “That they don’t hinder us in doing what we are doing.”
Trump’s envoy to Russia, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, met with President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg—further fueling speculation of a backchannel effort to establish a dealmaking framework.
Talks of Symbolism and Strategy
While the Kremlin acknowledges the collapse of the old arms-control-based U.S.-Russia diplomatic structure, it still believes symbolic gestures—such as a potential Putin visit to the White House—could reinforce a new era of bilateral understanding.
But absent that structure, Russian officials admit the scope for serious negotiation has narrowed. “This architecture no longer exists,” said a senior diplomat. “Arms control only interests Trump in the context of his rivalry with China.”
Still, Moscow sees Ukraine as its most potent bargaining chip. With Trump publicly supportive of a quick resolution to the war, Russian officials are eager to offer a temporary ceasefire in exchange for limits on U.S. arms transfers to Kyiv or other strategic concessions.
A fragile, informal truce appeared to emerge after a call between Putin and Trump in March, when Putin reportedly agreed to a 30-day pause in attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. However, Ukrainian officials confirmed Russia has violated that pause repeatedly, and no formal agreement was ever reached.
“We need to milk Trump as much as possible, dangling the possibility of a ceasefire like a carrot,” said one participant in internal Kremlin discussions.
Packaging the Pitch to Trump
In the weeks following Trump’s 2024 election victory, the Kremlin directed major corporations—including Rosatom, Rosneft, Rusal, and gold producer Polyus—to draft proposals for renewed economic engagement with the U.S. Officials working around the clock developed ideas tied to energy, rare earth minerals, and nuclear technology.
Yet, trade volumes between the two countries remain historically low, making many of the economic proposals unconvincing. Russian officials now view symbolic and high-impact ventures as more viable.
Among the flashiest: reviving the plan for a Trump Tower in Moscow. A proposal for a 150-story skyscraper in the Moscow City business district is reportedly ready for fast-track approval. “Speed, impact and showiness—those are things Trump intuitively values,” said a source close to the Kremlin.
Other ideas floated include a humanitarian mission in Gaza and informal energy coordination between Russia, the U.S., and Saudi Arabia. But officials acknowledge the limitations of their leverage, particularly in regions like Africa or space exploration, which are unlikely to entice Trump.
The Risk of Collapse
Despite the ambition, Kremlin insiders recognize the window for such a deal may close quickly. Trump could lose interest—or worse, feel slighted. Russian officials are also preparing fallback plans, including blaming Kyiv if ceasefire talks fail, and bracing for the possible return of a united Western front if negotiations collapse.
Still, many in Moscow remain cautiously optimistic.
“We are on the right track,” said one diplomat. “The priority is to recalibrate relations with the United States… while keeping dialogue on Ukraine alive. Ultimately, it’s all about time, patience, and staying the course.”
At the heart of the Kremlin’s plan is one clear principle: make it personal for Trump. Officials believe that only ideas with immediate impact, clear media appeal, and personal relevance will hold his attention.
“Without that,” a senior official concluded, “it’s naive to expect any progress.”
TODAY IN HISTORY
1073: Gregory VII—later canonized as a saint—was elected pope by acclamation, succeeding Alexander II.
1370: Construction began on the Bastille in Paris, a fortress that would later become a potent symbol of French absolutism and tyranny.
1500: Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, following Vasco da Gama’s route to India, sighted the coast of present-day Brazil near Pôrto Seguro, claiming it for Portugal.
1864: The U.S. Congress passed the Coinage Act, leading to the inscription “In God We Trust” being added to American coins—a phrase later extended to all U.S. currency.
1889: At noon, a federal land rush was declared in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), prompting tens of thousands of white settlers to claim plots of land.
1915: During World War I, German troops released chlorine gas along a 4-mile front at the Second Battle of Ypres—the first large-scale use of chemical weapons in warfare.
1970: The first Earth Day was celebrated in the United States, founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson to promote environmental awareness; it quickly became a global movement.
1983: The German magazine Stern announced the discovery of the so-called Hitler Diaries—60 volumes allegedly written by Adolf Hitler—but they were soon exposed as forgeries.
1994: Richard M. Nixon, the 37th president of the United States and the only one to resign from office, died at age 81.
2004: Former NFL player Pat Tillman, who had left football to enlist in the U.S. Army after 9/11, was killed in Afghanistan. Though initially reported as enemy fire, his death was later revealed to be the result of friendly fire.
2016: Over 170 countries signed the Paris Agreement, a global accord aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change; it officially came into force in November of that year.
QUICK ACTUAL NEWS
NATIONAL
The Trump administration is proposing a major overhaul of the U.S. State Department that would eliminate more than 100 offices including some working on war crimes and rights advocacy to ensure the agency is in line with President Donald Trump's "America First" priorities.
A federal jury in Manhattan on Tuesday found the New York Times not liable for allegedly defaming Sarah Palin in a 2017 editorial about gun control, dealing the former Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate a second loss at trial.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Tuesday to halt efforts to shut down Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, whose news broadcasts are funded by the government to export U.S. values to the world.
Willie Phillips, a Democratic commissioner on the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, resigned on Tuesday, opening the way for President Donald Trump to nominate another member who would give the five-member panel a Republican majority.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday backed off from threats to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell after days of intensifying criticisms of the central bank chief for not cutting interest rates.
The IMF's chief economist, asked on Tuesday about U.S. President Donald Trump's attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, underlined the importance of preserving the independence of central banks to maintain their credibility in fighting inflation.
Federal Reserve Bank of Minnesota President Neel Kashkari said on Tuesday it is too soon to know how short-term borrowing costs may need to be adjusted for U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and their expected impact on inflation and the economy.
RTX on Tuesday cautioned that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs could chip away $850 million from its 2025 profits, sending its shares down 8.5%, even as it beat expectations for quarterly results and reaffirmed its full-year forecasts.
West Virginia Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito asked U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. on Monday to reinstate programs aimed at protecting coal miners that were hit with layoff notices.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said on Tuesday that the agency plans to remove petroleum-based synthetic food dyes from the U.S. food supply by revoking authorizations of some and working with industry to voluntarily remove others.
The White House has no immediate plans to strip climate-focused non-profit organizations of their tax exempt status, a White House official said on Tuesday, as those groups marshalled efforts to prepare for a slew of executive orders.
The U.S. Justice Department is reassigning about a dozen senior career attorneys from its civil rights unit, four people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, as President Donald Trump's administration steers the division away from its historic priorities.
Top producer of ‘60 Minutes’ quits, saying he lost independence. CBS News entered a new period of turmoil after Bill Owens, the executive producer of the long-running Sunday news program, said he would resign. The show has faced mounting pressure from both President Trump and its corporate ownership at Paramount.
The Air Force has tapped sites in Oregon to build its first two new Over-the-Horizon Radars, capable of detecting inbound missile threats from up to 4,000 nautical miles away. The service is hoping to start construction by the end of 2028.
Lockheed Martin will not file a protest on the Air Force’s decision to pick Boeing for the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter, executives said in an earnings call. Instead, the firm wants to integrate the technology it developed for NGAD into the F-35 to create a “Ferrari” version of the fifth-generation fighter, executives said. The announcement means the Air Force has dodged a slight delay to the NGAD program and a possible second competition.
Hundreds, or possibly thousands, of transgender service members have returned to work after two judges ordered preliminary injunctions blocking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ban of transgender service members and recruits. But their long-term future remains uncertain.
The Space Force spelled out how it plans to fight a war in space in a new document last week, defining and refreshing many terms already familiar to military planners as USSF leaders seek to “normalize” orbital warfare.
Thousands of allied American and Filipino forces opened annual combat drills April 21 that include repelling an island attack to simulate the defense of the Philippine archipelago and seas in a “full-scale battle scenario” that has antagonized China.
President Trump spoke April 20 with embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and vowed to stick by him despite new revelations that he shared sensitive information about a military strike in another group chat.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Tuesday of possible prosecutions of former senior advisors who were fired during a probe into leaks of Pentagon information to the media, saying evidence would be handed over to the Department of Justice once the investigation is completed.
Two U.S. judges on Tuesday extended temporary blocks on some deportations of Venezuelan migrants and signaled that President Donald Trump's invocation of a 1798 law historically used in wartime to speed up their removal from the United States may not survive judicial review.
The military’s top enlisted adviser—a senior adviser to the Joint Chiefs chairman—will be stepping down in the months to come, Pentagon officials told Military.com on April 21. Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Troy Black will depart the post and retire from military service after the newly confirmed Joint Chiefs chairman, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chose not to renew Black’s posting for another two-year stretch, one official said.
The Air Force Office of Special Investigations warned Airmen and former service members of a “recruitment scheme” that could trick them into working for “foreign intelligence entities.” “These aren’t just job offers, they’re intelligence operations in disguise,” Special Agent Lee Russ, executive director of AFOSI Office of Special Projects, said in a report from the office.
The head of Boeing’s space mission systems business envisions at least two of the company’s product lines as a clear fit for the Pentagon’s Golden Dome homeland missile defense capability—the X-37B spaceplane and a fleet of missile-tracking satellites the firm is developing for the Space Development Agency’s “Foo Fighter” program.
A new app is helping to fill a gap in short-term child care needs for some military families. Kinderspot allows parents to sublet their child care spaces at Air Force child development centers when they’re away for vacation or other reasons, connecting them to other eligible Department of Defense families who need the child care.
GLOBAL
Global economic growth is expected to slow in the coming months as President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on nearly all major trading partners begin to take effect, the International Monetary Fund warned
Tuesday. The announcement comes as finance ministers and central bankers from around the world arrive in Washington, seeking to strike deals with Trump’s team to ease trade tensions.
Denmark’s King Frederik X reaffirmed his deep ties to Greenland on Tuesday, amid growing debate about the Arctic territory's future. “We live in a changed reality. There should be no doubt about my love for Greenland, and my connection to the Greenlandic people is intact,” the monarch said.
President Trump voiced strong support for India on Tuesday after a deadly attack in Jammu and Kashmir, where suspected militants opened fire on tourists, killing at least 20. “India has the full support of the United States,” Trump said in a brief statement.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told investors in a closed-door session at a JP Morgan conference Tuesday that a de-escalation of U.S.-China trade tensions is possible—but that talks with Beijing have not yet begun and are expected to be a “slog,” according to a source in the room.
In a show of growing strategic cooperation between China and Egypt, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has deployed multiple combat aircraft to Wadi Abu Rish Air Base for Eagles of Civilization 2025, its first aerial training exercise with Egyptian forces.
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department is warning allies to steer clear of deals with Chinese satellite companies, citing concerns that such partnerships bolster Beijing’s military capabilities and facilitate the collection of sensitive intelligence from U.S. partners.
The United States issued new sanctions on Tuesday targeting Iranian liquefied petroleum gas magnate Seyed Asadoollah Emamjomeh and his corporate network, the Treasury Department said, amid ongoing talks with Tehran on its nuclear program.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
Did you know?
In December 2023, Pope Francis personally contributed funds from his private account to purchase a drone for the Ukrainian army, according to journalist Oleksandr Zinchenko. At the time, a fundraiser was underway to support the 93rd Mechanized Brigade "Kholodnyi Yar." Zinchenko says a trusted representative of the Pope reached out and offered to help. While the campaign successfully secured two drones, the Pope's donation covered the cost of a third. Organizers considered naming it after him but opted for discretion, ultimately calling it "Santa"—with the Vatican donor listed simply as "Secret Santa."
POSTS OF THE DAY
NEWS CLIPS - NO COMMENTARY
8:30am and Hegseth was talking about cocktails
AG hosts a Task Force Mtg on combatting alleged "Anti-Christian Bias"
Trump says he doesn't know when the Epstein files will be released
Leavitt: The government can and will collect defaulted federal student loan debt by withholding tax refunds, federal pensions, and even their wages.
Trump says the cost of eggs has come down "like 93, 94%" since he took office
Sean Penn visited Ukraine
PM Carney: These numbers are a joke. We aren't in a joke. We are in the worst crisis of our lives. It takes a serious government. It takes a serious plan. It takes a plan that delivers today. It takes a plan that delivers investment. It takes a plan that grows this economy, stands up to Trump, and moves forward with the brilliance of the workers here and across Quebec, and across Canada.
RFK Jr claims he never heard of ADD, ADHD, Tourette syndrome, Narcolepsy, Autism when he was a kid
Vance: Trump and PM Modi set a goal to double US-India trade to $500B by 2030
Carney mocks Poilievre for pledging to end the ban on single-use plastic straws
100K tons of munitions blown by UKR at the missile & artillery arsenal in Vladimir reg near Moscow
That's all from me for now. Thank you for reading.
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