 This time Medvedev started cursing EU, Romanian gold creates new conflict between West and Russia. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has vehemently rejected the EU's demand that Moscow return gold, that it claims belong to Romania, describing it as impudence. Recently the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on Moscow to send back 91.5 metric tons of gold and cultural artefacts that were exported to the Russian Empire in 1916 to 1917 by Romania. Writing on his social media page Medvedev, who currently serves as the Deputy Chairman of Russia's National Security Council, stated that I don't even know how to respond to such impudence. The EU has stolen $300 billion worth of Russian assets and is now demanding that Russia return gold to Romania? There is nothing to say but fuck off, Medvedev wrote. Previously Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova had pointed out that in 1935 the USSR had already returned a portion of the valuables to Romania as a sign of goodwill. She also recalled that the Soviet Union had forgiven Romania all of its debts for the troubles and destruction that it caused in Russia during World War II when Bucharest was an ally of Nazi Germany. That was despite all the atrocities that Hitler's Romanian allies committed on our land and this is no less than $300 million in reparations, i.e. if converted to today's money it would be something in the region of $4 billion. Zakharova wrote on her official telegram channel. The spokeswoman went on to state that if these Romanian debts to Russia and the Soviet Union were expressed in terms of bullion they would be equivalent to 1,365 to 1,665 tonnes of gold which is 20 to 25 times more than Romania's entire gold reserve that was sent to Russia in 1916 to 1917. Zakharova claimed that Romania was now using Russophobic platforms such as the European Parliament which is ready for any excuse to force onto us its century-old phantom debts. She suggested that Bucharest's demand may be part of a desperate attempt to fix the deplorable situation in Romania's national economy against the backdrop of farm strikes throughout the country. US ramps up military training for possible combat operations with Russia and China in Arctic. In recent years the United States has been ramping up its preparations for dominance in the Arctic. This move reflects growing concerns over the actions of Russia and China both of whom seek to expand their access to the Arctic for trade, resources and projecting power into this strategic region according to Business Insider. The US is entering a new era of heightened strategic rivalry in the Arctic and the more adversaries operate in the region the greater the likelihood of conflict. Back in 2021 the US military published its new strategy aimed at restoring Arctic dominance leading to a reorganization of its forces and priorities in Alaska. The strategy highlighted how rapidly melting sea ice around the Arctic Circle where warming occurs twice as fast as the rest of the world opens up new opportunities for natural resource extraction, shipping routes and commercial fishing resulting in increased Arctic navigation. With ice melting access to the region expands heightening its unpredictability while the US has long paid special attention to its military presence in Alaska and its ability to project force into the Arctic since World War II the peak of this attention came during the Cold War era. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent focus on counterinsurgency warfare in the Middle East the military was consumed with other priorities leading to its deterioration of its Arctic capabilities. Now the military hopes to rebuild its Arctic muscles that have atrophied over the past 20 years. Part of this process involves increasing military presence in the region to strengthen ties with allies such as Canada and Denmark. It also entails using this presence to deter Russia and China. South Korean Defence Chief Orders plan to kill Northern Korean leader Kim Jong-un. South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won-sik has called for quickly killing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and other top officials in Pyongyang in the event that war breaks out on the peninsula again. Shin issued this order telling South Korea's Army Special Warfare Command to make preparations for taking out North Korea's leader. If Kim Jong-un starts a war as a key unit of Korea massive punishment and retaliation you must become the world's strongest special operations unit to swiftly eliminate the enemy leadership. He said during a visit to the commando unit southeast of Seoul in Incheon Korea massive punishment and retaliation is South Korea's defence doctrine for delivering a debilitating retaliatory strike in response to a North Korean attack. It's part of Seoul's three-axis system for deterring a new war with Pyongyang which also includes preemptively eliminating a North Korean missile launch and shooting down missiles in flight. Shin made his visit to the Special Forces Command amid South Korea's ongoing Freedom Shield military exercise with the US military. Kim has called such joint exercises a rehearsal for invasion of North Korea and a provocation of war. The two Koreas have technically been at war for over seven decades after their 1950-1953 conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace agreement. In Seoul's latest drills with US troops, Special Forces have worked on infiltrating key command facilities and paralyzing their operations. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported the South Korean Army Special Warfare Command said it's preparing for various provocations from the North including terrorist attacks. We will move in, strongly suppress them and punish them until the end. Shin, the defence chief, also visited a key wartime command bunker in Songnam just south of Seoul. He said the joint exercise will hone operations to neutralise the North Korean nuclear and missile network at an early stage and attack the enemy in all areas including land, sea, air, space, cyber and electromagnetic waves. We need to further strengthen our capabilities so that we can overwhelm them.