???? A cargo ship, suspected of belonging to a Russian company and en route to St. Petersbourg, was intercepted in the English Channel, AFP reports citing French officials.

Russian space agency Roscosmos is suspending cooperation with Europe on launches from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, the head of the agency Dmitry Rogozin, says.

????Bulgaria has decided to close the national airspace for Russian aircraft over the Russian military operation in Ukraine, the country's Transport Ministry says.

????The Russian forces of the CSTO peacekeeping contingent are being sent to crisis-torn Kazakhstan from airfields in the Moscow, Ulyanovsk and Ivanovo regions. The forces, which had already arrived in Kazakhstan, started to perform their duties and will ensure the arrival of more troops, the Russian Ministry of Defense says.

?? Protesters gathered outside a jail in Washington, DC for the "Justice for J6" candlelight vigil in support of those being held in connection with the January 6 Capitol riot.

“I’m here because I’m protesting inhumane treatment of prisoners worldwide and taking of political prisoners in the United States of America," DC resident Alexander told Sputnik. "Right now we have totalitarians from the top of our government to the local officials… making their stay here as inhumane and tortured as possible.”

????North Korea will not take part in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing over the activities of "hostile forces" and the COVID-19 pandemic, the stare-run KCNA news agency reports.

????Chinese national Xiang Haitao, 44, pleaded guilty in a US court today to conspiring to steal trade secrets from agrochemical giant Monsanto, the Justice Department said. He will be sentenced in April and faces up to fifteen years in prison.

⚡️???The Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Stanislav Zas, told Sputnik how the CSTO peacekeeping mission in Kazakhstan will operate:

▪️the goals of the CSTO peacekeeping mission in Kazakhstan is to ensure security of strategic facilities and maintain public order, and not to disperse rallies as some falsely claim;

▪️ the duration of the CSTO mission will depend on the situation and on the decision of the republic’s leadership;

▪️ collective peacekeeping forces in Kazakhstan will be about 2,400 people, but may increase if necessary;

▪️ the CSTO expects peacekeeping forces to stay in Kazakhstan for not too long, “several days or weeks,”

▪️ all CSTO forces will be withdrawn from Kazakhstan once peacekeeping operation is over;

▪️ peacekeepers have the right to use weapons if attacked by armed groups;

▪️ the CSTO already has a candidate for the commander of the peacekeeping forces, but the decision is yet to be formalized.

??❗️ Kazakhstan's law enforcement officers have regained control over the former presidential residence and all other government buildings in Almaty, seized earlier by protesters, state news channel Khabar-24 reports.

⚡️???? US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call with Kazakhstani Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi advocated for "a peaceful, rights-respecting resolution to the crisis," the State Department said.