Russia reacts to the US’s ‘new turn of escalation’

Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT. Here’s what I’m covering today:

The Kremlin has said the US decision to let Ukraine launch limited strikes inside Russia with US-made long-range missiles marks a “new turn of escalation” in the conflict and said Moscow would react “appropriately”.

Joe Biden has authorised Ukraine to launch limited strikes into Russia using US-made long-range missiles, known as Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, which have a range of up to 300km, or 190 miles.

The move comes in response to the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to support Russia in recent weeks and a “massive” strike on Ukraine over the weekend, which included 120 missiles and 90 drones, targeting the country’s power facilities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded for months for the US and other partner countries such as France and the UK to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of western-made, long-range weapons inside Russia, arguing the missiles were necessary to hit Moscow’s forces before they could launch new attacks on Ukrainian targets.

President-elect Donald Trump is sceptical of providing more military aid to Ukraine and has vowed to bring a swift end to the war — without saying how exactly he would do that.

What do you think of Biden’s change of heart? Vote in this latest poll by clicking on the image and dragging the cursor to the left or right.

And here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• G20 summit: Leaders from the world’s richest nations gather today in Rio de Janeiro, with the re-election of Donald Trump threatening to disrupt international initiatives on climate change and taxation.

• COP 29: Ministers involved in leading UN COP29 negotiations have landed in Baku in a bid to break an impasse over a new global finance deal in the final week of the UN-sponsored climate summit.

• Economic data: Colombia’s statistics agency will release third-quarter economic growth figures.

Five more top stories

1. Donald Trump has nominated Brendan Carr to head the Federal Communications Commission, handing a vociferous critic of Big Tech the job of regulating television, internet services and radio in the US. Carr, the most senior Republican on the FCC, has previously suggested curbing the legal protections for internet publishers enshrined in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. He also authored a chapter for the controversial Project 2025.

2. US business leaders are warning that Donald Trump’s plan to deport millions of undocumented workers could create mass labour shortages, closing restaurants, crippling farms and small businesses and raising prices. One immigration lawyer said: “People are worried about the price of food now? Wait until [food producers] can’t get workers.”

3. Iran has kept the door open to negotiations with Donald Trump’s administration, but warned that any attempt to reimpose “maximum pressure” would fail to extract concessions from the Islamic republic. Read the Financial Times’ interview with deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, who said the 2015 nuclear deal — from which Trump withdrew — “could still serve as a foundation”.

4. Novo Nordisk is preparing to unveil data for a “next-generation” weight-loss drug it believes could lead the field of GLP-1 treatments. The company, developer of Wegovy, expects late-stage data for CagriSema, due to be published next month, to show that the drug cuts weight by 25 per cent in just over a year. Here’s more on what we know about the CagriSema trial.

5. An octogenarian oil trader has been given a 17-and-a-half-year jail sentence in Singapore for defrauding HSBC. Lim Oon Kuin, once one of Singapore’s richest men, was accused of encouraging a company executive to forge documents that tricked the bank into disbursing nearly $112mn. Here’s more on the sentencing of the 82-year-old.

The Big Read

Years after one of the worst spills in history in the Gulf of Mexico, oil companies are drilling even deeper into the seabed in search of discoveries. But while the industry heralds a new era in offshore drilling, the increase in activity — with almost $104bn expected to be invested this year — has raised concerns.

We’re also reading and listening to . . . 

Chart of the day

The German federal election on February 23 will determine the fate of Europe’s largest economy. Voters go to the polls seven months earlier than planned following the collapse of the ruling coalition this month. The FT has launched its German election poll tracker to track the progress of the parties in contention to win.

Take a break from the news

The most-watched show in Netflix history is back. Hwang Dong-hyuk, creator, talks to the FT about what inspired the show’s ultra-violent critique of capitalism — and why he lost nine of his teeth during the making of season one.