City AM
"Germany faces €5bn bill after Russia sanctions Gazprom division"
Nicholas Earl
6 JUNE 2022
Russian sanctions against Gazprom Germania could cost Germany an extra €5bn a year to pay for replacement gas supplies, after Russia decided to stop supplying the energy division.
Gazprom Germania was previously a subsidiary of state-backed Gazprom before it was ditched by its parent company.
This followed the German government putting the company under trustee management after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, the German energy regulator, acting as trustee, has had to buy replacement gas on the market to fulfil supply contracts with German municipal utilities and regional suppliers.
The economy ministry estimates an extra 10m cubic meters per day are required.
A spokesperson told news agency Reuters: “The quantities are procured on the market and at market prices."
"No information can be given on the exact amounts due to commercial confidentiality.”
German newspaper Welt am Sonntag has estimated the current cost would be around €3.5bn, while further costs could arise from the filling of the Rehden natural gas storage facility – which Economy Minister Robert Habeck ordered last week.
The paper revealed the additional costs would be passed on to energy suppliers and end customers in the form of a gas levy from October.
While Germany dropped its opposition to a ban on Russian oil imports, the country remains dependent on Russia for around half of its gas imports.
This is above the European Union (EU) average, with the trading bloc reliant for approximately 40 per cent of the oil it buys.
It has not joined calls for a potential ban on Russian gas supplies, with only Lithuania unilaterally bringing in an embargo earlier this year.
Germany has brought in early-phase emergency plans, which could lead to the government taking control of the country’s gas supplies, following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to sign into law requirements for ‘unfriendly’ buyers to pay in roubles for its gas supplies.
This includes German energy giant Uniper, which has bowed to the request and utilised a murky currency conversion system that technically does not breach sanctions.
By contrast, Dutch company GasTerra has refused to comply, while Poland, Bulgaria and Finland have already seen Russian gas flows cut off into their country.
Gazprom Germania is also the parent company of Gazprom Energy, which suffered an exodus of clients amid Western sanctions on the Kremlin despite previously being the biggest business supplier in the UK.
It is now considering a UK rebrand to disassociate itself from Gazprom, with the firm not selling Kremlin-backed energy supplies.
Instead, it resells gas from the National Grid, which comes from multiple providers including the North Sea industry.
Meanwhile, France is in talks with the United Arab Emirates to replace Russian oil purchases following the finalisation of an EU oil ban last week.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told Europe 1 radio: “There are discussions with the United Arab Emirates."
"We have to find an alternative to Russian oil.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... 5724bedd56
RUSSIA
Re: RUSSIA
REUTERS
"U.S. bars investors from buying Russian debt, stocks on secondary market"
By Daphne Psaledakis and Marc Jones
June 7, 2022
WASHINGTON/LONDON, June 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department has banned U.S. money managers from buying any Russian debt or stocks in secondary markets, on top of its existing ban on new-issue purchases, in its latest sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Despite Washington's sweeping sanctions in recent months, Americans were still allowed to trade hundreds of billions of dollars worth of assets already in circulation on secondary markets.
The Treasury said in guidance published on its website on Monday that the ban extends to all Russian debt and that all Russian firms' shares are affected, not just those of ones specifically named in sanctions.
"Consistent with our goal to deny Russia the financial resources it needs to continue its brutal war against Ukraine, Treasury has made clear that U.S. persons are prohibited from making new investments in the success of Russia, including through purchases on the secondary market," a Treasury spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The rules do still allow U.S. investors to sell or continue to hold Russian assets that they already own.
Buying shares in U.S. funds that contain Russian debt or equities will also still be possible.
Western funds have already dumped Russian assets en masse since the war in Ukraine started.
According to Morgan Stanley, Russian government and corporate debt on the international markets added up to just over $472 billion at the start of the year, making it one of the largest emerging market asset pools behind Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey.
The combined market cap of Moscow's main stock exchange, meanwhile, is currently around 35 trillion roubles ($588.24 billion) down from over 50 trillion in January.
The latest Treasury move surprised some analysts, especially because it was posted in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the department's website, rather than announced with the most recent round of sanctions.
"The surprising new thing here is that trading of all existing debt has been now been prohibited, at least for the U.S. citizens," said Seaport Global emerging market credit analyst Himanshu Porwal.
"We have been trading some of the names like Lukoil very actively, but now the U.S. accounts will be unwilling to transact."
The United States and its allies have imposed several rounds of measures on Moscow since its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
Russia calls its assault a special operation to demilitarize Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies say it is a baseless pretext for an unprovoked war.
Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos in New York; Editing by David Gregorio and Cynthia Osterman
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-t ... 022-06-07/
"U.S. bars investors from buying Russian debt, stocks on secondary market"
By Daphne Psaledakis and Marc Jones
June 7, 2022
WASHINGTON/LONDON, June 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department has banned U.S. money managers from buying any Russian debt or stocks in secondary markets, on top of its existing ban on new-issue purchases, in its latest sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Despite Washington's sweeping sanctions in recent months, Americans were still allowed to trade hundreds of billions of dollars worth of assets already in circulation on secondary markets.
The Treasury said in guidance published on its website on Monday that the ban extends to all Russian debt and that all Russian firms' shares are affected, not just those of ones specifically named in sanctions.
"Consistent with our goal to deny Russia the financial resources it needs to continue its brutal war against Ukraine, Treasury has made clear that U.S. persons are prohibited from making new investments in the success of Russia, including through purchases on the secondary market," a Treasury spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The rules do still allow U.S. investors to sell or continue to hold Russian assets that they already own.
Buying shares in U.S. funds that contain Russian debt or equities will also still be possible.
Western funds have already dumped Russian assets en masse since the war in Ukraine started.
According to Morgan Stanley, Russian government and corporate debt on the international markets added up to just over $472 billion at the start of the year, making it one of the largest emerging market asset pools behind Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey.
The combined market cap of Moscow's main stock exchange, meanwhile, is currently around 35 trillion roubles ($588.24 billion) down from over 50 trillion in January.
The latest Treasury move surprised some analysts, especially because it was posted in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the department's website, rather than announced with the most recent round of sanctions.
"The surprising new thing here is that trading of all existing debt has been now been prohibited, at least for the U.S. citizens," said Seaport Global emerging market credit analyst Himanshu Porwal.
"We have been trading some of the names like Lukoil very actively, but now the U.S. accounts will be unwilling to transact."
The United States and its allies have imposed several rounds of measures on Moscow since its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
Russia calls its assault a special operation to demilitarize Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies say it is a baseless pretext for an unprovoked war.
Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos in New York; Editing by David Gregorio and Cynthia Osterman
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-t ... 022-06-07/
Re: RUSSIA
FORBES
"Former German Chancellor Merkel Defends Russia Policy Against Accusations Of Appeasement"
Zachary Snowdon Smith, Forbes Staff
7 JUNE 2022
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel argued Tuesday that Russia would have invaded Ukraine much earlier if not for steps by Germany and its allies, as German officials face accusations their historically strong economic ties with Russia were a form of appeasement.
Key Facts
In her first interview since leaving office nearly six months ago, Merkel reportedly defended her opposition to starting the NATO membership process for Ukraine in 2008, a move Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described as a “miscalculation” (the same year, NATO agreed Ukraine could join the alliance but did not set a specific timeframe).
Merkel argued that at the time of the 2008 decision, Ukraine suffered from corruption and lacked a stable democratic government, and she said Putin would have reacted angrily if Ukraine — a former Soviet state Russia has sought to keep in its orbit for decades — entered the NATO alliance, according to a translation of her remarks by the Associated Press.
Merkel also defended Germany’s role in brokering the 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements, which opened a dialogue on self-government for two regions of eastern Ukraine that were partially taken over by Russian-backed separatists starting in 2014, terms Ukraine has opposed, according to Politico’s translation.
Merkel reportedly said she will not apologize for these steps, arguing diplomacy with Russia wasn’t necessarily wrong even if it was unsuccessful, though she conceded she had failed to build a “security architecture” to prevent the invasion.
Merkel added the invasion of Ukraine was “a big mistake on Russia’s part,” according to the AP.
Merkel conceded sanctions on Russia after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 “could have been stronger,” but said there wasn’t strong support for such measures at the time, according to the AP’s translation.
Crucial Quote
“I have tried to work in the direction of preventing mischief,” Merkel said, according to Politico.
“And if diplomacy doesn’t succeed, this doesn’t mean that it was therefore wrong."
"Thus I don’t see why I should say: ‘That was wrong.’"
"And therefore I won’t apologize.”
Key Background
Though relations between Merkel and Putin have often been strained, Germany and Russia have been tightly bound by trade: In 2021, Russia supplied about 55% of Germany’s natural gas imports, 35% of its oil imports and 50% of its hard coal imports.
Merkel and her supporters argued strengthening trade relations with Russia could help tie Russia to a multilateral, rules-based international system.
Critics accused the Merkel government of prioritizing Germany’s economic interests over international concerns due to Germany’s dependence on Russian energy, a line of criticism that has grown louder since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Following the invasion, Germany was initially hesitant to support sweeping restrictions on Russian energy imports, arguing such measures would hurt the EU more than Russia.
However, Germany has since committed to banning Russian oil imports by the end of the year and hopes to end its reliance on Russian natural gas by 2024.
Shortly before the invasion, Germany canceled the still-uncompleted Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, potentially depriving Russia of tens of billions of dollars in revenue.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/fo ... a35ab16677
"Former German Chancellor Merkel Defends Russia Policy Against Accusations Of Appeasement"
Zachary Snowdon Smith, Forbes Staff
7 JUNE 2022
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel argued Tuesday that Russia would have invaded Ukraine much earlier if not for steps by Germany and its allies, as German officials face accusations their historically strong economic ties with Russia were a form of appeasement.
Key Facts
In her first interview since leaving office nearly six months ago, Merkel reportedly defended her opposition to starting the NATO membership process for Ukraine in 2008, a move Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described as a “miscalculation” (the same year, NATO agreed Ukraine could join the alliance but did not set a specific timeframe).
Merkel argued that at the time of the 2008 decision, Ukraine suffered from corruption and lacked a stable democratic government, and she said Putin would have reacted angrily if Ukraine — a former Soviet state Russia has sought to keep in its orbit for decades — entered the NATO alliance, according to a translation of her remarks by the Associated Press.
Merkel also defended Germany’s role in brokering the 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements, which opened a dialogue on self-government for two regions of eastern Ukraine that were partially taken over by Russian-backed separatists starting in 2014, terms Ukraine has opposed, according to Politico’s translation.
Merkel reportedly said she will not apologize for these steps, arguing diplomacy with Russia wasn’t necessarily wrong even if it was unsuccessful, though she conceded she had failed to build a “security architecture” to prevent the invasion.
Merkel added the invasion of Ukraine was “a big mistake on Russia’s part,” according to the AP.
Merkel conceded sanctions on Russia after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 “could have been stronger,” but said there wasn’t strong support for such measures at the time, according to the AP’s translation.
Crucial Quote
“I have tried to work in the direction of preventing mischief,” Merkel said, according to Politico.
“And if diplomacy doesn’t succeed, this doesn’t mean that it was therefore wrong."
"Thus I don’t see why I should say: ‘That was wrong.’"
"And therefore I won’t apologize.”
Key Background
Though relations between Merkel and Putin have often been strained, Germany and Russia have been tightly bound by trade: In 2021, Russia supplied about 55% of Germany’s natural gas imports, 35% of its oil imports and 50% of its hard coal imports.
Merkel and her supporters argued strengthening trade relations with Russia could help tie Russia to a multilateral, rules-based international system.
Critics accused the Merkel government of prioritizing Germany’s economic interests over international concerns due to Germany’s dependence on Russian energy, a line of criticism that has grown louder since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Following the invasion, Germany was initially hesitant to support sweeping restrictions on Russian energy imports, arguing such measures would hurt the EU more than Russia.
However, Germany has since committed to banning Russian oil imports by the end of the year and hopes to end its reliance on Russian natural gas by 2024.
Shortly before the invasion, Germany canceled the still-uncompleted Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, potentially depriving Russia of tens of billions of dollars in revenue.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/fo ... a35ab16677
Re: RUSSIA
REUTERS
"Russia's energy revenue higher now than just before Ukraine war, U.S. official says"
By Timothy Gardner
June 9, 2022
WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) - Russia may be getting more revenue from its fossil fuels now than shortly before its invasion of Ukraine, as global price increases offset the impact of Western efforts to restrict its sales, U.S. energy security envoy Amos Hochstein told lawmakers during a hearing on Thursday.
"I can't deny that," Hochstein told the Senate Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation in response to a question about whether Moscow was making more money now off its crude oil and gas sales than a couple of months before the war started.
The United States and the European Union agreed to ban imports of Russian oil and imposed escalating sanctions to punish the country for its invasion of Ukraine.
While those moves put a chill on global trade in Russian fossil fuels, they also helped to trigger a surge in global prices of oil and gas.
Prices for Brent crude on Thursday were near a three-month high above $123 a barrel.
Hochstein said the global oil demand increase from consumers coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic was "far greater, stronger than anyone predicted."
At the same time, Russia has been able to sell more cargoes to other buyers, including major energy consumers China and India, by offering it at a discount to oil from other origins.
Hochstein said that while those Russian sales to China and India have been discounted compared with supplies from other countries, the global market price surge means Russia's revenue is likely higher now.
The International Energy Agency said in May that Russia's oil revenue was up 50% since the beginning of the year to $20 billion a month, with the EU taking the biggest share of its exports.
The EU's ban on Russian oil, expected to take full effect at the end of the year, could cut that revenue.
India's purchases of Russian oil more than doubled in May from the previous month to hit a record high above 840,000 barrels per day and will likely rise again in June, according to commodity analysts Kpler.
Hochstein said he has asked Indian officials not to purchase too much Russian oil, and told them the United States cannot ban its purchases of the crude because it has not imposed secondary sanctions on those sales.
Hochstein said he believes there is a "ceiling" to how much oil India will buy from Russia, without providing details.
When asked about his view on imposing secondary sanctions on countries like India, Hochstein said the most important thing is reducing Russia's revenue while mitigating the impacts of soaring fuel prices at home and on allies.
Hochstein praised new EU sanctions that target insurance of cargoes carrying Russian oil.
"We'd like to see how we can use those sanctions to affect the broader market beyond the U.S. and Europe so ... nobody's profiteering."
While Russia provided about 45% of the EU's natural gas last year, Hochstein has been working to decrease that dependency by encouraging the diversion of shipments to the EU of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, Qatar and Australia.
In the first four months of the year U.S. LNG shipments to Europe jumped 18% from the 2021 annual average.
Cutting Europe's fossil fuel demand will also help reduce dependency on Russia, and the United States is working with U.S. private companies and others to boost the region's use of smart thermostats to increase efficiency in heating and cooling, Hochstein said.
Reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Matthew Lewis
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 022-06-09/
"Russia's energy revenue higher now than just before Ukraine war, U.S. official says"
By Timothy Gardner
June 9, 2022
WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) - Russia may be getting more revenue from its fossil fuels now than shortly before its invasion of Ukraine, as global price increases offset the impact of Western efforts to restrict its sales, U.S. energy security envoy Amos Hochstein told lawmakers during a hearing on Thursday.
"I can't deny that," Hochstein told the Senate Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation in response to a question about whether Moscow was making more money now off its crude oil and gas sales than a couple of months before the war started.
The United States and the European Union agreed to ban imports of Russian oil and imposed escalating sanctions to punish the country for its invasion of Ukraine.
While those moves put a chill on global trade in Russian fossil fuels, they also helped to trigger a surge in global prices of oil and gas.
Prices for Brent crude on Thursday were near a three-month high above $123 a barrel.
Hochstein said the global oil demand increase from consumers coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic was "far greater, stronger than anyone predicted."
At the same time, Russia has been able to sell more cargoes to other buyers, including major energy consumers China and India, by offering it at a discount to oil from other origins.
Hochstein said that while those Russian sales to China and India have been discounted compared with supplies from other countries, the global market price surge means Russia's revenue is likely higher now.
The International Energy Agency said in May that Russia's oil revenue was up 50% since the beginning of the year to $20 billion a month, with the EU taking the biggest share of its exports.
The EU's ban on Russian oil, expected to take full effect at the end of the year, could cut that revenue.
India's purchases of Russian oil more than doubled in May from the previous month to hit a record high above 840,000 barrels per day and will likely rise again in June, according to commodity analysts Kpler.
Hochstein said he has asked Indian officials not to purchase too much Russian oil, and told them the United States cannot ban its purchases of the crude because it has not imposed secondary sanctions on those sales.
Hochstein said he believes there is a "ceiling" to how much oil India will buy from Russia, without providing details.
When asked about his view on imposing secondary sanctions on countries like India, Hochstein said the most important thing is reducing Russia's revenue while mitigating the impacts of soaring fuel prices at home and on allies.
Hochstein praised new EU sanctions that target insurance of cargoes carrying Russian oil.
"We'd like to see how we can use those sanctions to affect the broader market beyond the U.S. and Europe so ... nobody's profiteering."
While Russia provided about 45% of the EU's natural gas last year, Hochstein has been working to decrease that dependency by encouraging the diversion of shipments to the EU of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, Qatar and Australia.
In the first four months of the year U.S. LNG shipments to Europe jumped 18% from the 2021 annual average.
Cutting Europe's fossil fuel demand will also help reduce dependency on Russia, and the United States is working with U.S. private companies and others to boost the region's use of smart thermostats to increase efficiency in heating and cooling, Hochstein said.
Reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Matthew Lewis
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 022-06-09/
Re: RUSSIA
THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR JUNE 9, 2022 AT 6:29 PM
Paul Plante says:
And while we are on the subject of contemporary history unfolding before our eyes here in the pages of the Cape Charles Mirror, and before we go back to the CFE and its provisions, let us look at some recent events that have unfolded in the world since the start of Joe Biden’s war of choice in Russia using the people of Ukraine as his pawns in his sick “power” game where Joe is quite literally trying to make himself the autocrat of the whole world, with all other leaders serving merely as Joe’s puppets, while autocrat Joe dictates to them what it is they shall think and do on a minute-by-minute basis.
And first, for some necessary historical background, let us go to an Associated Press article titled “AP FACT CHECK: Trump distorts Obama-Biden aid to Ukraine” by Robert Burns, Aamer Madhani and Hope Yen on March 27, 2022, where we have as follows as to what policy towards Ukraine was when Joe Biden was Hussein Obama’s executive assistant president, to wit:
While the Obama administration refused to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons in 2014 to fight Russian-backed separatists, it offered a range of other military and security aid — not just “blankets.”
The administration’s concern was that providing lethal weapons like Javelin anti-tank missiles might provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin to escalate the conflict in the separatist Donbas area of Ukraine near Russia’s border.
end quotes
Now, here we have an unanswered question before us, to wit: when the Associated Press tells us that the “administration’s concern was that providing lethal weapons like Javelin anti-tank missiles might provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin to escalate the conflict in the separatist Donbas area of Ukraine near Russia’s border,” who really was the “administration?”
More specifically, was that a policy that Joe Biden agreed with back then, or was that a policy imposed on the belligerent, bellicose, jingoistic Biden by Hussein?
And that article also makes mention of the fact that in the last year of the Obama administration, the U.S. established the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provided U.S. military equipment and training to help defend Ukraine against Russian aggression, which takes us to a Congressional Research Service analysis titled “U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine” updated June 6, 2022, where we have some relevant background history, to wit:
The United States has been a leading provider of security assistance to Ukraine, both before and after Russia renewed its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
From 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine, through June 1, 2022, the United States has provided more than $7.3 billion in security assistance “to help Ukraine preserve its territorial integrity, secure its borders, and improve interoperability with NATO.”
Since the start of the 2022 war, the Biden Administration has committed a total of more than $4.6 billion in security assistance to “provide Ukraine the equipment it needs to defend itself.”
FY2022 security assistance packages are being funded via more than $23 billion in regular and supplemental appropriations, including the Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022 (P.L. 117-103, Division N), and
the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022 (P.L. 117-128).
In total, FY2022 appropriations include $12.55 billion to replenish Department of Defense (DOD) equipment stocks sent to Ukraine via presidential drawdown authority; $6.3 billion for DOD’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI); and $4.65 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Ukraine and “countries impacted by the situation in Ukraine.”
FY2022 supplemental appropriations also have included funds for additional U.S. troop deployments to Europe.
end quotes
So there we are getting an idea of the costs that we, the American people are being forced to bear with absolutely no say in the matter of this foreign war that Joe Biden and his pack of incompetent morons have provoked in Ukraine so that Joe Biden can have a chance to crush his hated and greatly feared rival Putin, to make Joe the undisputed strongman ruler of the world, after he gets rid of the Chinese dude when he is done mopping up the floor with Putin.
And this is just the start, because having provoked the war, thinking he had all the power in his hands, which was a fallacy fed to him by the bootlickers, sycophants and lickspittles and small minds who make up Joe’s national security teams, Joe now has no way to stop it, which means Joe has to keep hemorrhaging our tax dollars in Ukraine, while Putin appears to be getting stronger, not weaker, which takes us to a Rigzone article titled “Gazprom Suspends Gas Supplies to Orsted” by Andreas Exarheas on June 01, 2022, where we had as follows:
Gazprom has announced that it has completely suspended gas supplies to Denmark’s Orsted Salg & Service A/S “due to failure to pay in Rubles”.
In a statement posted on its Twitter page on Tuesday, Gazprom announced that it had completely suspended gas supplies to Netherlands’ GasTerra B.V. “due to failure to pay in Rubles”.
In a market note sent to Rigzone in April, Rystad Energy analysts Kaushal Ramesh and Nikoline Bromander noted that Russia had fired the first shot back at the West with a gas embargo on Poland and Bulgaria.
end quotes
Joe and his pack of morons starring the incompetent Janet “TOODLES” Yellen and Wally Ademyemo think they are the masters of economic warfare, and they believed that they can cripple Putin and Russia and destroy the economy of Russia to hurt its people, and all those fools have managed to do is to cripple the world economy, while Putin keeps on keeping on.
And then there is a Business Insider article titled “Russia’s Gazprom says it’s cutting off some natural gas to Germany after Shell refused to pay for it in rubles” by Huileng Tan on 1 June 2022, where we learn more of the fallout from Joe Biden’s war of choice in Ukraine, to wit:
Gazprom said it would halt its natural-gas supply to Shell, which supplies Germany.
The suspension from June 1 is due to Shell’s refusal to pay for supplies in rubles, Gazprom said.
S&P Global Ratings noted the risk premium on European emerging-market corporate debt is now almost double its five-year average, compared to a roughly in-line reading at the start of the year.
Formerly lucrative firms, such as banks, energy producers and mining companies, have been reduced to junk status.
end quotes
Will there be repercussions from that?
We’ll have to stay tuned and see, which takes us to another Rigzone article titled “U.S. Split Over Next Round Of Russia Sanctions” by Nick Wadhams on June 02, 2022, where we have the reality facing the incompetent, out-of-control, in-over-its-head Biden administration, to wit:
Biden administration officials are divided over how much further the US can push sanctions against Russia without sparking global economic instability and fracturing transatlantic unity.
While President Joe Biden’s team rallied behind a sanctions plan it rolled out just after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the debate is more heated now that President Vladimir Putin has shrugged off the early economic penalties and is forging ahead with his war, according to officials familiar with the discussions.
The people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations, said factions have emerged over how hard to push.
One group, which includes many officials at the State Department and White House, advocates even stricter measures known as secondary sanctions in response to Russian atrocities, arguing opposition from allies can be overcome.
Another group of officials, many based at Janet Yellen’s Treasury Department, worry about further strains on a global economy already suffering from supply-chain woes, inflation, volatile oil prices and a potential food crisis.
Some fret about the looming midterm elections and Democrats’ chances if prices at the pump stay high.
“We’re now just coming up to the limit of how severely you can impose sanctions against a major economy without it having such bad spillover effects that you are creating a ton of bushfires elsewhere,” said Nicholas Mulder, a Cornell University professor and author of “The Economic Weapon,” a history of sanctions policy.
The debate mirrors broader tensions in the trans-Atlantic alliance, with agreement harder to find on how much more pain to inflict on Putin.
A harbinger of the challenges to come emerged in recent days, when the European Union agreed to pursue a ban on oil imports — but only after granting carve-outs to Hungary — and then were unable to decide on what to do next or how aggressively to go after gas imports.
Until now, unity had been a defining characteristic of the US and European response to the war.
“We continue to look at what other sanctions we can impose,” Jose Fernandez, the undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, said in an interview.
Yet with Putin undaunted by the economic chokehold and pressing ahead with his war, there are growing calls within the administration to test that unity by taking action against other countries and companies that help Russia evade sanctions or provide what the US calls “material support” to sanctioned entities.
They argue that such moves would be narrowly targeted, nothing like the broad sanctions campaign that sought to stifle Iran over its nuclear program by targeting almost any country or company that did business with Tehran.
Many US allies and humanitarian groups argued that approach was counterproductive.
But supporters of the harder line say that, with the war in its fourth month, its time has come.
“There’s a time and a place for considered US unilateral action,” said Edward Fishman, a former State Department official who is now an adjunct professor at Columbia University.
“There’s no good argument against maximizing sanctions on Russia.”
“And the sooner you do it, the better because time isn’t really on our side.”
But that’s testing the limits of what sanctions can do in the face of a evidence that even crippling penalties fail to force stubborn regimes to capitulate.
Skeptics point to sanctions programs against nations such as North Korea, Venezuela, Syria and Cuba that have only entrenched adversarial leaders determined to hunker down and pass the suffering onto their own populations.
If the US goes forward with more sanctions, it might find itself largely alone in such efforts, in effect inserting the wedge between it and allies that Putin has a history of exploiting.
It could also further roil energy markets, possibly causing new pain at US gas pumps.
The debate is also forcing a wider reassessment of the sanctions campaign.
Officials are confronting the fact that the oligarchs who have been targeted by sanctions may not wield the influence with Putin they once had.
And the administration has shifted away from its argument that sanctions could hasten the end of the war to the claim that sanctions, export controls and other restrictions will take a long time — perhaps years — to weaken Putin.
end quotes
There, people, is reality staring us right in the face, and here we now are, neck deep in the Big Muddy, and the big fool Biden says to push on, which raises the serious question of whether or not this pack of morons, mouth breathers, bottom feeders, idiots, fools, half-wits, and mental midgets surrounding Joe Biden can actually single-handedly destroy the economy of the world and my bet is most certainly.
But this is only a fraction of the what is, so stay tuned for more and be sure to give thanks that we have the Cape Charles Mirror giving us facts with which to counter the Biden propaganda pouring out of the so-called “legacy” media who are now scrambling to get over onto the right side of history since the American people have seen through all their lies as they were Joe Biden’s enablers and protectors in order to get Joe into office in place of Trump, a huge mistake they are now paying for as their credibility has been stripped from them in shreds.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-628948
Paul Plante says:
And while we are on the subject of contemporary history unfolding before our eyes here in the pages of the Cape Charles Mirror, and before we go back to the CFE and its provisions, let us look at some recent events that have unfolded in the world since the start of Joe Biden’s war of choice in Russia using the people of Ukraine as his pawns in his sick “power” game where Joe is quite literally trying to make himself the autocrat of the whole world, with all other leaders serving merely as Joe’s puppets, while autocrat Joe dictates to them what it is they shall think and do on a minute-by-minute basis.
And first, for some necessary historical background, let us go to an Associated Press article titled “AP FACT CHECK: Trump distorts Obama-Biden aid to Ukraine” by Robert Burns, Aamer Madhani and Hope Yen on March 27, 2022, where we have as follows as to what policy towards Ukraine was when Joe Biden was Hussein Obama’s executive assistant president, to wit:
While the Obama administration refused to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons in 2014 to fight Russian-backed separatists, it offered a range of other military and security aid — not just “blankets.”
The administration’s concern was that providing lethal weapons like Javelin anti-tank missiles might provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin to escalate the conflict in the separatist Donbas area of Ukraine near Russia’s border.
end quotes
Now, here we have an unanswered question before us, to wit: when the Associated Press tells us that the “administration’s concern was that providing lethal weapons like Javelin anti-tank missiles might provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin to escalate the conflict in the separatist Donbas area of Ukraine near Russia’s border,” who really was the “administration?”
More specifically, was that a policy that Joe Biden agreed with back then, or was that a policy imposed on the belligerent, bellicose, jingoistic Biden by Hussein?
And that article also makes mention of the fact that in the last year of the Obama administration, the U.S. established the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provided U.S. military equipment and training to help defend Ukraine against Russian aggression, which takes us to a Congressional Research Service analysis titled “U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine” updated June 6, 2022, where we have some relevant background history, to wit:
The United States has been a leading provider of security assistance to Ukraine, both before and after Russia renewed its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
From 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine, through June 1, 2022, the United States has provided more than $7.3 billion in security assistance “to help Ukraine preserve its territorial integrity, secure its borders, and improve interoperability with NATO.”
Since the start of the 2022 war, the Biden Administration has committed a total of more than $4.6 billion in security assistance to “provide Ukraine the equipment it needs to defend itself.”
FY2022 security assistance packages are being funded via more than $23 billion in regular and supplemental appropriations, including the Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022 (P.L. 117-103, Division N), and
the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022 (P.L. 117-128).
In total, FY2022 appropriations include $12.55 billion to replenish Department of Defense (DOD) equipment stocks sent to Ukraine via presidential drawdown authority; $6.3 billion for DOD’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI); and $4.65 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Ukraine and “countries impacted by the situation in Ukraine.”
FY2022 supplemental appropriations also have included funds for additional U.S. troop deployments to Europe.
end quotes
So there we are getting an idea of the costs that we, the American people are being forced to bear with absolutely no say in the matter of this foreign war that Joe Biden and his pack of incompetent morons have provoked in Ukraine so that Joe Biden can have a chance to crush his hated and greatly feared rival Putin, to make Joe the undisputed strongman ruler of the world, after he gets rid of the Chinese dude when he is done mopping up the floor with Putin.
And this is just the start, because having provoked the war, thinking he had all the power in his hands, which was a fallacy fed to him by the bootlickers, sycophants and lickspittles and small minds who make up Joe’s national security teams, Joe now has no way to stop it, which means Joe has to keep hemorrhaging our tax dollars in Ukraine, while Putin appears to be getting stronger, not weaker, which takes us to a Rigzone article titled “Gazprom Suspends Gas Supplies to Orsted” by Andreas Exarheas on June 01, 2022, where we had as follows:
Gazprom has announced that it has completely suspended gas supplies to Denmark’s Orsted Salg & Service A/S “due to failure to pay in Rubles”.
In a statement posted on its Twitter page on Tuesday, Gazprom announced that it had completely suspended gas supplies to Netherlands’ GasTerra B.V. “due to failure to pay in Rubles”.
In a market note sent to Rigzone in April, Rystad Energy analysts Kaushal Ramesh and Nikoline Bromander noted that Russia had fired the first shot back at the West with a gas embargo on Poland and Bulgaria.
end quotes
Joe and his pack of morons starring the incompetent Janet “TOODLES” Yellen and Wally Ademyemo think they are the masters of economic warfare, and they believed that they can cripple Putin and Russia and destroy the economy of Russia to hurt its people, and all those fools have managed to do is to cripple the world economy, while Putin keeps on keeping on.
And then there is a Business Insider article titled “Russia’s Gazprom says it’s cutting off some natural gas to Germany after Shell refused to pay for it in rubles” by Huileng Tan on 1 June 2022, where we learn more of the fallout from Joe Biden’s war of choice in Ukraine, to wit:
Gazprom said it would halt its natural-gas supply to Shell, which supplies Germany.
The suspension from June 1 is due to Shell’s refusal to pay for supplies in rubles, Gazprom said.
S&P Global Ratings noted the risk premium on European emerging-market corporate debt is now almost double its five-year average, compared to a roughly in-line reading at the start of the year.
Formerly lucrative firms, such as banks, energy producers and mining companies, have been reduced to junk status.
end quotes
Will there be repercussions from that?
We’ll have to stay tuned and see, which takes us to another Rigzone article titled “U.S. Split Over Next Round Of Russia Sanctions” by Nick Wadhams on June 02, 2022, where we have the reality facing the incompetent, out-of-control, in-over-its-head Biden administration, to wit:
Biden administration officials are divided over how much further the US can push sanctions against Russia without sparking global economic instability and fracturing transatlantic unity.
While President Joe Biden’s team rallied behind a sanctions plan it rolled out just after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the debate is more heated now that President Vladimir Putin has shrugged off the early economic penalties and is forging ahead with his war, according to officials familiar with the discussions.
The people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations, said factions have emerged over how hard to push.
One group, which includes many officials at the State Department and White House, advocates even stricter measures known as secondary sanctions in response to Russian atrocities, arguing opposition from allies can be overcome.
Another group of officials, many based at Janet Yellen’s Treasury Department, worry about further strains on a global economy already suffering from supply-chain woes, inflation, volatile oil prices and a potential food crisis.
Some fret about the looming midterm elections and Democrats’ chances if prices at the pump stay high.
“We’re now just coming up to the limit of how severely you can impose sanctions against a major economy without it having such bad spillover effects that you are creating a ton of bushfires elsewhere,” said Nicholas Mulder, a Cornell University professor and author of “The Economic Weapon,” a history of sanctions policy.
The debate mirrors broader tensions in the trans-Atlantic alliance, with agreement harder to find on how much more pain to inflict on Putin.
A harbinger of the challenges to come emerged in recent days, when the European Union agreed to pursue a ban on oil imports — but only after granting carve-outs to Hungary — and then were unable to decide on what to do next or how aggressively to go after gas imports.
Until now, unity had been a defining characteristic of the US and European response to the war.
“We continue to look at what other sanctions we can impose,” Jose Fernandez, the undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, said in an interview.
Yet with Putin undaunted by the economic chokehold and pressing ahead with his war, there are growing calls within the administration to test that unity by taking action against other countries and companies that help Russia evade sanctions or provide what the US calls “material support” to sanctioned entities.
They argue that such moves would be narrowly targeted, nothing like the broad sanctions campaign that sought to stifle Iran over its nuclear program by targeting almost any country or company that did business with Tehran.
Many US allies and humanitarian groups argued that approach was counterproductive.
But supporters of the harder line say that, with the war in its fourth month, its time has come.
“There’s a time and a place for considered US unilateral action,” said Edward Fishman, a former State Department official who is now an adjunct professor at Columbia University.
“There’s no good argument against maximizing sanctions on Russia.”
“And the sooner you do it, the better because time isn’t really on our side.”
But that’s testing the limits of what sanctions can do in the face of a evidence that even crippling penalties fail to force stubborn regimes to capitulate.
Skeptics point to sanctions programs against nations such as North Korea, Venezuela, Syria and Cuba that have only entrenched adversarial leaders determined to hunker down and pass the suffering onto their own populations.
If the US goes forward with more sanctions, it might find itself largely alone in such efforts, in effect inserting the wedge between it and allies that Putin has a history of exploiting.
It could also further roil energy markets, possibly causing new pain at US gas pumps.
The debate is also forcing a wider reassessment of the sanctions campaign.
Officials are confronting the fact that the oligarchs who have been targeted by sanctions may not wield the influence with Putin they once had.
And the administration has shifted away from its argument that sanctions could hasten the end of the war to the claim that sanctions, export controls and other restrictions will take a long time — perhaps years — to weaken Putin.
end quotes
There, people, is reality staring us right in the face, and here we now are, neck deep in the Big Muddy, and the big fool Biden says to push on, which raises the serious question of whether or not this pack of morons, mouth breathers, bottom feeders, idiots, fools, half-wits, and mental midgets surrounding Joe Biden can actually single-handedly destroy the economy of the world and my bet is most certainly.
But this is only a fraction of the what is, so stay tuned for more and be sure to give thanks that we have the Cape Charles Mirror giving us facts with which to counter the Biden propaganda pouring out of the so-called “legacy” media who are now scrambling to get over onto the right side of history since the American people have seen through all their lies as they were Joe Biden’s enablers and protectors in order to get Joe into office in place of Trump, a huge mistake they are now paying for as their credibility has been stripped from them in shreds.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-628948
Re: RUSSIA
BLOOMBERG
"Merkel Warns of Isolating Russia After Putin’s ‘Big Mistake’"
Arne Delfs
7 JUNE 2022
(Bloomberg) -- Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that isolating Russia isn’t possible long term even if President Vladimir Putin made a “big mistake” by invading Ukraine.
“There’s no excuse for this brutal aggression,” the 67-year-old said on Tuesday in an on-stage interview at a theater in central Berlin as part of her tentative return to the public arena.
While she has remained active behind the scenes, it was her first public appearance in front of a larger audience since leaving office in December.
She broke her silence on the war in Ukraine last week for the first time since President Vladimir Putin ordered the attack three months ago.
At a private event organized by a labor union group, she condemned Russia’s “barbaric war of aggression” and spoke about a “profound break” in Europe’s post-war history.
In the six months since stepping down, Germany’s prospects have drastically changed.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exposed Europe’s largest economy to a series of risks and raised questions about her policies, including underinvesting in Germany’s defense and building up a reliance on Russian energy imports.
Putin Outreach
Despite her lack of public profile, Merkel has stayed engaged behind closed doors.
Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, she repeatedly called Putin’s office and talked to the Russian leader about a possible cease-fire, according to a person familiar with her schedule.
The dialog wasn’t a rogue effort like a March trip to Moscow by Merkel’s predecessor Gerhard Schroeder.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz was aware of the calls and was regularly briefed about the results, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.
Putin stopped returning Merkel’s phone calls about six weeks ago, the person said.
Asked whether she had interacted with Putin on Tuesday, she dodged a direct response, saying she wouldn’t do anything that the government didn’t ask her to do.
The event in the Berliner Ensemble theater -- which was founded by Bertolt Brecht and is in walking distance from Merkel’s private apartment -- has been sold out for weeks, reflecting enduring interest in the former chancellor after her 16-year tenure ended.
Merkel said she’d been spending time on the Baltic coast and listening to audio books, and made it clear that she wasn’t going to return to active politics, saying that she has “complete trust” in Germany’s current political leadership.
Scholz Adviser
Merkel’s only other foray into the public sphere was in April to respond to criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who accused Merkel of being partly responsible for the invasion by preventing Ukraine’s NATO accession in 2008.
Her office issued a written statement defending her decision at the time and voicing support for all attempts by the current German government to end the war.
On Tuesday, she laid out her reasons for preventing Ukraine from joining NATO, saying the country wasn’t yet ready for the step because of internal divisions and extensive corruption.
She added that the move also would have been equivalent to a “declaration of war” for Putin, echoing the fear of escalation voiced by Scholz.
Despite the NATO rejection, she said she always supported Ukraine.
Scholz has regularly asked Merkel for advice, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The former and current German leaders seem to have come to the same conclusion: Germany should support Ukraine in its fight against Russia, but avoid a scenario in which Putin would be cornered.
No Well Wishes
Scholz has recently emphasized that he wants to thwart Putin’s victory in Ukraine, but has stopped short of saying he wants Ukraine to win.
The less confrontational tone seems to continue Merkel’s cautious tradition.
When Putin annexed Crimea in 2014, she tried to work out a diplomatic solution, rather than risk military confrontation.
Already at that time, Merkel was concerned about the outbreak of a nuclear war if tensions escalated, the person familiar with Merkel’s thinking said.
It’s a concern that Scholz himself has raised.
After the annexation, “it was clear to me that we weren’t dealing with somebody who wanted to wish us well,” Merkel said.
“Still, I can’t remove him from the world.”
Noting the country’s size and its nuclear arsenal, she defended engaging with Putin during her tenure and warned of the risks of Putin forming an alliance with China, if he gets boxed in.
“If Russia now cooperates with China,” she said, “I’m not sure that this will end well for us.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/me ... 897e2ff2ed
"Merkel Warns of Isolating Russia After Putin’s ‘Big Mistake’"
Arne Delfs
7 JUNE 2022
(Bloomberg) -- Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that isolating Russia isn’t possible long term even if President Vladimir Putin made a “big mistake” by invading Ukraine.
“There’s no excuse for this brutal aggression,” the 67-year-old said on Tuesday in an on-stage interview at a theater in central Berlin as part of her tentative return to the public arena.
While she has remained active behind the scenes, it was her first public appearance in front of a larger audience since leaving office in December.
She broke her silence on the war in Ukraine last week for the first time since President Vladimir Putin ordered the attack three months ago.
At a private event organized by a labor union group, she condemned Russia’s “barbaric war of aggression” and spoke about a “profound break” in Europe’s post-war history.
In the six months since stepping down, Germany’s prospects have drastically changed.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exposed Europe’s largest economy to a series of risks and raised questions about her policies, including underinvesting in Germany’s defense and building up a reliance on Russian energy imports.
Putin Outreach
Despite her lack of public profile, Merkel has stayed engaged behind closed doors.
Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, she repeatedly called Putin’s office and talked to the Russian leader about a possible cease-fire, according to a person familiar with her schedule.
The dialog wasn’t a rogue effort like a March trip to Moscow by Merkel’s predecessor Gerhard Schroeder.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz was aware of the calls and was regularly briefed about the results, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.
Putin stopped returning Merkel’s phone calls about six weeks ago, the person said.
Asked whether she had interacted with Putin on Tuesday, she dodged a direct response, saying she wouldn’t do anything that the government didn’t ask her to do.
The event in the Berliner Ensemble theater -- which was founded by Bertolt Brecht and is in walking distance from Merkel’s private apartment -- has been sold out for weeks, reflecting enduring interest in the former chancellor after her 16-year tenure ended.
Merkel said she’d been spending time on the Baltic coast and listening to audio books, and made it clear that she wasn’t going to return to active politics, saying that she has “complete trust” in Germany’s current political leadership.
Scholz Adviser
Merkel’s only other foray into the public sphere was in April to respond to criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who accused Merkel of being partly responsible for the invasion by preventing Ukraine’s NATO accession in 2008.
Her office issued a written statement defending her decision at the time and voicing support for all attempts by the current German government to end the war.
On Tuesday, she laid out her reasons for preventing Ukraine from joining NATO, saying the country wasn’t yet ready for the step because of internal divisions and extensive corruption.
She added that the move also would have been equivalent to a “declaration of war” for Putin, echoing the fear of escalation voiced by Scholz.
Despite the NATO rejection, she said she always supported Ukraine.
Scholz has regularly asked Merkel for advice, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The former and current German leaders seem to have come to the same conclusion: Germany should support Ukraine in its fight against Russia, but avoid a scenario in which Putin would be cornered.
No Well Wishes
Scholz has recently emphasized that he wants to thwart Putin’s victory in Ukraine, but has stopped short of saying he wants Ukraine to win.
The less confrontational tone seems to continue Merkel’s cautious tradition.
When Putin annexed Crimea in 2014, she tried to work out a diplomatic solution, rather than risk military confrontation.
Already at that time, Merkel was concerned about the outbreak of a nuclear war if tensions escalated, the person familiar with Merkel’s thinking said.
It’s a concern that Scholz himself has raised.
After the annexation, “it was clear to me that we weren’t dealing with somebody who wanted to wish us well,” Merkel said.
“Still, I can’t remove him from the world.”
Noting the country’s size and its nuclear arsenal, she defended engaging with Putin during her tenure and warned of the risks of Putin forming an alliance with China, if he gets boxed in.
“If Russia now cooperates with China,” she said, “I’m not sure that this will end well for us.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/me ... 897e2ff2ed
Re: RUSSIA
REUTERS
"Putin says no Iron Curtain will close off Russia's economy"
Reuters
June 9, 2022
LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that no Iron Curtain would fall over the Russian economy despite the sanctions imposed by the West because Moscow would not close itself off from the world like the Soviet Union did.
The sanctions imposed on the West over Russia's invasion of Ukraine have tipped Russia, one of the world's biggest producers of natural resources, towards the biggest economic contraction since the years following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
Asked about possible deals with partners such as China and India amid the "closure" of Russia's economy, Putin, speaking ahead of next week's St Petersburg Economic Forum, said Russia's economy would remain open.
"We will not have a closed economy, we have not had one and we will not have one," Putin told young entrepreneurs in a televised meeting.
"We did not have a closed economy - or rather we did in the Soviet times when we cut ourselves off, created the so-called Iron Curtain, we created it with our own hands."
"We will not make the same mistake again - our economy will be open."
Putin, who was born in the Soviet Union, in 2005 cast the collapse of the USSR as the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century because tens of millions of Russians were impoverished and Russia itself faced disintegration.
After major U.S. and European companies and investors left Russia, Moscow says it will turn away from the West and focus on developing its own domestic industry and develop partnerships with China, India and powers in the Middle East.
"A country like Russia cannot be fenced in," Putin said.
Russia's Feb. 24 invasion has killed thousands, displaced 13 million and raised fears of a broader conflict between the United States and Russia, by far the world's biggest nuclear powers.
Putin says the West wants to destroy Russia, that the economic sanctions are akin to a declaration of economic war.
Ukraine says it is fighting against an imperial-style land grab and that it will never accept Russian occupation.
Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/ ... 022-06-09/
"Putin says no Iron Curtain will close off Russia's economy"
Reuters
June 9, 2022
LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that no Iron Curtain would fall over the Russian economy despite the sanctions imposed by the West because Moscow would not close itself off from the world like the Soviet Union did.
The sanctions imposed on the West over Russia's invasion of Ukraine have tipped Russia, one of the world's biggest producers of natural resources, towards the biggest economic contraction since the years following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
Asked about possible deals with partners such as China and India amid the "closure" of Russia's economy, Putin, speaking ahead of next week's St Petersburg Economic Forum, said Russia's economy would remain open.
"We will not have a closed economy, we have not had one and we will not have one," Putin told young entrepreneurs in a televised meeting.
"We did not have a closed economy - or rather we did in the Soviet times when we cut ourselves off, created the so-called Iron Curtain, we created it with our own hands."
"We will not make the same mistake again - our economy will be open."
Putin, who was born in the Soviet Union, in 2005 cast the collapse of the USSR as the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century because tens of millions of Russians were impoverished and Russia itself faced disintegration.
After major U.S. and European companies and investors left Russia, Moscow says it will turn away from the West and focus on developing its own domestic industry and develop partnerships with China, India and powers in the Middle East.
"A country like Russia cannot be fenced in," Putin said.
Russia's Feb. 24 invasion has killed thousands, displaced 13 million and raised fears of a broader conflict between the United States and Russia, by far the world's biggest nuclear powers.
Putin says the West wants to destroy Russia, that the economic sanctions are akin to a declaration of economic war.
Ukraine says it is fighting against an imperial-style land grab and that it will never accept Russian occupation.
Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/ ... 022-06-09/
Re: RUSSIA
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Ukraine fears a long war might cause West to lose interest"
By COLLEEN BARRY and YURAS KARMANAU, Associated Press
10 JUNE 2022
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine grinds into its fourth month, officials in Kyiv have expressed fears that the specter of “war fatigue” could erode the West's resolve to help the country push back Moscow's aggression.
The U.S. and its allies have given billions of dollars in weaponry to Ukraine.
Europe has taken in millions of people displaced by the war.
And there has been unprecedent unity in post-World War II Europe in imposing sanctions on President Vladimir Putin and his country.
But as the shock of the Feb. 24 invasion subsides, analysts say the Kremlin could exploit a dragged-out, entrenched conflict and possible waning interest among Western powers that might lead to pressuring Ukraine into a settlement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy already has chafed at Western suggestions he should accept some sort of compromise.
Ukraine, he said, would decide its own terms for peace.
“The fatigue is growing, people want some kind of outcome (that is beneficial) for themselves, and we want (another) outcome for ourselves,” he said.
An Italian peace proposal was dismissed, and French President Emmanuel Macron was met with an angry backlash after he was quoted as saying that although Putin's invasion was a “historic error,” world powers shouldn’t “humiliate Russia, so when the fighting stops, we can build a way out together via diplomatic paths.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said such talk “can only humiliate France and every other country that would call for it.”
Even a remark by former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that Ukraine should consider territorial concessions drew a retort from Zelenskyy that it was tantamount to European powers in 1938 letting Nazi Germany claim parts of Czechoslovakia to curb Adolf Hitler's aggression.
Kyiv wants to push Russia out of the newly captured areas in eastern and southern Ukraine, as well as retaking Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and parts of the Donbas under control of Kremlin-backed separatists for the past eight years.
Every month of the war is costing Ukraine $5 billion, said Volodymyr Fesenko, political analyst with the Penta Center think tank, and that “makes Kyiv dependent on the consolidated position of the Western countries.”
Ukraine will need even more advanced weaponry to secure victory, along with Western determination to keep up the economic pain on Russia to weaken Moscow.
“It is obvious that Russia is determined to wear down the West and is now building its strategy on the assumption that Western countries will get tired and gradually begin to change their militant rhetoric to a more accommodating one,” Fesenko said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The war still gets prominent coverage in both the United States and Europe, which have been horrified by images of the deaths of Ukrainian civilians in the biggest fighting on the continent since World War II.
The U.S. continues to help Ukraine, with President Joe Biden saying last week that Washington will provide it with advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable it to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield.
In a New York Times essay on May 31, Biden said, “I will not pressure the Ukrainian government — in private or public — to make any territorial concessions.”
Germany, which had faced criticism from Kyiv and elsewhere for perceived hesitancy, has pledged its most modern air defense systems yet.
“There has been nothing like it, even in the Cold War when the Soviet Union appeared most threatening,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
While he doesn’t see a significant erosion in the “emphatic support for Ukraine,” Gould-Davies said “there are hints of different tensions over what the West’s goals should be."
"Those have not yet been clearly defined.”
Europe's domestic concerns are nudging their way into the discourse, especially as energy prices and raw materials shortages start to take an economic toll on ordinary people who are facing higher electricity bills, fuel costs and grocery prices.
While European leaders hailed the decision to block 90% of Russian oil exports by the end of the year as “a complete success,” it took four weeks of negotiations and included a concession allowing Hungary, widely seen as the Kremlin’s closest EU ally, to continue imports.
Weeks more of political fine-tuning are required.
“It shows that unity in Europe is declining a bit on the Russian invasion,’’ said Matteo Villa, an analyst with the ISPI think tank in Milan.
“There is this kind of fatigue setting in among member states on finding new ways to sanction Russia, and clearly within the European Union, there are some countries that are less and less willing to go on with sanctions.’’
Wary of the economic impact of further energy sanctions, the European Commission has signaled it won't rush to propose fresh restrictive measures targeting Russian gas.
EU lawmakers are also appealing for financial aid for citizens hit by heating and fuel price hikes to ensure that public support for Ukraine doesn’t wane.
Italy’s right-wing leader Matteo Salvini, who has been seen as close to Moscow, told foreign journalists this week that Italians are ready to make sacrifices, and that his League supports the sanctions against Russia.
But he indicated that backing is not unlimited, amid signs the trade balance under sanctions has shifted in Moscow’s favor, hurting small business owners in northern Italy who are part of his base.
“Italians are very available to make personal economic sacrifices to support Ukraine’s defense and arrive at a cease-fire,’’ Salvini said.
“What I would not like is to find us back here in September, after three months with the conflict still ongoing."
"If that is the case, it will be a disaster for Italy."
"Beyond the deaths, and saving lives, which is the priority, economically, for Italy, if the war goes on, it will be a disaster,” he said.
____
Barry reported from Milan. Angela Charlton in Paris, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary, and Aya Batrawy in Dubai contributed.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/uk ... cc7bed6552
"Ukraine fears a long war might cause West to lose interest"
By COLLEEN BARRY and YURAS KARMANAU, Associated Press
10 JUNE 2022
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine grinds into its fourth month, officials in Kyiv have expressed fears that the specter of “war fatigue” could erode the West's resolve to help the country push back Moscow's aggression.
The U.S. and its allies have given billions of dollars in weaponry to Ukraine.
Europe has taken in millions of people displaced by the war.
And there has been unprecedent unity in post-World War II Europe in imposing sanctions on President Vladimir Putin and his country.
But as the shock of the Feb. 24 invasion subsides, analysts say the Kremlin could exploit a dragged-out, entrenched conflict and possible waning interest among Western powers that might lead to pressuring Ukraine into a settlement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy already has chafed at Western suggestions he should accept some sort of compromise.
Ukraine, he said, would decide its own terms for peace.
“The fatigue is growing, people want some kind of outcome (that is beneficial) for themselves, and we want (another) outcome for ourselves,” he said.
An Italian peace proposal was dismissed, and French President Emmanuel Macron was met with an angry backlash after he was quoted as saying that although Putin's invasion was a “historic error,” world powers shouldn’t “humiliate Russia, so when the fighting stops, we can build a way out together via diplomatic paths.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said such talk “can only humiliate France and every other country that would call for it.”
Even a remark by former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that Ukraine should consider territorial concessions drew a retort from Zelenskyy that it was tantamount to European powers in 1938 letting Nazi Germany claim parts of Czechoslovakia to curb Adolf Hitler's aggression.
Kyiv wants to push Russia out of the newly captured areas in eastern and southern Ukraine, as well as retaking Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and parts of the Donbas under control of Kremlin-backed separatists for the past eight years.
Every month of the war is costing Ukraine $5 billion, said Volodymyr Fesenko, political analyst with the Penta Center think tank, and that “makes Kyiv dependent on the consolidated position of the Western countries.”
Ukraine will need even more advanced weaponry to secure victory, along with Western determination to keep up the economic pain on Russia to weaken Moscow.
“It is obvious that Russia is determined to wear down the West and is now building its strategy on the assumption that Western countries will get tired and gradually begin to change their militant rhetoric to a more accommodating one,” Fesenko said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The war still gets prominent coverage in both the United States and Europe, which have been horrified by images of the deaths of Ukrainian civilians in the biggest fighting on the continent since World War II.
The U.S. continues to help Ukraine, with President Joe Biden saying last week that Washington will provide it with advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable it to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield.
In a New York Times essay on May 31, Biden said, “I will not pressure the Ukrainian government — in private or public — to make any territorial concessions.”
Germany, which had faced criticism from Kyiv and elsewhere for perceived hesitancy, has pledged its most modern air defense systems yet.
“There has been nothing like it, even in the Cold War when the Soviet Union appeared most threatening,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
While he doesn’t see a significant erosion in the “emphatic support for Ukraine,” Gould-Davies said “there are hints of different tensions over what the West’s goals should be."
"Those have not yet been clearly defined.”
Europe's domestic concerns are nudging their way into the discourse, especially as energy prices and raw materials shortages start to take an economic toll on ordinary people who are facing higher electricity bills, fuel costs and grocery prices.
While European leaders hailed the decision to block 90% of Russian oil exports by the end of the year as “a complete success,” it took four weeks of negotiations and included a concession allowing Hungary, widely seen as the Kremlin’s closest EU ally, to continue imports.
Weeks more of political fine-tuning are required.
“It shows that unity in Europe is declining a bit on the Russian invasion,’’ said Matteo Villa, an analyst with the ISPI think tank in Milan.
“There is this kind of fatigue setting in among member states on finding new ways to sanction Russia, and clearly within the European Union, there are some countries that are less and less willing to go on with sanctions.’’
Wary of the economic impact of further energy sanctions, the European Commission has signaled it won't rush to propose fresh restrictive measures targeting Russian gas.
EU lawmakers are also appealing for financial aid for citizens hit by heating and fuel price hikes to ensure that public support for Ukraine doesn’t wane.
Italy’s right-wing leader Matteo Salvini, who has been seen as close to Moscow, told foreign journalists this week that Italians are ready to make sacrifices, and that his League supports the sanctions against Russia.
But he indicated that backing is not unlimited, amid signs the trade balance under sanctions has shifted in Moscow’s favor, hurting small business owners in northern Italy who are part of his base.
“Italians are very available to make personal economic sacrifices to support Ukraine’s defense and arrive at a cease-fire,’’ Salvini said.
“What I would not like is to find us back here in September, after three months with the conflict still ongoing."
"If that is the case, it will be a disaster for Italy."
"Beyond the deaths, and saving lives, which is the priority, economically, for Italy, if the war goes on, it will be a disaster,” he said.
____
Barry reported from Milan. Angela Charlton in Paris, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary, and Aya Batrawy in Dubai contributed.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/uk ... cc7bed6552
Re: RUSSIA
REUTERS
"Russia and China open cross-border bridge as ties deepen"
Reuters
June 10, 2022
June 10 (Reuters) - Russia and China opened a new cross-border bridge in the far east on Friday which they hope will further boost trade as Moscow reels from sweeping Western sanctions imposed over its actions in Ukraine.
The bridge linking the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk to the Chinese city of Heihe across the Amur river - known in China as Heilongjiang - is just over one kilometre long and cost 19 billion roubles ($342 million), the RIA news agency reported.
Amid a firework display, freight trucks from both ends crossed the two-lane bridge that was festooned with flags in the colours of both countries, video footage of the opening showed.
Russian authorities said the bridge would bring Moscow and Beijing closer together by boosting trade after they announced a "no limits" partnership in February, shortly before President Vladimir Putin sent his forces into Ukraine.
"In today's divided world, the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe bridge between Russia and China carries a special symbolic meaning," said Yuri Trutnev, the Kremlin representative in the Russian Far East.
China wants to deepen practical cooperation with Russia in all areas, Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua said at the opening.
Russia's Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev said the bridge would help boost bilateral annual trade to more than 1 million tonnes of goods.
CUTTING JOURNEY TIME
The bridge had been under construction since 2016 and was completed in May 2020 but its opening was delayed by cross-border COVID-19 restrictions, said BTS-MOST, the firm building the bridge on the Russian side.
BTS-MOST said freight traffic on the bridge would shorten the travel distance of Chinese goods to western Russia by 1,500 kilometres (930 miles).
Vehicles crossing the bridge must pay a toll of 8,700 roubles ($150), a price that is expected to drop as toll fees begin to offset the cost of construction.
Russia said in April it expected commodity flows with China to grow, and trade with Beijing to reach $200 billion by 2024.
China is a major buyer of Russian natural resources and agricultural products.
China has declined to condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine and has criticised the Western sanctions on Moscow.
Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Gareth Jones
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/rus ... 022-06-10/
"Russia and China open cross-border bridge as ties deepen"
Reuters
June 10, 2022
June 10 (Reuters) - Russia and China opened a new cross-border bridge in the far east on Friday which they hope will further boost trade as Moscow reels from sweeping Western sanctions imposed over its actions in Ukraine.
The bridge linking the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk to the Chinese city of Heihe across the Amur river - known in China as Heilongjiang - is just over one kilometre long and cost 19 billion roubles ($342 million), the RIA news agency reported.
Amid a firework display, freight trucks from both ends crossed the two-lane bridge that was festooned with flags in the colours of both countries, video footage of the opening showed.
Russian authorities said the bridge would bring Moscow and Beijing closer together by boosting trade after they announced a "no limits" partnership in February, shortly before President Vladimir Putin sent his forces into Ukraine.
"In today's divided world, the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe bridge between Russia and China carries a special symbolic meaning," said Yuri Trutnev, the Kremlin representative in the Russian Far East.
China wants to deepen practical cooperation with Russia in all areas, Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua said at the opening.
Russia's Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev said the bridge would help boost bilateral annual trade to more than 1 million tonnes of goods.
CUTTING JOURNEY TIME
The bridge had been under construction since 2016 and was completed in May 2020 but its opening was delayed by cross-border COVID-19 restrictions, said BTS-MOST, the firm building the bridge on the Russian side.
BTS-MOST said freight traffic on the bridge would shorten the travel distance of Chinese goods to western Russia by 1,500 kilometres (930 miles).
Vehicles crossing the bridge must pay a toll of 8,700 roubles ($150), a price that is expected to drop as toll fees begin to offset the cost of construction.
Russia said in April it expected commodity flows with China to grow, and trade with Beijing to reach $200 billion by 2024.
China is a major buyer of Russian natural resources and agricultural products.
China has declined to condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine and has criticised the Western sanctions on Moscow.
Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Gareth Jones
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/rus ... 022-06-10/
Re: RUSSIA
REUTERS
"Russia becomes India's second biggest oil exporter, trade sources' data show"
By Nidhi Verma
June 13, 2022
NEW DELHI, June 13 (Reuters) - Russia rose to become India's second biggest supplier of oil in May, pushing Saudi Arabia into third place but still behind Iraq which remains No. 1, data from trade sources showed.
In May Indian refiners received about 819,000 barrels per day (bpd) Russian oil, the highest thus far in any month, compared to about 277,00 in April, the data showed.
Western sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine prompted many oil importers to shun trade with Moscow, pushing spot prices for Russian crude to record discounts against other grades.
That provided Indian refiners, which rarely used to buy Russian oil due to high freight costs, an opportunity to snap up low-priced crude.
Russian grades accounted for about 16.5% of India's overall oil imports in May, and helped raise the share of oil from the C.I.S. countries to about 20.5%, while that from the Middle East declined to about 59.5% %, the data showed.
The share of African oil in India's crude imports last month surged to 11.5% from 5.9% in April, the data showed.
"Diesel is calling the tune ... if you want to boost production of diesel and jet fuel then you need Nigerian and Angolan grades."
"China has cut imports of Angolan grades because of COVID-related shutdowns so some of these barrels are going to Europe and some to India," said Ehsan Ul Haq, analyst with Refinitiv.
He said apart from availability of cheaper Russian barrels, higher official selling prices of Middle Eastern oil also pushed Indian refiners to buy Nigerian crude.
India's oil imports in May totalled 4.98 million bpd, the highest since December 2020, as state refiners raised output to meet growing local demand while private refiners turned focus to gain from exports, the data showed.
India's oil imports in May were about 5.6% up from the previous month and about 19% from a year earlier, the data obtained from sources showed.
India has defended its purchase of "cheap" Russian oil saying imports from Moscow made only a fraction of the country's overall needs and a sudden stop would drive up costs for its consumers.
Higher oil imports from Russia, curbed OPEC's share in India's overall imports to 65% in April.
Reporting by Nidhi Verma; editing by David Evans
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rus ... 022-06-13/
"Russia becomes India's second biggest oil exporter, trade sources' data show"
By Nidhi Verma
June 13, 2022
NEW DELHI, June 13 (Reuters) - Russia rose to become India's second biggest supplier of oil in May, pushing Saudi Arabia into third place but still behind Iraq which remains No. 1, data from trade sources showed.
In May Indian refiners received about 819,000 barrels per day (bpd) Russian oil, the highest thus far in any month, compared to about 277,00 in April, the data showed.
Western sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine prompted many oil importers to shun trade with Moscow, pushing spot prices for Russian crude to record discounts against other grades.
That provided Indian refiners, which rarely used to buy Russian oil due to high freight costs, an opportunity to snap up low-priced crude.
Russian grades accounted for about 16.5% of India's overall oil imports in May, and helped raise the share of oil from the C.I.S. countries to about 20.5%, while that from the Middle East declined to about 59.5% %, the data showed.
The share of African oil in India's crude imports last month surged to 11.5% from 5.9% in April, the data showed.
"Diesel is calling the tune ... if you want to boost production of diesel and jet fuel then you need Nigerian and Angolan grades."
"China has cut imports of Angolan grades because of COVID-related shutdowns so some of these barrels are going to Europe and some to India," said Ehsan Ul Haq, analyst with Refinitiv.
He said apart from availability of cheaper Russian barrels, higher official selling prices of Middle Eastern oil also pushed Indian refiners to buy Nigerian crude.
India's oil imports in May totalled 4.98 million bpd, the highest since December 2020, as state refiners raised output to meet growing local demand while private refiners turned focus to gain from exports, the data showed.
India's oil imports in May were about 5.6% up from the previous month and about 19% from a year earlier, the data obtained from sources showed.
India has defended its purchase of "cheap" Russian oil saying imports from Moscow made only a fraction of the country's overall needs and a sudden stop would drive up costs for its consumers.
Higher oil imports from Russia, curbed OPEC's share in India's overall imports to 65% in April.
Reporting by Nidhi Verma; editing by David Evans
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rus ... 022-06-13/