Contents tagged with EU

  • Germany investigating Lukashenko’s involvement in migrant crisis

    The German authorities are investigating the involvement of the self-proclaimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in the transportation of illegal migrants to Germany, Bild reports, citing its sources.

    According to Bild, the illegal transportation of migrants to the EU countries is organized "at the state level" to "coerce Europe to lift sanctions" against Minsk.

    Since August, almost 4,000 migrants have arrived in Germany from Belarus, including 1,100 in the first week of October …

  • European Parliament: Nord Stream 2 must not be certified

    Members of the European Parliament responsible for the development of the current EU gas legislation sent a letter to the German gas market regulator urging it not to certify the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.

    According to Bloomberg, MEPs are confident that the project does not meet the key requirement of the third energy package, namely, prohibiting one company to be both the owner of the pipeline and the gas supplier.

    Nord Stream 2 AG, the construction operator and owner of the pipeline laid …

  • EU preparing to establish a new military training base in Ukraine

    A military training base of the European Union may soon be established in Ukraine, reports the German newspaper Welt, citing internal documents of the European External Action Service (EEAS).

    The base will provide military training for Ukrainian military personnel amid Russia's "ongoing escalation" on Ukrainian borders.

    In August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia had amassed a combat-ready military group of about 100,000 troops near Ukraine.

    Welt noted that the …

  • European gas prices soar after Russia’s Gazprom reduces deliveries through Poland

    The European gas market after a short respite has soared again. On Monday, gas futures linked to spot prices at the Dutch TTF hub jumped by 13% and exceeded $ 900 per thousand cubic meters after the Russian gas giant Gazprom decided to drastically reduce gas deliveries through Poland and refused to book additional transit capacity through Ukraine.

    At the last gas transit auction of the European GSA Platform, Gazprom booked only 31.4 million cubic meters per day through the Polish branch of the …

  • European Parliament: Russian State Duma elections may mot be recognized

    The European Parliament at the plenary session on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a report on relations with Russia, in which it calls on EU countries not to recognize the Russian State Duma as legitimate if the three-day elections on September 17, 18 and 19 are rigged.

    494 MEPs voted in favor of the document, prepared by the EP Committee on International Affairs for the European Commission and the European Council, with 103 votes "against" and 72 abstentions.

    " The current Russian regime is …

  • Belarus loses access to European banking system due to sanctions

    The Belarusian banking system has felt the heavy footstep of European and American sanctions imposed in the summer in response to repression and the forced landing of the Ryanair flight in Minsk.

    European banks began to massively close dollar end euro correspondent accounts of Belarusian states-owned companies, making it impossible to conduct operations in two key world currencies.

    Last week, the correspondent accounts of Belarusbank, Belinvestbank and Belagroprombank were closed by Deutcsche …

  • European Commission: Gazprom must sell Nord Stream 2

    Gazprom must sell the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to comply with European competition standards. This view is shared by the European Commission, reports Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, citing officials in Brussels.

    The EU Third Energy Package prohibits the same company from being both a gas supplier and the owner of the pipeline. In the case of Nord Stream 2, Russian gas giant Gazprom may not be able to use more than half of the gas pipeline's capacity.

    Having lost the court appeal to exclude …

  • Spain denies Russian warships entry in the port of Ceuta

    The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not give permission to two Russian warships, the large anti-submarine ship Vice-Admiral Kulakov and the rescue tugboat Altai, to enter the port of Ceuta (a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa), reports Deutsche Welle.

    The newspaper Confidencial, citing official sources, claims that Russian warships were planning to dock for three days from August 18 to refuel in Ceuta and replenish food supplies. The crew members were also planning …

  • Gas prices in Europe tumble as Russia’s Gazprom promises to launch Nord Stream 2 this year

    The European gas prices, which have soared by 200% since the beginning of the year, have tumbled.

    Gas futures on the ICE exchange fell by almost 10% after the Russian gas giant Gazprom announced the launch of Nord Stream-2 this year.

    September contracts pegged to spot quotes of the EU's largest gas hub TTF in the Netherlands are trading at around $504.8 per thousand cubic meters, although at the beginning of the week they were at more than $ 570.

    At the moment, the quotes fell below of $500, …

  • Russia’s Gazprom reduces gas supplies to European storage facilities

    Beginning Saturday, July 31, Russian gas giant Gazprom reduced supply of gas to underground storage facilities in Europe, reports Interfax with reference to the data of the website Gas Infrastructure Europe.

    The most used storage facilities in Europe, Haidach in Austria, Rehden in Germany and Bergermeer in the Netherlands, will receive less gas from Gazprom. Usually, gas supply increases over the weekend, because industrial demand subsides  and unclaimed volume can be sent to storage …