Contents tagged with EU

  • Ukraine asks EU for help in reinforcing border with Belarus

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed during a telephone conversation with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen the possibility of obtaining EU assistance to reinforce the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, reports the press service of the Ukrainian President.

    The parties discussed the deteriorating situation on the European-Belarusian and Ukrainian-Belarusian borders. Zelensky and Ursula von der Leyen agreed that this situation is a hybrid attack that requires …

  • Lukashenko threatens to block transit of Russian gas to Europe

    Belarus can block the transit of Russian gas to the European Union if "unacceptable" sanctions are imposed against it, said self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander.

    According to him, the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, which supplies gas from Western Siberia to Germany through Poland, can be shut down.

    "Poland threatens us that it will close the border. Please close: fewer migrants will move there. That's not the question. What if we close the gas transit through Belarus? It will not be …

  • Poland to double size of its army making it the largest in Europe

    The Polish government has prepared an updated defense decree, which provides for a sharp increase in the number of the country's armed forces.

    According to Poland Daily Live, the document will replace the military doctrine adopted in 1967, when Poland was part of the Soviet bloc.

    According to the bill, the number of personnel in the Polish army  should double in the coming years  - from 150 to 300 thousand people, which will make it the largest in Europe. Cyber defense units will also be …

  • EU: Russia uses gas as weapon of influence against Moldova

    Russia has turned its gas supplies to Moldova into an instrument of influence on this country, said the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. "On a global scale, the rise in prices is not a consequence of the transformation of gas supplies into weapons, but in the case of Moldova it is," Borrell said in Brussels, at a joint press conference with Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița.

    Representatives of Moldova are negotiating with the Russian-owned …

  • Kremlin: Russia may abandon euro if it is used as ‘instrument of pressure’

    Russia, following its de-dollarization policy, may announce a policy of abandoning the euro if the European authorities begin to use their currency as an instrument of pressure, as the United States does, said in an interview with Interfax Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin.

    So far, according to Pankin, there are no reasons for this. Russia does not face problems in euro settlements, and the replacement of the European currency with another one only for political reasons is "economically …

  • Russia puts forth conditions for increasing gas supplies to EU

    Russian authorities are pushing for new long-term contracts with Gazprom to boost gas supplies and cool the European market, where prices have soared above $1900 per thousand cubic meters and storage reserves are at historic lows.

    Russia already supplies the maximum possible volumes as part of the existing contracts, said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

    Contractual obligations are fulfilled "impeccably" and "at the top level", he stressed, adding that the supply of additional …

  • EU imposes sanctions on 8 more individuals responsible for annexation of Crimea

    The European Council has imposed sanctions on 8 more people responsible for Russia's annexation of Crimea.

    "The persons added to the EU sanctions list include law enforcement officials - judges, prosecutors and security officers - responsible for enforcing Russian law in the illegally-annexed Crimea and Sevastopol. Those individuals have taken biased decisions in politically-motivated cases, and prosecuted or oppressed opponents of the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol," reads the …

  • 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 …