Contents tagged with EU
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …