• Belarus seeks alternative to Russian oil

    Belarus has sent offers to purchase oil to enterprises in Ukraine, Poland, the Baltics, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, said Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Krutoy, as cited by Belta. According to him, the commercial services of the Belarusian Oil Company’s plants are involved in daily negotiations regarding possible oil deliveries.

    Latvia has already said that it is willing to participate in reverse oil deliveries to Belarus, said Latvian Ambassador to Minsk Einars Semanis ahead of a …

  • Russia speaks of progress in Libya talks despite lack of signed agreement

    Russia says that progress has been made in the indirect peace negotiations intended to bring an end to the conflict in Libya, even though no indefinite ceasefire agreement has been signed.

    “Today we can report that certain progress has been made,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a press conference on Monday. Lavrov described the eight hours of parallel negotiations as “serious”. The talks were mediated by Lavrov himself, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu and Russian …

  • Putin’s friend Rotenberg loses lawsuit against Scandinavian banks in Finland

    The Russian businessman Boris Rotenberg, who has come under US sanctions due to the conflict in Ukraine and his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, lost a lawsuit against four Scandinavian banks in a Finnish court on Monday.

    “The Helsinki District Court has dismissed Boris Rotenberg’s lawsuit regarding the right to banking services and damage from discrimination,” the court said in a statement.

    Rotenberg, who also has Finnish citizenship, filed a lawsuit against Nordea, Danske …

  • Russian-Belarusian oil transit negotiations end with no results

    Russian and Belarusian representatives were unable to reach an agreement regarding oil transit tariffs for 2020 during their negotiations in Minsk on Monday.

    Citing a source familiar with the proceedings, BelTA reports that Belarus demanded a tariff increase, citing the oil contamination incident last year, which caused downtime on the Druzhba pipeline and damage to the equipment of Belarusian oil refineries.

    The parties are currently discussing a 16.6% tariff hike, a source told Interfax. …

  • Russia and Turkey take over resolution of Libyan conflict

    On Monday in Moscow, the leaders of the opposing sides in Libya concluded negotiations, at the end of which the Russian Foreign Minister said that certain progress had been made. A fragile ceasefire, mediated by Russia and Turkey, has come into effect in Libya.

    Russia and Turkey have taken on the role of key arbitrators in Libya, trying to encourage Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and his adversary General Khalifa Haftar to start …