These fossil-fuel exports have enabled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its extreme violence against unarmed civilians and civilian infrastructure. Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently believes that no one can stand up to him because of the naked power that he can exert through energy markets. If the Europeans resist too much, he will cut off their gas. If the rest of the world cuts back on their purchases from Russia, the price of oil will rise, causing economic difficulties everywhere.

But Putin underestimated the horror and fear that his invasion would create, particularly in Europe. Even worse for him, the United States, Europe and their allies have all the tools needed to end Russia’s energy leverage. Importers around the world are shunning Russian oil and gas. Europe, certainly, will never again risk its national security on Russian energy imports. Consequently, Russia will soon be finished as a major player in world energy markets.

Putin’s war of aggression has killed thousands of civilians and displaced about ten million, including more than four million who have fled the country. With Russian forces repeatedly shelling and firing missiles at civilian areas, 13 million Ukrainians are at risk of bombardment. In Mariupol and elsewhere, Putin’s forces have targeted buildings where civilians were sheltering, even where the word “children” was clearly marked or a red cross was painted on the roof. In the eyes of the world, these are war crimes, pure and simple.

Nowhere is the shock and revulsion felt as intensely as in Europe. The entire EU has come together, taking in millions of Ukrainian refugees and seeking to help Ukraine in as many other ways as possible. Every atrocity committed by Russian forces generates more support for Ukraine among European leaders and publics alike.

Some EU countries are already de facto boycotting Russian oil. According to TankerTrackers.com, in February, Denmark imported just over 7.5 million barrels of crude oil from Russia by ship. But in the first 27 days of March, Denmark imported no Russian crude whatsoever. Sweden, Finland and other countries also reported big declines in Russian crude imported by tanker. And there are increasing signs that Germany and other countries will step up to lead a full and immediate embargo on imports of Russian oil by tanker into the EU.

There is also discussion of paying for Russian gas and pipeline oil into escrow accounts that are effectively frozen, to ensure the euro proceeds cannot be used by Russia to buy weapons anywhere in the world. Putin attempted to get ahead of this development by demanding payment for gas only in rubles, but the EU has rebuffed this as a breach of contract. Germany and Austria are preparing to ration the use of gas.

Putin and some energy traders apparently think that it will be easy for Russia to switch from European oil deliveries to Asian markets. But they seem to have forgotten a key lesson of the Iran oil sanctions. Should the US, the EU, the United Kingdom, and Norway implement sanctions that prohibit all forms of maritime insurance for tankers carrying Russian oil and refined products, most of the world’s tanker fleets would withdraw from the Russian market.

The Russians have their own tankers, of course, but their fleet is too small to move more than about one million barrels per day, particularly because a lot of the crude would need to be hauled from Murmansk, the Baltic Sea, or the Black Sea all the way to Asia. Some renegade operators may attempt to enter the business, but these activities would be tracked carefully, and ship owners, charterers, and captains would most likely face personal US and EU sanctions. Ukraine has already indicated it will pursue all possible remedies against anyone complicit in the financing of war crimes.

Once the world adjusts to living with much less Russian energy, there will be no going back. No European in their right mind wants nuclear-armed Russia to have the free cash flow that its hydrocarbon exports currently provide, because that money will allow Putin (or his successors) to rearm and become even more aggressive, perhaps attacking NATO countries next time. There is no such thing as “cheap” Russian oil and gas.

Russian fossil fuels are funding an awful war. The killing must stop. And the world must learn to live without Russian energy products.

Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, is a professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and a co-chair of the COVID-19 Policy Alliance. Oleg Ustenko has been economic adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since May 2019. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2022.

Source: http://jordantimes.com/opinion/simon-johnson-and-oleg-ustenko/russia-finished-major-energy-power

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Following the sanctions that were placed on Russia by the U.S. government as a result of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion into Ukraine, Biden is predicting that groceries across the country will be in short supply, and pricier than ever before.

“With regard to food shortage, yes we did talk about food shortages, and it’s gonna be real,” Biden said during a press conference at a NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium. “The price of the sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia. It’s imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well.”

Russia and Ukraine are considered the “breadbaskets of Europe” due to their expansive wheat production. The two countries combine for nearly a third of the world’s wheat and barley exports.

Since a week before Russia invaded Ukraine, prices of wheat surged 55%. Ports in Ukraine that send wheat and other food staples worldwide to be made into bread, noodles, and animal feed were shut down as millions flee or stay to fight in the war.

Ukraine also is a major supplier of corn and the global leader in sunflower oil, used in food processing. The war could reduce food supplies globally, which could create food insecurity and throw more people into poverty in places like Lebanon and Egypt, where diets are dominated by bread.

It will also affect people in the U.S. living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to afford food for their families.

“It comes at an absolutely horrible time for American consumers because we’re looking every day at inflation almost reaching 10%,” Dan Varroney, a supply chain expert, told Fox Business. “Last month’s figures were close to 8%. And that means that consumers, including those that are living paycheck to paycheck, are going to pay more for food.”

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/president-biden-warns-real-grocery-172618556.html

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Macron told journalists after an EU summit in Brussels that the Russian move “is not in line with what was signed, and I do not see why we would apply it.”

Putin made the demand this week as Moscow struggles to prop up its economy in the face of debilitating sanctions imposed by the West over his invasion of Ukraine.

Macron said that “we are continuing our analysis work” following the Kremlin’s maneuver.

But he insisted “all the texts signed are clear: it is prohibited. So European players who buy gas and who are on European soil must do so in euros.”

“It is therefore not possible today to do what is requested, and it is not contractual,” he said.

The French leader said he believed Moscow was using the step as “a mechanism to circumvent” EU sanctions against it for the assault on Ukraine.

Major gas buyer Germany has denounced the move and Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday reiterated that the contracts clearly stipulated how the gas should be paid for.

Europe is scrambling to reduce its reliance on Russian gas. It continues to funnel hundreds of millions of euros each day to Moscow in energy payments, which are currently outside the scope of the sanctions.

Some EU nations have called for the bloc to ban Moscow’s key energy exports, but the move has so far been stymied by countries including Germany that remain too wary of the cost of cutting the cord.

Source: https://www.voanews.com/a/macron-dismisses-putin-demand-for-gas-payments-in-rubles/6502528.html

The post Macron Dismisses Putin Demand for Gas Payments in Rubles first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The sanctions will only consolidate the Russian society and not cause popular discontent with the authorities, Medvedev told Russia’s RIA news agency in an interview.

The West has imposed an array of sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, but one month into the war, the Kremlin says it will continue the assault until it accomplishes its goals of Ukraine’s “demilitarization and denazification.”

Some of the sanctions have specifically targeted billionaire businessmen believed to be close to President Vladimir Putin.

“Let us ask ourselves: can any of these major businessmen have even the tiniest quantum of influence of the position of the country’s leadership?” Medvedev said.

“I openly tell you: no, no way.”

Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-702307

The post Russian ex-president: Western sanctions won’t sway Kremlin first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

        Nobody dared ask the question on everyone’s lips.  Both Anthony Blinken and John Kirby held press conferences this week where they took questions.  They didn’t have to answer this one.  How come all the devastating sanctions don’t apply to Russian oil, which the U. S. is consuming at the reported rate of 10% and Europe is absolutely dependent upon?  When you talk about the Russians raking in hundreds of millions of dollars per day, what else do you want to talk about?

        That’s how committed this regime is to the green nonsense.  It’s proud to have stamped out energy independence with renewed regulation and impossible red tape.  But the administration is not about to unleash America’s energy potential, Ukrainian tribulation or not.

        Vladimir Putin is proving his harshest critics right.  We hope he’s watching the coverage of the carnage in Ukraine somewhere other than Russian broadcast networks.  The heartbreak of mothers with small children saying goodbye to husbands who are going to fight against the invasion… The air-raid sirens and long hours spent in basements, and almost a million women and children have had to go.  We’re shown other examples of people trapped, terrified that they can’t get out.  All they wanted was to live in peace.  They posed no threat to Russia.  But Putin thinks he has justification.  He must be watching Russian TV.  Or is what we’re watching an accurate analysis?

        Ukraine has been described as a piggy-bank for money laundering.  Some pretty big names are implicated.  There’s word that the pretender’s family is hip deep.  It’s a tragedy all right, with all the civilians caught in the middle.  Putin doesn’t want the New World Order on his doorstep, and there’s a female member of the Ukrainian parliament, hair and make-up done with an AK in her hand saying she’s ready to fight for the New World Order in Ukraine.  So who’s crazy?

        But maybe somebody up the chain dropped the ball.  It doesn’t help that we’ve got leadership, squinting hard at words he didn’t write with that far-off look of wonder.  Let’s hope somebody knows what they’re doing, but things have gone seriously south since the disputed election.  With quarantines, mask arguments and vaccination mandates, it’s as if our own government has turned inward.  They’ve become more interested in lecturing us about what we better do next than managing the U. S. posture around the world.  It seems patriotic Americans had already become the primary target.

        Forget the real enemies of peace.  They’ve had the luxury of chasing everyone around, knowing the “right” thing for everybody to do, and a lot of people, maybe a majority, bought in to it.  The media preached day and night to a diminishing audience, hair on fire.  It was all COVID, all the time.  That and the “deadly insurrection” on January 6^th.  Even with the harrowing stories, the bomb blasts and the reality of a war that could go wrong, they still bang on about vaccinations.

        John Kerry is one who is actually too easy to lampoon.  In fact he does it to himself, having become the caricature of a wizened diplomat.  He’s really concerned that the war may divert attention from the threat posed by “climate change.”  That term covers all the bases.  They can never be wrong, no matter what happens.  The comedy is that their posturing has some effect on the actual climate.  Now that’s laughable.  Buffoons don’t know when to quit. That goes double for Al Gore.

        Beyond those jokers there is nothing funny about what’s taking place, played out in great detail on every media outlet.  The news outfits that had fallen way out of favor now are eyewitness to the details, the rubble, the explosions and the miles long Russian convoy.

        CBS has a piece playing now, about how cruel it is in Ukraine for “transgenders.”  This poor guy in a blonde wig worries that his “identity” no longer matches his passport.  The “rainbow” lifestyle doesn’t cut much mustard in Ukraine.  They’ve made life miserable for guys like him.  But don’t expect him to join any volunteers fighting the invasion.  No sir.  He’s a woman now, one who claims to be in fear of his life.  He might just remove the wig, but that won’t work either.  The music is haunting, but the dude is dancing in his kitchen to cope.

        We’ve heard tell that Ukraine has been a no-man’s-land where large sums of U. S. dollars have been sent to promote things we’d rather not know about.  Critics say that some notorious operators have taken advantage of the situation, and the squinter in chief is implicated.  It’s a little unnerving, having the gang that can’t shoot straight in charge of whether WWIII gets touched off.

        You know the situation in painful detail.  A decision has been made that the U. S. will not do anything to drive Putin over the edge.  He’s already made dark threats against anyone who would “interfere with his military operation.”  It’s hard to understand his goals.  He’s definitely destroyed his reputation.  Ukraine has a lot that Russia can use, whether or not the strategic arguments are valid.

        Desperate women with children are all over our media, begging and pleading for things that would likely mean the destruction of civilization.  But we mustn’t upset the GREEN AGENDA.  They’re so impressed with this religious ideology, though it makes no sense!

        One last thought.  What about the tyrants right here at home?  What about the ones in Canada and Australia?  At least they didn’t bomb or shoot anybody.  They just made their towns and cities look like a neutron bomb went off.  May we survive them all with God’s help.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 4 March 2022 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Iran and Russia are both at a crossroads concerning their regional geostrategies. On February 8, Iran’s delegation headed back to Vienna for the eighth and possibly final round of talks to negotiate a revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Unlike conventional agreements, the JCPOA was conceived out of mutual mistrust, and Iran fervidly seeks guarantees that Washington will not renege on its commitments as it did in 2018. Iran also remains adamant about removing all sanctions in exchange for nuclear compliance, a demand that European officials seem to consider excessive.

As one of the nuclear deal’s more constructive signatories, some see Russia as Iran’s “lawyer” in the renegotiation process. The Vienna talks resume as Russia enters its own negotiations with the West via French president Emmanuel Macron. Russia is currently embroiled in a standoff against NATO and Ukraine. With over 100,000 Russian troops surrounding Ukraine’s borders, Putin has expressed his concerns over what he considers NATO’s encroachment on Russia’s western flank. In the coming days, Tehran and Moscow’s diplomatic approaches with the United States and its European counterparts will significantly impact the prospect of de-escalating tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. However, both countries remain committed to pursuing their best self-interests, and the twenty-year cooperation agreement may have significant implications in this process.

The Iranian government has focused on advertising the economic and security benefits the Iran-Russia deal may have. Russia currently comprises 4 percent and 2 percent of Iran’s imports and exports, respectively. Tehran intends to increase its trade volume with Russia to $25 billion. This goal may seem overly ambitious, but in 2007, Iran envisioned its trade with Russia to reach $200 billion within the next decade. However, bilateral trade peaked at just over $3.5 billion in 2021. For comparison, Russia’s annual trade with Turkey ranges between $20 billion and $25 billion. U.S. sanctions act as the main impediment, constraining Tehran’s commercial prospects and complicating any long-term commitments from its trade partners. Aside from its direct commercial interests with Russia, Iran also seeks to secure broader economic commitments vis-à-vis the Eurasian Economic Union. In their face-to-face meeting, Putin expressed his support to Raisi for a free trade zone between Iran and the economic union. Raisi looks to such financial breakthroughs with hopeful eyes amid the skepticism over sanctions relief.

In addition to its economic potential, Iran views the twenty-year agreement as a way to solidify its security cooperation with Russia and secure new arms deals. Having held a trilateral naval exercise with the Russian and Chinese navies on January 21, Iran favors increased military collaboration to show a semblance of defensive solidarity with its foreign backers. Tehran reportedly seeks to purchase Russian-made Su-35 fighter jets to revamp the Iranian air force. The Raisi administration is also interested in procuring the S-400 missile defense system. While the UN Security Council embargo that barred weapons exports to Iran expired in late 2020, Russia has refrained from offering any deals to Iran. One motivation is that Tehran may not have the funds necessary for such deals. Since President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, Iran’s foreign currency and gold reserves have substantially decreased. Iran had planned to acquire $10 billion worth of Russian arms, but its dire financial situation has convinced some analysts that any defense contracts with the Kremlin may peak at just $2 billion. The cooperation agreement could enable Iran to attain favorable terms over its oil and gas sectors in exchange for larger discounts for Russian weapons. But the cost is not just financial, as Russia maintains close ties with Iran’s regional rivals, including Israel and Saudi Arabia. Putin will not risk an imbalance in his relationships with the Middle East’s strongest powers. Not everyone in the Kremlin sees a direct security benefit from a long-term deal with Tehran.

The prospect of the twenty-year agreement has its fair share of supporters and critics in Iran as well. The deal resembles a twenty-five-year cooperation pact with Beijing that recently became operational. While some support an Iran-Russia deal to diversify Tehran’s commercial dependence away from China, critics fear extraterritorial concessions reminiscent of those made to the Russian government during the Qajar period. For example, Russia’s Gazprom and Transneft recently secured the largest stake in Iran’s newly uncovered Chalous gas field. Russia estimated that the gas field could supply 52 percent of Europe’s needs over twenty years. Two Chinese corporations will share 28 percent of the supply, while the residual output of the gas field will go to Iran’s KEPCO. Therefore, some critics believe Iran may sacrifice its long-term economic potential for short-term financial alleviation.

The difference in Iran and Russia’s geopolitical interests raises questions over the extent to which a twenty-year agreement would strengthen the countries’ security, economic, and industrial collaboration. But even if a deal is expected to have few tangible benefits for either side, the prospect can give Tehran and Moscow the political leverage they seek in their negotiations with the West. The common factor between these two countries is their ongoing dialogue with the United States and its allies. If the situation in Ukraine is exacerbated, Putin may look past his reservations over fully committing to Iran in a bid to pressure the United States and its NATO allies from a different front. The Kremlin may also use the threat of arms sales to Iran as political leverage in the negotiations over Ukraine. As such, a twenty-year agreement may not offer an actual weapons deal, but the threat of one can be deployed as a bargaining chip. Likewise, Iran could use the agreement to signal it will not shy away from alternative strategies should the United States sustain economic sanctions. Raisi will not wait for the nuclear deal to determine how the rest of his presidency will go. Concerning the separate negotiations between Iran, Russia, and the West, the potential of a twenty-year Iran-Russia pact is perhaps more significant for the West than it is for Iran and Russia themselves.

Arash Toupchinejad is a Junior Research Fellow at the NATO Association of Canada and an MSF Candidate at Georgetown University. He is also a columnist for the European Student Think Tank. His research spans the impact of geoeconomics and geopolitics on foreign affairs. His primary interests span the history and politics of Eastern Europe and the Middle East, as well as the neorealist school of thought.

Source: https://nationalinterest.org/feature/iran-and-russia%E2%80%99s-20-year-agreement-warning-shot-west-200528

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Service members of the Russian airborne forces get wait before boarding Ilyushin Il-76 transport planes during drills at a military aerodrome in the Azov Sea port of Taganrog, Russia April 22, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

An aerial view shows a military aerodrome during drills of Russian airborne forces in the Azov Sea port of Taganrog, Russia April 22, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Stringer

Service members of the Russian airborne forces walk before boarding Ilyushin Il-76 transport planes during drills at a military aerodrome in the Azov Sea port of Taganrog, Russia April 22, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

Russia announced on Thursday it was ordering troops back to base from the area near the border with Ukraine, apparently calling an end to a buildup of tens of thousands of soldiers that had alarmed the West.

The currencies of both Russia and Ukraine rose sharply after the announcement, signalling relief among investors just hours after Russia also ended war games in Crimea, the peninsula it occupied and annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

There was no immediate response from Western countries, but a pullout of the troops brought in on top of the permanent contingent was likely to be welcomed by countries that had been expressing alarm at the prospect of further Russian intervention in eastern Ukraine. Russian-backed separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian government in the region since 2014.

The Ukrainian president’s spokeswoman said this month that Russia had more than 40,000 troops deployed on Ukraine’s eastern border and over 40,000 in Crimea. Around 50,000 of them were new deployments, she said. Moscow has not provided any troop numbers.

In a tweet, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine “welcomes any steps to decrease the military presence & deescalate the situation in Donbas (eastern Ukraine)”, adding “Grateful to international partners for their support”.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had told Reuters Kyiv did not know whether Moscow intended to launch an attack or not, and said the West must make clear it would stand with Ukraine if Russia did so.

“So it can go in either direction now,” Kuleba said. “And this is why the reaction of the West, the consolidated reaction of the West, is so important now, to prevent Putin … from making that decision.”

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said he had ordered troops involved in exercises to return to their bases by May 1, as they had completed what he called an “inspection” in the border area.

“I believe the objectives of the snap inspection have been fully achieved. The troops have demonstrated their ability to provide a credible defence for the country,” Shoigu said.

EQUIPMENT LEFT

Military hardware was to be left at a training ground near the city of Voronezh, about six hours’ drive from Ukraine so that it could be used again later this year in another big scheduled exercise.

Hours earlier, Shoigu had attended manoeuvres in Crimea, which Moscow said involved 10,000 troops and more than 40 warships. Russia also announced it had arrested a Ukrainian man in Crimea as a spy.

The troop buildup near Ukraine was one of several issues that have raised tensions between Russia and the West.

Last week, the United States tightened sanctions on Russia over accusations that it had hacked computers and meddled in U.S. elections, and the Czech Republic accused Moscow of a role in deadly explosions at an arms dump in 2014.

Both countries expelled Russian diplomats, prompting angry denials and tit-for-tat expulsions by Moscow.

Western countries have also urged Russia to free jailed hunger-striking opposition figure Alexei Navalny, with Washington warning of “consequences” should he die in prison. Russia says the West should not interfere.

In a major speech on Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin sounded a defiant note, warning Western countries not to cross unspecified “red lines”. But Putin is also participating this week in a climate summit organized by U.S. President Joe Biden.

In Moscow, the Kremlin said Putin was aware of an invitation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet to discuss the crisis.

“If the president considers it necessary, he will reply himself. I have nothing to say on that now,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-orders-troops-back-base-after-buildup-near-ukraine-2021-04-22/?rpc=401&

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“I want to offer President Biden that we continue our discussion, but on the condition that we do it live, online, without any delays,” Putin said, when asked in a television interview about Biden’s comments. The two leaders last spoke by telephone on Jan. 26 days after Biden took office.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Thursday said Biden had no regrets about calling Putin a killer and swatted away a question about Putin’s request for an immediate call in public.

“I would say the president already had a conversation with President Putin, even as there are more world leaders that he has not yet engaged with,” Psaki said. “The president will of course be in Georgia tomorrow and quite busy.”

Putin said he was ready to discuss Russia’s relations with the United States and other issues such as regional conflicts “tomorrow or, say, on Monday,” adding that he would be having a weekend break in a remote part of Russia.

‘WE ARE DIFFERENT’

In his ABC comments, Biden also described Putin as having no soul and said he would pay a price for alleged Russian meddling in the November 2020 U.S. presidential election, something the Kremlin denies.

Russia is preparing to be hit by a new round of U.S. sanctions in the coming days over the U.S. allegations of election interference and hacking.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that Washington was tracking efforts to complete Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and evaluating the information on entities that appear to be involved.

In a highly unusual move following Biden’s interview, Moscow recalled its ambassador to the United States for consultations.

Suggesting Biden was hypocritical in his remarks, Putin said that every state had to contend with “bloody events” and added Biden was accusing the Russian leader of something he was guilty of himself.

“I remember in my childhood, when we argued in the courtyard with each other we used to say: he who said it, did it. And that’s not a coincidence, not just a children’s saying or joke. The psychological meaning here is very deep,” Putin said.

“We always see our own traits in other people and think they are like how we really are. And as a result, we assess (a person’s) activities and give assessments,” he said.

Putin then spoke about U.S. history, talking about what he called the genocide of Native Americans, slavery and the ill-treatment of Black people, and the U.S. dropping atomic bombs on Japan at the end of World War Two.

“They think that we are like them, but we are different, we have a different genetic and cultural-moral code,” said Putin.

“We will work with them in the areas in which we are interested on terms that we consider advantageous to ourselves. They will have to deal with that regardless of all their attempts to stop us developing, regardless of the sanctions, and regardless of the insults”.

The post Putin offers Biden public talks after U.S. president says he thinks he is a killer first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The United States has prepared new sanctions against Russia, which will include more than 30 state-owned companies, agencies, and entities.

Russian organizations will be subject to restrictive measures as part of the sanctions package against China, RIA Novosti reports citing a draft document that has not yet been published.

The Russian Defense Ministry, as well as the subsidiaries of the Russian Nuclear Agency, Rosatom, and Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, may fall under these sanctions.

The sanctions may be imposed against the leading structures of the nuclear weapons industry, as well as two subsidiaries of the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos – a scientific institute and manufacturer of rocket and space technology.

For the first time, key civil aviation companies – including helicopter and aircraft engine manufacturers, developers and suppliers of aviation materials and air traffic systems – could fall under U.S. sanctions.

The sanctions list will also include one of the state-owned corporations associated with the administration of President Vladimir Putin, as well as the forensic identification center of the police department in Nizhny Novgorod region.

According to a source familiar with the situation, if the sanctions are approved, U.S. companies will need to obtain a special license to continue any contacts with Russian companies.

Previously, there have been no sanctions against the Russian nuclear industry or against Roscosmos and its subsidiaries. The only restriction imposed by the United States was the ban on the use of Russian rockets to launch Pentagon satellites beginning on January 1, 2023.

Source: http://uawire.org/u-s-prepares-sanctions-against-russian-defense-ministry-aviation-industry-space-and-nuclear-agencies

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German companies are continuing to withdraw from Russia, winding up operations in the wake of US sanctions and the decline of solvent demand.

In the five years since Russia annexed Crimea, its relations with the West have deteriorated sharply, and nearly 2,000 German companies have left the Russian market, Deutsche Welle reports, citing data from the Russian-German Foreign Trade Chamber.

At the end of 2019, 4,274 companies with German capital were operating in Russia, as opposed to 6,200 in 2014.

In the past year, the number dropped by 8% or 370 companies.

“America should stop continuing the spiral of sanctions at the expense of German and European companies,” lamented Matthias Schepp, head of the chamber. As an example, he cited the Nord Stream 2 project, which cost €10 billion and is now under sanctions, with only 160 km of pipeline remaining.

The sanctions war with the West has frozen the flow of new German investments into Russia, the Bank of Russia’s statistics confirm.

At the start of 2014, German businesses held $18.9 billion in Russia as direct participation in the capital of Russian companies and debt instruments, and by summer 2019 the amount was virtually unchanged ($19.2 billion).

Russia appreciates German companies’ willingness to operate in the country “whatever the political situation,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 6 at an annual meeting with delegates of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, which unites more than 200 enterprises, including major industrial unions. Putin claimed that the Russian government has managed to ensure “macroeconomic stability” in the country, with the GDP growing and inflation (3.2%) and unemployment (4.6%) reaching record lows.

“We are interested in ensuring that foreign, including German, businessmen feel as comfortable as possible in the Russian market. We are taking measures to improve the business and investment climate in our country,” said the Russian president.

Source: http://uawire.org/2-000-german-companies-have-pulled-out-of-russia

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