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Magyarország
2021. december 30. 11:53 Magyarország az Európai Bizottsággal folytatott tárgyalásokat és a társadalmi egyeztetést követően az első tagállamok között nyújtotta be a Partnerségi Megállapodást hivatalosan a Bizottságnak. A dokumentum rögzíti, hogy a 2021-27-es időszakban felhasználható, hazai társfinanszírozással együtt több mint kilencezer milliárd forint összegű kohéziós forrásokat milyen fejlesztésekre fordítja az ország. A kormány célja, hogy 2030-ra Magyarország az Európai Unió 5 legélhetőbb országa közé tartozzon. Ennek érdekében a következő évek uniós és hazai forrásait elsősorban a gazdaságélénkítésre, a kis- és középvállalkozások támogatására, a magyar települések erősítésére, valamint a kutatás, fejlesztés és innovációs célú beruházásokra fordítjuk. A következő években tovább erősítjük Magyarország gazdasági és társadalmi versenyképességét, hogy hazánk azok közé az országok közé tartozzon, ahol a legjobb élni, lakni és dolgozni. A felzárkózás elősegítése érdekében a források legalább 65 százalékát a négy legkedvezőtlenebb helyzetű magyar régióban használjuk fel. Az uniós forrásokból a legnagyobb arányban továbbra is a gazdaságfejlesztési program részesül. Így a következő években is jelentős számú pályázat segíti a kis- és középvállalkozások beruházásait, valamint a K+F+I célú fejlesztéseket. Minden korábbinál több pénzt szán a kormány a vidéki Magyarország és a magyar települések erősítésére is. A területi operatív programra fordított összeget a teljes keret 20 százalékára emeltük, ezzel is támogatva a helyi igények és tervek megvalósítását. Emellett kiemelt szerepet kap a közlekedésfejlesztési, illetve a környezeti és energetikai program, amelyek többek között a közösségi és vasúti közlekedés korszerűsítését, valamint a megújulóenergia-felhasználás elterjedését segítik elő. A közoktatás fejlesztését, a társadalmi felzárkózási programokat, az egészségügyi és szociális beruházásokat külön operatív program, valamint a magyar Helyreállítási Terv is finanszírozza. A most záruló időszakhoz képest változás, hogy Budapest és Pest megye már nem alkotnak egy régiót, ezért a Közép-magyarországi régióra nem készül külön területi program, ugyanakkor Pest megye a korábbiaknál jelentősen több uniós forrást érhet majd el. A közigazgatás, az állampolgárok, illetve a gazdasági szereplők digitális fejlesztéseit egy új, önálló operatív program fogja össze. A Partnerségi Megállapodás, majd ezt követően az operatív programok benyújtása az első lépés ahhoz, hogy a 2021-27-es uniós fejlesztési időszakban a Magyarország számára rendelkezésre álló uniós források lehívhatóak legyenek. A bizottsági jóváhagyást követően téríti vissza az Unió Magyarország számára azokat a forrásokat is, amelyeket a kormány a gazdaság újraindítása érdekében a nemzeti költségvetéséből már kifizetett a magyar pályázók számára. ( Forrás: Kormány / Miniszterelnökség)
Russia
30 Dec Headlines: Putin-Biden phone call scheduled for 23:30 Moscow time today - White House. The conversation would be in a "closed press" format. Great powers Beijing, Moscow can resist pressure from hegemonic powers, if China and Russia stand side by side and boost their cooperation, China’s top diplomat Wang says. The world order will be unshakable, and global principles - irrefutable, Wang pointed out. Putin may warn Biden against provocations ahead of Geneva talks, expert says. Russia will strive for firm security guarantees from US at Geneva talks - Russian Foreign Ministry. Negotiations are planned in the format of an interagency delegation of Russia and the US, Russian diplomat Zakharova informed. Zakharova : President Zelensky turns into threat for Ukraine. Everything that the Kiev regime has been issuing is an immediate and direct threat to Ukraine’s statehood, pointed out. Gazprom has not booked pumping via Yamal-Europe for ten days amid lack of orders. The company began reducing the booking of gas transit via the gas pipeline two weeks ago. Avtovaz redomiciliates to Russia - Rostec Renault holds 66.7% in the joint venture company at the moment and Rostec has 32.3% in it. Form of EU’s dialogue with Russia was impermissible in recent years - Foreign Ministry. Zakharova recalled that EU diplomats in recent years made quite a few ultimatum-like statements, without proposing any drafts or discussions on them, but merely stated their unilateral stance. Putin-Biden phone conversation scheduled for 11:30 pm Moscow time today won’t include public part, Kremlin spokesman says. (Source: TASS)
Note: Yamal-Europe runs across Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany.
30 Dec On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry released draft agreements on security guarantees on the part of the US and NATO. They were handed over to US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Donfried on December 15. Russian President Putin and US President Biden held a phone call started at 15:35 Washington time - 13:35 Eastern Time - (23:35 Moscow time), a White House representative told journalist today. The talks ended at 00:25 Moscow time on Friday. Currently, Biden is at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where he spends the weekends. Earlier, Kremlin Spokesman Peskov told TASS that the talks between the two leaders began on time. They were held behind closed doors. The talks were initiated by Putin. According to Peskov, the leaders planned to resume discussing the issues that were on agenda of the previous talks and of the negotiations scheduled for January 2022. This is the second conversation between the presidents over the past month. On December 7, Putin and Biden negotiated for two hours via video linkup. The sides focused on the situation around Ukraine, touched upon bilateral relations, cyber security and the Iranian nuclear deal. Spokesperson and Senior Director for Press at National Security Council Horne stated that Biden planned to discuss a number of topics with Putin, including upcoming diplomatic contacts with Russia. On January 10, the talks between Russia and the US are planned in Geneva. Furthermore, a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council is going to take place on January 12. The talks between the Russian and OSCE representatives will be held on January 13. (Source: TASS)
Europe
30.12.2021 Biden and Putin hold 'constructive' phone call. The presidents of the United States and Russia traded warnings over Ukraine - yet expressed some optimism for further diplomacy agreeing to continue and advance their dialogue ahead of a meeting in Geneva early next year. The call, which came at Putin's request, was the second conversation between them this month, with Biden earlier warning Putin of severe consequences if Russian forces were to launch a further incursion into Ukrainian territory. Their second call this month came amid growing Western concern over Russia's troop buildup near Ukraine. Washington and Kyiv have accused Russia of amassing about 100,000 troops at Ukraine's border, possibly in preparation for an invasion. Russia maintains no invasion is planned and that it is free to move its own forces how it pleases within Russian territory. The simmering crisis has recently deepened as the Kremlin stiffened its demands for increased security guarantees. Russia recently published a kind of wish list that it wants from Washington, including security guarantees and no eastward expansion of the NATO military alliance. The negotiations were frank, substantive, and specific, the general direction of the conversation was quite constructive, Russian spokesman Ushakov told after the meeting. The call was a concrete political development. "It's important that the American side was willing to understand the logic and the essence of the Russian concerns that were outlined in the two documents that we sent to Washington and to NATO headquarters," he said, noting that Washington did have some concerns. According to the White House, Biden told Putin that the United States and its allies will respond decisively if there is an invasion of Ukraine. Responding to Biden's threat of sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine, Putin said that such US move could lead to a complete rupture of ties between Moscow and Washington. After much back and forth, the two countries have scheduled January 10 to meet in Geneva. Putin told Biden that they were interested in results, rather than negotiations, and would see how things go after two or three rounds. Those talks will be led by US Deputy Secretary of State Sherman and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov, Moscow said. Ushakov said the talks might lead to a normalization of ties. The White House said Biden had agreed to a pragmatic and results-driven negotiation. According to Ushakov, the two agreed that talks on security guarantees will be held in three tracks: bilateral Russia-US talks in Geneva, Russia-NATO talks in Brussels and OSCE talks in Vienna. The Geneva talks will not include Biden and Putin. (Source: DW / AP, Reuters, Interfax)
United States
December 30, 2021, Thursday. Can the Biden-Putin call really avert war over Ukraine? As military tensions simmer between Russia and Ukraine, the West is bracing for three rounds of high-stakes negotiations with the Kremlin in early January. President Biden and Russian president Putin spoke over the phone today. The reason for the phone call, which came at Putin’s request, is not immediately clear to U.S. officials. “The goal is to continue discussing the issues that were on the agenda of their recent video call,” Kremlin spokesman Peskov told on Thursday. “Besides, they will discuss a number of pressing issues related to the talks that will be held on January 10-12. The U.S. Air Force flew a spy plane over eastern Ukraine to assess the military situation on the ground in the run-up to the conversation, a source told CNN. Biden, speaking from his Delaware home, is expected to reassure the Russian leader that there are diplomatic pathways to de-escalation in Ukraine. Biden likewise plans to remind Putin of the consequences that will befall the Kremlin in the event of a Ukraine invasion scenario, including withering economic sanctions and further military aid to Ukraine. The White House has ruled out unilaterally sending U.S. troops to defend Ukraine from a possible Russian offensive. The conversation between Putin and Biden will serve as a prelude to bilateral negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, on January 10. The upcoming negotiations were preceded by a draft document, published by the Russian Foreign Ministry earlier in December, containing sweeping security demands from what Ryabkov referred to as the “collective West.” Moscow’s decision to publish the demands drew the ire of top Biden administration officials, who have stressed in past weeks that any talks between Russia and the West will be more productive if conducted in private. The document, which is split into two separate binding agreements with the United States and NATO, calls for legal guarantees against eastward NATO expansion and prohibitions on the deployment of foreign forces on the territories of post-Soviet states. There is currently no indication that NATO is laying concrete plans to induct Ukraine. At the same time, top NATO officials have repeatedly ruled out the idea of legally prohibiting Kiev from seeking membership in the alliance. The upcoming talks were prompted by what Western and Ukrainian intelligence sources described as the dramatic buildup of Russian forces, with recent estimates varying from 80,000-100,000 troops, on Russia’s side of the Russian-Ukrainian border over the course of November and December. Military experts have warned that the recent movements of Russian troops near Ukraine are out-of-cycle, not premised on any concrete military threats from Kiev, and inconsistent with the force deployment and distribution patterns expected from regular military drills. The Kremlin has stressed that it expects swift, substantive results from the coming summits, with Putin saying earlier that Moscow will not allow itself to be “chatted up” or “bogged down in some sort of swamp.” Top Kremlin officials have suggested, without elaborating on specific measures, that the West’s rejection of Russia’s demands will prompt a significant military response. Russian deputy foreign minister Grushko said in a prior interview that the West can either “take seriously what we have put on the table,” or “face a military-technical alternative.” The head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency told the Military Times last month that Russia is preparing to attack Ukraine by late January or early February. According to Russian military experts, other forms of retaliation can possibly involve the proliferation of Russian strategic missile systems to allied states including Belarus and Serbia. “A lack of progress in the direction of a political-diplomatic solution to this problem will lead to a military and military-technical response on our part,” said Ryabkov. (Source: TheNationalInterest)
December 30, 2021 U.S. President Biden “urged Russia to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine” in a 50-minute call with his Russian counterpart, the White House said. Biden administration officials said that the two had a “serious and substantive” discussion. But a senior administration official said that Putin made “no declarations as to intentions.” President Putin made no concrete promises about the tens of thousands of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border. Putin's ultimatum is no more expansion of NATO, withdrawal of NATO troops from the Baltics and a promise to never have Ukraine inside NATO. In essence, on all those three, Biden said, 'No'. Biden “made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine,” press secretary Psaki said. The two nations will participate in three separate rounds of talks next month: first through bilateral talks scheduled to start January 10, and then through two sets of multiparty talks with the NATO-Russia Council and at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. “President Biden reiterated that substantive progress in these dialogues can occur only in an environment of de-escalation rather than escalation,” Psaki added. For months now, Putin has built up troops along the Russia-Ukraine border. U.S. intelligence officials have estimated, from looking at satellite photos, that as many as 100,000 troops are in the area. Ukraine has been building up its own defenses on its side of the border. For years, the former Soviet state has been seeking entry into the NATO. Russia strongly opposes that move. Analysts worry that tens of thousands of battle-ready troops in the region could accidentally or intentionally spark a war. Putin foreign policy adviser Ushakov said the Kremlin was pleased with the talks, but he also said that Putin pushed Biden for concrete results from the upcoming security talks. Russia’s demands include that NATO deny membership to Ukraine and that the security alliance reduce its deployments in Central and Eastern Europe. The White House has said repeatedly that there will be “significant consequences” if Russia invades, including harsh economic sanctions and increased security support for Ukraine. Ukraine’s president, Zelenskiy, tweeted in December 28 that U.S. Secretary of State Blinken vowed “full [U.S.] support for [Ukraine] in countering Russian aggression.” White House officials have declined to discuss their terms publicly. It was the eighth time that the U.S. and Russian leaders have met in one year. That is a record in the entire history of U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Soviet relations. The two presidents will not participate in the high-level talks set for January 10 in Geneva. (Source: VoAnews, AFP)
December 30, 2021 Both sides described the 50-minute phone call that Mr. Putin requested as businesslike. Yet it ended without clarity about Mr. Putin’s intentions. He has massed 100,000 or so troops on the border with Ukraine, and issued demands for the NATO and the United States to pull back their forces in the region. The Biden administration, like the Trump administration before it, has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Ukrainian military to fund what it characterizes as purely defensive arms, including anti-tank missiles. Russia has called those offensive weapons that threaten its own forces. American officials declined to discuss the substance of the discussion, insisting that, unlike the Russians, they would not negotiate in public. During the conversation, Mr. Putin repeatedly accused the United States and NATO nations of placing offensive weapons near Russia’s borders, imperiling the country’s security. It is a charge that Russian officials have made repeatedly in recent times. At first it appeared they might be referring to Javelin anti-tank weapons and other small munitions the U.S. has provided to Ukraine to deter an attack. But over time, it has become increasingly clear that the Russians are referring to nuclear and non-nuclear “global strike” weapons, including intermediate-range nuclear missiles that were prohibited by a treaty that Moscow violated for several years, and President Trump abandoned. Some U.S. officials say that Mr. Putin’s concern may provide some basis for new negotiations with Russia - especially because there are no current plans to deploy a new generation of such weapons on European soil. An American official said the call “set the sort of tone and tenor for the diplomatic engagements” to come in January. In Moscow, Ushakov, Mr. Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said the Russian president had conveyed Moscow’s expectation that the upcoming talks would lead to “legally formulated guarantees of security” for Russia. He added that the conversation had created a “positive background” for negotiations in January, but that no compromises had been reached. While the tone of the call was constructive, according to the Kremlin aide, Mr. Putin repeated his claims that Russia felt threatened by an encroaching NATO. He said that Russia would “conduct itself as the United States would behave if offensive weapons were near the United States.” President Putin warned President Biden yesterday that any economic sanctions imposed on Russia if it moves to take new military action against Ukraine could result in a “complete rupture” of relations between the two nuclear superpowers, the Russian official told reporters yesterday evening. Mr. Ushakov said Mr. Putin warned that any new, harsh sanctions would be a mistake. The new sanctions under consideration range from cutting Russia off from the system of global financial settlements to imposing new restrictions on American and Western semiconductors, which Russia employs for its military modernization. A White House statement said Mr. Biden “made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.” In December 30 the United States assessment was that Mr. Putin had not decided whether to invade Ukraine. But the Biden administration expected that Russia would have to make that decision in the next month, in the brief window ahead of the spring thaw in March or April, when it would become difficult to roll heavy equipment into Ukraine. American officials made public their plans for extreme economic sanctions if an invasion starts, while signaling they are open to diplomacy. Russia’s foreign minister, Lavrov, had aired concerns ahead of call that the United States might try to drag out the talks as long as possible. Sullivan, Mr. Biden’s national security adviser, said in a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations that the flow of arms to Ukraine would continue, raising the potential cost of an invasion and occupation. In conversations with his Russian counterpart, Gen. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has made clear that while Russia might succeed in taking over parts of Ukraine, it would pay a huge human cost in trying to occupy it. Privately, American officials have explored how they might aid Ukrainian forces in mounting an insurgency, if it came to that. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe brokered a holiday cease-fire along the front that held for several days, though skirmishing along the eastern Ukrainian trench line resumed recently. Discussions are underway for other such gestures, including an exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists. (Source: dnyuz)
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