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Europe
European Commission
AUGUST 1, 2024 4:55 PM CET ’EU snubs Hungary and Slovakia over Ukraine oil sanctions’. Following Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU imposed an embargo on imports of Russian oil but exempted pipeline supplies — including those coming to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline — to give those countries time to find alternative sources, with the understanding they would do so rapidly. In June, Ukraine was blocking the transit of pipeline crude sold by Moscow’s largest private oil firm, Lukoil, to Central Europe, prompting fears of supply shortages in Budapest and Bratislava. Kyiv was violating a wide-spanning 2014 trade agreement with Brussels. Last month, the two countries sent a letter to the EU executive, urging it to open emergency consultations with Ukraine over the move — a precursor to legal action. But the European Commission rebuffed the demand. The Commission has no plans to begin formal talks with Ukraine after Kyiv imposed a partial ban on exports of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, the EU executive said on Thursday. ’Urgent consultations do not appear to be guaranteed,’it said, arguing that in the Commission's preliminary assessment, the sanctions do not pose ’an immediate risk to [both countries'] security of supply.’ The Commission was still ’verifying facts’; it had responded to the Slovak and Hungarian letter with a request for more information. European Commission declines to open formal talks with Kyiv after its Central European neighbors complained it was violating the 2014 trade deal. After meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Thursday, EU trade chief Dombrovskis said that oil exports to Hungary and Slovakia were ’not affected, as long as Lukoil is not [the] owner of the oil.’ (Source: Politico - U.S.)
Russia
8:21 PM CEST, August 1, 2024 Who’s in the massive civilian prisoner swap between Russia and the West? Released by Russia and Belarus: Fadeyeva, 32, Chanysheva, 42, and Ostanin, 47 - former coordinators of regional offices of the late opposition figure Navalny - arrested after Navalny’s political network was outlawed in 2021; later convicted of extremism. Fadeyeva, and Ostanin, each sentenced to 9 years in prison, Chanysheva, convicted in 2023 of extremism charges, widely seen as politically motivated, got a 9 1/2-year term. Gershkovich, 32, a Wall Street Journal reporter, detained in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in March 2023, accused of “gathering secret information” at the CIA’s behest about a military equipment factory, Kara-Murza, 42, a dual Russian-U.K. citizen and opposition politician. He fell ill in 2015 and 2017 from near-fatal poisonings he blamed on the Kremlin. A columnist for The Washington Post, he was arrested in 2022 after criticizing the war in Ukraine; convicted in 2023 of treason and other charges; sentenced to 25 years in prison in a case he rejected as politically motivated. His wife said his health deteriorated in prison as a result of the poisonings. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize this year. Krieger, a German medical worker, convicted in Belarus of terrorism charges in June, sentenced to death; pardoned Tuesday by President Lukashenko. Kurmasheva, 47, a dual U.S.-Russian national, the Prague-based editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service, arrested visiting her ailing mother in 2023 in her hometown of Kazan; accused of not self-reporting as a “foreign agent”; convicted in July of spreading false information about the Russian military; sentenced to 6½ years in prison. Lik, 19, a dual Russian-German national, arrested in southern Russia in 2023, accused of taking photos of a military unit and sending them to a “representative of a foreign state.” Court officials said he opposed to the war in Ukraine. He was convicted of treason and sentenced to four years in prison. Lik was 17 at the time of his arrest. Moyzhesm, a dual Russian-German national, a migration lawyer who helped Russians apply for European Union residence permits; arrested in May in St. Petersburg, reportedly accused of treason. ’Little else is known about his case’. Orlov, 71, co-chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial, a veteran human rights campaigner, convicted of repeated, publicly discrediting the Russian military, sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison in February for his protests of the war in Ukraine. He has rejected the charges as politically motivated. Pipovarov, 42, headed the opposition group Open Russia, outlawed in 2021; pulled off a flight and arrested that same year. In 2022, convicted of carrying out activities of an “undesirable” organization, sentenced to four years in prison. He has rejected the charges as politically motivated. Skochilenko, 33, artist and musician, convicted for replacing several price tags in a supermarket with anti-war slogans; sentenced to seven years in prison in November 2023. Schoebel, a German national, arrested in February 2024 at Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg when gummies containing a psychoactive component of cannabis were allegedly found in his possession; detained since then, facing drug-smuggling charges. Yashin, a former municipal deputy of the Krasnoselsky district in Moscow,, a Kremlin critic, serving an 8 1/2-year sentence for criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine. He was one of the few well-known opposition activists to stay in Russia since the war. Voronin, a dual Russian-German national, a political scientist who ran a consultancy that reportedly collaborated with journalists, arrested in 2021, convicted of treason in 2023 and sentenced to 13 years and three months in prison. He was implicated in the treason trial of Safronov, who allegedly passed him information on Russian military activities, which Voronin allegedly then gave to German intelligence. Whelan, 54, a corporate security executive, attending a friend’s wedding, arrested in 2018 in Moscow,, accused of espionage, convicted in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Released by the West: Dultsev and Dultseva, a Russian couple arrested on espionage charges in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 2022. Posing as Argentine citizens, they reportedly had used Slovenia as a base since 2017 to travel to neighboring countries and relay Moscow’s orders to other Russian sleeper agents. They have two children. They pleaded guilty Wednesday, sentenced to 19 months in prison, and released on time served. Klyushin, 43, a wealthy businessman with ties to the Kremlin, convicted in Boston in 2023 of charges including wire fraud and securities fraud in a nearly $100 million scheme, relied on secret earnings information stolen via hacking U.S. computer networks. He was said to have personally pocketed $33 million in the scheme. Klyushin was arrested in Switzerland and extradited to the U.S. in 2021; sentenced to nine years in prison. Konoshchenok, a suspected officer in Russia’s Federal Security Service, extradited to the United States from Estonia last year to face charges he smuggled ammunition and dual-use technology to help Moscow’s war in Ukraine. U.S. prosecutors say he was detained in 2022 while trying to return to Russia from Estonia with about three dozen types of semiconductors and electronic components. Krasikov, 58,convicted in 2021 of shooting to death “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen of Chechen ethnicity, in a Berlin park. The German judges concluded it was an assassination ordered by the Russian security services. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. President Putin this year hinted at a possible swap for Krasikov. Mikushin, arrested in Norway in 2022 on espionage charges. Norway’s domestic security agency PST said Mikushin entered the country saying he was a Brazilian citizen. He was in Norway under a false identity while working for a Russia’s intelligence service, Norwegian investigators said. Rubtsov, also known as Gonzalez, a journalist working for Spanish media; arrested on espionage charges in eastern Poland, near the Ukrainian border, in the first days after Russia’s full-scale-invasion in 2022. Poland’s Internal Security Agency identified him as a Russian intelligence agent, although some rights groups criticized Warsaw for holding him for more than two years without charge. Reporters Without Borders called for his release. Seleznev, a Russian citizen, son of a Russian lawmaker, convicted in the U.S. in 2017 of hacking into more than 500 businesses and stealing millions of credit card numbers, which he then sold on websites. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $170 million in restitution to his victims. (Source: Associated Press - U.S.)
by Litvonova
European Commission
AUGUST 1, 2024 4:55 PM CET ’EU snubs Hungary and Slovakia over Ukraine oil sanctions’. Following Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU imposed an embargo on imports of Russian oil but exempted pipeline supplies - including those coming to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline - to give those countries time to find alternative sources, with the understanding they would do so rapidly. In June, Ukraine was blocking the transit of pipeline crude sold by Moscow’s largest private oil firm, Lukoil, to Central Europe, prompting fears of supply shortages in Budapest and Bratislava. Kyiv was violating a wide-spanning 2014 trade agreement with Brussels. Last month, the two countries sent a letter to the EU executive, urging it to open emergency consultations with Ukraine over the move - a precursor to legal action. But the European Commission rebuffed the demand. The Commission has no plans to begin formal talks with Ukraine after Kyiv imposed a partial ban on exports of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, the EU executive said on Thursday. ’Urgent consultations do not appear to be guaranteed, ’it said, arguing that in the Commission's preliminary assessment, the sanctions do not pose ’an immediate risk to [both countries'] security of supply.’ The Commission was still ’verifying facts’; it had responded to the Slovak and Hungarian letter with a request for more information. The European Commission declines to open formal talks with Kyiv after its Central European neighbors complained it was violating the 2014 trade deal. After meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Thursday, EU trade chief Dombrovskis said that oil exports to Hungary and Slovakia were ’not affected, as long as Lukoil is not [the] owner of the oil.’ (Source: Politico - U.S.)
Ukraine
Aug 01, 2024, 07:04 AM Zelenskiy speaking to French media outlets said on Wednesday that Kyiv does not want China to act as a mediator in its conflict with Russia but hoped Beijing would apply greater pressure on Moscow to end the war. China, which hosted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba last week and has a "no limits" partnership with Russia, has advanced its own peace plan to end the war based on non-escalation, direct negotiations and humanitarian assistance. Russian forces currently occupy a little less than 20% of Ukrainian territory and have been making incremental gains in the eastern part of the 1,000-km front. Russian President Putin last month said Moscow was willing to negotiate an end to the war, but talks were contingent on Ukraine giving up the four regions Russia annexed in 2022. It's impossible, Zelenskiy said. ’And it is an issue that is up to us alone,’ he said. (Source: The Straits Times - Singapore / Reuters - United Kingdom)
Pacific Ocean
11:56 ET, Thu, Aug 1, 2024 The United States military has sent a warning to China by blowing up a decommissioned naval ship, the 820-foot USNAVY helicopter carrier USS Tarawa in the Pacific. A bomb was dropped by an Air Force B-2 stealth bomber in a powerful act of surprise. ’This capability is an answer to an urgent need to quickly neutralize maritime threats over massive expanses of ocean around the world at minimal costs,’ the US Navy said in a statement. The ship, weighing in at 39,000 tons, was active from 1976 to 2009. The sinking exercise was conducted with other nations, including South Korea and Malaysia. ’Once the ship is sunk, authorities try to remove harmful elements from the ocean’ that could degrade the environment. (Source: Daily Express U.S.)
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