The World Blog by humble servant.

Baden-Württemberg Minister of Agriculture and Consumer Protection Peter Hauk has backed a complete German ban on importing gas and oil from Russia in response to Moscow’s military assault on Ukraine. Hauk supported the response to Russia’s actions despite the impact it could have on his country’s own citizens, who are already struggling with soaring energy prices that make it challenging for them to heat their homes. “You can withstand 15 degrees [Celsius] in winter in a sweater. No one dies of it. But people are dying elsewhere,” Hauk said, referencing the toll Russia has inflicted on Ukraine. The comments from the politician, who is a member of the Christian Democratic Union party, elicited a strong response from the German Tenants’ Association, which retorted that it showed no understanding of the needs of the elderly or those working from home. Although the association conceded that Europe needed to reduce its dependence on Russian fossil fuels, it warned that lowering the roo...

US President Joe Biden on Monday stood by his claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin should not remain in power, but insisted that it was his expression of moral outrage over the conflict in Ukraine and not a policy change, and that nobody was supposed to take it seriously. Biden unveiled his 2023 budget proposal at the White House on Monday, but the press corps was far more interested in the remarks he made during last week’s trip to Poland – including when he said about Putin, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” a remark widely interpreted as calling for regime change in Moscow. “I’m not walking anything back,” Biden said when asked about it on Monday. “I want to make it clear: I was not then, nor am I now, articulating a policy change. I was expressing moral outrage that I feel, and I make no apologies for it.” Asked if his remarks complicated the diplomacy about ending the war, Biden said no, arguing that Putin’s “escalatory efforts” were what “complicates t...

The senior official said that, should new conflicts break out between Russia and third parties, these scenarios would provide “quality support” to Ukraine in trying to fend off Moscow's ongoing military assault. Georgia could become one such party, Danilov suggested, criticizing the neutral stance taken by Tbilisi, which fought a brief war with Russia, in 2008. The Georgian leadership has abstained from imposing anti-Russian sanctions, arguing that such a step would only harm the country’s own economy. “Georgia is behaving not very appropriately, to put it mildly,” the official said, calling on the Salome Zourabichvili government to try and “return” territories. Danilov was apparently referring to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which broke away from Tbilisi in the 1990s and are recognized as independent by Russia. Georgians polled on support for anti-Moscow sanctions Read more Georgians polled on support for anti-Moscow sanctions “But, what if both Pridnestrovie [another name for T...

A system allowing direct rupee-ruble payments in trade between Russia and India could be launched this week, the president of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO), A Sakthivel, told CNBC on Wednesday. The arrangement would allow India and Russia to carry out financial operations bypassing the US dollar. Russia is effectively blocked from using US currency due to Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine. According to the official, the Indian government is working on a proposal to allow up to five nationalized Indian banks to be engaged in the rupee-ruble trade mechanism, and discussions between the central bank governor, the finance minister, and the banks on the matter have already been held. The arrangement would let Indian exporters continue doing business with Russia despite sanctions banning, among other things, international payment mechanisms in the country, such as SWIFT. It would also let India continue buying Russian energy exports and other goods. Acc...

The Group of Seven major economies have collectively agreed to reject Moscow’s demand to pay for gas imports from Russia in rubles, according to German Energy Minister Robert Habeck. “All G7 ministers agreed completely that this [would be] a one-sided and clear breach of the existing contracts,” Habeck told journalists on Monday. The minister added that “payment in rubles is not acceptable” and that the nations will urge the companies affected “not to follow” the demand issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin last week. On Monday, Putin ordered the government, the central bank, and Gazprombank to develop the necessary tools to switch all payments for Russian natural gas from “unfriendly states” to rubles from March 31. READ MORE: Russia’s ruble payment plan leaves European gas buyers confused This includes countries that have targeted Russia’s financial system and seized its foreign reserves in response to the crisis in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia w...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has authorized the government, the central bank, and Gazprombank to take the necessary steps to switch all payments for Russian natural gas from “unfriendly states” to rubles starting March 31. The measure targets “member states of the EU and other countries that have introduced restrictions against citizens of the Russian Federation and Russian legal entities,” the mandate published on the Kremlin website reads. Russia will stop shipping natural gas to countries refusing to settle payments in rubles, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. The decision, first announced last week, came as Russia’s oil trade has been left in disarray as importers put orders on hold due to the latest sanctions introduced against Moscow over its military operation in Ukraine. The conflict in Ukraine and the anti-Russia sanctions that followed have raised concerns of a global economic crisis. Skyrocketing commodity prices are sending the costs of consumer go...

Russia is eager for a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine, but it won’t accept any Western mediation during its talks with Kiev, the Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. “We’re ready to give diplomacy a chance. That’s why we agreed to the talks, which are resuming in Istanbul,” Lavrov said during a video conference on Monday with the Serbian media. The discussions are scheduled to continue on Tuesday. The Turkish government, which has good ties with both Russia and Ukraine, has put a great deal of effort into getting the two sides around the negotiating table, Lavrov explained. However, there's no need to include the EU or the US – which support Kiev in the conflict – in the peace process, according to the minister. “There are many examples of times when the achievements of diplomacy were shattered by Western colleagues. They can’t be trusted anymore,” Lavrov opined. “I wouldn’t want to see any shuttle diplomacy from our Western partners, because they’ve already...