The World Blog by humble servant.

Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel has condemned Canadian troops for training neo-Nazi fighters in Ukraine, saying it was Ottawa’s responsibility to make sure such things did not happen. The Canadian military, however, denied any obligation to vet the training recipients. “The Canadian government didn’t do its due diligence,” Efraim Zuroff told the Ottawa Citizen on Wednesday. “It’s the responsibility of the Canadian defence ministry to know exactly who they are training. ” “There is no question that there are neo-Nazis in different forms in Ukraine, whether they are in the Azov regiment or other organizations,” he added. His comments came after a Radio Canada report on Monday that back in November 2020, Canadian troops were photographed training members of the “Azov” regiment as well as a at least one soldier weathering the insignia of the SS division “Galizien,” a Ukrainian unit that had fought for the Nazis in WWII. Canada denies training Ukrainian Neo-NazisREAD M...

The entire crew of the missile cruiser ‘Moskva’ was evacuated after an ammunition explosion caused by a fire, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement cited by Russian media on Wednesday night. The cruiser suffered “serious damage,” the Russian military said, adding that the cause of the fire was under investigation. The Slava-class missile cruiser, launched in 1979, is armed with 16 anti-ship missiles and many more air defense missiles, torpedoes and guns. It is part of the Black Sea fleet, and has been engaged in operations off the coast of Ukraine since February. Ukrainian officials on Wednesday evening claimed that a battery of their Neptune anti-ship missiles hidden in Odessa had successfully struck the Moskva twice, setting the cruiser ablaze. Among those making the claim were Maksim Marchenko, head of the military administration in Odessa, and Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Interior Ministry in Kiev. They did not provide any evidence for their claims, however. On...

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife, along with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, will be fined for flouting the very lockdown restrictions they imposed on the British public at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, officials confirmed on Tuesday morning. PM Johnson has thus entered history as the first sitting UK prime minister to be penalized for breaking the law. Spokespeople for the three said they had not been informed which specific event the fines stem from, but all of them reportedly attended the prime minister's birthday party in June 2020. The news has sparked a renewal of calls for Johnson's resignation, which reached a crescendo in January amid the deepening scandal, dubbed “partygate” by the media, as Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Liberal Democrat Party leader Ed Davey, and advocacy groups like Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice lent their voices to the chorus of denunciations. Twenty su...

Embargoing gas deliveries from Russia would hurt some European Union members far worse than it would hurt Moscow, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said in an interview after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. While siding with Ukraine and wanting more sanctions against Moscow, Nehammer said he was not alone in opposing Kiev’s demands to halt Russian gas imports. “Austria is not alone with this argument against the gas embargo,” Nehammer told CNN on Wednesday, saying Germany, Hungary “and other member states of the EU” backed his position as well. While Vienna “stands strong” with other EU members when it comes to sanctioning Moscow, “sanctions must hurt Russia more than the EU,” he added. The US outlet pressed him about the gas embargo because that was one of the major demands by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom Nehammer met with before flying to Moscow to meet with Putin – the first EU leader to do so since February 24, when Russia sent troops into Ukraine...

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has not followed the example of US President Joe Biden and has stopped short of calling the events in Ukraine a “genocide.” On Wednesday, a day after Biden appeared to endorse Kiev’s claims that the goal of the Russian offensive was to exterminate the Ukrainian people, Guterres was asked by a journalist if what is happening in Ukraine could be referred to as “genocide.” “Genocide is strictly defined in international law. And for the UN, we rely on final legal determination by appropriate judicial bodies,” He added that the UN is “deeply concerned” with alleged “violation of human rights,” as well as with the “dramatic impact” of the conflict in Ukraine. “But we leave the definition of whether there is or is not a situation of genocide to the judicial bodies that are relevant in this regard,” the Secretary General said, adding that the International Criminal Court had launched an investigation into the matter. Earlier on Wednesday, French ...

The conflict in Ukraine has led to “a new era of cold war” with the consequences poised to last for decades, the Turkish president's spokesperson has warned. Ibrahim Kalin has held the role country's leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Taking to Twitter on Wednesday to make his gloomy forecast, Ibrahim Kalin stated that the “Ukrainian crisis continues to deepen.” The search for “a new balance of power,” along with “short-term-benefit calculations,” in his opinion, in the medium and long-term perspective will cause “great strategic losses and human drama.” “We have entered a new era of cold war. The effects of this war will last for decades,” he wrote. Kalin has been the press secretary to his country's leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, since 2014. Since the launch of Moscow’s offensive on February 24, Turkey has held a ‘neutral’ position, urging peace talks, warning the West against isolating Russia and seeking to act as a mediator between Moscow and Kiev. Unlike other members of ...

The British Army has lost its right to diplomatic immunity in Kenya after a high-court judge said on Wednesday that a 2015 defense agreement allows a lawsuit against UK soldiers for having allegedly caused a wildfire and the death of a local man. The historic ruling concerns the case of a massive wildfire allegedly caused by UK soldiers stationed at Nanyuki army base in the East African country, a former British colony that declared independence in 1963. The 10,000-acre inferno swept through the surrounding Lolldaiga Hills Ranch sanctuary last March, putting 1,000 local residents at risk of drought and resulting in the death of Linus Murangiri, a Lolldaiga Hills Ranch employee, who was crushed to death by a vehicle while fighting the flames. The African Centre for Corrective and Preventive Action (ACCPA) and local residents have brought a suit against British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK), arguing that UK soldiers “who tested positive for cocaine,” are responsible for the catast...

French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has pledged, if she wins the election, to withdraw the country from NATO’s Integrated Military Command and to work on “strategic rapprochement” between the alliance and Russia. During a press conference on Wednesday, the far-right National Rally candidate who in the past voiced support for leaving NATO, clarified her current position on France’s membership in the alliance. Saying that she would like “to dispel any misunderstanding,” Le Pen explained that her intention was to return to France’s policy between 1966 and 2009, when France was not involved in NATO’s military affairs but remained a part of its political structure. The presidential candidate pre-empted the likely criticism of her statements, saying that such a stance on NATO membership would “in no way” mean “a submission to Moscow” but rather would allow her not to place French-armed forces or weapons under any foreign command, whether NATO’s one or a future European entity. “I...

Moscow has so far refrained from attacking Ukrainian decision-makers, but if Kiev continues attempts to carry out acts of sabotage or conventional attacks inside Russia, this will change, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman warned on Wednesday. “We have seen attempts at sabotage and attacks by the Ukrainian military against facilities in Russian territory. If such attempts continue, the Russian Federation’s Armed Forces will strike at the decision-making centers, including Kiev – something we have so far refrained from,” said Major-General Igor Konashenkov. While Konashenkov did not specify which strikes or attempts at sabotage he was referring to, on Monday Russia declared a heightened terrorism alert in three regions bordering Ukraine – Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod – and several border municipalities in the regions of Krasnodar, Voronezh and Crimea. Air defenses in the Belgorod region have been very active over the past week, according to local media. Kiev first claimed and the...

Ukrainian TV star Oksana Marchenko, the wife of arrested Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk, released a video on Wednesday pleading to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to assist in freeing her husband. She claims Medvedchuk was illegally captured at the personal request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 12 and is being held as a hostage at an unknown location. “Earlier, they tried to convict my husband in a political trial. My husband did not violate any laws. Everything that is happening completely contradicts the legal foundations of the Ukrainian state and international law. I consider my husband’s abduction to be terrorism,” said Marchenko. Viktor Medvedchuk, who heads the Opposition Platform – For Life party, which was the second-largest faction in the Ukrainian parliament, was arrested on Tuesday by the SBU, Ukraine’s security service. The arrest was made public after president Zelensky published a photo of his handcuffed rival, whom he has ac...

Russia’s total external debt has fallen in the first quarter to its lowest level since 2009, amounting to $453.5 billion as of April 1, data from the Bank of Russia showed on Wednesday. The debt has decreased by $26.5 billion, or 5.5%, according to the regulator. “The dynamics of the indicator was mainly affected by the reduction in foreign debt of other sectors,” the central bank said. The record quarterly decrease in Russia’s foreign debt levels – by $81 billion – occurred in the fourth quarter of 2014 after the introduction of Western sanctions and the subsequent fall in oil prices. The slide continued for three consecutive quarters. However, the level of foreign debt then was significantly higher than now, a record $732.8 billion as of July 1, 2014. According to the Bank of Russia, the external debt of the private sector (banks and other sectors) shrank by $16.2 billion over the first quarter of 2022, to $367.4 billion. The debt of state administration bodies and the central ba...

Moscow sees no possibility of swapping the Ukrainian opposition leader, Viktor Medvedchuk, for any of Kiev's soldiers captured during the ongoing Russian military offensive in the country, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. Earlier, the idea was raised by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Medvedchuk “has nothing to do with Russia’s special military operation to demilitarize Ukraine,” Peskov told journalists, adding that Medvedchuk was also not a Russian citizen but a “foreign politician” and it isn’t not even clear if he wants Russia to play any role in his fate. The Ukrainian opposition leader was arrested on Tuesday by the SBU – Ukraine’s main intelligence and security agency, founded in 1991 to replace the Soviet-era KGB. Zelensky praised the development and later suggested exchanging the politician for Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russia. An aide to Ukraine’s interior minister then suggested beating the opposition leader into making “some con...

Germany is doing enough to support Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the country’s RBB radio broadcaster on Wednesday. The head of government has also said he has no plans to travel to Kiev after the Ukrainian authorities turned down a visit by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The chancellor said he had been to Kiev not long before the start of the military conflict, adding that he is in constant contact with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by phone. “There is hardly any head of state or government who has such intensive contacts with me,” he told RBB. Scholz called Kiev’s decision not to receive the German president “irritating,” adding that Steinmeier would have gladly visited the Ukrainian capital and “it would have been good” for Ukraine to welcome him. The German president was about to visit Kiev with counterparts from Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Wednesday. On Tuesday, he revealed he “apparently was not wanted” in the Ukrainian capital. An aide ...

China’s state-owned oil and gas corporation China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is reportedly preparing to exit from the US, UK and Canada due to mounting concerns about sanctions, regulations and rising costs. Relations between China and Western countries have soured over the past several years. Beijing’s ties with Washington were shattered after former US President Donald Trump launched a large-scale trade war, hitting a wide range of Chinese goods with import levies. Tensions have been mounting recently after China refused to condemn Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. CNOOC, China’s top offshore oil and gas producer, is currently seeking to leave the West by selling “marginal and hard to manage” assets in the three nations, according to unnamed industry sources quoted by Reuters. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, told the agency that the company’s top management found it “uncomfortable” to manage its Wester...

Biden doubles down on calling Russian invasion of Ukraine 'genocide' - usatoday.com Biden defends calling Russian invasion of Ukraine an act of 'genocide' Speaking in Iowa, President Joe Biden referred to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as "genocide" for the first time. 1:47 PM · Apr 13, 2022·Twitter Web App View Tweet analytics johnnie ellington @e7johnny · 6s Replying to @e7johnny Genocide joe is the enabler in the crime by supplying the weapons and perpetuating and extending the genocide by supplying the means .sending weapons unsolicited johnnie ellington @e7johnny · 19s to sustain another war and interjected himself into the crime being committed by allowing and extorting and making others involved in the war crime of genocide knowingly self admitted by blaming others.. johnnie ellington @e7johnny · 14s If this was a street crime we would call it a rico and him as boss using others to commit the act.

Most voters polled by YouGov, an internet-based market research and data analytics company, have expressed the view that British PM Boris Johnson should resign from his role A sample of Brits were quizzed, in a snap survey, on April 12, the same day Johnson received a fine for having flouted the strict social-distancing mandate his own government had imposed on the public at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. YouGov reports that 57 percent of respondents say Johnson should resign as prime minister, while 30 percent say he should stay in the position, and 13 percent say they don’t know whether or not Johnson should step down. The results of a separate YouGov poll, held on March 8, showed 47% of respondents saying Johnson should resign, with 16% answering that he should stay in the role, despite being the only sitting head of government in the history of the UK Parliament to incur a penalty for breaking the law. When it comes to voters who favor the Conservative party, which is led ...

Ukraine will welcome any foreign “high-ranking official” as long as they come with “specific offers related to either economic or military support,” an aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky has told the Die Welt newspaper, explaining Kiev’s decision to turn down a visit by the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “Any visits that take place nowadays end up with a [specific] result,” the deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s administration, Igor Zhovkva, told the German outlet, adding that Kiev would very much like to see “any high-ranking politicians” coming to Ukraine “bringing” such “results” with them. He then went on to say that, in Germany’s case, it could put an “embargo on [Russian] oil” or provide “guarantees” for Ukraine’s accession to the EU or “heavy equipment” supplies. The presidential aide also hinted that Berlin may not be as steadfast in its support for Ukraine as Kiev would like. All nations that are “friendly” to Ukraine “demonstrate a similar attitude to Ru...

· Replying to @e7johnny The co conspirators to GENOCIDE by enableing. YOUR NOT BLAMELESS and act like you bigots are INVISIBLE Nazi sympathizer johnnie ellington @e7johnny · 29m World Blog by humble servant.Ukraine Chronicles 489 ‘EU-supplied’ S-300 launchers obliterated – Russia– Reports outline US strategy to arm Ukraine Artillery from Pentagon’s own stocks will reportedly join missiles already underway, johnnie ellington @e7johnny · 29m bringing total US aid to Kiev past $2.4 billion last week, Slovakia announced it would send its only battery of S-300 air defense systems to Ukraine, and get US-made “Patriots” to replace them. johnnie ellington @e7johnny · 29m On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the battery had been obliterated in a cruise missile strike against a hangar in Dnepropetrovsk, a city Ukrainians call Dnipro, the day before. - https://go.shr.lc/3E5bJpL @thehill ·8m we hope it makes it.All the supplies is being destroyed before it get there. why else t...

Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin and her Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson have expanded on their country’s possible NATO bids following bilateral talks on security in Stockholm on Wednesday. Helsinki’s decision on whether to apply for the US-led military bloc or not “will happen quite fast,” Marin said during a joint press conference. ”It will happen in weeks, not months.” Finland, just like Sweden, had been pursuing a policy of not joining any military alliances, but “everything had changed” after the launch of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine, she pointed out. Marin said she wanted a consensus to be reached on NATO membership in Finnish political circles. “All the parliamentary groups and also the president will have the opportunity to make the decision in the upcoming weeks,” she said, adding that the MPs will hear from a range of security experts on the issue. Andersson said that Sweden wouldn’t rush the decision to join NATO, but promised a thorough, yet ex...

Russia will perceive convoys delivering arms from NATO states to Ukraine legitimate targets for its military once they reach Ukrainian territory, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned in an interview published on Wednesday. Regular contact with the US is impossible for Russia, considering “Washington’s unabashed support for militaristic intentions of the Kiev regime, the pouring of modern weapons” into the country by NATO members, the diplomat said. Moscow’s goal now is to make it abundantly clear for the US and its allies that Russia will use harsh methods in response to attempts to hurt its military in Ukraine. “We are warning that American-NATO transports carrying weapons across the Ukrainian territory are considered legitimate military targets,” he stressed. Moscow has maintained this position from the early days of hostilities in Ukraine. This week, the Russian defense ministry reported destroying four launchers from a battery of the S-300 air defense system delivered ...

The nationalization of assets belonging to foreign companies that quit Russia is not on the table, the country’s top senator said on Wednesday. Speaking before Parliament, Valentina Matvienko commented on reported plans in Germany to nationalize energy companies. “We don’t want to turn into raiders, like our opponents do. Nationalizing someone else’s property is unacceptable,” she said, adding that Russia has adopted a subtle approach but tougher action on a case-by-case basis might be necessary. Industries need to keep going so that people and jobs are protected, she added. Matvienko’s comments follow reports in the German media that Berlin prepared a draft law that could see energy companies nationalized if the country’s energy security is under threat. Earlier this month Germany took temporary ownership of a local branch of Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom, citing an urgent need to maintain the country’s energy supply. Europe’s biggest economy may nationalize energy firm...

Competition from rival nations Russia and China that the US and its allies face in the space domain has increased “dramatically,” the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said on Tuesday. Moscow and Beijing are also cooperating in space exploration and may soon start exploiting the Moon's natural resources, US military officials said. The DIA, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm, made the warning as it presented to the public its update to the 2019 report entitled, “Challenges to Security in Space.” China and Russia continue to take steps to “undercut” the advantage that the American military enjoys in space assets, John F. Huth, the DIA defense intelligence officer for space and counterspace, said. “Both nations view space as a requirement for winning modern wars, especially against Western nations, and look to prove themselves as world leaders,” he said. “Since early 2019, competitor space operations have increased in pace and scope across nearly all major categories: communications,...

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov said on Wednesday that Western countries are trying to isolate Russia as much as possible from the world economy. “They literally want to pull Russia out of world economic relations, thereby launching the processes of degradation and disintegration of our economic system,” Belousov said during a speech in the Federation Council. “In fact, there were attempts to organize a global blockade of Russia, consisting, schematically, of four rings – financial, trade, transport and humanitarian,” he added. According to the Deputy PM, it is “impossible” to isolate Russia from the global economic system. “And the events of the last month and a half clearly testify to this,” he said. At the same time, Belousov noted that the drawdown of the Russian economy due to logistical restrictions and lack of liquidity has already started, but has not yet affected the labor market. “So, in industry and trade, the decline in production was about 11%, while in ...

Russia has criticized accusations that it poses a threat to Sweden and Finland amid their sudden drive to join NATO. Leaders in the Nordic states have recently expressed a desire to enter the US-led military bloc following Moscow's military attack on Ukraine. “These claims [over an alleged Russian threat] are unintelligent. They are not based on facts. They are in the realm of propaganda and provocations. They go against the national interests of those countries,” the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Radio Sputnik on Wednesday. “I believe it would be wrong to consider these statements as an independent opinion,” she added. On Tuesday Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ann Linde told reporters while visiting Bosnia-Herzegovina that Russia threatening Sweden or Finland is unacceptable. “Our citizens must make their own security decisions,” she said, regarding Stockholm mulling over membership in the Western military bloc. Zakharova has argued that ...

CPI data around the world and political crises just this week show how the economic war against Russia is harming the poorest and destabilizing the world. Yesterday, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for March, which is a key inflation metric, showed that year-on-year inflation rose by 8.5%, meaning that, on average, people are paying 8.5% more for the same things. This is the highest spike in prices since December 1981. What’s more, the most impacted commodities are necessities, e.g., things like food, shelter and fuel, while less essential things saw less of a rise. This inevitably means that the poor are most impacted by rising inflation since they put most of their budget toward necessities, according to an analysis by the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Wharton School. Poorer countries are also extraordinarily impacted by inflation for these same reasons, so much so that it’s causing widespread political instability. The past week alo...

Russia can easily redirect exports of its vast energy resources away from the West to countries that really need them, while increasing domestic energy consumption, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. “When it comes to Russian oil, gas and coal, we will be able to increase their consumption on the domestic market and stimulate the deep processing of raw materials,” Putin said speaking at a meeting on the development of the Russian Arctic. “We will also increase the supply of energy resources to other regions of the world where they are really needed,” he added. The statement comes amid the latest ban on Russian oil imports imposed by the US, Canada, Britain and Australia in response to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. The ban on energy imports was part of broader anti-Russian sanctions that are aimed at cutting the country’s economy off from the global trade and financial system. EU fails to agree Russian energy banREAD MORE: EU fails to agree Russian energy ban Put...

US President Joe Biden’s latest speech has quickly become a social media sensation, after he was apparently pooped on by a bird while addressing the soaring inflation in the country, which he once again blamed on Russian President Vladimir Putin and the conflict in Ukraine. Speaking out of a barn in Menlo, Iowa, as part of his “rural infrastructure tour”, Biden announced that his administration had decided to suspend a federal rule that prohibits the sale of E15 gasoline, which contains a higher amount of ethanol, in an effort to curb rising fuel prices. “I’m here today to talk about what we’re doing to lower costs for American families and put rural America at the center of our efforts to build a future that’s made in America,” said Biden right before he was struck by what seemed like bird feces. “That’s not hyperbole!” During the speech, Biden, for the first time, publicly accused his Russian counterpart of genocide, telling the attendees: “Your family budget, your ability to fil...

rench President Emmanuel Macron declined to join his US counterpart Joe Biden in describing the actions of the Russian military in Ukraine as “genocide.” Verbal attacks would not help further peace in Ukraine, he said, in an interview with France 2 television on Wednesday. Biden appeared on Tuesday to endorse Kiev’s claims that the goal of the Russian attack was to exterminate the Ukrainian people. French President Emmanuel Macron declined to join his US counterpart Joe Biden in describing the actions of the Russian military in Ukraine as “genocide.” Verbal attacks would not help further peace in Ukraine, he said, in an interview with France 2 television on Wednesday. Biden appeared to endorse Kiev’s claims that the goal of the Russian attack was to exterminate the Ukrainian people on Tuesday. “Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away,” he said in a speech in Iowa, refe...

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will issue a stark warning to countries “sitting on the fence” when it comes to sanctions against Russia in a speech to be delivered on Wednesday, saying that such “short-sighted” policies would not go unnoticed. In a speech at an Atlantic Council event amid Moscow’s ongoing military offensive in Ukraine, Yellen will say that the US government remains fully committed to pushing Russia “further towards economic, financial, and strategic isolation,” according to an excerpt quoted by the media. “And let’s be clear, the unified coalition of sanctioning countries will not be indifferent to actions that undermine the sanctions we’ve put in place,” Yellen will say. In her opinion, the measures being imposed on Russia by the US and its allies are necessary because the future of the international order, “both for peaceful security and economic prosperity,” is now at stake. However, she will emphasize that some countries are still “sitting on the fence, per...

The UN’s agency for refugees has called on the UK authorities to fix the matching process in its Homes for Ukraine program after reports claiming that some British men tried using the scheme to sexually exploit lone female Ukrainian refugees. “A more appropriate matching process could be put in place by ensuring that women and women with children are matched with families or couples, rather than with single men,” a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told The Guardian on Wednesday. Allowing female refugees to move into British homes “without the appropriate oversight may lead to increasing the risks women may face, in addition to the trauma of displacement, family separation and violence already experienced,” he pointed out. The Homes for Ukraine scheme was launched in mid-March to help Ukrainians fleeing the conflict find temporary housing in the UK. It allows individuals and entities to become a sponsor and nominate single refugees or a whole family to live...

The world's biggest independent oil trader, Vitol, expects to stop trading Russian crude by the end of this year, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. Vitol “intends to cease trading Russian origin crude oil and product, unless directed otherwise,” Bloomberg quotes an email from the company spokesman, which goes on to say that “volumes of oil will diminish significantly in the second quarter as current-term contractual obligations decline, and we anticipate this will be completed by end of 2022.” The Geneva-based company also says it will not enter into any new Russian oil transactions. Vitol's announcement follows a demand made by the Ukrainian government in late March that the world’s four largest energy traders - Vitol, Trafigura, Glencore and Gunvor – stop handling Russian crude. According to the Financial Times, Trafigura said it was now purchasing lower volumes of Russian oil, Gunvor cited legally-binding existing trading contracts, and Glencore pledged not to enter any new ...

The annual rate of inflation in the United Kingdom shot up 7% in March, the highest level recorded since 1992, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Data released on Wednesday showed that the largest contributors to the trend were increased fuel prices and energy bills. The consumer price index (CPI) rose from 6.2% in February and was higher than expected, with economists having predicted a rate of 6.7%. The 7% increase is the highest since March 1992, the ONS said. From April 1, the UK energy regulator increased the household energy price cap by 54% following a surge in energy prices, including a record rise in global gas prices. Liquid fuel prices have more than doubled over the past year, up 113.9%, driving up costs for families who rely on oil to heat their homes, while motor fuel was up 30%. According to the ONS, average petrol prices grew by 12.6 pence a liter between February and March, the largest monthly increase since records began in 1990. This compares...

entenced and physically assaulted before an attempt is made to swap him for Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russia, an advisor to Ukraine’s interior minister told Ukrainian television on Wednesday. President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested an exchange after announcing the politician’s arrest on Tuesday. “At the very minimum, he has to make some confessions because he knows a lot about who in Russia gave how much and to whom to create a fifth column” in Ukraine, Vadim Denisenko said of the arrested politician. “At the maximum … he needs to be tried swiftly, given a prison term, beaten into providing certain testimony and then exchanged,” he added. Ukrainian opposition leader arrested Read more Ukrainian opposition leader arrested Denisenko’s remarks, particularly the implication that Medvedchuk could be coerced into cooperating by violence, were criticized by some Russian officials. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of the Russian national security council, made a not-so-veiled threat ...

More than 1,000 service members of Ukraine’s 36th Marines Brigade have surrendered in the port city of Mariupol, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Wednesday during a daily briefing. According to a Russian military report, the troops laid down their arms at the Illich Steel and Iron Works, a giant metal mill they were using as a stronghold against Moscow's forces. A total of 1,026 service members, including 162 officers, were among the captives, ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said. He said 47 of the soldiers were female. Russian medics provided first aid to 151 injured captives before moving them to a local hospital, the official said. The report was disputed by Ukrainian officials. Presidential adviser Alexey Arestovich claimed on social media that the unit had performed a “difficult and very risky maneuver” and joined forces with the Azov Battalion, the Ukrainian national guard unit holding position at a different location in Mariupol. This “gave the 3...

Mutual trade between Russia and China amounted to nearly $38.2 billion (243.03 billion yuan) in the first three months of the current year, marking substantial growth of 27.8% in yuan terms compared to the same period a year ago. China’s exports to Russia surged 25.9% to $16.44 billion, while Russia’s sales to China grew by 31% and totaled $21.73 billion, Chinese customs spokesman Li Kuiwen said at a press conference on Wednesday. In March, China’s total trade with Russia reportedly rose 12.8%, while the country’s total global trade increased 7.8%. Meanwhile, China’s trade with Ukraine reportedly climbed to 29.6 billion yuan, up 10.6% in the quarter. Russian energy paid for in yuan is heading to China – reportsREAD MORE: Russian energy paid for in yuan is heading to China – reports Beijing’s economic and trade cooperation with other countries including Russia and Ukraine remains normal, the spokesman said, noting the uptrend in trade with both countries. In 2021, trade turnover be...