The World Blog by humble servant.

The US and UK have given Sweden “concrete promises” of military protection between its application to join NATO and its formal acceptance into the alliance, Aftonbladet reported on Monday. Although neutral since the 19th century, Sweden is reportedly preparing to abandon its policy of non-alignment and join the US-led military bloc this year. Recent reports suggest that Sweden and Finland are preparing to file applications to join the NATO alliance this summer. Politicians in Stockholm have long flirted with the idea, but Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said earlier this month that Europe’s “security landscape has completely changed” following Russia’s military offensive on Ukraine, and that Sweden would reevaluate its neutrality in response. Should Sweden apply for membership, the UK and US have promised to provide military protection between application and membership, after which the alliance’s mutual defense clause would come into effect, Aftonbladet reported, citing multiple ...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has urged India to drop its trade in oil and gas with Russia, insisting that such business is not “sustainable.” She spoke while in the South Asian country for a multinational conference. The fighting in Ukraine, which has not spilled over into any EU member state so far, constitutes “a stark reminder that our dependency on Russian fossil fuels is not sustainable,” von der Leyen insisted during a speech on Sunday at the International Solar Alliance. Russia has thus far shown willingness to continue sending energy to even “unfriendly countries,” although it insists that gas be paid for in rubles. However, several European nations and the US have called for a total energy embargo. A few holdouts, including Germany and Austria, have warned that fully weaning the continent from Russian energy by the end of the year is impossible. “What happens in Ukraine will have consequences” for India and the surrounding region, von der Leyen said, co...

The German government will decide soon on whether to approve the delivery of 100 Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, Reuters reported on Monday. The shipment, which would be Germany’s first tranche of heavy weaponry delivered to Kiev, has been delayed by government indecision and legal constraints. Defense manufacturer Rheinmetall has asked for government approval to export the vehicles to Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing a source within the German defense industry. Another government source told the agency that a decision will come from Berlin soon. Designed in the 1960s and fielded by the German military since 1971, the Marders will need refurbishment before delivery, Reuters’ source added. Earlier in April, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Germany would send only “correct and reasonable” weapons to Kiev, adding that there have been no plans to send “offensive” weapons, such as tanks, notwithstanding repeated Ukrainian requests. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock then ...

French President Emmanuel Macron was among the first foreign leaders to congratulate Joe Biden on his contested victory over Donald Trump back in November 2020, but he apparently wasn’t around to take the call when his US counterpart tried to return the favor after his re-election victory on Sunday night. “I tried to talk to Emmanuel Macron last night,” Biden told reporters on Monday. “I spoke to his staff, and he was at the Eiffel Tower having a good time. And I’m going to be talking to him today.” Other well-wishers had better luck, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was reportedly among the European leaders who got through to Macron on Sunday. Biden and other NATO heads of state were quick to congratulate the French leader on Twitter, as many feared the implications of nationalist candidate Marine Le Pen defeating Macron. As it turned out, the incumbent beat his Eurosceptic rival handily, by a margin of 58.5% to 41.5%. “Congratulations to Emmanuel Macron on his re-electio...

Once the Ukrainian side offers meaningful steps that would make direct talks worth conducting, that possibility will be considered, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday. Kiev has threatened to withdraw from the peace negotiations altogether, and vowed to “immediately” retake any territory under Russian control with the help of weapons from the West. Asked about the possibility of a face-to-face meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told reporters the conditions are not in place yet. “As soon as we have meaningful agreements on which a substantive exchange of views can be held, then this issue will be considered. Such a thing does not yet exist,” Rudenko told reporters. The two sides last met in Istanbul, Turkey on March 29. The documents Ukraine sent to Russia deviated from what had been agreed upon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on April 7, accusing Kiev of not negotiating in good faith. On Saturday,...

A neo-Nazi group that was allegedly instructed by Kiev to kill TV anchor Vladimir Solovyov had several other targets, including RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, according to video footage released by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Amid the ongoing Russian military offensive in Ukraine aimed at the “denazification” of the country, the FSB claimed that it had detained a group of neo-Nazis. According to the service, the group had been instructed by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to kill popular Russian TV host and journalist Vladimir Solovyov. The FSB later released a video of what they said was the detention, search, and questioning of the suspects. One of the detainees said that the group had been discussing the potential assassinations of the director general of the Sputnik news agency, Dmitry Kiselyov, the editor-in-chief of Sputnik and RT, Margarita Simonyan, and her husband, the prominent film director and TV presenter Tigran Keosayan, as well as TV hosts O...

Failed attempts to “destroy Russia from within” forced Ukraine and its Western “handlers” to turn to terror measures, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday. Speaking at a meeting of the Prosecutor General’s Office Board, Putin outlined how, in his opinion, the priorities of Europe and the US in regard to Russia and its military operation in Ukraine had changed over the last few weeks. First, he said, “high-ranking diplomats in Europe and the United States” were engaged in a “strange diplomacy,” urging their “Ukrainian satellites” to do everything possible “to win on the battlefield.” Putin was apparently referring to a recent controversial statement by top EU diplomat Josep Borrell, who, following his visit to Kiev, said that “this war will be won on the battlefield.” During a conversation last week with European Council President Charles Michel, Putin pointed to the “irresponsible statements of the EU representatives about the ne In Putin’s opinion, the West has since ch...

Saudi Arabia’s senior princes have sold more than $600 million worth of real estate, yachts, and artwork, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Sunday. The newspaper claims the royals are attempting to raise cash and avoid scrutiny from de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). People close to the princes told the WSJ that some members of the royal family were selling assets abroad to generate cash to pay routine bills, including property maintenance, taxes, staff salaries, and parking fees for their planes and ships. This reportedly happened after MBS dried up many of the sources of money they had used to support their extraordinary spending habits. The 36-year-old crown prince has cut benefits for thousands of royals, including electricity bills and water in their Saudi palaces. Such benefits had amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars in annual costs to the Saudi government. Spending by some of those royals reached $30 million a month, the sources said. “...

The US wants the conflict in Ukraine to leave Russia too “weakened” to "invade" a neighboring state, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on Monday, the day after traveling to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and members of his cabinet. Asked how he would define “America’s goals for success” in Ukraine, Austin stated Washington wants it to “remain a sovereign territory, a democratic country, able to protect its sovereign territory.” He then added that the US would want to see Russia “weakened” by the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. “It has already lost a lot of military capability and a lot of its troops,” Austin claimed, explaining that Washington “want[s] to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capacity.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed Austin’s sentiments, declaring that Moscow had already “failed” in its supposed objective “to totally subjugate Ukraine, to take away its sovereignty, to take away its indepe...

The Ukrainian government apologized to Japan after it released an anti-Russian video ending with a shot of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Emperor Hirohito, describing the three as fascists. Japanese politicians insist that Hirohito was not responsible for Japan’s wartime actions. The video, first posted nearly a month ago, condemns Russian President Vladimir Putin and describes the Russian political system as “ruscism.” It closes with images of Germany’s Hitler, Italy’s Mussolini, and Japan’s Hirohito, along with the text “Fascism and Nazism were defeated in 1945. We will fight ruscism, here and now.” Japanese Twitter users were outraged, and Ukraine’s ambassador to Japan, Sergey Korsunsky complained that Hirohito “had nothing to do with the outbreak of war and fascist ideology.” Although an Axis power, Japan was led by Prime Minister Hideki Tojo during World War II, with Hirohito allowed to retain his title after the country’s defeat. However, many argue that the emperor shoul...

Ankara is striving to maintain “balance” in the Black Sea, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has said, warning its NATO allies against ramping up tension in the region. The minister made the remarks in an interview published by the Hurriyet newspaper on Monday. “We want the balance not to be broken here [in the Black Sea], within the scope of the principle of regional ownership and the domination of the situation by the littoral countries,” Akar stated. If the balance deteriorates, the probability of events getting out of control is very high. Let’s not turn the Black Sea into an environment of competition. That’s what we’re saying openly. Akar reiterated Ankara’s stance on the passage of warships through the Black Sea straits, insisting it will stick to the Montreux Convention, which allows Turkey to regulate maritime traffic through the straits during times of war. Ankara closed the routes for Russian and Ukrainian military vessels shortly after the conflict between the two co...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he presented a plan to impose more sanctions on Russia and discussed extra military aid with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Kiev on Sunday. Zelensky outlined that the talks lasted for more than three hours and described them as “reassuring and, what’s also important, efficient.” The president said the sides agreed on “further steps to strengthen the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” and discussed sanctions on Russia. “We must block all of Russia’s capabilities to bypass sanctions. We provided our partners with a plan to increase sanctions against the Russian Federation,” Zelensky said. He added that the proposal was devised by a group led by Andrey Yermak, the head of Zelensky’s office, and former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul. Zelensky also said that international security guarantees for Ukraine were discussed. “I’m confident that the US can become the leader among the states that wil...

India and the EU have agreed to launch a new Trade and Technology Council (TTC), a regulatory body which would work to boost cooperation between the countries, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in a joint statement on Monday. “I am pleased that today Prime Minister Modi and I have agreed to establish an EU-India Trade and Technology Council … because India is technologically a powerhouse, and in the trade sector we need to unleash an enormous amount of untapped potential,” von der Leyen said in the statement. The council is expected to be a “strategic coordination mechanism” which will allow both partners “to tackle challenges at the nexus of trade, trusted technology and security, and thus deepen cooperation in these fields between the EU and India.” It is also expected to “provide the political steer and the necessary structure to operationalize political decisions, coordinate technical work … [and] ensure [the] im...

Vitaly Kim, who serves as the governor of Ukraine’s Mykolaiv Region, warned that citizens helping Russian forces would face extrajudicial execution. He revealed the chilling fate awaiting “traitors” during a live broadcast on Ukraine 24 TV channel last Thursday. Kim made the comment after the presenter brought up claims made earlier by officials in Kherson, according to which, information about pro-Ukrainian activists, veterans who had fought in the Donbass, as well as journalists living in the city had been leaked to Russian forces. Kim, in turn, cited the recent killing of a pro-Russian blogger in the city, who was shot dead on April 20, as proof that “Kherson is Ukraine,” and that “there are guerrilla fighters there.” Moreover, Kim warned that “traitors will be executed,” adding that he is “not afraid of this word.” The Ukrainian official expressed absolute certainty that “it will be like that.” Ukrainian plot to kill Russian journalist foiled – MoscowREAD MORE: Ukrainian plot...

Russia faces unprecedented sanctions pressure that continues to intensify, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday, noting that despite the prevailing conditions, the country’s economy has the opportunity to function stably and smoothly. He has promised to support businesses as much as possible, including foreign firms that have stayed in Russia. To do that, it is necessary to respect the rights of business owners and support them to the full, including by reducing the administrative burden, Putin said. Foreign companies that have remained in Russia despite sanctions pressure should be allowed to “work peacefully,” he added. The Russian president earlier instructed the government to allocate additional resources to support small and medium-sized businesses and create better growth conditions for new industries based on new and yet-to-be-developed supply chains. Putin also said he believes that sanctions will result in new leaders emerging i Hundreds of Western companies have suspend...

The military spending of all nations combined set a new record in 2021, exceeding the $2 trillion mark for the first time ever, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) revealed in a report published on Monday. Governments spent a total of $2.113 trillion on weapons last year. The top spenders were the US, China, India, the UK, and Russia, accounting for 62% of the total sum. According to the researchers, 2021 was the seventh consecutive year in which global military expenditures had grown, despite the strains placed on economies by the Covid-19 pandemic. While US defense spending slid by 1.4% compared to 2020, Washington remained the absolute global leader, having lavished some $801 billion last year. The SIPRI report also points out that US funding for military research and development – while having dropped by 1.2% last year – still rose by 24% between 2012 and 2021. That suggests that the US is “focusing more on next-generation technologies,” according to Al...

Beijing has dismissed as “fake news” allegations made earlier by Canberra and Washington that China is intending to set up a military base in the Solomon Islands. At a press conference on Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, insisted that the “so-called Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands is completely fake news made up by a few people with ulterior motives.” The diplomat also pointed out that cooperation between the two nations was “based on the principles of mutual equality, mutual benefit and win-win results.” Wenbin called out Washington’s hypocrisy, saying that the US was among the loudest voices expressing concern over China’s alleged plans to set up a base in Oceania, while itself having “nearly 800 military bases in more than 80 countries.” The Chinese official went on to remind Washington that the Solomon Islands is an “independent sovereign country, not the ‘backyard’ of the United States and Australia.” Australia warns China of ‘red l...

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed on Monday that it detained a group of “neo-Nazis” instructed by Kiev to kill popular Russian TV host and journalist Vladimir Solovyov. According to the FSB, the hit was ordered by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). “The members of the criminal group are confessing to preparing to kill Solovyov and flee abroad afterwards.” The FSB said that during searches, it seized an explosive device, eight Molotov cocktails, six handguns, a sawed-off hunting rifle, and a grenade. It added that more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition were seized as well, along with fake Ukrainian passports. The statement followed shortly after President Vladimir Putin said that “a terrorist group was planning to attack and kill a well-known Russian journalist.” “They will deny it, obviously, but the facts and evidence are solid,” he added, speaking at a meeting of the Prosecutor General’s Office Board earlier in the day. Solovyov, 58, hosts a popular political ta...

Israel has now moved to add the Chinese yuan to its reserve currency portfolio, which will create a natural hedge against the risk of insanity pushing for war by the United States and Europe. Adding the yuan to the reserve portfolio will automatically reduce the exposure to the dollar and especially to the euro, thereby creating a natural hedge, whereas a decline in the dollar and euro would imply a rise in the yuan and even the ruble. The Middle East is divided and Zelensky pretends to be the Jewish hero, yet before the war, at the United Nations, Zelensky maintained a firm anti-Israel position. In 2020 alone, he voted for Ukraine affirming UN resolutions condemning the Israeli “occupation” of Judea and Samaria. He also opposed the Israeli “occupation” of Jerusalem and the Israeli “occupation” of “the occupied Syrian Golan.” After the war began, he suddenly became Jewish, asking for money and equating the Russian invasion to the Holocaust. Then Zelensky has the audacity to criticize ...

Russia should increase settlements in national currencies with partner countries, Denis Manturov, head of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, said at the plenary session of the Innoprom international exhibition in Uzbekistan on Monday. He was addressing countries within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), of which Russia is a member. According to the minister, in 2021, the growth of Russia’s trade turnover with partners within these associations amounted to about 38%, while together these unions make up roughly half of the global economy. According to Manturov, the future of their successful cooperation depends on how fast Russia’s partners move away from the US dollar and the euro toward national currencies in mutual settlements. “What is happening today in the global economy and in the world gives us a hint about how we need to rebuild our logistics, industrial cooperation, in what directions we can develop our econom...

About 40% of German companies have already felt the consequences of the rapid rise in energy prices over the past several weeks, a survey by the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich published on Monday has found. The survey covered 1,100 German enterprises, 950 of which were family owned. As many companies surveyed have long-term supply contracts, not all respondents said they felt hefty price increases so far. However, a quarter of the firms surveyed said they expect their energy costs to spike in the second half of this year, while another quarter believe it will happen in 2023. The survey also showed that almost 90% of businesses are likely to raise prices to counter the skyrocketing energy costs, and three-quarters of the companies intend to invest more in energy efficiency. Some 11% of the firms are considering the possibility of completely abandoning energy-intensive business areas, and 14% are studying the possibility of cutting their staff. Still, only a small perce...

Russian and Donbass forces will observe a ceasefire around the besieged Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol starting from 2pm Moscow time on Monday, allowing civilians to evacuate to safety, the Russian Defense Ministry has said. Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, said that armed units will “withdraw to a safe distance and maintain the exit of civilians from the said area in any direction they choose.” Russian and Donbass troops mainly control the city, but a number of Ukrainian soldiers have been holed up in Azovstal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, claimed last week that roughly 1,000 civilians remained in the mill as well. Mizintsev said there were “no obstacles” for civilians to leave the Azovstal plant, other than “the decision of Kiev and the commanders of nationalist units to use civilians as a human shield.” Russia previously offered the Ukrainian fighters the opportunity to lay down their arms and surre...

A pair of Ukrainian drones were destroyed in Russia’s Kursk Region, which borders Ukraine from the northeast, the region’s governor has said. Governor Roman Starovoyt wrote on social media that “Russian air defense troops shot down two Ukrainian drones” early Monday morning in the village of Borovskoye. He said no one was hurt in the incident. “The terrorist alert in the region will be extended,” Starovoyt added later during a government meeting. The governor earlier said that mortar shells had hit a border crossing on Saturday, also with no casualties. Also on Monday morning, a fire broke out at an oil depot in Bryansk, a city around 150km (93 miles) from the Ukrainian border. The cause of the fire is unclear. On April 1, Russia accused Kiev of conducting a helicopter raid on an oil depot in Belgorod, another city in a region bordering Ukraine. Kiev has denied carrying out attacks on Russian territory. Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s f...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Sunday, where they promised additional military funding and diplomatic support to the country amid the Russian offensive. News outlets said that, due to security concerns, reporters accompanying Washington’s top diplomat and defense chief were barred from reporting on the trip until the officials left Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the visit during a press conference on Saturday, but the US publicly confirmed that it had happened only on Monday. “We had the opportunity to demonstrate directly our strong ongoing support for the Ukrainian government and for the Ukrainian people,” Blinken told reporters after crossing from Ukraine to Poland. The strategy that we’ve put in place, massive support for Ukraine, massive pressure against Russia, solidarity with more than 30 countries engaged in these efforts, is having real results. Austin said that the US ha...

US authorities have canceled this year’s ceremony in memory of the historic meeting of Soviet and American soldiers on the Elbe in 1945, which takes place annually at Arlington Cemetery near Washington at the Spirit of the Elbe memorial, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov told the media. “It was refused to hold such events. Purely formally [they were canceled by] Arlington Cemetery, but we were clearly told that [this happened based] on the recommendation of the State Department. We understand this reaction due to the Russophobia that is deployed today in the United States,” he said. Russian diplomats, their counterparts from CIS countries, World War II veterans, and American officials previously laid wreaths at the memorial every year. In 2020, then-US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin said in a joint statement that “the ‘Spirit of the Elbe’ is an example of how our countries can put aside differences, build trust, and cooperat...

The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns, made headlines recently while answering questions from reporters about the threat posed by Russian nuclear weapons within the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. “Given the potential desperation of President [Vladimir] Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons,” Burns said. Burns’ statements were derived from a fact-set being promulgated by Ukraine, the US and the Western media which holds that Russia has suffered serious setbacks in Ukraine and is desperate to salvage the military situation on the ground. Russia disputes this assessment, holding that what it calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine is proceeding according to plan, having transitioned into its second phase, which focuses on the destruction of Ukrainian military f...