The World Blog by humble servant.

Oklahoma has become the first US state to prohibit a nonbinary option on birth certificates, enacting legislation that supporters claimed would help ensure “clarity and truth” on official documents. Governor Kevin Stitt signed the bill into law on Tuesday, following up on an executive order that he issued last November prohibiting the Oklahoma State Health Department (OSDH) from amending gender designations on birth certificates. The controversy began after OSDH – unbeknownst to the governor – settled a civil lawsuit by agreeing to allow a nonbinary option. “People are free to believe whatever they want about their identity, but science has determined people are either biologically male or female at birth,” said Representative Sheila Dills, the Republican lawmaker who sponsored the bill on gender designations. “We want clarity and truth on official state documents. Information should be based on established medical fact and not an ever-changing social dialogue.” More than a dozen U...

As Ukraine burns through anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles the US has been supplying Kiev, Raytheon CEO warned on Tuesday that the company won’t be able to replenish the Pentagon stockpiles for at least several years, citing a shortage of electronic components. “We're going to have to go out and redesign some of the electronics in the missile and the seeker head,” Raytheon Technologies CEO Greg Hayes told investment analysts during the company’s quarterly earnings call, according to Defense One. “That's going to take us a little bit of time.” Hayes was specifically referring to the FIM-92 Stinger, the portable air defense missile that the Pentagon has been supplying to Ukrainian troops. The FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile, which the US has also been sending to Kiev, is produced jointly with Lockheed Martin. Ukrainian officials told the US last month that they required 500 Stingers and Javelins per day. Raytheon hasn’t made Stingers for the US military in almost 20 yea...

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the Kremlin on Tuesday for talks revolving around the Ukrainian crisis. The two discussed the situation on the ground, with Putin explaining to the UN chief Russia’s reasons for launching its military operation against the neighboring country in late February. Moscow’s move to recognize the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk was based on the Kosovo precedent, set up by the UN-backed court, Putin told Guterres. The republics emerged after people living in Ukraine’s east rejected the 2014 Maidan coup, Russia’s president explained, while the new Kiev officials opted for a military solution that led to the eight-year standoff in the Donbass. “I remember very well the decision of the International Court of Justice, which states that in exercising the right to self-determination, a territory of any state is not obliged to apply for permission to declare its sovereignty to the central authorities of th...

The US is still analyzing the recent incidents in the breakaway region of Transnistria and does not want to see the conflict in Ukraine “spilling over” to the area, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday at a conference in Germany on supplying Kiev with weapons and equipment. “We’re still looking into the cause of that, still doing analysis there, so not really sure what that’s all about, but that’s something we’ll stay focused on,” Austin told reporters at the Ramstein military base in Germany. “Certainly, we don't want to see any spillover, and again, it’s important to make sure we do everything we can to ensure that Ukraine is successful,” he added. Austin was in Germany to organize some 40 US allies to send weapons to Ukraine, promising to “move heaven and earth” to help Kiev “win” the conflict with Russia. His remarks came as the government in Chisinau convened an emergency meeting on the situation in Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova where a series of ...

Russian energy giant Gazprom will cease delivering gas to Bulgaria on Wednesday, the country’s energy ministry announced on Tuesday. The news comes after Gazprom confirmed it will also halt supplies to Poland, with both countries refusing to buy the gas in rubles. The ministry announced the news in a statement, adding that there would be no imminent need for consumers to ration their gas usage. Bulgaria relies on Russia for around 90% of its gas, with the remainder coming from Azerbaijan. Last month, a spokesman for state energy firm Bulgargaz told reporters that, as of this summer, Azerbaijan will provide the country’s entire supply, albeit at a higher price. Further ahead, Bulgaria’s government plans to connect the country to a yet-unfinished Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Greece, where gas will be imported by ship, likely from the US. News of the cutoff came shortly after Poland’s state energy company PGNiG confirmed that it too had received notification from Gazprom t...

Rebuilding the relationship between the EU and Russia will be a “very difficult and lengthy process,” but it must be done, chief EU diplomat Josep Borrell wrote on his blog on Tuesday. Until Brussels is able to “reorganize” that relationship “and agree on security guarantees and mechanisms to allow for peaceful coexistence to take hold again,” it will back Ukraine in the fight against Russia, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy continued. Borrell then issued a precondition to such reorganization, declaring that “Russian leadership must first understand that its own security cannot and will not be attained at the expense of broader European security and that of its neighbors.” Peace in Europe can only exist if Russia is “respectful of national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he wrote, glossing over NATO’s own eastward expansion in violation of an agreement not to further approach Russia’s borders following the collapse of the Soviet Uni...

Poland’s state-owned energy company PGNiG confirmed on Tuesday that Russian energy firm Gazprom will halt deliveries on the Yamal contract as of Wednesday. Earlier reports suggested that the supply from Russia had already been cut off. According to a statement from the Polish gas firm, “Gazprom informed PGNiG of its intention to completely suspend deliveries under the Yamal contract at the beginning of the contract day on April 27.” Earlier on Tuesday, a Gazprom spokesman announced that “today, Poland is obliged to pay for gas supplies in accordance with the new payment procedure,” referring to Russia’s demand that “unfriendly countries” buy its gas in rubles. Poland has refused to follow this procedure, and on Tuesday sanctioned Gazprom, which owns a 48% stake in the Polish company that co-owns the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline. The 4,000km line transports gas from the Yamal Peninsula and western Siberia to Germany and Poland via Belarus. Media reports soon followed, suggesting that ...

America’s top general has declared that Russia can’t be allowed to get away with its offensive in Ukraine “cost-free” because allowing such “aggression” would end the “global international security order” established after World War II. “If this is left to stand, if there is no answer to this aggression, if Russia gets away with this cost-free, then so goes the so-called international order, and if that happens, then we’re entering into an era of seriously increased instability,” US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said on Tuesday in an interview with CNN. Milley made his comments after a meeting of Western military leaders in Germany to discuss efforts to help Ukraine repel Russia’s offensive. Earlier this month, he called the conflict “the greatest threat to peace and security” during his 42-year career and said China and Russia seek to “fundamentally change the rules-based current global order.” On Tuesday, he argued that Russia must be made to pay a price for i...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ratcheted up his nuclear rhetoric, vowing to accelerate development of the country’s weapons of mass destruction and to deploy them offensively if DPRK’s “fundamental interests” are violated. “We will continue to take measures for further developing the nuclear forces of our state at the fastest possible speed,” North Korean state-run media outlet KCNA quoted Kim as saying at a military parade on Monday night in Pyongyang. He added that North Korea’s nuclear forces must be prepared for deployment “at any time. ” The country’s nuclear weapons could be used proactively if North Korea is threatened, Kim told the crowd of troops and spectators. Monday’s parade featured missiles capable of striking the country’s adversaries, the state media outlet said. Those weapons included intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that could carry a nuclear warhead to the US mainland and solid-fuel rockets that could be used against South Korea or Japan. Kim Jong-...

Finland and Sweden joining NATO is “very dangerous charlatanry” and amounts to provoking Russia, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said on Tuesday. Zagreb will refuse to ratify their membership until the US and EU pressure the neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina into guaranteeing ethnic Croats their basic voting rights, Milanovic added. “As far as I’m concerned, they can get into NATO, they can poke the rabid bear in the eye with a pen,” Milanovic told reporters in Zagreb on Tuesday. “However, until the electoral law issue in Bosnia-Herzegovina is resolved, until the Americans, the English, the Germans – if they can and want to – compel Sarajevo and Bakir Izetbegovic to update the electoral law in the next six months and grant Croats their elementary rights, the Sabor must not ratify anyone’s admission to NATO,” he added, referring to the Croatian parliament. NATO cannot admit new members without the approval of current ones, Milanovic pointed out, adding that he sees Croatia’s role at...

The US will move “heaven and earth” to supply Ukraine with what it says it needs to fight Russia, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. The announcement came on Tuesday at a 40-country meeting aimed at getting Washington’s allies on board the mission to prop up Kiev’s defenses. Summoned by the US at its German airbase Ramstein, the meeting’s official purpose was “to help Ukraine win the fight against Russia’s unjust invasion and to build up Ukraine’s defenses for tomorrow’s challenges,” in Austin’s words. “Ukraine clearly believes that it can win and so does everyone here,” he continued, speaking for the many US-allied nations present. While Washington, as the top-dollar donor to Kiev, will “keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet” the needs of the Ukrainian government, Austin made it clear other countries would be expected to pony up. Germany, which had previously pleaded scarcity, insisting its own army lacked sufficient weapons to send the surplus to Ukraine, has had a ch...

Billionaire Elon Musk’s acquisition of social media giant Twitter has the White House backing away from its embrace of such mega platforms. “No matter who owns or runs Twitter, the president has long been concerned about the power of large social media platforms, the power they have over our daily lives,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki stated during a press briefing on Monday after Musk officially bought Twitter for $44 billion. Psaki insisted this sudden concern was unrelated to the Tesla tycoon’s latest purchase, claiming “our concerns are not new” with regard to the social media monopolies. US President Joe Biden, she said, “has long argued that tech platforms must be held accountable for the harm they cause.” The White House spokesperson insisted the administration was continuing to push for the repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which offers platforms that host third-party content immunity from liability for user-supplied content, as well as antitru...

Russian experts are working on a project to create a two-loop monetary and financial system in the country, Secretary of the Security Council Nikolay Patrushev said on Tuesday, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta. He explained that the project involves the provision of the Russian currency with both gold and a range of goods representing a currency value. As a result, the ruble exchange rate would correspond to its real purchasing power parity, he said. To ensure the sovereignty of any national financial system, it is necessary that its means of payment have intrinsic value and price stability, and is not tied to the dollar, Patrushev said. Another important condition for Russian economic security is the restructuring of its economy based on modern technologies, he added. “We are not against a market economy … but … the West allows other countries to be its partner only when it is beneficial for it,” Patrushev stressed, noting that Russia’s development should be based on its i...

China has accused Australia’s defense chief of slander and making “wild remarks” over his comment that Australians should “prepare for war.” “Certain Australian politicians often seek selfish political gains by making wild remarks to smear China and clamor for a war,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday. “Such despicable moves are seen through by the Chinese people and the international community.” This comes in response to Monday’s statement by Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton, who declared that China is “on a very deliberate course at the moment”, adding “we have to stand up with countries to stare down any act of aggression ... to make sure we can keep peace in our region and for our country.” Speaking on Channel Nine's Today Show, Dutton said: “The only way you can preserve peace is to prepare for war and be strong as a country. Not to cower, not to be on a bended knee and be weak. That’s the reality.” Earlier, the Australian minister stated tha...

The president of the self-proclaimed Transnistria, Vadim Krasnoselsky, has traced the latest spate of what he described as “terrorist attacks” in the republic back to Ukraine. Speaking on Tuesday, he cited the results of a probe conducted by local authorities, urging Kiev to investigate the Ukrainian armed groups that had allegedly infiltrated Transnistria and hit several targets there. Krasnoselsky surmised that “those who arranged this assault aim to drag Transnistria into the conflict.” Krasnoselsky also called on Moldova, which Transnistria seceded from after a war in 1992, to engage in talks to “preserve peace.” “Don’t let Moldova be dragged into an aggression against Transnistria,” the official implored, warning that it could lead to a “big war.” Earlier on Tuesday, Moldovan President Maia Sandu convened the country’s security council over the situation in the breakaway region between Moldova and Ukraine. She claimed that the “attempted escalation has to do with forces ins...

Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Tuesday that natural gas deliveries to Poland via the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline have not been halted. The statement from the company comes in response to media reports of a stoppage of supplies to the country.

The Kremlin on Tuesday said that Gazprom was implementing the presidential decree that requires payment for gas supplies in rubles. "All the contacts with buyers of gas have been made via Gazprom, so it will publish information on the results of the talks," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. According to Peskov, payments for gas deliveries that took place under the new scheme are expected in May. Last month, Putin demanded that 'unfriendly' countries pay for Russian gas in rubles. To do this, they would need to open accounts at Gazprombank and make payments in euros or dollars that would then be converted into rubles. Putin has warned that failure to comply with the currency switch would mean that affected countries risked losing Russian gas supplies. Russia halts gas supplies to Poland, media claimsREAD MORE: Russia halts gas supplies to Poland, media claims A source familiar with the talks with the gas buyers told Reuters there was no clarity on ho...

US shipping and logistics company UPS has decided to suspend commercial activities in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The step has reportedly been taken due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. UPS suspended parcel delivery to Russia and Ukraine at the end of February, when Russia launched its military operation in the neighboring state, along with another US shipping giant, FedEx. Neither company has announced when they plan to resume their services in the region. According to the publication, direct deliveries to all three countries amounted to less than 1% of UPS’ revenue in 2021. Due to this, it is expected that the halt in the company’s activities in the region will not cause significant losses. Earlier on Tuesday, UPS reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings after the company raised prices amid an uptick in e-commerce. According to IBES data from Refinitiv, UPS earned $24.4 billion in the first quarter of the year, beating analysts’ expectat...

The Russian Ministry of Defense has accused London of a “direct provocation” after British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said Ukrainian forces can use UK-supplied weapons to attack targets on Russian soil. Any attempts to do so would invoke an immediate response, the ministry warned in a statement on Tuesday. “We want to emphasize that London’s direct provocation of the Kiev regime to such actions, should they attempt to do so, will immediately lead to our proportional response. As we have warned, the Russian armed forces are on standby around the clock to retaliate with long-range high-precision weapons against decision-making centers in Kiev,” the military warned. Ukraine can strike Russia with British arms – UKREAD MORE: Ukraine can strike Russia with British arms – UK The ministry went on to say that “advisers from one of the Western nations” located in these centers “won’t necessarily be a problem” in Russia’s decision-making regarding retaliatory measures. Earlier in th...

A Moscow court imposed the first-ever fine on Wikimedia Commons, the operator of the Wikipedia platform, on Tuesday. The company was found guilty of failing to delete articles deemed to be in violation of Russian law. Most of the content related to what was classified as the spreading misinformation about the Russian military and its actions during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The court imposed a fine of 3 million rubles (some $40,200) on the platform after it failed to delete five offending articles about the Russian military. The company’s legal team had argued that the those on the prosecution could have fixed the articles themselves if they believed them to be violating Russian law. “If the prosecutor believes that something is wrong in these publications, he could have come and made edits,” a lawyer said during the hearings, as quoted by RIA Novosti. Later in the day, the same court imposed an additional fine of 2 million rubles (some $26,800) on the platform in a separat...

Russia has suspended natural gas deliveries to Poland via the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, Polish news portal Onet reported on Tuesday, citing sources within the Polish government and state energy company PGNiG. The information has not been officially confirmed by Moscow or Warsaw. According to the publication, a crisis group has been set up in the Ministry of Climate Affairs. Sources claim that Russia did not inform the Polish side of the halt to deliveries in advance. Earlier on Tuesday, Poland imposed a new round of sanctions against Russian state energy giant Gazprom, which owns a 48% stake in a Polish company that co-owns the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline. In addition, a Polish government representative for strategic energy infrastructure, Piotr Naimsky, said that Warsaw does not intend to pay for Russian gas in rubles, which is required under the new payment mechanism introduced by Moscow earlier this month.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has lashed out at the EU and US for criticizing its domestic and foreign policies. Wang singled out the US, accusing Washington of war crimes in the Middle East, economic coercion, betraying its allies and spreading disinformation. “The US purports to maintain the centrality of the UN Charter, but it is clear to anyone that the US is doing quite the opposite,” Wang told reporters at a press conference on Monday. Citing the US’ military interventions in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, Wang stated that Washington “brushed the UN aside and waged wars on sovereign states in wanton interference.” “The US claims to respect human rights, but the wars of aggression launched by the US and its allies … killed over 300,000 civilians and made over 26 million people refugees,” he continued. “Yet, no one is held accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The US even announced sanctions on the International Criminal...

Moscow’s Court of Arbitration has frozen the assets of Google’s Russian subsidiary to the tune of 500 million rubles. The judge ruled in favor of Russia’s ‘Entertainment Television’, which sued the tech giant after YouTube blocked one of its channels, TNT, according to the Interfax news agency. The plaintiff demanded that Google restore full access to the TNT channel’s YouTube account or else pay a penalty. Apart from Google’s Russian subsidiary, American Google LLC as well as Irish Google Ireland Limited and Google Commerce Limited were all named as defendants in the court documents. The presiding judge, Ekaterina Titova, deemed Entertainment Television’s demands reasonable, pointing out that the channel would likely incur “considerable losses” unless Google’s assets were frozen. Russia bans Google ads Read more Russia bans Google ads On April 13, the court rejected Entertainment Television’s first claim, lodged two days prior, in which the company demanded that all funds and pr...

Ukrainian forces may use UK-supplied weapons to attack targets on Russian soil, British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said on Monday. Moscow has cautioned the West against escalating what it sees as a Russia-NATO “proxy war” in Ukraine, after a series of attacks on its territory. “It is completely legitimate for Ukraine to be targeting in Russia's depth in order to disrupt the logistics that if they weren't disrupted would directly contribute to death and carnage on Ukrainian soil,” Heappey told Times Radio. “There are lots of countries around the world that operate kit that they have imported from other countries; when those bits of kit are used we tend not to blame the country that manufactured it, you blame the country that fired it,” he added. Asked whether he supported such attacks within Russia’s borders, Heappey replied “of course.” Russian officials have accused Ukrainian forces of using helicopters, artillery and drones to attack targets within Russia in rece...

Should the “pumping” of Ukraine with weaponry continue, the negotiation between Moscow and Kiev are destined to produce no result, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned on Tuesday. The top diplomat made the remarks during a press conference following talks with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Moscow. “If [the pumping of Ukraine with weapons] continues, of course, the negotiations will hardly have any result, but I repeat once again, we are committed to a negotiated solution, we are also committed to ceasefires, which we are staging daily, declaring humanitarian corridors,” Lavrov said. While Kiev initially demonstrated a readiness to negotiate after Russia launched its large-scale military operation in Ukraine late in February, their subsequent behavior has suggested they are “not that interested in talks,” Lavrov added. “But how the Ukrainian delegation behaved at the talks, how President [Volodymyr] Zelensky himself behaved, refusing to confirm that they rece...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed the contribution of figure skater Kamila Valieva to her country’s success at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, dismissing the doping row which engulfed the teenager at the Games. Valieva was among a host of Russian Olympic and Paralympic athletes welcomed at the Kremlin on Tuesday for a special ceremony to honor their achievements. Putin took the time to single out Valieva for praise as he addressed the assembled sports stars inside the iconic St. Catherine Hall. “[Kamila Valieva] absorbed into her talent all the most complex elements of figure skating, its suppleness, beauty, power and tenderness,” said Putin, according to RIA. “With her efforts she elevated sport to the height of true art. Such perfection cannot be achieved dishonestly with the help of some additional means [or] manipulation.” Valieva reveals attitude to OlympicsREAD MORE: Valieva reveals attitude to Olympics Valieva, who turns 16 on Tuesday, was congratulated by ...

See this the problem with the whiteman and negros. They always want to ban somebody they have no control over. johnnie ellington @e7johnny They want Musk to promise to keep trump off. Listen you don't have to listen and if what you believe and stand for wasn't so APPALLING to the average person and when examine it's enough to make you want to vomit. YOU WOULDN'T have Trump to consider. Examine your self. 7:26 AM · Apr 26, 2022·Twitter Web App View Tweet analytics johnnie ellington @e7johnny · 1h Replying to @e7johnny What ugly Americans. If you articulate instead cry and lie. And protect you wouldn't need to go against your so call freedom and democracy which is the farthest thing from the truth. johnnie ellington @e7johnny · 1h And if you all bulls===wasn't what it was ELON wouldn't have bought twitter to give to all Americans what they suppose to have and if some people are OFFENSIVE and lie and bigot as is there right to be.. johnnie ellington @e7johnn...

Warsaw will not agree to Moscow’s demand to pay for gas in rubles, Piotr Naimski, representative of the Polish government on strategic energy infrastructure, said on Tuesday, according to media reports. “We will not pay,” he said, answering a question from journalists about whether Poland would agree to Russia’s new payment terms. “All the opportunities and risks are being considered. We are ready for them,” he said, adding, “If necessary, and if an appropriate decision is made, we are in a position to refuse gas supplies at any time. We are ready for the actions of the Russian side, which provide for the possibility of stopping supplies.” Poland has been calling for “crushing sanctions” against Moscow, “much stronger than those that have been imposed.” Washington and Brussels are reportedly discussing sanctions designed to hit Russia’s energy sector. So far, Western nations have mostly targeted Russian finances and banking. While the EU has banned Russian coal imports, it failed ...

The German government has given the green light for the delivery of self-propelled anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine, the country’s Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Tuesday. Speaking at US-hosted defense talks at the American airbase Ramstein in Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate state, Lambrecht said that the leadership in Berlin made the decision on Monday. She emphasized that Germany was “determined to help the Ukrainian people with unified resolve in this existential emergency.” The minister explained that “Ukraine will order” hardware from German manufacturers and “Germany will pay.” Berlin would earmark some 2 billion euros to that end, Lambrecht added. The armored vehicles in question are Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, which were decommissioned by the German military back in 2010. Designed to take out cruise missiles and aircraft, Gepards can also be used against targets on the ground. As many as 50 heavy vehicles could reportedly be delivered to Ukraine. Defen...

The Biden administration is seeking expanded government powers so it can enlist such agencies as the CIA and NASA in protecting the US against threats from drones. The push is part of a “whole-of-government” campaign to address security threats posed by the rising number of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in operation, which will involve increased monitoring efforts to detect and disable threatening drones. “The administration is working to expand where we can protect against nefarious UAS activity, who is authorized to take action, and how it can be accomplished lawfully,” the White House said on Monday in a statement. Congress passed legislation in 2018 giving the executive branch, including the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, expanded powers to disable or destroy drones that are deemed dangerous. The Biden administration has called on lawmakers to go further in eliminating barriers that “impede government and law enforcement from protecting the American people and o...

A federal judge in Louisiana has issued a temporary restraining order barring US President Joe Biden’s administration from ending an emergency policy that allowed border agents to quickly expel asylum seekers to protect against the spread of Covid-19. US District Court Judge Robert Summerhays made the ruling on Monday, granting a request by 21 Republican-led states to block the administration from moving forward with plans to stop implementing its so-called Title 42 authority on May 23. Summerhays still hasn’t made a final determination on the merits of the case, so it’s possible that he could allow the government to resume unwinding Title 42 after a hearing scheduled for May 13. “This is a huge victory for border security, but the fight continues on,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said of Monday’s ruling. Missouri, Louisiana, and Arizona were the first states to challenge the administration’s decision, while Texas filed a separate lawsuit to keep Title 42 in place. The US...

NATO members Latvia, Estonia, and the Netherlands will hold joint naval exercises with Finland in the Baltic Sea, Helsinki has confirmed, noting the drills will focus on “mine countermeasures.” The wargames will be held between Thursday and Friday following a visit to Turku, Finland by NATO’s Mine Action Division, the country’s Coastal Fleet said in a statement, adding that the drills will include a Latvian mine-laying vessel and mine-sweepers from Estonia and the Netherlands. “The main goal of the exercise is to search for and identify underwater objects,” the Coastal Fleet’s chief of staff, Commander Mikko Villikari, said. “In these exercises, we learn to work as part of a group that we do not regularly interact with. It helps to maintain international expertise.” Two Katanpaa-class mine-hunters from Finland’s fleet will also take part in the training. The Finnish military said the wargames will be carried out somewhere in the Archipelago Sea within the Baltic, located 330 miles...

EU member states are considering setting a ceiling on what they would pay for Russian oil as a way to strike at Moscow’s revenues, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. However, the bloc is not considering an immediate ban on Russian crude exports, it said. According to the report, an oil price cap is one of the proposals being discussed as EU ambassadors prepare for talks in the coming days about a sixth package of sanctions. Another alternative would reportedly involve the EU imposing a tariff on Russian oil to force Moscow to cut prices to stay competitive. Russia provides more than a quarter of the EU’s crude oil imports, while member states have paid over €13 billion for the supplies since the conflict in Ukraine started, according to the research organization CREA. This month, the bloc approved a ban on Russian coal but failed to reach an agreement on an embargo of oil and natural gas. Many EU countries are heavily dependent on Russian energy. This is particularly the case...

The recent wave of attacks in Transnistria, which borders Ukraine, is “concerning,” the Kremlin said on Tuesday. The targets include a military site and a broadcasting facility. “We are watching the situation very closely,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), was placed on a terror alert on Tuesday after several attacks. On Monday a government building in the region’s capital, Tiraspol, was shelled with rocket-propelled grenades, local officials said. Another attack hit a military site in Parkany. There were no casualties. On Tuesday morning, two explosions occurred at a radio center in the village of Mayak. The largely Russian-speaking Transnistria declared independence from Moldova during the breakup of the Soviet Union but has remained mostly unrecognized by the international community since then. A Russian peacekeeping force has been stationed there since an armed conflict in the early 1990s. Peskov sa...

Russian troops have destroyed six traction substations, – units that power the railways – which are being used for delivery of “foreign weapons and military hardware to the Ukrainian forces in the Donbass,” Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov announced on Monday. He added that the stations were located at the Krasnoye, Zdolbunov, Zhmerinka, Berdichev, Kovel, and Korosten railway hubs, all in western Ukraine. According to Konashenkov, 27 military targets were also destroyed by airstrikes, including four command centers. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said last month that pushing Ukrainian troops from the territory of the Donbass republics had become Moscow’s top priority at this stage of the campaign. Ukraine’s Western backers have not disclosed the exact routes they use to ship weapons to Kiev, but reports said that many of them are being delivered through neighboring Poland. NATO member states supply various anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile systems, armo...

The Russian ruble strengthened against both the euro and the US dollar on Tuesday, trading data from the Moscow Exchange shows. As of 10:07 GMT the Russian currency had jumped roughly 0.96% compared to the end of the previous day’s trading to 76.42 rubles against the euro, its highest in nearly 2 years, and gained around 0.92% against the greenback to trade at 72.45 per dollar, reaching a five-month high. The rally comes as the market expects companies to make a record 3 trillion rubles ($40.25 billion) worth of tax payments due this week. Analysts say the tax boost may propel the Russian currency further, as some export-oriented firms will have to sell foreign currency to make the payments. Market players also anticipate the decision on the key rate to be made by the Russian central bank on Friday. Russia urges allies to dump dollar and euro in tradeREAD MORE: Russia urges allies to dump dollar and euro in trade The key interest rate was hiked to 20% last month to tackle the impa...

Ukraine’s finance minister, Sergey Marchenko, has solicited at least $2 billion per month in emergency economic aid from the Biden administration. The official also revealed that Kiev hopes to raise an additional $3 billion per month from other sources. Speaking to the Washington Post, Marchenko said that Ukraine needs “to cover this gap right now to attract the necessary finance and win this war.” During his visit to Washington, DC last week, Marchenko met with a number of senior US officials, warning them that absent the requested financial support, Ukraine would likely not be able to cope with the humanitarian crisis brought on by Russia’s military offensive. A total of $5 billion per month is needed to cover Ukraine’s immediate needs in April, May, and June, the minister explained. In addition to that, Kiev is expected to request another tranche down the road to help Ukraine recover from all the damage incurred. Last Thursday, the minister also reportedly attended a private din...

Starting Monday, a series of terrorist attacks has hit the breakaway region of Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), which borders Ukraine, its leader said on Tuesday. Transnistrian President Vadim Krasnoselsky placed the region on terrorist alert, RIA Novosti reported, citing the president's website. Two back-to-back explosions rocked a broadcasting center in the village of Mayak on Tuesday morning, the region’s interior ministry said. It added that no one was hurt, but the two biggest antennas, which were transmitting Russian radio stations, have been disabled. Another incident occurred at a military site near the village of Parkany. Reports emerging Monday on social media said there had been two explosions. Also on Monday, the State Security Ministry building in the region’s capital, Tiraspol, was shelled with rocket-propelled grenades, but also with no casualties, according to the Interior Ministry. READ MORE: Explosions rock build...

Europe cannot completely phase-out using natural gas in favor of greener energy sources at this stage, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said at the Raisina Dialogue international conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. “Gas is a transitional source. It should be used just when we intend to turn to renewable energy. It is not possible to reduce the work of the gas industry immediately, especially in Europe, where demand for Norwegian gas is now high. We will continue to supply gas to the European market for another several years,” she said. Her statements come amid calls from many European nations to reduce reliance on Russian energy, with some suggesting that turning to green energy could be an alternative. However, analysts say it is impossible to substitute Russian energy imports with green energy at short notice. According to Huitfeldt, her country is moving towards reducing emissions under the EU green deal but views a complete and immediate transition to renewable ener...