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21 Mar, 2022 12:22

HomeRussia & FSU

Nobel prize chiefs won’t make exception for Zelensky

Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute says extending the deadline for nominations is not possible

Following an open letter from EU politicians, Norwegian Nobel Institute’s director Olav Njølstad has stated that the Nobel Peace Prize Committee will not be able to extend its deadline past January 31 to make the nomination of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky possible.

“As of today, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has not received the letter mentioned in your request. The Committee cannot extend the Nobel Peace Prize nominations deadline, which is January 31,” the director said, in response to RIA Novosti’s inquiry.

He added that the members of the Committee retain the right to put forward their own nominations until its first formal meeting, which has already taken place on February 28.

Earlier, 36 former and incumbent EU officials, including deputies and ministers, have signed an open letter requesting the Nobel Committee to extend its deadline for the peace-prize nomination until the end of March so that they could nominate the Ukrainian President Zelensky to receive the famous trophy.

The initiative, pioneered by predominantly Dutch politicians, calls on the global community to support “brave Ukrainian men and women” in the face of “this war waged upon them by the Russian Federation.” According to the Eurocrats, the Ukrainians are “fighting to preserve democracy and self-government” by “resisting the forces of authoritarianism.”

Currently, 343 candidates have been nominated for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, out of which 251 are individuals and 92 are organizations. Last year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a Russian journalist, Dmitry Muratov, and a Philippine journalist, Maria Ressa.

Volodymyr Zelensky was elected president of Ukraine in 2019 having promised to end the conflict in the Donbass region. However, under his leadership, Kiev has refused to negotiate with the breakaway regions. According to Russian officials, Zelensky’s administration was also preparing for a full-scale war against the newly-recognized republics while continuing to bombard its civilians. After a seven-year standoff over the disputed implementation of the Minsk agreements, on February 24 the Kremlin launched a military operation to protect Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics. Zelensky has accused Russia of attacking without provocation.

https://www.rt.com/russia/552393-zelensky-nomination-peace-prize-deadline/

21 Mar, 2022 11:06

HomeRussia & FSU

Russia explains why no ceasefire amid peace talks with Ukraine

Russian troops won’t give ‘nationalists’ time to regroup, Moscow has revealed

Moscow will not put on pause its military action against Ukraine while conducting peace talks with Kiev, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday.

“You see, a pause in the operation, any pause, is used by the nationalist units to regroup, used to continue attacks against the Russian military,” the official explained. He claimed Russian troops in Ukraine have experienced this before “on multiple occasions.”

During the almost month-long attack on Ukraine, Russia declared a ceasefire on several occasions, stating that a pause in frontline fighting would allow civilians to evacuate affected areas and for humanitarian aid to be brought into Ukrainian cities caught up in the hostilities.

Moscow and Kiev repeatedly blamed each other for alleged breaches of ceasefire agreements in various parts of the country. Russia said it believed the Ukrainian government not to be in full control of its units, which count radical nationalists in their ranks. These forces, according to Moscow, are determined to fight to the end and don’t hesitate to hold civilians as human shields and to otherwise undermine efforts to prevent casualties.

https://www.rt.com/russia/552388-moscow-ukraine-ceasefire-nationalists/

21 Mar, 2022 12:25

HomeBusiness News

Russian market surges as limited trading restarts

Financial operations had been suspended until further notice on February 28

Yields on Russia’s 10-year benchmark OFZ ruble treasury bonds surged over 20% at the opening auction on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) on Monday. The Russian stock market has gradually resumed trading, having suspended most of its transactions three weeks ago.

Regular OFZ bond trading began at 10am GMT, after a morning auction to allow for prices to be set following the shutdown. The highest yield was 20.31% on the issue maturing on July 20, 2022. There are 55 OFZ bonds in issue.

Russia’s central bank said it would buy OFZ bonds once trading resumed, so as to prevent excessive volatility.

“These purchases will be made in the amounts needed to prevent risks to financial stability,” the bank’s governor, Elvira Nabiullina, said at a press conference on Friday, after the regulator kept the key interest rate unchanged at 20%.

Meanwhile, the ruble gained to trade 104 against the US dollar on Monday as market participants focused on the planned resumption of trading. The Russian currency weakened slightly against the euro, however, trading at 115 rubles per euro.

READ MORE: Sanctions could see creditors lose billions in Russian loans

The MOEX nosedived a whopping 33.3% on February 24, when Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine. On February 28, trading was suspended until further notice as Western sanctions imposed in response to the offensive threw markets into turmoil.

The regulator has yet to say when trading in instruments such as stocks can restart, but a limited number of financial market operations have been permitted to resume over the next two weeks.

https://www.rt.com/business/552374-russian-market-surges-limited/

21 Mar, 2022 11:00

HomeBusiness News

EU considering Russian oil embargo – report

The full ban would be part of an expanded package of sanctions against Moscow

EU ministers are set discuss a ban on Russian oil as part of the fifth package of sanctions, in an effort to force Moscow to abandon its military operation in Ukraine, Reuters reported on Monday.

“It’s unavoidable we start talking about the energy sector, and we can definitely talk about oil because it is the biggest revenue to Russia’s budget,” Reuters quotes Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis as having said. The new sanctions will also reportedly add more names of Russian individuals to EU blacklists.

EU foreign and defense ministers are expected to debate the matter on Monday, ahead of the arrival of US President Joe Biden in Brussels on Thursday for talks with NATO’s 30 allies, the EU, and the Group of Seven (G7) including Japan.

Last week the EU banned its member-states’ companies from investing in the Russian energy sector but fell short of banning oil and gas imports from the country. The EU gets roughly 40% of its natural gas from Russia, and more than half of the country’s oil exports are destined for Europe.

Reuters reports that Baltic countries including Lithuania are pushing for an oil embargo as the next logical step in putting pressure on Moscow, while Germany, the largest EU buyer of Russian crude, is urging caution because energy prices in Europe are already skyrocketing.

Another EU nation, Bulgaria, has said it might seek an opt-out, according to Reuters, as the country’s only oil refinery is owned by Russia’s LUKOIL and provides over 60% of the nation’s fuel.

Meanwhile, Moscow has warned of ‘serious’ consequences an embargo of Russian oil will have on Europe. Speaking to media on Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said such a ban would “have a serious and negative impact on the energy balance on the European continent.” The US will not be affected as much as the EU, he added, but the people in Europe “will find it really hard. Such a decision will affect everyone,” Peskov said.

Russia has indicated that it can sell its energy products elsewhere if its Western buyers pull out. India, the world’s third-largest energy consumer, bought several million barrels of Russian crude last week, to be delivered in May. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) warned last week of an upcoming shock in the world’s oil markets if some buyers shun Russian crude.

https://www.rt.com/business/552381-eu-considering-russian-oil-ban/

The Biden Corruption Scandal Isn’t About Hunter, It’s About Joe

BY: MARGOT CLEVELAND

OCTOBER 19, 2020

Very long and good article…

This Is about Joe Biden, Not Hunter

That is the extent of the relevance of the personal information being released: The public does not need to know of the unsavory and illegal behavior Hunter engaged in—much less watch it—while he was in the throes of addiction. America also does not need to read the words of anguish exchanged between an addict son undergoing rehab and his famous father.

Yet Hunter Biden’s addiction, and the fact that tens of thousands of other Americans suffer similar demons, does not atone for the sins of the father. And that is what the email and text scandal concerns: Evidence that Joe Biden, while vice president of the United States, knowingly allowed his son to profit by selling access to Biden and others in the Obama administration, including to Communist Party of China leaders, and then lied about it.

The emails and texts Joe personally received also suggest a cut from Hunter’s influence-peddling. For instance, one email published by the New York Post detailed a deal Hunter Biden pursued with China’s largest private energy company that was “interesting for me and my family.”

A May 13, 2017 email with the subject line “Expectations” listed expected “renumeration packages” for various individuals, including “‘H,’ apparently referring to Biden.” The Post noted that “the deal also listed ‘10 Jim’ and ‘10 held by H for the big guy?’” but did not identify the “big guy.” However, sources have told Fox News “‘the big guy’ is a reference to the former vice president.”

A text recovered from the hard drive also suggests the former vice president may have received a cut of Hunter’s “earnings.” “I Hope you all cal do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family Fro 30 years,” a screenshot of a text from January 2019 to Hunter’s daughter read. “It’s really hard. But don’t worry unlike Pop I won’t make you give me half your salary.”

This Compromising Material Is a National Security Risk

Evidence of this scandal is too strong to ignore or to allow Joe Biden, the Democratic Party, or corporate media to cast aside as an unseemly attack on a recovering drug addict, and not merely because of the corruption at issue. Every country, every foreign politician or political faction, and every corrupt oligarch or business that paid for access has the emails, notes, receipts, itineraries, fund transfers, and maybe even photographs or recordings. And that makes Joe Biden a national security risk.

Remember, it was Acting Attorney General Sally Yates’ concern that then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was a national security risk that sent her to the White House to get him fired. The Russians would know, she maintained, that Flynn had misrepresented to Vice President Mike Pence his conversations with the Russian ambassador, and that would leave Flynn compromised. Of course, that theory was so preposterous that even disgraced former FBI Director James Comey called it a stretch.

But there is a world of difference between a conversation among a transition team member and a foreign ambassador and a conversation between individuals with foreign interests and the former vice president, bought and paid for with cash funneled through his son. A compromise of that kind holds serious national security issues, which is why our country needs a full vetting of this evidence.

If the emails and texts are fake, we need to know that. But all indications to date are that they are real, and spectacularly damning. And that has nothing to do with Hunter Biden’s addiction, and everything to do with Joe Biden’s unfitness for office.

https://thefederalist.com/2020/10/19/the-biden-corruption-scandal-isnt-about-hunter-its-about-joe/