>>16756451

18 Jul, 2022 13:04

Russia’s Gazprom declares ‘force majeure’ on EU gas flow – media

Energy giant cites “extraordinary” circumstances outside its control, Reuters says

Russian energy giant Gazprom has declared force majeure on gas supplies to Europe to at least one major customer starting July 14, Reuters reported on Monday citing a company letter it has seen.

According to the document, Gazprom could not fulfil its supply obligations due to “extraordinary” circumstances outside its control, Reuters explains.

The agency cites its sources as saying that the letter was referring to supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

The route is currently undergoing planned annual maintenance which isdue to be completed on Thursday, however many in Germany fear that the flow will not be resumed. Last month, supply via the pipeline was slashed by 60% as a vital piece of equipment was not returned from repairs in Canada on time due to sanctions on Russia.

According to media reports, the gas turbine should be back in Russia within a week.

https://www.rt.com/business/559177-russia-gas-germany-force-majeure/

>>16756617

You cannot believe how many media are repeating this crap this am have

News blowing the Germany and=Russian gas story out of proportionthis is how lazy the news is, or they are pushing propaganda again. Or both.they rely on people not knowing the definition.

The definition of this phrase is exactly what russia said “the event of the turbine being returned is beyond their control”. So When the turbine is returned they will start gas to germany again.

force majeure noun

force ma·​jeure | \ ˌfȯrs-mä-ˈzhər , -mə- \

Definition of force majeure

1 : superior or irresistible force

2 : an event or effect that cannot be reasonably anticipated or controlled

— compare ACT OF GOD

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/force%20majeure

>>16756451

That is such a fucking twisted lie, its not at all true “force majeur” means there wont be any gas.

• The gas pipeline has been under maintenance for 10 days

• Russia is waiting for the turbine to be sent from Canada

• Germany will receive gas when its fixed

News keeps on recycling thisfear pornevery other week. Russia said they would never punish a country for political purposes by turning off the gas.

The only condition they’d turn off the gas, if the country did not pay them in their preferred currency

18 Jul, 2022 13:45

HomeRussia & FSU

Russia fines Google $366 million

The US-based IT-giant failed to delete information prohibited in Russia for a second time, court finds

Russia’s court has fined American tech giant Google more than 21 billion rubles ($366 million) on Monday, for its failure to delete prohibited information on the conflict in Ukraine, RIA Novosti has reported from the court.

Moscow’s Tagansky District Court has slapped a turnover-based fine on the IT-company for its repeated refusal to delete information prohibited by Russian law. Roskomnadzor, the national internet and media watchdog, had previously required the company to remove from YouTube all “misleading information” regarding Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine.

Prior to the court’s ruling, Roskomnadzor hadsent Google 17 notificationsrequiring it to abide by Russian law, but the tech giant failed to comply. The total fine is equal to one tenth of the company and its affiliated structures’ annual turnover in Russia.

Russia has long been critical of the way foreign platforms distribute online content that violates national laws. Last December, the Silicon Valley firm was hit with a fine of 7.2 billion rubles (around $98.1 million) for failing to take down banned content, which was the first time that an IT company had been fined in Russia with a penalty linked to its earnings.

In late June, Roskomnadzor completed a report regarding what it said was Google’s repeated failure to remove prohibited items, saying the company had not deleted at least 7,000 “illegal materials” from Youtube.

At the time, the watchdog accused the IT giant of promoting false information on the Ukraine conflict, and hosting material that supports extremism and encourages children to participate in unauthorized mass protests.

https://www.rt.com/russia/559175-russia-fine-google-youtube-ukraine/

18 Jul, 2022 13:41

EU should abandon national vetoes – German chancellor

Olaf Scholz insists it’s the only way for the bloc to maintain a leading role in global politics

If the European Union hopes to compete in global politics, it can no longer afford to allow individual member states to veto the bloc’s actions, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an article published by the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper on Sunday.

Arguing that the EU should become a geopolitical actor, the German leader highlighted the importance of unity in Europe in light of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. He insisted it was time to put an end to the “selfish blockades” of EU decisions by individual members.

“We simply can no longer afford national vetoes, for example in foreign policy, if we want to continue to be heard in a world of competing great powers,” he wrote.

Under current EU rules, any policy decisions within the bloc must be approved by all 27 member states. However, after countries likeHungary and Slovakia held up the implementation of the EU’s sixth sanctions packageagainst Russia due to energy concerns, some have called for the bloc’s principle of unanimity to be abandoned.

Last month, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Politico that the union should ditch the unanimity requirement in matters of foreign policy and should move to qualified majority voting. She noted that “the speed at which things happen” was too slow and that it was important for the “European voice” to be heard and seen without one single member being able to block it.

In his article, Scholz also stated that the EU had been weakened by “permanent disunity” and “permanent dissent between member states,” claiming that unity was Europe’s most important response to the “change of times.”

He suggested that one of the ways unity across Europe and other democratic countries could be achieved wasif Germany “assumes responsibility for Europe and the worldin these difficult times.” WTF

Scholz noted that Germany could bring together “East and West, North and South in Europe” since it was located in the middle of the continent and was a country that “lay on both sides of the Iron Curtain.”

The chancellor added that it was important to “close our ranks” in all areas in which Europe has been struggling, such as migration policy, European defense, technological sovereignty, and “democratic resilience.”

(Scholz is NO Merkel and he’s pissed about it)

https://www.rt.com/news/559182-scholz-eu-abandon-veto/

17 Jul, 2022 22:45

EU asks for patience on anti-Russia sanctions

Josep Borrell says the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions will eventually force Moscow to yield

EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell has called on Europeans to show “strategic patience” while months worth of sanctions against Russia take effect.

“The sanctions imposed by the EU and like-minded partners are already hitting Vladimir Putin and his associates hard,” Borrell declared in a blog post on Sunday, insisting “their impact on the Russian economy will only increase.”

“We need strategic patience until Russia stops its aggression and Ukraine is able to regain its full sovereignty,” he added.

The EU has passed six packages of punishing sanctions targeting Moscow, yet the bloc itself has stumbled into an increasingly dire gas shortage and a currency whose value recently dipped below that of the US dollar for the first time in 20 years.

One of the most recent sanctions seeks to cut 90% of Europe’s oil purchases from Russia by the end of 2022. Borrell acknowledged that “this rapid detoxification from Russian energy involves significant costs to a number of countries and sectors that we will have to face.” However, he insisted it was a small price to pay, warning that a Russian victory would amount to the destruction of western democracy itself, as well as the “rules-based international order.”

The energy-related sanctions in the latest package make a notable exception for member states with “no viable alternative options” for energy, a loophole presumably met for Hungary, which has staunchly opposed an oil embargo on the grounds that it would harm the Hungarian people much more than it would inconvenience the Russians.

Borrell insisted earlier this month that Europe does not want war with Russia, arguing the sanctions are key to countering Moscow’s “aggression” and declaring the financial restrictions were already having an effect.

Along with the US, Europe has poured billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and financial aid into Ukraine since Russia’s ‘military operation’ began in February. Borrell has promised not to allow Kiev to run out of weapons.

(Borrell is lying his ass off. Germany thinks doubling down on stupid, is a great idea. Sanctions have only helped Russia and have proved debilitating EU countries. Delusional)

https://www.rt.com/news/559150-borrell-patience-sanctions-russia/

18 Jul, 2022 09:48

Germany and France ‘killed’ Minsk agreements – Russia

Berlin and Paris torpedoed the 2015 ceasefire deal for Donbass by shielding Kiev’s non-compliance, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said

Germany is demanding that Russia guarantee Ukraine’s territorial integrity, but such a deal was previously signed, only to be “killed” by Berlin and Paris, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

“When [German Chancellor] Olaf Scholz demands that Russia should be compelled to sign an agreement granting Ukraine guarantees of territorial integrity and sovereignty, all his attempts are in vain. There was already such a deal – the Minsk agreements – which was killed by Berlin and Paris. They were shielding Kiev, which openly refused to comply,” he wrote in an op-ed for the Russian newspaper Izvestia.

Russia, Germany and France brokered the 2015 Minsk agreements between Ukraine and Donbass, which were designed to put an end to hostilities. But according to Lavrov, Berlin and Paris failed to ensure Kiev’s compliance.

The Russian foreign minister noted that formerUkrainian President Petro Poroshenko admitted the Minsk agreements meant nothingfor Kiev, and Ukraine used them only to buy time.

“Our task was to stave off the threat… to buy time to restore economic growth and create powerful armed forces. This task was achieved. The Minsk Agreements have fulfilled their mission,” Poroshenko said in June.

Lavrov also mentioned that in December 2019, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a chance to fulfil the Minsk agreements at the so-called Normandy format summit held in Paris. After negotiations with leaders of Russia, Germany and France, Zelensky pledged to resolve issues surrounding the special status of Donbass. “Of course, he did nothing, and Berlin and Paris were shielding him once again,” he noted.

The Minsk agreements included a series of measures designed to rein in hostilities in Donbass and reconcile the warring parties. The first steps were a ceasefire and an OSCE-monitored pullout of heavy weapons from the frontline, which were fulfilled to some degree.

Kiev was then supposed to grant a general amnesty to the rebels and extensive autonomy for the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Ukrainian troops were supposed to take control of the rebel-held areas after Kiev granted them representation, and otherwise reintegrate them as part of Ukraine.

Poroshenko’s government refused to implement these portions of the deal, claiming it could not proceed unless it fully secured the border between the breakaway republics and Russia. He instead endorsed an economic blockade of the rebel regions, initiated by Ukrainian nationalist forces.

Zelensky’s presidency gave an initial boost to the peace process, but stalled after a series of protests by right-wing radicals, who threatened to depose the new Ukrainian president if he tried to deliver on his campaign promises.

Kiev’s failure to implement the roadmap, and the continued hostilities with rebels, were among the primary reasons cited by Russia when it attacked Ukraine in late February. Days before launching the offensive, Moscow recognized the breakaway Ukrainian republics as sovereign states, offering them security guarantees and demanding that Kiev pull back its troops. Zelensky refused to comply.

https://www.rt.com/russia/559155-lavrov-ukraine-russia-deal/

18 Jul, 2022 12:45

Ukraine’s ‘foreign legion’ struck by missiles – Russia

Up to 250 foreign mercenaries were killed in the attack, the Ministry of Defense has claimed

A facility used by Ukraine’s “foreign legion” in Donbass has been targeted in a Russian missile strike that killed up to 250 mercenaries and destroyed a number of military vehicles, Moscow’s Ministry of Defense announced on Monday.

“A temporary mercenary deployment point of the so-called Ukrainian ‘foreign legion’ was hit with high-precision air-launched missiles in the settlement of Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the ministry claimed.

“Up to 250 foreign militants, seven armored vehicles, as well as 12 special purpose vehicles were taken out,” it added.

Kiev’s foreign military unit was created in late February at the request of President Volodymyr Zelensky, and is officially known as the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine.

The Russian military said it had conducted another high-precision strike on the temporary deployment point of a battalion of the 118th Brigade of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense forces in central Ukraine’s Cherkasy Region. The strike killed up to 60 nationalists and destroyed two multiple rocket launcher systems, along with four artillery pieces.

Russian military spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said last month that the best thing foreign mercenaries could expect was a “long term in prison.” He also claimed that attempts by Ukrainian officials to provide foreign fighters with legal protection by adding them to the list of the armed forces or giving them Ukrainian passports would not save them from prosecution.

He also revealed that hundreds of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine had been killed by Russian long-range precision weapons “shortly after their arrival at the places where they were undergoing additional training and where the tactical units were coordinated.” However, most of them, according to the spokesman, were killed “due to a low level of training and a lack of real combat experience.”

Data from the Russian Defense Ministry shows that 6,956 foreign citizens from 64 countries arrived in Ukraine to become pro-Kiev combatants between February 24 and June 17. Some 1,956 of those have been killed, while 1,779 have left the country, the ministry said.

The latest strikes come after Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced on Monday that the Russian ‘East’ grouping in Donbass would make Ukraine’s long-range weapons their primary target. The Defense Ministry claimed that Kiev was using them to strike residential areas in Donbass and set wheat fields and grain warehouses on fire.

https://www.rt.com/russia/559167-ukraine-mercenary-russia-missile-strike/