22 Jul, 2022 09:35

Ukraine to remove mines blocking grain ships – NY

A deal to resume wheat exports from Ukraine is expected to be reached on Friday

Ukraine has agreed to facilitate the passage of wheat exports, through the Black Sea, to global markets, the New York Times, reported on Friday, citing three government sources in Kiev.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has added that Kiev has agreed to remove “only a few” of the mines which have been blocking naval traffic since Russia launched its military offensive in February.

Under the proposals, Ukraine's Navy and Coast Guard would steer grain ships to international waters, the report explained.

Wheat shipments from Ukraine, a major exporter, were disrupted after Russia launched its military operation in the neighboring country in late February. Both sides blame each other for hampering the exports.

According to the report, foreign crews would take the ship to Istanbul, Turkey, where they would continue on to other destinations. A control center would be set up in Istanbul to oversee operations, while Turkish officials would check the ships to assure Moscow that they aren’t used to deliver weapons to Ukraine.

Two senior European officials were quoted as saying they were optimistic that a deal would be struck at the UN-sponsored talks in Istanbul on Friday.

Western politicians accused Russia of deliberately blocking grain exports from Ukraine by blockading Black Sea ports. Moscow says the deliveries are not possible due to Ukrainian naval mines. The Russian Navy has offered to safely escort all grain ships.

https://www.rt.com/russia/559442-ukraine-naval-mines-deal/

22 Jul, 2022 08:11

Ukraine should ‘confiscate’ Russian gas – politician

Kiev must seize gas from the pipeline that connects Russia with Western Europe, former parliament speaker says

Ukraine should “confiscate” Russian gas from transit pipelines, Dmitry Razumkov, the former speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, the country’s parliament, has argued.

Russia transports some of its gas to Western Europe using a route, created during the Soviet-era, through Ukraine.

Razumkov, who was Rada speaker between 2019 and 2021, said the state of the Ukrainian economy is “close to a catastrophe.”

“As a transit country, we must fulfill obligations to our international partners. But surplus Russian gas should be confiscated in accordance with the law and pumped into our storages,” Razumkov wrote in a column for the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper on Wednesday.

“Because we have a paradoxical situation: every single day we are pumping millions of cubic meters of Russian gas and don’t fill our own storages to a required capacity.”

Razumkov added that the government and state oil and gas company Naftogaz must adopt a strategic plan to “ensure the energy security of Ukraine.”

“A difficult winter awaits us,” Razumkov warned, adding that Ukrainians may have to “get used to having a 16C temperature at home.”

“We have only 11 billion cubic meters of gas today. It’s unclear how much Ukraine will manage to pump [to storages] by fall.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/559437-ukraine-confiscate-russian-gas/

22 Jul, 2022 08:33

HomeBusiness News

EU avoids sanctions on Russian titanium – WSJ

The bloc fears it could lose crucial supplies for Airbus

The EU has blocked a proposal to impose sanctions on Russian titanium producer VSMPO-AVISMA, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Thursday.

According to the report, the decision was made after France and other EU members raised concerns over a potential Russian retaliatory ban on titanium exports.

VSMPO-AVISMA is the world’s largest manufacturer of titanium and titanium alloy products, which are widely used in aircraft production, from the airframe and engine parts to landing gear. The Russian metals company is a critical supplier of titanium to EU-based Airbus, the biggest commercial jet maker in the world, and the loss of deliveries from Russia would be a major blow.

Last month, the airplane maker publicly called for the EU to refrain from imposing sanctions on Russian imports of the metal. According to consulting firm AlixPartners, roughly 65% of Airbus’ titanium comes from Russia.

VSMPO-AVISMA is partly owned by Russian space and aviation corporation Rostec (25% plus 1 share), and it supplies products to more than 450 companies in 50 countries, including Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, and Rolls-Royce.

Earlier this year, Rolls-Royce announced that it would temporarily stop purchasing Russian titanium in connection with the conflict in Ukraine and Western sanctions on Moscow. However, media later reported that Rolls-Royce did not terminate the current contract, and deliveries could resume at any time, citing sources within the company. Later, US plane maker Boeing also announced it would suspend purchases of titanium from VSMPO-AVISMA, saying it intends to reorient “to other markets and directions.”

https://www.rt.com/business/559434-eu-blocks-sanctions-russian-titanium/

22 Jul, 2022 11:16

Swedish skating club pressured into canceling Russian masterclass – reports

Alexandra Trusova was scheduled to lead the classes in Stockholm in late August

Russian Olympic silver medalist Alexandra Trusova will no longer hold a set of masterclasses in Stockholm after the Swedish Figure Skating Federation canceled them, according to reports.

The classes were scheduled to take place over two days on the weekend of August 27 and 28 in Sweden's capital, while costing around 1,895 Swedish Krona ($185) for locals looking to emulate the prodigious 18-year-old and learn a few tips from her.

According to Match TV, however, the budding hopefuls will not have the chance to meet their idol after the Swedish federation sent a letter to skating clubs confirming its wishes, claiming that the classes would be "contrary to the values ​​​​of the association" and capable of causing "serious damage to Swedish figure skating."

Match had also reported on Thursday that the Stockholm Figure Skating Federation made a similar demand, which has now been heeded.

Tickets were still available for purchase on the event's official site as of Friday morning, although the press service of the Djurgardens IF Konstakning club confirmed to TASS that the event had been scrapped.

The move is no doubt influenced by feelings in Sweden towards Russia's military operation in Ukraine, which have elsewhere seen Russian skaters banned from international competition by the International Skating Union (ISU), meaning they will miss the entirety of the 2022/23 season. Russia has also been stripped of the traditional Grand Prix it holds annually as part of the ISU series.

Reacting to the news about Trusova, legendary coach Tatiana Tarasova suggested that the decision had been made by the ISU and not the Swedish federation.

"I think they put pressure on the Swedes," Tarasova stated to Match TV.

"The Swedes received a call from the international federation, saying that there should be no Russian athletes, that they would not participate in any competitions, and therefore, probably, it was impossible to teach.

"Initially, when it became known about Trusova's master class, I expected that something would happen."

Though 'quad queen' Trusova has now been frozen out in Stockholm, she and her fellow Russian figure skating stars from Beijing 2022, Anna Shcherbakova and Kamila Valieva, could still be headed to China for a lucrative tour.

Earlier this week, Li Jun of Beijing Global Dynamic Media explained how the Russian trio enjoy immense popularity in the world's most populous country therefore making a series of shows a potential blockbuster success.

While Shcherbakova claimed gold in the women's singles, Valieva was one of the heroes of a team event win before a doping row affected her performance in the individual competition.

"We are actively planning a tour of Russian athletes such as Anna Shcherbakova, Alexandra Trusova and Kamila Valieva in China, which will actually be very beneficial for them in the future," Li said to Russian outlet RIA, while also revealing that they are collectively known as 'Sanva' in China which means ‘Three Va’ in reference to the endings of their surnames.

“We hope that the Sanva – Shcherbakova, Trusova and Valieva – will soon be able to come to China to participate in an ice show to fulfill the desire of many fans and give them the opportunity to see the performance of Russian skaters live, because they skate incredibly beautifully and impressively," Li also said.

Though she only managed to finish second in Beijing, Trusova made history by becomingthe first ever women's skater to pull off five quads in a single routine

https://www.rt.com/sport/559441-trusova-stockholm-masterclass-canceled/

21 Jul, 2022 16:53

Russia sounds alarm over Ukraine labelling kids as ‘enemies’

Mirotvorets website features personal details of hundreds of minors, including a nine-year-old

Russian human rights activists have discovered that the notoriousUkrainian website Mirotvorets (Peacemaker)features the personal details of 327 children. The revelation prompted the Russian authorities to share their concerns over this “huge injustice” with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Since 2018, the website has published personal details – names, addresses, photos, social media pages – of children, the youngest of whom is not even 10 years old yet, the head of the Foundation for the Fight against Repressions, Mira Terada, said at a press conference in Moscow on Thursday. The latest post was dated February 4, 2022, she added.

The Mirotvorets website was created in 2014 as a public database of “pro-Russian terrorists, separatists, mercenaries, war criminals, and murderers.” It was reportedly launched under the initiative of Anton Gerashchenko, an official adviser and a former deputy minister at the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs. He endorsed the project and often made statements on its behalf. Mirotvorets is widely believed to be run by Ukraine’s Security Service.

According to Terada, the website’s servers are located in the US, which, she said, could mean it “was created with the support of American citizens or companies, probably not without the participation of special services.”

“The human rights activists of the Foundation for the Fight against Repressions came to the conclusion that, as of today, the Ukrainian resource database contains personal data of at least 327 underage residents of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Armenia, of which 162 are girls and 165 are boys,” Terada said.

The reasons for including children in the database are “as absurd as possible,” she added.

“Each child is cynically accused by the administration and the creators of the resource of committing deliberate acts against the national security of Ukraine, peace and international law and order,” Terada said. According to her, many children have received threats of physical violence and of other types. Nevertheless, she claimed, “the Ukrainian government categorically refuses to restrict access to Mirotvorets.”

“Only through joint efforts of the UN, UNICEF, Russian and international human rights organizations, it is possible to achieve a complete blocking of the Mirotvorets resource and the complete removal of the personal data of children and their parents,” the human rights activist concluded.

Terada’s call was supported by the deputy head of Russia’s mission to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky. Speaking via videolink from New York, he said Russian diplomats had previously raised the issue of the violation of children’s rights – which he described as a “huge injustice” – with the UN secretary general and with UNICEF, but “no active actions followed.”

Further discoveries made by the Foundation for the Fight Against Repressions prompted Polyansky to raise the issue again in a letter to Guterres, which he sent on Wednesday.

“Our task is to show international organizations, our partners, who claim to belong to the civilized world, what is really happening in Ukraine,” the diplomat said.

The Mirotvorets project gained notoriety in 2015, when writer and historian Oles Buzina and politician Oleg Kalashnikov were assassinated in Ukraine after their profiles appeared on the website.

In 2016, EU officials and journalist groups condemned Mirotvorets for leaking data on more than 4,000 members of the media.

(This is Nina Jancowicz doing, she bragged about it)

https://www.rt.com/russia/559408-mirotvorets-website-ukraine-russia/