Ukraine Latest: Sweden, Finland win security promises; Gas Spat
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(Bloomberg) – Kyiv and Moscow collided over natural gas sent via pipelines to Europe, as supplies passing through Ukraine were disrupted. Russia’s economy showed more signs of stress with a collapse in car purchases.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson signed a security pact with Sweden and will offer similar guarantees to Finland during a visit to both countries, each of which is considering joining NATO in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Ukraine, Russia Gas conflict increases threat to Europe’s supply Russia trains missiles in Ukraine’s quiet zone to target TradeSpy chief says Ukraine can leave Russia weaker but aggressively.
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Sweden, Finland win security guarantees (13:35)
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson signed “mutual security guarantees” with Sweden and will travel to Helsinki later to sign a similar declaration with Finland, his office states in an e-mail. Britain is committed to supporting the two nations’ armed forces if attacked, and it will also increase intelligence sharing as part of the agreements.
Norway, Denmark and Iceland are each working on a joint political declaration with Sweden and Finland to support them when weighing NATO applications, the Norwegian newspaper VG reported. The declaration may include military support for the period between the time of application and possible membership when full security guarantees would take effect, it says.
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G-7 ministers condemn Russian “disinformation” (13:30)
Digital ministers from the group of seven nations meeting in Germany published a joint statement condemning “Russia’s harmful cyber-activities, information manipulation, disruption and online disinformation campaigns”, which they said they would “continue to address”.
“We reaffirm the right of the people of Russia to have access to impartial and factual information and we undertake to defend freedom of expression online,” the ministers said. “We are determined to counter the use of the digital sphere as a battleground.”
Russian car sales lost record (13:25)
Russian car sales fell the most in April as sanctions undermined domestic production and most foreign carmakers disrupted operations in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. Sales fell by 79% to 32,706 vehicles compared to a year earlier, according to the Association of European Businesses in Moscow.
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Car production is heavily dependent on imports, with a recent report from Moscow’s Higher School of Economics estimating that more than half of the value added in the sector comes from abroad.
The Kherson occupation government tries to join Russia: Tass (12:40)
The Moscow-based occupation authorities in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine plan to formally appeal to President Vladimir Putin to become part of Russia, Tass reported. It is the first public sign that the Kremlin can move to annex territory taken during its invasion.
The region would not hold a referendum on accession to Russia, as Crimea did in 2014, but would appeal directly to Putin to be annexed, quoted Tass Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the administration, as saying. Annexing must not take place until the end of the year, he said.
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Absorbing occupied lands would confirm Russia’s ambition to permanently occupy more Ukrainian territory and further complicate stalled peace talks. Kremlin officials plan to annex other regions near Kherson, Bloomberg has reported, including Donetsk and Luhansk, but its forces have not yet fully captured them. At the beginning of the invasion in February, Putin said that Russia did not intend to occupy Ukraine.
Hungary still against EU embargo on Russian imports (11.30am)
Talks in recent days with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Brussels had no plans to address the impact of an embargo on Russian oil on the Hungarian economy. The best way forward is that EU sanctions only target Russian crude oil imports via tankers, he said.
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EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Budapest on Monday to try to persuade Prime Minister Viktor Orban to lift his veto. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to the Hungarian leader by telephone a day later.
EU Floats Energy Financing Some Countries (09:15)
The bloc will propose a limited investment in infrastructure in the member states most dependent on Russian pipeline oil to ensure the security of their supply, according to people familiar with the matter.
Hungary has blocked the EU’s plans to ban Russian oil imports before the end of the year, arguing that it needs more time and money to ensure a sustainable transition, and has sought technical guarantees and investment guarantees.
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The EU has not decided on the size of the proposed investment, which will be included in the bloc’s “RePowerEU” package – its $ 205 billion plan to wean the continent from Russian energy by 2027.
Draghi urges Biden to promote peace talks (01:20)
US President Joe Biden and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi discussed the war in the White House on Tuesday. It was the first visit to Washington by an EU leader since the fighting began in Ukraine on February 24.
Draghi said the Allies should start working on negotiations for a long-running peace process in Ukraine, even as they continue to sanction Russia for its invasion of the country.
“People are asking, how can we put an end to these atrocities? How can we reach a ceasefire? At present it is difficult to have an answer to that, but we have to think carefully about those questions,” he told Biden. failed to damage the US alliance with Europe, Biden told Draghi that Italy has been one of the US’s closest allies in the confrontation with the Kremlin.
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