The bloc is working on an 11th round of punitive measures against Moscow
EU foreign ministers are not ready to agree a new package of anti-Russian sanctions, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, told reporters on Monday as he arrived for a meeting in Luxembourg.
Asked whether the EU would impose sanctions on Russian nuclear energy, the diplomat replied that the bloc is not in a position to complete a new package of measures. “We will continue discussions,” Borrell added.
The statement comes as the 27-nation bloc compiles its latest round of sanctions against Moscow, having already imposed ten packages since 2014 in response to the crisis in Ukraine.
According to Bloomberg, the EU is planning to prohibit the transit of certain goods through Russia in its new round of measures, including technological goods and certain types of vehicles. It is also aiming to close any loopholes being used to evade existing sanctions.
In addition to a transit ban, the EU could target ships that do not turn on their navigation systems as a potential way to dodge sanctions.
The next package is also expected to feature around 30 new listings and further restrictions on Russian firms and entities, including state-run nuclear power corporation Rosatom, Bloomberg wrote.
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EU ‘done’ with Russia sanctions – official
However, there have been reports that the EU has exhausted its options for further economic restrictions against Russia, and that new measures are likely to be limited to expanding the list of individuals subject to asset freezes and travel bans.
Last week, an unnamed EU official told the Financial Times: “We are done. If we do more sanctions, there will be more exemptions than measures.”
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov claimed on Monday that the EU had run out of measures to target Moscow and “no longer knows what to do to hurt Russia.”
“They say that they’ll ban exports to our country – okay. It isn’t as if apart from those countries that impose restrictions, there are no others. We will buy the same goods, and perhaps better quality, from friendly states, if necessary,” Siluanov said. He insisted that Russia is fully committed to producing its own versions of vital products.
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Sanctioned businessman Oleg Deripaska says the greenback has been used as weapon of retribution for way too long
The US dollar has only five years left as the principal currency for the global economy, according to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska. He claims the greenback’s superiority has for way too long been used as a weapon of vengeance against all dissenters, and often without prior legal evaluation.
Seven years ago, the absolute dominance of the greenback in global settlements and financial transactions seemed unshakable, the founder of aluminum giant Rusal wrote in a Telegram post on Saturday.
Deripaska expects global settlements to become more diversified and for digital currencies to become more “compatible.”
“That will be hard at the beginning, but then the world will discover a new reality without a [need for] a hegemon,” he said.
Last week, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen admitted that Washington’s unilateral sanctions on countries around the world “could undermine the hegemony of the dollar.” However, a year ago she claimed the opposite, saying that the greenback didn’t have any serious competition, and was not likely to for a long time.
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Global adventures cost US economy $33 trillion – Russian tycoon
Earlier this month, Ivan Chebeskov, who heads the Financial Policy Department at Russia’s Finance Ministry, said that interruptions and difficulties with international settlements became the most painful consequences of Western sanctions for the Russian financial system. He also highlighted that, at the same time, the problem had inevitably triggered an increase in settlements in alternative currencies.
In February, the Central Bank of Russia created a special department for handling issues arising in international settlements. The new body deals with the challenges “that have become particularly relevant in the context of sanctions,” such as the transition to settlements in national currencies.
Deripaska is among many Russian businessmen sanctioned in the past year by the US in response to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. He was forced out as CEO of Rusal after Washington targeted the company’s aluminum exports. He is worth $2.6 billion according to Forbes.
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Just over two weeks ago, a stop to fill up on gas in Landover Hills, Maryland, was the beginning of a nightmare for a couple headed to their home in Pennsylvania from Florida.
On March 23, Cary Zamilski was outside their Land Rover and his wife Roxanne inside the gas station when someone stole their vehicle with their two Boston terriers, Gianni and Nina, inside.
Cary said he ran after the car, yelling to the thief that his dogs were still inside.
“It became obviously apparent that I wasn’t going to be able to reach them, and they were gone in the blink of an eye,” he said.
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Cary said two people tried to help. One called 911, and the other jumped into their car and attempted to chase the stolen car.
Gianni, a Boston terrier, was missing for weeks after Cary and Roxanne Zamilskis’ car was stolen with Gianni inside in March. To the Zamilskis immense pleasure, Prince George’s police located Gianni and reunited the pooch with the couple on Tuesday.
The couple was in shock as they recounted to the police what had transpired only moments ago, and Prince George’s County police began looking for the stolen vehicle. Then, 45 minutes after the car was taken, Roxanne got a call from a woman in Fairmount Heights.
“She called me, and she said, your dog is underneath my vehicle without a leash,” Roxanne said. The dog the woman found was the Zamilski’s 13-year-old Nina.
While relieved one of their dogs was found, they still feared for their 5-year-old pup Gianni. Once in a rental car that evening, the couple began searching the area for their dog but didn’t find him.
“My biggest fear was that if he’s not being seen, maybe he’s stuck outside somewhere or maybe he got hit by a car,” Roxanne said.
The couple’s car was also recovered, except it was totaled. Police told the Zamilski’s it was used in an attempted carjacking.
Days passed, and the couple would return several times to look for Gianni, they even hired a professional dog tracker Tuesday morning to follow up on a couple leads, but they said the tracking dogs didn’t pick up Gianni’s scent.
Then, as they prepared to head home with Gianni again, they got a call from Prince George’s County Police telling them the news they hoped for, Gianni had been found.
REUNION! What a wonderful way to mark #NationalPetDay. Thanks to great investigative police work, today we were able to reunite Gianni with his family. Gianni was stolen in a vehicle at a gas station on March 23rd. We salute our Washington Area Vehicle Enforcement Team & Div. IV! pic.twitter.com/mVe4FA7wCb
— PGPDNEWS (@PGPDNews) April 11, 2023
The police department posted the joyous reunion online as Gianni kissed his mother. The couple, who has since returned to their home in Pennsylvania, said they remained positive throughout the search and never gave up hope.
Cary and Roxanne Zamilski reunited with their dog Gianni, who was taken from them when the couple’s car was stolen in Landover Hills, Maryland in March. (Courtesy Cary and Roxanne Zamilski)
“Even when it was very, very hard to stay positive, you know, we stayed positive,” Cary said.
Now Gianni has been reunited with his sister, and they said the dog appeared healthy and taken care of. Gianni was also spoiled by after being found, with Chick-fil-A from a detective and a bacon cheeseburger from his parents on the ride home.
The couple said they are very relieved and thankful for everyone who helped, from volunteers who searched the county to the county police department that they never gave up.
Police have not announced any arrests in the case, but the Zamilski’s said they are not worried about that or the destroyed car, what they prayed for they got, Gianni home safe.
Moscow and Tehran signed a $40 billion energy supply deal last year
Russia has made its first fuel deliveries to Iran by rail as the two sanctioned countries rapidly expand energy and trade ties amid Western restrictions, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing three industry sources and export data.
Last autumn, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak announced that Moscow and Tehran had clinched a massive energy deal worth $40 billion and agreed to swap supplies of oil and natural gas. Since then, the two countries have been working out the routes and technical arrangements for the deal.
The actual supplies started this year when Russia exported about 30,000 tons of gasoline and diesel to Iran in February and March, according to sources and tracking data.
The outlet said that all fuel cargoes were shipped from Russia through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan by rail. Some volumes of gasoline were further sent by truck from Iran to neighboring countries, including Iraq.
Russia previously exported small volumes of fuels to the Middle Eastern country via the Caspian Sea. However, Moscow now seeks to expand rail deliveries to Tehran as seaborne diesel and gasoline cargoes face high freight fees and are subject to Western-imposed price caps.
Iran itself is an oil-producing country with large deposits and its own refineries. However, demand has recently surpassed domestic fuel production in particular in its northern provinces, a trader in Central Asian oil products market told the outlet.
“We expect fuel supplies to Iran to rise this year, but we already see several issues with logistics due to rail congestion. That may keep exports from booming,” one of the sources familiar with supplies to Iran told Reuters.As weak rail links could be a hurdle for future development, the two countries are also considering infrastructure projects to help boost economic cooperation.
Currently, the main overland route for cargo sent from Russia to Iran passes through Azerbaijan. This is part of the so-called International North-South Transport Corridor, a 7,200-kilometer-long multi-mode transit system that connects ship, rail, and road routes for moving cargo between India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Central Asia, Russia, and the rest of Europe.
Though the corridor existed back in Soviet times, developing it further has taken on a new importance as Western sanctions have forced Russia to shift its trade routes towards Asia and the Middle East.
