Tag Archives: Russia

Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan

This morning.

Via RTÉ News:

The Government is launching a new campaign this weekend that will inform the public about a range of actions they can choose to take to save energy and money, whilst reducing national energy use.

The campaign will roll out in print, radio, and across social media.

A spokesperson said that the campaign will emphasise how, now more than ever, we need to be mindful of how we use energy.

They said: “The campaign will emphasise how the Government, homeowners, motorists, communities and businesses must all work together to overcome the immediate energy security and affordability challenges.

“This will benefit us individually in our energy bills and nationally in our energy security.”

Govt launches campaign to reduce national energy use (RTE)

Meanwhile…

.Minister Eamon Ryan said:

“That saves consumers money, it reduces the amount of gas that we buy from the market and therefore revenues going to the Russian government. It’s a step in the efficiencies direction where we need to go anyway.”

Rollingnews

BASFs plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany

This afternoon.

Via Bloomberg:

BASF SE’s plant in Ludwigshafen is emerging as a symbol of Germany’s opposition to a full embargo on Russian gas amid rising calls to punish President Vladimir Putin for his war on Ukraine. Cutting it off, BASF says, could render its factory—the biggest supplier of the base chemical acetylene—inoperative, sending shock waves through many industries and causing Germany’s economy irreversible damage.

The warnings have alarmed policymakers in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s administration, which has been scrambling to offset Germany’s reliance on Russia for roughly one-third of its energy.

…Germany could face a €220 billion ($240 billion) hit to output over the next two years should gas supply be severed immediately, according to a joint forecast of economic institutes, the equivalent of a 6.5% annual output cut, tipping the country into a recession of more than 2% next year….

Germany’s Faustian Pact With Russia Haunts Industrial Giants (Bloomberg)

Meanwhile…

2018.

They’re not laughing now.

Getty

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson

This afternoon.

Stockholm, Sweden.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said her country’s decision on whether to apply for membership of NATO would be made within “weeks, not within months.”

“We need to have a view on the future and we are using this time to analyze and also build common views on the future when it comes to security,” Marin said. “I won’t give any kind of timetable when we will make our decisions, but I think it will happen quite fast. Within weeks, not within months.”

Meanwhile…

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson told the news conference that “the security landscape has completely changed” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and “given this situation we have to really think through what is best for Sweden and our security and our peace in this new situation.”

“This is a very important time in history. There is a before and after 24th of February,” Andersson said, referring to the date Russia’s invasion began. “We have to have a process in Sweden to think this through.”

Putin’s bullying backfires as Finland and Sweden edge closer to joining NATO (CNN)

CNN

Gulp.

Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6.

Meanwhile…

….via Irish Mirror:

A source said: “The embassy is struggling because no one wants to do business with them as a result of what’s happening in Ukraine. It’s not only some oil companies they’re having issues with, it’s banks too and many more businesses.”

The Irish Mirror also understands that Bank of Ireland has decided to suspend their accounts with the Russian Embassy in Ireland, according to senior sources.

When contacted, a spokesman for Bank of Ireland said the firm can’t comment on any individual account. It’s understood the embassy also had both its boiler contract and fuel card account ended by separate companies.

A second source said: “The Department of Foreign Affairs wouldn’t be stepping in to get anyone anything.”

Russian Embassy urges Irish government to intervene as it faces fuel shortage with companies refusing to deliver supplies (Irish Mirror)

Sam Boal/RollingNews

Meanwhile…

Ew.

Poo-tin.

Sam Boal/RollingNews

From top: Bucha, Ukraine at the weekend; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

This afternoon.

Further to international outrage over civilian deaths in Ukraine, including apparent evidence of bound bodies shot at close range and a mass grave found in areas retaken from Russian troops…

…Taras Shapravskyi, deputy mayor of Bucha, a town around 40km northwest of Kyiv city, said ’50 of around 300 people were found dead’ were the victims of ‘extra-judicial killings carried out by Russian troops’.

Via Al Jazeera:

The Kremlin has categorically rejected accusations that Russian forces were responsible for killing civilians in Bucha, suggesting images of corpses lining the streets were “fakes”.

Journalists from international media over the weekend found corpses in civilian clothes – some with their hands bound – in Bucha after Ukrainian forces retook the town on the outskirts of

Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday they were investigating possible war crimes, while Western leaders erupted in outrage over the deaths.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the facts and chronology of the events in Bucha did not support Ukraine’s version of events.

He said Russian “experts at the Ministry of Defence have identified signs of video fakes and various fakes”, without elaborating.

“We would demand that many international leaders do not rush to sweeping accusations and at least listen to our arguments,” he added.

Russia denies military forces killed Bucha civilians in Ukraine (Al Jazeera)

Twitter/Getty

This morning.

Belgorod, Russia.

Via Reuters:

The Kremlin said on Friday that a Ukrainian strike against a fuel depot in the Russian city of Belgorod did not create comfortable conditions to continue peace talks with Kyiv.

Russia accused Ukraine on Friday of attacking the depot but Ukrainian authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said authorities were doing everything to reorganise the fuel supply chain and avoid disruption of energy supplies in Belgorod.

Kremlin says Ukraine strike on Russian fuel depot creates awkward backdrop for talks (Reuters)

Meanehile…

Yikes.

Yesterday: Rouble With A Capital T

Russia is ‘changing the payment mechanism’ for certain exports, starting with natural gas tomorrow

This afternoon.

Via Russian state-owned RT:

Countries globally may soon have to create ruble reserves within their domestic economies if they wish to continue to buy Russian gas, as Moscow switches payments to its national currency, Ilya Ilyin, the head of the banking and financial markets analysis department at Promsvyazbank said on Thursday.

“In the event of a transition to gas payments in rubles, the partner countries will probably create a certain fund of ruble reserves to facilitate payments,” the expert said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday that the country is changing the payment mechanism for certain exports, starting with natural gas on April 1. The measure effects countries which have imposed sanctions on Russia in connection with Ukraine and froze Moscow’s foreign reserves.

The ‘unfriendly’ states Putin referred to are the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Switzerland, the 27 nations of the European Union, and a number of smaller countries….

Countries will need to create ruble reserves to buy Russian gas (RT)

Meanwhile…

…via Irish state-owned RTÉ:

Russia supplies about a third of Europe’s gas, so energy is the most powerful lever at Putin’s disposal as he tries to hit back against sweeping Western sanctions over his invasion of Ukraine.

His decision to enforce rouble payments has boosted the Russian currency, which fell to historic lows after the February 24 invasion but has since recovered.

Western companies and governments have rejected the move as a breach of existing contracts, which are set in euros or dollars.

France’s economy minister said France and Germany were preparing for a possible scenario that Russian gas flows could be halted – something that would plunge Europe into a full-blown energy crisis.

Russia will enforce rouble payments for gas from Friday – Putin (RTE)

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