The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is moving ahead with its plans to exclude the Russian Federation and Belarus from receiving funding for projects. The EBRD Board of Governors have approved taking firm action against the Russian Federation and Belarus following the invasion of Ukraine. Access by the Russian Federation and Belarus to the resources of the Bank is to be formally suspended with immediate effect. This means that there can be no new financing of projects or technical cooperation activities in either country. Furthermore, the Bank avails itself of all rights to suspend or cancel further disbursements of funding on existing projects.
The EBRD has announced already that it is in the process of closing its Resident Offices in both Moscow and Minsk.
The EBRD President, Odile Renaud-Basso, said: “It is sad that we have come to this point after so many years of cooperation and activity in both countries. However, the Russian-led war on Ukraine has left us no choice but to show our condemnation with more than just words. Actions are required, too, so that the two countries are in no doubt that we believe they have undermined the values which are important to us as an institution and to the international community.”
The EBRD is now focusing on delivering a €2 billion Resilience and Livelihoods Support Package for Ukraine and for other countries in the region directly impacted by the refugee crisis. The measures are designed to help companies and communities. Funding is being made available rapidly to enable Ukrainian firms to receive liquidity support, deferral of loans and trade finance. Where possible, businesses will be helped to relocate so that their operations can continue. Once conditions allow, the Bank has also pledged to take part in a reconstruction programme for Ukraine.
The EBRD is also ready to support all its countries of operations to deal with the consequences of the war and its economic impact.
The Council today adopted legislative amendments making it possible for member states to redirect resources from cohesion policy funds and the Fund for European Aid for the Most Deprived (FEAD) to assist the refugees escaping the Russian military aggression against Ukraine. The total amount of assistance will be EUR 17 billion.
“The swift amendment of the legislation on EU funds is a clear statement of the EU’s continued solidarity with the refugees from Ukraine and with the member states hosting them, in particular those sharing borders with Ukraine, ” a communique of the European Council, distributed on Monday, reads.
“This is an important step in ensuring member states have sufficient resources to meet the growing needs for housing, education and healthcare, ” the press release reads.
The European Union will make every effort to support the energy sector of Ukraine, primarily to provide fuel to its agricultural sector in order to avoid a food crisis, European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson assured. “We will support Ukraine in terms of energy. There are many sectors that need support, for example, the agricultural sector. This is very important for Ukrainian farmers. Also, the importance of this issue lies in the fact that African and Middle Eastern countries depend on the state of the agricultural sector in Ukraine. Therefore, we will do everything to supply fuel here to support your economy so that it does not suffer more,” Simson said on the air of the nationwide UA telethon on Monday. She stressed that the EU countries really want to help Ukraine with fuel supplies, including providing funding, but for this, important logistics issues need to be resolved right now. At the same time, Simson pointed out that the EU, dependent on Russian gas, has already done a lot to strengthen its independence from Russian energy carriers, and continues to do so, and takes into account the interests of Ukraine in the search for alternative options. “The European Commission advises all EU members to intensify work to increase their own energy independence, we are looking for alternative directions for the supply of energy carriers for our countries. These are, for example, Azerbaijan, other countries. The world has not come together in Russia,” the European Commissioner noted. “When we discuss this issue with our suppliers, partners, we always take into account the interests of Ukraine,” she stressed.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has announced the creation of a special justice mechanism in Ukraine to investigate the crimes of Russian occupiers.
“I have decided to create a special justice mechanism in Ukraine to investigate and prosecute every crime of the occupiers on the territory of our state. The essence of this mechanism is the joint work of national and international specialists: investigators, prosecutors and judges,” he said in a video message on Sunday.
According to him, “this mechanism will help Ukraine and the world to bring to justice persons who in any way participated in this terrible war against the Ukrainian people and in crimes against our people.”
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the National Police, the Security Service, intelligence and other structures, according to their competence, should direct all efforts to ensure that the mechanism works immediately,” he said.
Zelensky called on “all our citizens and friends of Ukraine in the world to join this work and help establish justice.”
“The world has already seen many war crimes. At different times. On different continents. But it is time to do everything possible to make the war crimes of the Russian military the last manifestation of such evil on earth. Everyone guilty of such crimes will be included in a special Book of Torturers, will be found and punished,” Zelensky said.
Germany creates the main difficulties for tightening sanctions against the Russian Federation, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a press conference on Monday. “This is Germany, which is the main hindrance to the sanctions,” Western media quoted the prime minister as saying. Hungary, according to Morawiecki, does not block the possibility of strengthening sanctions against Russia. On the eve of the President of the European Council Charles Michel said that the EU authorities are preparing for new sanctions against Russia.
The presence of specialists from the International Nuclear Energy Agency (IAEA) at Ukraine’s nuclear facilities is very important, and they will arrive there in the very near future, primarily at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, Director General of the agency Rafael Mariano Grossi HAS said.
“We see this as a step in the right direction. We are going to be there very soon, because in Chernobyl there is a lot of work to be done,” he said at a press conference in Vienna on Friday, following visits to Ukraine and Russia March 29 through March 31.
According to him, at this facility, due to power outages or physical damage, there could be a lot of things that could be turned off or fail. At the same time, during the occupation, remote monitoring of radiation indicators did not work.
Ukrainian specialists know how to do their job. But this does not mean that international assistance and cooperation will be superfluous, Grossi said.
According to him, the experience of operating nuclear power plants in the conditions of hostilities has shown that assessing the situation on the spot is much more reliable and efficient than using information from other sources.
In addition, the head of the agency added, it is necessary to check the safety of nuclear material. There are some things that can only be done by IAEA experts, Grossi added.
According to him, he does not know for what reason the Russian troops left the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. They did not tell him about why they left. He said that this could be the decision of the military authorities. And this is not what we discussed with the Russian side in Kaliningrad after a visit to Ukraine, the head of the IAEA said.
He called the general radiation situation around the Chornobyl nuclear power plant quite normal, while allowing some increase in radiation indicators during the withdrawal of troops, which was also observed during their entry to the plant site.
There was a relatively elevated level of localized radiation due to the movement of heavy vehicles during the occupation of the station. And, apparently, this could take place again at the exit, Grossi said.
He confirmed that he had heard about the possibility of radiation contamination of some of the Russian military, but noted that he had no evidence of this.
As for the provision of assistance to Ukraine, according to Grossi, due to hostilities, it may be complicated. However, the IAEA will try to provide it, he said.
In the case of Chornobyl, it is one thing, and in the case of the other plants, it is about the distance and the military situation. One of them remains under the control of the Russian forces. So this will undoubtedly require a different approach, but nothing makes Grossi think that this impossible to do, the head of the IAEA said.
He did not specify what kind of assistance could be discussed, referring to ongoing negotiations with the Ukrainian side on this issue, and asked journalists to be patient.
Commenting on the progress of his initiative on the necessary steps to reduce risks at Ukrainian nuclear facilities, Grossi said that he had abandoned the idea of a trilateral plan in favor of working on a bilateral basis.
