Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko says that Germany and the Dortmund club will help restore the football stadium in Chernihiv destroyed by Russian troops.
“Germany and the Dortmund club are ready to help restore the stadium in Chernihiv destroyed by the Russian occupation forces. The club remembers its player and the cool Ukrainian footballer Andriy Yarmolenko. For our part, we join Mayor Vladislav Atroshenko in the dialogue and hope that this wonderful news will be able to support Chernihiv residents,” Tkachenko wrote in the telegram channel following negotiations with Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and Media of the Federal Chancellor’s Office.
According to the minister, Germany stressed its unchanging position on the importance of rescheduling the 45th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee from Russian Kazan.
In addition, the parties discussed the initiative to include the historical area of Odessa in UNESCO.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Germany’s position has recently been changing in favor of Ukraine.
“I spoke today with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. About how to bring to justice all those responsible for war crimes. How to strengthen sanctions against Russia and how to force Russia to seek peace. I am glad to note that recently the German position has been changing in favor of Ukraine,” he said in a video message on Sunday evening.
“I consider this absolutely logical. Since this is the course supported by the majority of the German people,” the president said, noting that he expects “everything agreed upon will be implemented.”
Germany has already sent large volumes of weapons to Ukraine and is working to increase such supplies, the German Embassy reports, citing the German Defense Minister.
“Large volumes of weapons have already arrived in Ukraine from Germany. And we work hard every day to give her even more. Therefore, we are constantly in touch with the government of Ukraine […] But we do not talk about the details, for which there is a reason: Ukraine has clearly asked us about this, ”the embassy quotes the speech of German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht in the Bundestag.
According to Spiegel, the German Foreign Ministry declared 40 employees of the Russian embassy persona non grata, the head of the ministry, Annalena Burbock, confirmed the decision to expel, but did not name the exact number of employees.
“The federal government today decided to declare undesirable a significant number of employees of the Russian embassy who here in Germany worked daily against our freedom and the unity of our society. Their work is a threat to those who seek our protection. We will not tolerate this” , Burbock said, quoted by the press service of the ministry.
Burbock said the Russian ambassador was informed of the decision on Monday.
German authorities are looking for private buyers for Gazprom’s assets in the country, offering government loans from KfW IPEX-Bank as support, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the situation.
Last week, Gazprom reportedly announced that it had ceased control of the Gazprom Germania group and all of its assets. This is the WINGAS/WIEE distributor, the astora storage operator. The Gazprom Marketing & Trading group also includes the retail operator Gazprom Marketing & Trading Retail Ltd. (Gazprom Energy brand) and the global LNG trader Gazprom Global LNG. In 2019, the consolidated turnover of Gazprom Germania amounted to 24 billion euros, in 2020 – 13 billion euros.
The source of the agency also notes that Germany does not rule out the nationalization of parts of Gazprom Germania as a last resort, although Berlin wants to find another solution. Germany has made “mixed progress” in its efforts to bail out Gazprom Germania, but the government wants to avoid nationalizing or even expropriating the group’s assets, Bloomberg said. Officials are currently still studying the economic impact of a possible shutdown of Gazprom Germania’s companies. The final decision has not yet been made.
Finding a buyer for the assets will not be easy, the publication notes, as the companies’ businesses are closely linked: Gazprom Marketing & Trading is engaged in hedging and supply for Wingas and Gazprom Energy. And without these links, consumers will be forced to buy resources at much higher prices.
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.
