Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Turkey is working to bring the war between Russia and Ukraine to an end with a lasting peace, and is also working to resume negotiations and revitalize the diplomatic process.
According to a post by the Turkish president’s public relations office on social media platform X on Monday, Erdogan made these remarks during a phone call with German Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Erdogan also expressed hope during the conversation that the NATO leaders’ summit, to be held in Ankara, would demonstrate a firm commitment to strengthening Europe’s own defense within the framework of NATO and preserving transatlantic ties, the statement said.
According to The Serbian Economist, the European Commission believes that Serbia’s granting of citizenship to Russian citizens poses potential security risks to the EU, as holders of Serbian passports are entitled to visa-free entry into EU countries.
Guillaume Mercier, the European Commission’s Enlargement Commissioner, stated that this issue had already been raised in the 2025 Enlargement Report. In that report, the European Commission recommended that Serbia continue to align with EU visa policy and ensure more thorough screening of third-country nationals, particularly those from countries that may pose security risks or contribute to illegal migration.
At the same time, the scale of Serbia’s naturalization of Russians remains incomparably lower than in EU countries. According to Serbia’s Migration Profile, 191 former Russian citizens received Serbian citizenship in 2024. In 2023, there were 532 such cases, and in 2022, 275.
By comparison, Germany alone granted citizenship to 12,980 former or current Russian citizens in 2024. That is nearly 68 times more than Serbia granted in the same year. Spain granted citizenship to 2,588 Russians, Finland to about 1,600, Switzerland to 815, Norway to 782, and the United Kingdom to over 2,300.
According to Eurostat, in 2024, approximately 31,000 Russians received citizenship in EU countries.
Estimated data on the granting of citizenship to Russians in Europe in 2024:
EU total – about 31,000 people
Germany – 12,980
Spain – 2,588
United Kingdom – over 2,300
Finland – about 1,600
Switzerland – 815
Norway – 782
Serbia – 191
For Belgrade, this issue is part of a broader dialogue with Brussels regarding visa policy, migration, and European integration.
For Serbia itself, the situation is ambiguous. On the one hand, the country is interested in maintaining relations with Russia, attracting capital and migrants, and supporting a visa-free regime for Russians. On the other hand, visa and migration policy could become an additional source of friction in relations with the EU.
https://t.me/relocationrs/3012
The European Commission proposes new sanctions against Russia in the areas of finance and cryptocurrencies: for the first time, a complete ban on crypto-asset services in third countries is being proposed, and new banks have been added to the list.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced this on Tuesday in Brussels while unveiling the 21st package of sanctions against Russia.
“My second point concerns financial and cryptocurrency restrictions. We are expanding our banking transactions to include 31 Russian banks and up to 20 crypto firms or platforms and oil traders in third countries that have served Russian organizations and individuals subject to sanctions or circumvented our measures,” she said.
It is also proposed to impose a complete ban on crypto-asset services in third countries. “This will be a powerful deterrent for hosting platforms in countries that help Russia circumvent our sanctions,” von der Leyen emphasized.
BANKS, CRYPTOCURRENCY, EUROPEAN COMMISSION, RUSSIA, SANCTIONS
Switzerland has expanded its sanctions lists targeting Russia and Belarus, partially aligning itself with the European Union’s 20th sanctions package, adopted in response to Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
According to the Swiss government, the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education, and Research expanded the sanctions lists against Russia and Belarus on May 22.
An additional 115 individuals and entities have been subject to the new restrictions. Asset freezes and a ban on the provision of funds are being imposed on them. Individuals are also prohibited from entering Switzerland and transiting through its territory.
The Swiss government specified that the new sanctions apply, in particular, to individuals and organizations linked to the Russian military-industrial complex and the energy sector.
In the trade sector, Switzerland is imposing stricter export controls on an additional 60 companies, including entities in third countries. The aim of this measure is to prevent the supply of critically important goods to the Russian military-industrial complex.
Bern has also adopted some of the EU measures targeting Russia’s “shadow fleet.” The restrictions have been extended to 46 additional vessels, with bans on their purchase, sale, and the provision of services to them. At the same time, in accordance with the EU decision, previously imposed bans on 11 vessels have been lifted.
In addition, Switzerland has imposed a ban on transactions involving two Russian ports and one port in a third country that are used for the transport of Russian petroleum products.
At the same time, Switzerland has not yet included seven companies from a third country, which were mentioned in the EU decisions, on its sanctions list. Bern stated that operational measures are being applied to prevent the circumvention of sanctions.
Kazakhstan plans to completely stop purchasing electricity from Russia starting in 2027 thanks to the commissioning of its own power generation facilities, said the country’s Deputy Minister of Energy, Sungat Esimkhanov.
According to him, if the planned power facilities are commissioned in late 2026 or early 2027, Kazakhstan will be able to meet domestic demand without Russian supplies. “If we commission all of our planned power facilities by the end of this year or early next year, I think that in 2027 we will not purchase any electricity from Russia at all,” Esimkhanov said at a press conference.
In recent years, Kazakhstan has purchased electricity from Russia annually due to a shortage of its own capacity. According to the Ministry of Energy, the deficit is decreasing: in 2024 it stood at 2.1 billion kWh, in 2025—about 1.5 billion kWh, and in 2026 it is expected to be at the level of 1–1.2 billion kWh. The government expects to eliminate this deficit by 2027.
Earlier, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy Erlan Akkenzhenov stated that the country intends to fully meet the economy’s electricity needs by the end of the first quarter of 2027. To this end, Kazakhstan is implementing 81 energy projects with a total capacity of 15.3 GW and an investment volume of over 13 trillion tenge, or more than $25 billion.
Moving away from Russian supplies will be a significant milestone in Kazakhstan’s energy policy. For the country, this means reducing dependence on external electricity sources and transitioning to a more self-sufficient energy balance model. However, the plan’s success will depend on the timing of new facilities coming online, the condition of the grids, and the power system’s ability to handle peak loads.
The decision also has regional significance. Kazakhstan remains part of the Central Asian power grid and is connected to the Russian power grid, so reducing imports from Russia does not mean a complete technological disconnect. However, from an economic and political standpoint, the move to replace Russian supplies demonstrates Astana’s desire to strengthen its own energy security and reduce vulnerability to external disruptions.
For Russia, this means a gradual loss of a portion of its electricity export demand from Kazakhstan. For Central Asia, it is a signal to accelerate the modernization of power generation, the construction of new thermal power plants, the development of renewable energy, and the improvement of grid reliability, as power shortages remain one of the region’s main infrastructure challenges.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev efforts to end the war in Ukraine, as well as the possibility of holding the next round of Ukrainian-American-Russian talks in Azerbaijan.
“We also discussed peace efforts. It is very important for Ukraine that Russia finds the strength to end this unjust war. Of course, we highly value the role of our partners in mediating this process,” Zelenskyy said during a joint statement with Aliyev in the city of Gabala (Azerbaijan) on Saturday.
He emphasized that Ukraine is ready for trilateral talks. “We had such talks in Turkey; we had such talks with our American partners in Switzerland. Undoubtedly, we are ready for the upcoming talks in Azerbaijan if Russia is ready for diplomacy,” Zelenskyy added.
As reported, on February 26, following a meeting between the Ukrainian negotiating team led by Rustem Umerov and Davyd Arakhamia and U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy announced an increased readiness to hold the next trilateral meeting, likely in early March in Abu Dhabi (UAE). The last round of talks took place in Geneva (Switzerland), and the previous ones in Abu Dhabi.
On March 2, Zelenskyy clarified that the trilateral Ukraine-U.S.-Russia meeting was tentatively scheduled for March 5–6 in Abu Dhabi; however, due to hostilities, the Ukrainian side cannot confirm that the meeting will take place there, though no one has canceled it.
On March 5, a source close to the negotiating delegation told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency that the next meeting as part of the trilateral Ukraine-U.S.-Russia talks on ending the war in Ukraine has been postponed indefinitely for the time being.
