Turkey will not recognize Russia’s request to annex the territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey has said.
“Türkiye did not recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea in an illegitimate referendum in 2014 and has emphasized its strong support to Ukraine’s territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty on every occasion. In accordance with this stance adopted in 2014, we reject Russia’s decision to annex the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions of Ukraine,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey said in a statement on its website.
The ministry said that this decision, which constitutes a grave violation of the established principles of international law, cannot be accepted.
“We reiterate our support to the resolution of this war, the severity of which keeps growing, based on a just peace that will be reached through negotiations,” the ministry said.
On Friday, the UK announced its decision to expand sanctions against Russia in the field of IT technologies, audit services, and engineering.
The government’s message notes that, in particular, in the IT sector, consulting services for the Russian Federation will now be prohibited. It is also prohibited “to provide legal services for transactions in a number of commercial areas.” Restrictive measures apply to the advertising sector, auditing.
“The UK also bans the export to Russia of approximately 700 items of goods that are important for Russian industry and technology development,” the statement said.
It also notes that the British authorities have decided to summon Russian Ambassador to London Andrey Kelin to the British Foreign Office.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in an article written for the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, said that Europe knew from the beginning that sanctions against Russia would be in place for a long time.
“It was clear to us from the very beginning that the sanctions would have to be maintained for a long time,” the politician wrote.
He repeated his statement, made in May in an interview with the ZDF television channel, that the West would not agree to the lifting of sanctions in the event of a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict on “conditions imposed by Russia.”
At the same time, he acknowledged that most Germans are suffering from the consequences of the restrictions, including the high cost of gasoline and food.
“This path is not easy even for such a strong, prosperous country as ours,” Scholz added.
The article states that “the world economy is facing a challenge that has not been seen for decades,” and no country in the world can stand alone against such a development.
In this regard, Scholz called for the unity of the EU countries in policy towards Russia, noting that the EU has already demonstrated it.
“But we must not rest on our laurels,” he explained, adding that the EU must come to an agreement in other areas.
“For me, this means: no more selfish blockades of European decisions by individual member states. No more national single efforts that harm Europe as a whole,” he stressed.
In his words, “we simply can no longer afford a national veto, for example, in foreign policy, if we want to continue to be heard in a world of competing great powers.”
As reported, the EU Foreign Affairs Council will be held on Monday in Brussels. He plans to work in connection with the Ukrainian situation in three areas: support for Ukraine, sanctions against the Russian Federation, informing the international community about the consequences of the conflict, a source in the EU said.
“On the first part, we believe that there will be a discussion of additional military support for Ukraine,” a senior EU official told reporters on condition of anonymity, briefing them on the agenda of the ministerial meeting on Friday.
“There will be a discussion on sanctions (against the Russian Federation). We are preparing a number of measures,” the media interlocutor continued. He confirmed that during the discussion, council members will discuss a proposal to ban Russian exports of gold.
At the same time, the official noted that “we do not expect any decision on sanctions on Monday.”
With regard to military assistance to Kyiv, Brussels expects from the EU Council a “political decision” of the member states on the fifth tranche in accordance with the instructions of the European Council.
Hortex, a Polish producer of frozen fruit, berries and vegetables, has left Russia.
The new owner of Ortika Frozen Foods, which represented Hortex’s interests in Russia, is fish producer and supplier Agama Group, the Unified State Register of Legal Entities showed. Agama Group is equally owned by Yury Alasheyev and Igor Lysenkov.
Hortex’s website said that the company’s brand is the leader on the frozen fruit, berries and vegetables market in Central and Eastern Europe, and its products are also sold in other regions of the world. The company had three plants in Russia, including two in Moscow Region and one in Karelia.
Ortika Frozen Foods posted a net loss of 12 million rubles in 2021 on revenue of 1.14 billion rubles, compared to a loss of 12.973 million rubles and revenue of 1.023 billion rubles in 2020.
Oil prices could soar into the stratosphere and reach $380 per barrel in a worst-case scenario in which Russia cuts fuel supplies in response to Western sanctions, J.P. analysts predict. Morgan Chase & Co.
The Russian Federation can afford to cut production by 5 million barrels per day without causing excessive harm to the economy, Bloomberg quoted bank analysts as saying. Moscow may take such a measure due to various possible measures by the West, including imposing a ceiling on the price buyers pay for Russian oil.
At the same time, the consequences of such actions for the rest of the world will be catastrophic. A 3 million bpd production cut would push Brent oil prices up to $190 per barrel, while in a worst-case scenario, if production falls by 5 million bpd, prices will soar to $380 per barrel, experts say.
“The most obvious and likely risk associated with imposing a price cap is that Russia may decide not to participate in this scheme and instead retaliate by cutting exports,” the analysts wrote. “It is likely that the government may retaliate by cutting production to harm the West. The lack of supply in the world oil market is playing into the hands of Russia.”
September futures for Brent crude on the London ICE Futures exchange by 10:23 Moscow time are trading at around $111.8 per barrel, futures for WTI oil for August on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time are about $108.6 per barrel. barrel.
The volume of gas supplies from Russia to Europe has now halved compared to last summer, and their further decline is not ruled out, European Commission energy member Kadri Simson said on Monday.
“Gas deliveries from Russia now make up half of the volumes that we received at the same time last year. They may continue to decline,” Simson said before the EU meeting at the level of ministers of energy, transport and telecommunications.
With regard to gas supplies, the EU is ready for any developments, she stressed.
Simson added that at the meeting on Monday, she will present to the ministers concrete steps that, in her opinion, would help the countries of the union to be better prepared for the reduction in gas supplies. One such step is coordinating a reduction in demand for gas.
On Saturday, Simson said that 12 EU states were completely or partially left without gas from Russia. She added that last week the EU reached an agreement to increase gas supplies with Israel and Egypt, deepened cooperation with Norway, and final direct negotiations with Azerbaijan.
Simson stressed, BNS reports, that joint gas purchases require unanimity and coordination between member states, and that the work of the European Commission creates the necessary conditions for this.
“The good news is that in May, a record was once again set for the flow of LNG to Europe – 12.8 billion cubic meters – this is the largest monthly volume in history,” she said.
At the end of May, it was reported that Poland, Bulgaria, Finland and the Netherlands, due to their refusal to accept the new settlement system, had lost the opportunity to receive Russian gas.
