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.
Businessman Rinat Akhmetov has filed a lawsuit against the Russian Federation with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.
This was reported by the press service of the SCM company.
“Evil cannot go unpunished. Russia’s crimes against Ukraine and every Ukrainian are egregious. The guilty must be punished. I – with the help of the best Ukrainian and American lawyers – filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights for damages. This lawsuit is one of the first international legal actions against Russia, the purpose of which is to stop the criminal activities of the Russian aggressor, the destruction of the Ukrainian economy and the plundering of Ukrainian assets,” Rinat Akhmetov said.
The businessman asks the European court to hold the aggressor country Russia accountable for the destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure, looting and theft of export goods. He is represented by the international law firm Covington & Burling LLP.
As the owner of Azovstal and many other industrial enterprises targeted by the Russian armed forces invading Ukraine, Akhmetov is doing everything possible to hold Russia accountable for the destruction it is wreaking on Ukrainian territory, SCM noted.
In addition to the lawsuit, the businessman asks the court to take urgent interim measures that will prevent further blockade of Ukrainian ports, looting, theft of grain, as well as steel produced by SCM enterprises.
“The looting of Ukrainian export commodities – including grain and steel – has already driven up the price of those commodities and increased the number of people in the world who are dying of hunger. This barbarity must be stopped and Russia must pay in full. I believe in justice and fight for it,” said Rinat Akhmetov.
He also urges other businessmen affected by Russian aggression to go to court.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has abolished the visa-free travel with Russia from July 1, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
“We are finally breaking ties with Russia. To counter the unprecedented threats to national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state, the government, in pursuance of the order of the President of Ukraine, has just decided to terminate the visa-free agreement with the Russian Federation,” Shmyhal said on the Telegram channel on Friday.
According to him, from July 1, 2022, Russians will not be able to enter Ukraine without obtaining a visa.
Ukraine is introducing a visa regime for Russian citizens, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky told the Telegram channel on Friday.
“As part of countering unprecedented threats to national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state, I proposed to the Cabinet of Ministers to work out the issue of revising the regime of entry of Russian citizens into the territory of Ukraine,” he wrote.
“And today the Cabinet of Ministers must adopt this important resolution ‘On the termination of the Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Russian Federation on visa-free travel of citizens of Ukraine and the Russian Federation and the application of certain international treaties of Ukraine with the Russian Federation,’” the president also wrote.
According to him, “according to the planned decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, from July 1, 2022, Ukraine will introduce a visa regime for entry for citizens of the Russian Federation.”
The international investment group Solway, which owns Pobuzhsky Ferronickel Plant LLC (PFP, Kirovohrad region), has confirmed its exit from Russian assets due to Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.
“In March 2022, the group condemned the actions of taken by the Russian government against the people of Ukraine and decided to exit all its projects in Russia. At the moment, this process has been legally completed,” the company told Interfax-Ukraine on Saturday.
Earlier, the media disseminated information that the international mining and metallurgical group Solway exited the project for gold mining at the dumps of the Klyuchevskoye deposit in Transbaikalia and the existing enterprise for the extraction of gold and silver in the Kuril Islands.
Pobuzhsky Ferronickel Plant is the only enterprise in Ukraine that produces ferronickel on an industrial scale.
In 2003, after a long downtime, the international company Solway Investment Group acquired the assets of the plant and restarted it a year later.
Turkey does not leave attempts to resume the dialogue between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, and also expresses its readiness to provide platforms for these negotiations, Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasily Bodnar said.
“Now Turkey does not leave attempts to resume this dialogue, they express their readiness to provide platforms for these negotiations. Today’s meeting (of the Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Russia – IF) was also aimed at finding common ground for continuing these negotiations. What was publicly stated says that they are more focused on the communication of the parties, that there is a readiness for a possible resumption, and for their part they declare their readiness to contribute to this,” Bodnar said at a briefing at the Ukraine media center on Wednesday.
He added that “so far there is no talk of any specific steps towards this, since it should be clear what conditions which side is expressing.”
“Our immediate condition is the withdrawal of Russian troops. Then the negotiations may have a chance of success and end with the signing of a certain document. Otherwise, the so-called theory of “peace in exchange for territories” does not work for us. And the Turkish side understands this very well, at least trying to find out now the position of the Russian side and help in the resumption of this dialogue,” Bodnar said.
