Category Archives: Russia

BASF to cut 2,600 jobs as energy crisis puts Germany on track for recession

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Chemicals company says disruption from Ukraine war, rising costs and inflation will continue this year

The German chemicals company BASF has said it will cut 2,600 jobs as Europe’s largest economy braces for recession triggered by the energy crisis that intensified after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine a year ago.

The year was “dominated by the consequences of the war in Ukraine and in particular by increased raw material and energy prices”, BASF said in a statement on Friday. It paid additional energy costs of €3.2bn (£2.8bn) globally during 2022.

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Year of war in Ukraine tests China’s ‘no limits’ relationship with Russia

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There are signs Beijing wants a quick political resolution to conflict as its patience with Russia wears thin

Few analysts expected China’s peace plan for Ukraine, which officials trailed all week, to have any concrete measures for solving the crisis. Their suspicions were correct. The position paper published by China’s foreign ministry on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion called for the “sovereignty of all countries” to be respected, without detailing what this meant for Ukraine. In each of the 12 points, the plan reiterated Chinese talking points about the conflict without offering a solution.

The Chinese peace plan is the culmination of a flurry of diplomatic meetings that kicked off at the Munich security conference on 17 February. There Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, presented a bullish front to western officials, denying claims made by Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, that China was on the verge of sending weapons to Russia. Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said such a move would be a “red line” for the bloc. Wang insisted China wanted peace.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv and Moscow welcome China’s intervention in peace process

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Zelenskiy says some points in Chinese statement for peace ‘understandable’ while Kremlin adds Beijing’s involvement appreciated

In joyful news: the Ukrainian football team that has not played in their home city since 2014, qualified for the knockout stages of the Europa League on Thursday with coach Igor Jovicevic hailing the win at French side Rennes as a “victory for Ukraine.”

AFP reports that Shakhtar defeated Rennes 5-4 in a penalty shootout after their playoff had ended 3-3 on aggregate and then went to extra-time.

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Moldova dismisses Russian claims of Ukrainian plot to invade breakaway region

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Moldova’s government has called for calm after Moscow claimed without evidence that an invasion of Transnistria was likely

Moldova’s government has dismissed an accusation by Russia’s defence ministry that Ukraine is planning to invade the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria after staging a false-flag operation.

“We call for calm and for information to be received [by the public] from official and credible sources of the Republic of Moldova,” the government said in a statement.

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UK politicians mark anniversary of war with renewed call to send arms to Kyiv

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They stopped short of Boris Johnson’s demand for UK to ‘break the ice’ and supply Ukraine with fighter jets

UK political leaders have marked the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a renewed call to support Kyiv with additional weaponry – but stopped short of the firm commitments on fighter jets demanded by Boris Johnson.

With James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, in New York for a meeting of the UN security council, Rishi Sunak hosted the Ukrainian ambassador at Downing Street, with a national minute’s silence planned for 11am on Friday.

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UN calls for immediate Russian withdrawal from Ukraine

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Resounding vote before anniversary of war sees 141 countries condemning Russian invasion with seven against and 32 abstentions

The UN has overwhelmingly voted to call for Russia to immediately and unconditionally withdraw from Ukraine, marking one year since Moscow’s invasion by calling for a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace”.

Applause broke out when the result was announced, with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, calling the resolution “a powerful signal of unflagging global support for Ukraine” in a tweet late on Thursday.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: UN votes to demand Russian troop withdrawal but China abstains – as it happened

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Ukraine’s allies had been seeking to win over countries that have voted against or abstained in previous resolutions

The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said the conflict in Ukraine could last another year, PA news reports.

When asked whether he could see the war continuing for another 12 months, Wallace told LBC:

I think we will. I think Russia has shown a complete disregard, not only for the lives of the people of Ukraine but for its own soldiers. We are sitting here 12 months in and 188,000, actually more now, Russian soldiers are dead or injured as a result of this catastrophic miscalculation and aggression by President Putin.

When someone has crossed the line and thinks it is OK to do that to your own people, running effectively a meat grinder for an army, I think he is not going to stop.

There is already talk, I think, of an eastern European country supplying MiG-29s … We’re not going to see Nato, we’re going to see countries that are members of Nato potentially put in air force equipment or MiG-29.

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Russian invasion ‘an affront’, says UN chief, as assembly meets on Ukraine

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UN general assembly debates motion calling for unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine on anniversary of war

UN secretary general António Guterres has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an “affront to our collective conscience” as the 193-member General assembly meets ahead of a vote that the US said would “go down in history.”

Speaking on Wednesday during a special session of the general assembly, Guterres called the anniversary of Moscow’s attack “a grim milestone for the people of Ukraine and for the international community.”

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RT videos spreading Ukraine disinformation on YouTube despite ban – report

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The platform banned the Russia-controlled publication last year for its Ukraine falsehoods, but its content is still posted on various channels

Hundreds of videos produced by the Russia-controlled publication RT have found their way on to YouTube in the past year, despite the platform’s ban of such media last year.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, banned all Russian state-funded media from its platform globally in March 2022, citing a policy barring content that “denies, minimizes or trivializes well-documented violent events” as Russia sought to guide the narrative on its war in Ukraine.

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‘Big mistake’: Biden condemns Putin’s withdrawal from nuclear treaty

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‘You’re the frontlines of our collective defense,’ Biden tells Bucharest Nine group of eastern European countries on last day of trip

Joe Biden on Wednesday night condemned as a “big mistake” Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision to suspend his country’s participation in the last remaining US-Russia nuclear arms control treaty.

The comment came as the US president closed out his wartime visit to Europe, working to shore up partnerships with allies on Nato’s perilous eastern flank – even as Putin was drawing closer to China for help as his invasion of Ukraine neared the year mark.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Biden promises US will defend ‘every inch of Nato’; China will play ‘constructive role’ in crisis, says diplomat

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Joe Biden speaks with leaders of Nato’s eastern European members in Poland after Vladimir Putin meets Wang Yi in Moscow

The UN general assembly meets today, two days ahead of the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Kyiv and its allies hoping to garner broad support for a resolution calling for a “just and lasting peace.”

The draft resolution, sponsored by 60 countries, is to be voted on after the close of debate – not expected until at least Thursday.

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EU states urge crackdown on Russia over sanctions-evading arms ploy

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Moscow accused of attempting to source weapons parts through front companies in neighbouring states

A group of 10 EU member states have called for a crackdown on Russia’s attempts to source military parts through front companies in neighbouring countries, thereby evading western sanctions.

The 10 countries, which include France, Germany, Italy and the Baltic states, write that “2023 must be the year of success in countering circumvention”, warning that public support and international legitimacy of sanctions could wane if they are deemed ineffective.

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China and Russia reaffirm close ties as Putin meets top diplomat

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On eve of Ukraine invasion anniversary Russian leader says China relations ‘proceeding as planned’

China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, has met Vladimir Putin in Moscow, as China and Russia reaffirm their close bilateral relationship just days before the first anniversary of the start of the Ukraine war.

In brief televised remarks Wang said China and Russia were ready to deepen their strategic cooperation. Earlier on Wednesday, Wang met Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, where he said he expected to reach a “new consensus” on advancing the relationship between the two allies.

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China and Japan meet for formal security talks to stabilise tensions

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Officials meet in Tokyo to discuss concerns at China’s cooperation with Russia and Japan’s military buildup

Chinese and Japanese officials met in Tokyo on Wednesday for formal security talks for the first time in four years, in a meeting aimed at stabilising increasingly strained relations.

In Japan’s national security strategy, released in December, China was described as “the greatest strategic challenge” to Japan’s peace and security.

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War in Ukraine defining new world order, says thinktank

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Poll reveals west more united but gulf growing with countries such as India that do not subscribe to post-cold war view

Almost a year after Russia’s war against Ukraine started, it has united the west, according to a 15-country survey – but exposed a widening gulf with the rest of the world that is defining the contours of a future global order.

The study, by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) thinktank, surveyed opinions in nine EU member states, including France, Germany and Poland, and in Britain and the US, as well as China, Russia, India and Turkey.

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Biden pledges more Moscow sanctions: ‘Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia’ – as it happened

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Speaking before a crowd of thousands in the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, Joe Biden hailed the resilience of Ukraine’s people and the benevolence of Poland and other western allies in helping fend off the Russian invasion.

“Autocrats only understand one word: no.” Biden said. “No, you will not take my country. No, you will not take my freedom. No, you will not take my future. I’ll repeat tonight what I said last year at the same place. A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to ease the people’s love of liberties. Brutality will never grind down the will of the free. Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, never.”

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Joe Biden says Russian forces in disarray after year of war in Ukraine

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US president issues rallying cry in Warsaw but warns of ‘very bitter days’ ahead in defence of democracy

Joe Biden has claimed Vladimir Putin’s year of war against Ukraine has left behind “burned-out tanks and Russian forces in disarray” but he also warned of “very bitter days” ahead in the defence of democracy in eastern Europe.

Biden issued a rallying cry in a speech to mark the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion, addressing a crowd of 30,000, mostly Poles and Ukrainians, in front of the arches below Warsaw’s royal castleon Tuesday evening.

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