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New measures in Germany to ease energy costs
After weeks of arduous negotiations within the government coalition, Germany will have a new aid package to relieve its citizens of the heavy burden of high energy prices. It is that Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals agreed on a third shipment of 65,000 million euros that includes an increase in the benefit for dependent children, energy aid for retirees and students, and the subsidy of part of the public transport subscription.
“It is a lot of money, but it is necessary to make this expense,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a press conference in Berlin on Sunday.
Zelenski and Von der Leyen talk about an eighth package of measures
The president of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, held a telephone conversation this Sunday with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in the framework of the approval of a maximum price for oil from Russia and the possible cap on Russian gas in Europe.
Zelensky emphasized the need for an eighth package of European measures. Both leaders discussed “coordinated measures to limit Russia’s excessive profits from the sale of oil and gas,” Zelensky commented on his official Twitter profile, adding that “the allocation of the next tranche of aid” from the European Union to kyiv.
US ambassador to Russia leaves Moscow after three years on mission
The US ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, left Moscow on Sunday after concluding his mission in this country, where he arrived almost three years ago amid great tensions in the relations of the two nations, which are now at a standstill due to the war in Ukraine.
This was reported by the embassy in a brief statement, in which it added that Sullivan went to the Hall of Columns of the Moscow House of Trade Unions to pay tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR who died this week in Moscow.
Russia guarantees the arrival of more than 60 foreign journalists at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
Russia guaranteed the arrival of more than 60 journalists from different countries at the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, as requested by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Russian Ministry of Defense reported.
“At the request of the IAEA Secretariat, to cover the mission’s work at the Zaporizhia plant, Russia ensured the arrival of more than 60 media representatives at the plant, including France, the United States, China, Denmark, Japan , Germany, Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Vietnam and others,” says the statement, collected by Sputnik.
According to the ministry, the Ukrainian media, and those from other countries, that would have accompanied the IAEA experts to the nuclear plant last Thursday were not on the mission’s agreed lists.
“According to the detailed and agreed documents, access to the Russian-controlled territory of the Zaporizhia region would be carried out strictly on the basis of the lists previously sent to the Russian Defense Ministry by the United Nations Security and Protection Department. United,” he stresses.
The ministry recalled that “in order to comply with the security protocol of the mission’s work, all unauthorized persons, when trying to cross the demarcation line together with the IAEA caravan, were detained and not allowed to pass”.
An IAEA delegation, led by its director general, Argentine Rafael Grossi, arrived at the plant on Thursday and toured the key areas it planned to inspect, where they showed it the sections damaged by the bombardment by Ukrainian troops, according to the Russian version. (kyiv maintains the contrary).
Grossi stated that the IAEA will maintain a permanent presence at the plant.
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, is located in southeastern Ukraine, near the city of Energodar, and has been under the control of the Russian military since March.
For the past few weeks, Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of bombing the plant’s facilities.
Moscow alleges that its military presence at the plant seeks to prevent leaks of nuclear and radioactive materials.
Russia warns that the energy crisis in Europe will be “worse when it’s cold” and blames the West
The Russian government warned today that the energy crisis in the European Union (EU) will be “worse when it is cold” and blamed politicians who apply sanctions against Russia in response to the military invasion in Ukraine, a view shared by the former prime minister of Italy Matteo Salvini.
The decision to suspend the maintenance of the equipment belonging to the Russian gas giant Gazprom is “totally absurd”, denounced the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov, reported the local channel Rossiya and the Russian news agency Sputnik.
“It is the fault of those politicians who have made the decision on the sanctions. It is these unfortunate politicians who force their fellow citizens to die of a stroke when they see the electricity bill. And the situation will get worse when it is cold,” he said. .
The Kremlin representative stated that Gazprom had built “over decades its reputation as a reliable supplier”, and was “convinced that it has done nothing to undermine it”.
Peskov’s statement about the ineffectiveness of the sanctions was shared by the leader of the far-right Italian La Liga party and former Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, who argued that “several months have passed and people are paying double, or quadruple the bills,” while “the war continues and Russia’s coffers are filled with money,” reported the Italian media RTL and the AFP news agency.
Former Russian president accuses Germany of waging ‘hybrid war’ against his country
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday accused Germany of waging a “hybrid war” against Russia, justifying cutting off gas supplies to Berlin for its “unfriendly” behavior amid the Ukraine conflict.
The remarks come at a time when relations between Germany and Russia, already strained by the conflict in Ukraine, were further complicated after Moscow cut off gas supplies to Berlin via the Nord Stream pipeline.
“German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that ‘Russia is no longer a reliable energy supplier’. First of all, Germany is an unfriendly country, secondly it has imposed sanctions against the entire Russian economy (…) and is delivering weapons lethal to Ukraine,” Medvedev said in a message on Telegram.
“In other words, it has declared a hybrid war against Russia. Germany is behaving like an ENEMY of RUSSIA,” he added.
On Friday, the Russian gas giant Gazprom announced the total suspension of deliveries through the Nord Stream gas pipeline, officially after detecting a leak in a turbine.
The Europeans, who support Ukraine against the Russian offensive, believe that Moscow uses this pretext to blackmail them with energy as winter approaches.
Russia defends itself from criticism for cutting off gas to Europe
Russia justified this Sunday the gas cut to Europe through the Nord Stream gas pipeline, in the face of criticism from the European Union (EU), and explained that this measure has its origin in Western sanctions and actionswhile warning that hydrocarbon prices may rise even more.
The Russian gas consortium announced on Friday that it was completely suspending the flow of gas to Europe through Germany due to a oil leak found in a turbine of the only compressor station still in operation, something that the EU has called a “fallacy” and has marked as further proof that Russia is not a reliable supplier.
The indefinite suspension of gas transit through the Nord Stream “is not the fault” of Gazprom, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, in charge of energy issues, on the “Moscow.Kremlin.Putin” program. of the public television channel Rossía-1.
“Gazprom has earned its reputation as a reliable guarantor of energy security and reliable supplier for many decades. And we are convinced that Gazprom has not taken a single step that shakes this reputation,” Peskov said. “If the Europeans make an absolutely absurd decision that they refuse to repair their equipmentor rather, the equipment that belongs to Gazprom, but which, according to the contract, they must repair, this is not Gazprom’s faultIt is the fault of the politicians who made the decision about the sanctions,” he said.
“It is these unfortunate politicians who are now forcing their citizens to die of strokes when they see electricity bills (…) And now, when it gets colder, the situation will get even worse,” the Russian spokesman predicted.
Novak, for his part, expressed himself in similar terms, stating that “all the conditions of the repair contract have been completely violated” and that “the conditions of transport of this equipment have been violated.”
“Both Canada and the European Union have imposed sanctions on the relevant team, so they must align (their actions) with the terms of the contract for this team to really continue to function,” he said. One of the turbines repaired by Siemens at its facilities in Canada was able to be returned to Germany despite the sanctions, but from there it has not yet reached Russia because Moscow requires legal guarantees that the device is not under restrictions.
Both Novak and Peskov said that “it is possible” that there will be new increases in the price of gas in Europe due to EU policies that lead to the “collapse” of the energy market in the Old Continent, according to his opinion. “Myopic politics leads to the fact that we are seeing a collapse in Europe’s energy markets. And this is not the limit, because we are still in the warm season, we still have winter ahead of us, and there are many unpredictable things,” Novak warned. .
Russia accuses Ukraine of attempting drone attack on Zaporizhia nuclear plant
Russia accused Ukraine of having tried to attack this Saturday with eight drones, the territory of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, controlled by Russian forces since the beginning of March.
“Despite the presence of representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, the kyiv regime continues provocations in order to create a threat of a man-made disaster,” the Ministry spokesman said. of Defense, Igor Konashenkov.
According to Konashenkov, the drones were “blocked by Russian electronic warfare equipment”, after which the grenades were dropped in desert areas more than a mile from the nuclear plant’s perimeter.