Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the opening ceremony of the Army-2022 International Military-Technical Forum and the International Army Games 2022 in Moscow Region, Russia on Aug. 15, 2022. (Kremlin press release/IANS)
The President pointed out that US liquefied natural gas (LNG) is “definitely less competitive than Russian pipeline gas” due its higher price…reports Asian Lite News
In his address to the Russian Energy Week International Forum, President Vladimir Putin said Russia is ready to resume gas supplies via one link of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that remains operational, local media reported.
The Russian leader said gas could still be supplied by one remaining intact part of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The ball was in the EU’s court on whether it wanted gas supplied via the pipeline, he said.
Putin said, “Russia is ready to start such supplies. The ball is in the court of the EU. If they want, they can just open the tap.”
He went on to say that Russia has nothing to do with the sky-high energy prices that Europeans are facing this winter, instead blaming the West for stoking a global energy crisis, The Guardian reported.
It was the poorest countries that would pay the highest price in terms of rising energy costs, Putin added.
Those who benefit the most from the damage caused to the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea are the ones responsible for it, Russian President Vladmir Putin has said, RT reported.
“Everybody understands who is behind this and who is the beneficiary. One can now force the liquefied natural gas from the US on to European countries on a much larger scale,” Putin said in a speech at the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow on Wednesday.
The President pointed out that US liquefied natural gas (LNG) is “definitely less competitive than Russian pipeline gas” due its higher price.
“Who stands behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines? Obviously, those who are looking to completely sever the ties between Russia and the EU, undermine Europe’s political sovereignty, weaken its industrial capacity and gain control of its markets,” the President said, RT reported.
Biden said even Putin’s threats have a destabilizing effect, and warned of the potential errors in judgment that could ensue…reports Ashes O
US President Joe Biden ruled out talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the upcoming G20 summit at Indonesia, saying “there is no rationale to meet with him now”.
Asked during a CNN interview whether he would meet Putin at the summir, Biden said he didn’t see a good reason for a sit-down.
“It would depend on specifically what he wanted to talk about,” Bhe said, adding if Putin wanted to discuss the jailed American basketball star Brittney Griner, then he would be open to talking.
“He’s acted brutally… I think he’s committed war crimes. And so, I don’t, I don’t see any rationale to meet with him now.”
Biden said threats arising from Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine is a “miscalculation “that could lead to catastrophic consequences close on the heels of his earlier warning that the world ran a risk of “nuclear Armageddon”.
President Biden told CNN that “threats emanating from Russia could result in catastrophic “mistakes” and “miscalculation,” even as he declined to spell out how precisely the US would respond if Putin deploys a tactical nuclear device on the battlefield in Ukraine.
When asked whether the Putin would use a tactical nuclear weapon, a prospect US officials have watched with concern as Russian troops suffer embarrassing losses on the battlefield, Biden said: “I don’t think he will… I think it’s irresponsible for him to talk about it, the idea that a world leader of one of the largest nuclear powers in the world says he may use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine.”
He said even Putin’s threats have a destabilizing effect, and warned of the potential errors in judgment that could ensue.
“The whole point I was making was it could lead to just a horrible outcome,” he told CNN. “And not because anybody intends to turn it into a world war or anything, but just once you use a nuclear weapon, the mistakes that can be made, the miscalculations, who knows what would happen.”
Putin “in fact, cannot continue with impunity to talk about the use of a tactical nuclear weapon as if that’s a rational thing to do”, Biden said.
“The mistakes get made. And the miscalculation could occur, no one can be sure what would happen and could end in Armageddon.”
The President refused to disclose what a US response would look like should Putin follow through on his nuclear threats. But he said the Department of Defence had proactively developed contingencies should the scenario come to pass.
Biden said he believed Putin is a “rational actor” who nonetheless badly misjudged his ability to invade Ukraine and suppress its people.
Biden, his top officials and fellow Western leaders have spent the past several months debating what steps Putin may take as his troops suffer embarrassing losses on the battlefield in Ukraine.
A counter-offensive launched by Ukraine last month was successful in retaking territory previously held by the Russians, including critical transportation hubs.
The losses proved the latest major embarrassment for Russia, whose military has struggled over the course of the seven-month war.
This week, however, Russia launched one of its fiercest bombing campaigns since the war began on February 24.
At least 19 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded across the country, as far away as the western city of Lviv, hundreds of miles from the war’s main theatres in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Biden spoke to CNN a few hours after meeting virtually with members of the G7 industrialized nations, who heard from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the need to bolster his country’s air defences amid the new Russian bombardments.
Zelensky told the meeting that “common efforts to create an air shield for Ukraine” must be intensified amid a barrage of Russian cruise missile and drone attacks.
White House officials have said the US is prepared to further bolster Ukraine’s air defences, including through missile defence systems that Biden expedited delivery of over the summer.
Yet Russia’s intense aerial assault of the Ukrainian capital Kiev and on civilian infrastructure suggested Putin could be employing new tactics meant to terrorise the country as winter approaches.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the opening ceremony of the Army-2022 International Military-Technical Forum and the International Army Games 2022 in Moscow Region, Russia on Aug. 15, 2022. (Kremlin press release/IANS)
Putin said, “Russia is ready to start such supplies. The ball is in the court of the EU. If they want, they can just open the tap.”…reports Asian Lite News
In his address to the Russian Energy Week International Forum, President Vladimir Putin said Russia is ready to resume gas supplies via one link of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that remains operational, local media reported.
The Russian leader said gas could still be supplied by one remaining intact part of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The ball was in the EU’s court on whether it wanted gas supplied via the pipeline, he said.
Putin said, “Russia is ready to start such supplies. The ball is in the court of the EU. If they want, they can just open the tap.”
He went on to say that Russia has nothing to do with the sky-high energy prices that Europeans are facing this winter, instead blaming the West for stoking a global energy crisis, The Guardian reported.
It was the poorest countries that would pay the highest price in terms of rising energy costs, Putin added.
Those who benefit the most from the damage caused to the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea are the ones responsible for it, Russian President Vladmir Putin has said, RT reported.
Picture shows Nord Stream pipeline equipments before the opening ceremony of the North Stream second gas link in Portovaya bay, near the town of Vyborg in northwestern Russia. (Xinhua_IANS)
“Everybody understands who is behind this and who is the beneficiary. One can now force the liquefied natural gas from the US on to European countries on a much larger scale,” Putin said in a speech at the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow on Wednesday.
The President pointed out that US liquefied natural gas (LNG) is “definitely less competitive than Russian pipeline gas” due its higher price.
“Who stands behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines? Obviously, those who are looking to completely sever the ties between Russia and the EU, undermine Europe’s political sovereignty, weaken its industrial capacity and gain control of its markets,” the President said, RT reported.
Confirming Putin’s statement, Bastrykin said that citizens of Russia and foreign countries were also involved in the incident….reports Asian Lite News
The explosion on the Crimean bridge was no doubt a terrorist act aimed at destroying Russia’s critical civilian infrastructure, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
“Ukraine’s special services were the initiators, performers and masterminds,” Putin said when meeting with Chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin, Xinhua news agency reported.
Confirming Putin’s statement, Bastrykin said that citizens of Russia and foreign countries were also involved in the incident.
“We have already established the route of the truck which exploded. It drove through Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia, and the Krasnodar Territory,” Bastrykin said.
“We have also identified the carriers … With the help of FSB (Federal Security Service) agents, we were able to identify suspects from among those who could have arranged the terrorist act and those who are active within the Russian Federation,” he added.
On Saturday, a deadly blast hit the 19-km Crimean Bridge, which consists of two parallel routes for automobiles and trains over the Kerch Strait.
A truck exploded on the road bridge, causing seven fuel tanks of a train heading to the Crimean Peninsula to catch fire. Three people were killed in the blast, which also led to the partial collapse of two spans of the road bridge.
The incident on the Crimean Bridge was a special operation carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), the Interfax-Ukraine news agency cited its source in Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies as saying. The SSU hasn’t commented on the incident yet.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.(photo: https://www.instagram.com/zelenskiy_official/)
“It’s tense, let’s put it that way,” Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s Kherson region, said on state television…reports Asian Lite News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday signed a decree formally announcing the “impossible” prospect of peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainian President still left the door open for negotiations with Russia, but that will not be conducted with Putin as its President.
The decree came after Vladimir Putin announced four occupied Ukrainian regions as part of Russia on Friday. He made that announcement after an overwhelming majority of the four regions reportedly “chose” to become part of Russia in a referendum. The referendum was rejected by Kyiv and West, who called it a sham conducted at gunpoint.
“He (Putin) does not know what dignity and honesty are. Therefore, we are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but with another president of Russia,” Zelensky said on Friday.
Ukrainian forces now seem to be focusing on pushing the Russian Army out of these annexed areas. They have broken through the Russian defenses in the important southern Kherson area and are now rapidly attacking towards the east, seizing back more and more territories annexed by Russia.
“It’s tense, let’s put it that way,” Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s Kherson region, said on state television.
“Where the Kakhovka (reservoir) is, there is a settlement called Dudchany it is in this area that there is a breakthrough and there are settlements taken by Ukrainian troops,” he said.
Ukraine’s counter-offensive against Russia has been surprising to many defense experts who predicted the fall of Ukraine within days of the Russian invasion. Ukraine has taken back more than 4000 square miles of territories from Russia including Izium and Kupiansk, two strategically important towns in the northeast that served as logistical hubs for Russian forces.
According to the New York Times, American and British intelligence officials were directly involved in the planning of the Ukrainian counter-offensive. US intelligence agencies also provided Ukraine with information on Russia’s weak defense links.
Cleverly will repeat Prime Minister Liz Truss’ vow that Britain will never accept Mr Putin’s claim to the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia or Crimea…reports Asian Lite News
Foreign Minister James Cleverly is seen declaring Tuesday that Britain has the “strategic endurance” to see Ukraine “through to victory” over Russia.
In a speech to his Conservative Party’s annual conference, Cleverly is expected to say Ukraine has Britain’s unwavering support in its efforts to push back Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces.
It comes after Britain ramped up sanctions against Moscow, with new measures targeting vulnerable sectors of the economy, in response to Mr Putin’s “illegal” annexation of swathes of Ukrainian territory.
Cleverly will repeat Prime Minister Liz Truss’ vow that Britain will never accept Mr Putin’s claim to the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia or Crimea.
He is expected to tell the conference in Birmingham, central England: “We aren’t commentators. We are players on the pitch, making a difference, promoting our values, competing on the world stage for what we believe is right.”
“We believe in freedom. We believe in the rule of law. We believe that an aggressor cannot invade its neighbour with impunity,” he will say. “This is why we stand shoulder to shoulder with those brave Ukrainians defending their homeland, and Britain has the strategic endurance to see them through to victory.”
He will say Ukrainians have defended their homeland “ferociously”, and that their bravery has been “amplified” by arms and training supplied by Britain.
“We will support them until this war is won. We will support them until their sovereignty is restored,” he will say.
The latest annexations by Russia, currently under pressure after a series of Ukrainian successes on the battlefield, have prompted condemnation globally.
Putin has threatened to use “all the means at our disposal” to protect his country, seen as a sign that he could use tactical nuclear weapons in response to attacks on parts of Ukraine he has annexed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the opening ceremony of the Army-2022 International Military-Technical Forum and the International Army Games 2022 in Moscow Region, Russia on Aug. 15, 2022. (Kremlin press release/IANS)
Hastily arranged votes had taken place over five days in the four areas – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – that make up about 15 per cent of Ukrainian territory…reports Asian Lite News
Western leaders fear that Vladimir Putin is planning a huge escalation of Russias faltering invasion of Ukraine with a deadly nuclear strike or an attack on European interests, media reports said.
British and American spies believe there is ‘credible intelligence’ to suggest that the Russian President is preparing an attack that will turn the war effort in his favour, after coming to the realisation that the war was ‘a colossal mistake’, Daily Mail reported.
It comes as the US Embassy in Moscow is urging citizens to flee Russia amid fears that dual nationals could be drafted into its war efforts, The Mirror reported.
Embassy officials have said Russia may ‘refuse to acknowledge US nationals’ dual citizenship’, deny their access to consular assistance and ‘prevent their departure from Russia’.
The Embassy also warned that leaving Russia has become increasingly difficult with flights filling and Putin’s troops shutting down borders.
Putin is understood to be planning land-grab of four regions said to have voted overwhelmingly to join Russia after sham referendums in which residents were marched to the ballot box at gunpoint, Daily Mail reported.
Hastily arranged votes had taken place over five days in the four areas – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – that make up about 15 per cent of Ukrainian territory.
But there is concern that Putin is planning a nuclear attack west of the regions that would create a radiation dead zone and put a halt to Ukraine’s so far successful counter-offensives, Daily Mail reported.
Another fear is that Russia is preparing a strike on western interests such as maritime communications cables.
Officials in the UK believe that Putin, as well as the Russian population, now understand the war was a ‘colossal mistake’, Daily Mail reported.
They also fear the partial mobilisation of 300,000 conscripts may be con to deceive the West into concentrating on Ukraine while he tried to leverage against support for Kiev.
It comes amid fears that Kremlin frogmen are responsible for the ‘deliberate’ sabotage of the Nord Stream gas supply pipeline in the Baltic Sea that has sent energy prices soaring.
Security sources told The Mirror that the leaks could act as a warning of similar assaults on communications cables.
They added: “Putin has almost run out of options which makes a tactical nuclear strike possible west of the four regions he is claiming.
“It is possible he believes this will be enough as a show of intent to get the west to back off, create a dead zone to halt the Ukrainian counter-offensive and claim victory in the east.
“But another possibility is an attack on the communication cables between the UK and America, many of which are European links to the States.”
Damaging internet communication cables could be ‘very damaging’ for the world’s financial markets.
PM Modi in a bilateral meeting with the President of Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir Putin, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 16, 2022.
This was the first face-to-face meeting between Modi and Putin after Russia had attacked Ukraine in February this year, reports Asian Lite News
Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he is aware of India’s concerns over his country’s conflict with Ukraine, and wanted the war to end.
During the bilateral meeting between both the leaders on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Samarkand, Putin was quoted on Friday as saying, “I know about your position on the conflict in Ukraine, and I know about your concerns. We want all of this to end as soon as possible. We will keep you abreast of what is happening there.”
The Russian President said this as Modi told him that “today’s time is not the time for war”.
This was the first face-to-face meeting between Modi and Putin after Russia had attacked Ukraine in February this year.
Energy security
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, discussions between the two leaders, apart from centering around issues pertaining to bilateral cooperation, also focussed on energy security, global food security and availability of fertilisers in the context of the challenges emanating from the current geo-political situation.
PM Modi in a bilateral meeting with the President of Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 16, 2022.
The meeting between Modi and Putin assumes significance in the context of Russian crude forming a significant 13 per cent share of India’s overall oil import basket, amid increased supplies from there.
Meanwhile, the statement further said that the leaders appreciated the sustained momentum in bilateral ties, including contacts at various levels.
“President Putin expressed appreciation for Prime Minister’s video-message at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok earlier this month,” the statement said.
In the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Prime Minister Modi reiterated his call for an early cessation of hostilities and the need for dialogue and diplomacy.
This was the first meeting of both leaders this year, which marks the 75th anniversary year of establishment of diplomatic relations. They agreed to remain in touch, the statement said.
The meeting was part of Xi’s first trip abroad since the early days of the pandemic. For Putin, it was a chance to show Russia has not been fully isolated despite Western efforts…reports Asian Lite News
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met for their first face-to-face talks since the start of the conflict in Ukraine on Thursday, hailing their strategic ties in defiance of the West.
Sitting across from each other at two long rounded tables and flanked by aides, the two leaders met on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in ex-Soviet Uzbekistan.
The meeting was part of Xi’s first trip abroad since the early days of the pandemic. For Putin, it was a chance to show Russia has not been fully isolated despite Western efforts.
“China is willing to make efforts with Russia to assume the role of great powers, and play a guiding role to inject stability and positive energy into a world rocked by social turmoil,” Xi told Putin at the talks.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV also quoted Xi as saying China was willing to work with Russia to support “each other’s core interests.”
Xi also met his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on the sidelines of the summit on Friday, urging “political mutual trust” between the two sides during a regional security meeting in Central Asia.
Turkey is a dialogue partner of the SCO.
“The two sides should consolidate political mutual trust, respect each other’s core interests and consolidate the political foundation of China-Turkey strategic cooperative relations,” Xi said, according to CCTV.
“We should focus on development cooperation (and) give full play to the role of various cooperation mechanisms and respective strengths between the two countries,” China’s leader was reported as saying.
Putin meanwhile took a clear broadside at the United States, which has been leading efforts to support Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia.
“Attempts to create a unipolar world have recently acquired an absolutely ugly form and are completely unacceptable,” Putin said.
“We highly appreciate the balanced position of our Chinese friends in connection with the Ukrainian crisis,” Putin told Xi, while reiterating Moscow’s backing for China on Taiwan.
“We adhere to the principle of one China. We condemn the provocation of the US and their satellites in the Taiwan Strait,” Putin said, after a US Senate committee on Wednesday took the first step toward Washington directly providing billions of dollars in military aid to Taiwan.
It was the first in-person meeting between the two leaders since Putin saw Xi in early February for the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, days before the Russian leader launched the military offensive in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has touted the SCO summit in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand as showing there is an “alternative” to Western-dominated international institutions.
The SCO — made up of China, India, Pakistan, Russia and the ex-Soviet Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan — was set up in 2001 as a political, economic and security organization to rival Western institutions.
Putin met the leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan earlier Thursday, as well as with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
With both Raisi and Sharif he said ties were “developing positively,” while the Iranian leader told Putin that US-backed sanctions on both countries would only make their relationship “stronger.”
“The Americans think whichever country they impose sanctions on, it will be stopped. Their perception is a wrong one,” Raisi said.
For Putin, the summit comes at an important time, as his forces face major battlefield setbacks in Ukraine and amid a continued Western push to make Russia an international pariah.
For Xi, it is an opportunity to shore up his credentials as a global statesman ahead of a pivotal congress of the ruling Communist Party in October.
The Chinese leader also met Thursday with Belarus’s strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko, who was quoted by state news agency Belta as thanking Xi for China’s “serious support in these difficult times.”
Lukashenko has been shunned by Western leaders after a fierce crackdown on the opposition two years ago and for backing Russia on Ukraine.
Chinese state media said Xi would also meet Erdogan on Friday.
Formerly Cold War allies with a tempestuous relationship, China and Russia have drawn closer in recent years as part of what they call a “no-limits” relationship acting as a counterweight to the global dominance of the United States.
The two countries have also stepped up military cooperation, with China sending hundreds of troops to take part in military exercises last month in Russia’s far east.
The defense ministry in Moscow said Thursday that Russian and Chinese warships were on a joint patrol in the Pacific and planning a live-fire artillery exercise at sea.
Other global leaders sounded alarm about deepening ties between Moscow and Beijing.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said China and Russia “share a vision for the world that is starkly at odds with the vision that’s at the center of the international system, the vision that has been at the center of the international system for the past eight decades.”
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said the two countries were inflicting harm on “international peace, stability, democracy and freedom.”
Putin was also set to hold talks Friday with Erdogan and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Security was tight in Samarkand — a city of grand tiled mosques that was one of the hubs of Silk Road trade routes between China and Europe — with a huge police presence on the streets and armored vehicles parked downtown.
Putin will also meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit in Uzbekistan’s ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand…reports Asian Lite News
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet in Uzbekistan on Friday, the Kremlin has said, as the two countries aim to boost energy and trade ties.
“There are plans to discuss issues of ‘saturation’ of the Indian market with Russian fertiliser and bilateral food supplies,” it said on Tuesday mentioning the topics of the meeting to be held on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional security bloc.
“First of all, moves, aimed at boosting bilateral trade flows, will be looked at. The trade turnover reached $11.5bn in the first half of 2022, up almost 120 percent year-on-year,” the Kremlin said.
India’s fertiliser imports from Russia rose to $1.03bn in April-July compared with $773.54m in the whole of the last fiscal year to March 31, 2022, according to the Indian commerce ministry’s website.
India is looking for a three-year fertiliser import deal with Russia.
Attempts to sign a long-term fertiliser import deal earlier this year were hit by the challenging geopolitical situation after Russia launched what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24.
Prime Minister Modi has sought greater energy cooperation with Russia despite Western pressure to cut ties with Moscow following the Russian aggression in Ukraine.
“India is keen to strengthen its partnership with Russia on Arctic issues. There is also immense potential for cooperation in the field of energy,” Modi said last week addressing a virtual meeting of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
Putin will also meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit in Uzbekistan’s ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand.
India and China are key buyers of Russian energy, helping to cushion Moscow from the effects of Western sanctions and allowing the two Asian economies to secure raw materials at discounts compared with supplies from other countries.
The two Asian nations have not publicly criticised Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, despite the outcry in the West.
India, which rarely used to buy Russian oil, has emerged as Moscow’s second-biggest oil customer after China.
Refiners in India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, have been snapping up discounted Russian oil, shunned by some Western countries and companies.
The Group of Seven countries is working to cap the price of Russian oil from December 5 in an attempt to cut the price Russia receives for oil without reducing its petroleum exports to world markets.
So far, India and China have not said if they will join the price cap mechanism.
Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri last week said India would examine the issue when more details are available. He also said many conversations and proposals were taking place and “we will see who is participating” in the price cap mechanism.
