The United States has told its allies that Russia could deploy nuclear weapons or simulated warheads into space as early as this year, the people said.
massive spending cuts The French government is struggling to raise funds for up to 3 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine.
Ukraine is planning an additional route via the Danube to increase exports to pre-war levels, as its land border with the European Union is blocked due to a dispute with Poland over the delivery of agricultural products. Stated.
US to announce 'major' sanctions on Friday following Navalny's death
President Joe Biden said the United States will announce “significant” sanctions against Russia on Friday following the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“I said we're going to announce sanctions against Russia. Major policy will be announced on Friday,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
White House Press Secretary John Kirby said in a briefing earlier Tuesday that the sanctions are aimed at “holding Russia accountable for what happened to Mr. Navalny.”
Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, said a “substantive package” of financial sanctions would be announced on the eve of the second anniversary of the Ukraine war. He said it would cover “various elements of Russia's defense industrial base and sources of income for the Russian economy” that facilitate Russian President Vladimir Putin's “war machine” and “repression.”
Biden said Putin was responsible for the death of Navalny, 47, a prominent voice against the imprisoned Russian leader in the Arctic. Biden said he warned Putin at a summit in Geneva in 2021 that there would be serious consequences if Navalny died in prison.
read more: Biden blames Putin for Navalny's death as Western anger grows
It is unclear whether the new measures will have a practical impact on Russia, as the United States has already imposed sweeping sanctions affecting large swaths of the Russian economy and prominent officials in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia could launch anti-satellite nuclear weapons into space this year
The United States has told its allies that Russia could deploy nuclear weapons or simulated warheads into space as early as this year, the people said.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia is developing space-based capabilities to destroy satellites using nuclear weapons. A nuclear warhead in orbit would violate the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which Russia is a signatory to.
This comes after the House Intelligence Committee chairman warned last week of a serious and unspecified security threat from Russia.president Joe Biden later said: The Kremlin was developing anti-satellite space weapons that did not pose a direct threat to human life.
However, President Putin denied the allegations.
“We have always been, and continue to be, adamantly opposed to the deployment of nuclear weapons in space,” he said on Tuesday. In a video conference with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. “The only thing we're doing in space is what other countries, including the United States, are doing.”
The Kremlin's alleged ambitions underscore what security experts and Washington say is an escalating competition between the United States, Russia and China to develop orbital strike capabilities. The new space race stands in contrast to the Cold War, when the two superpowers negotiated a series of arms control agreements aimed at preventing the weaponization of space.
read more: Russia's bid for orbiting weapons highlights new space race
Officials said the current assessment is that Russia has no plans to detonate any orbital weapons. However, there is a risk of an accident, and a nuclear explosion could affect about a third of the satellites and wreak havoc on communications systems on Earth.
France struggles to pay for aid to Ukraine due to tight budget
massive spending cuts The French government is struggling to raise funds for up to 3 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine.
The ministries of defence, foreign affairs and finance will be asked to direct the funds to find savings to buy equipment ranging from missiles to artillery, the people said, but details are unclear as talks are ongoing. was not disclosed.
of Government's leeway is limited It comes after it cut its 2024 GDP forecast on Sunday and said it would need to save 10 billion euros to meet its promise to cut the budget deficit.and it was promised Costly measures to support farmersprotesting against rising costs, cheap imports and red tape.
France has also been criticized for a lack of transparency over its aid to Ukraine, leading to accusations that it is not doing as much as its European and NATO partners.of Ukraine's military faces severe manpower shortage As Russia's full-scale invasion marks its second anniversary this week, ammunition shortages continue.
President Emmanuel Macron announced the new policy in Paris on Friday alongside Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy, saying: “All this already represents a great achievement, but we are determined to do even more. ” he said. This is the first time France has disclosed the amount of aid.
Funding for the latest aid needs to be found without formal changes to this year's budget, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive plans.
Learn more about our efforts to support Ukraine.
Ukraine and Poland plan new export route on the Danube River to resolve border dispute
Ukraine is planning an additional route via the Danube to increase exports to pre-war levels, as its land border with the European Union is blocked due to a dispute with Poland over the delivery of agricultural products. Stated.
After Russia exited the UN-backed Black Sea Safety Corridor last year, the Danube became a priority route for goods to Ukraine. Still, a significant amount of agricultural produce flows through the EU by rail and road, and Polish farmers have blocked vital routes to protest the uncontrolled flood of Ukrainian food.
read more: Ukraine claims Poland's border closure is hurting the war effort
The proposed new route, which was not immediately clear, would connect the Ukrainian port of Izmail to the Romanian ports of Constanta and Germany's Danube ports, the minister said. The Ministry of Infrastructure announced earlier this month that Ukraine's Danube Shipping Company has already built a second high-tonnage SLG barge for cargo transport.
Last year, Ukraine's exports were mainly food and metal The value of manufactured goods in 2021 was $35.8 billion, nearly 48% below pre-war levels, according to government data. After a UN-brokered deal collapsed last July, Kiev succeeded in opening a new shipping route through the Black Sea, but the Danube remains vital.
Although many exporters prefer the cheaper Black Sea, Kublakov said the volume of cargo transported via the Danube still amounts to 1.2 million to 1.8 million tons per month.
Russia detains dual US citizen on charges of treason against Ukraine
A woman with dual U.S. and Russian citizenship has been detained in Russia and charged with treason for supporting the Ukrainian military, state media reported.
The unnamed 33-year-old man from Los Angeles was detained by Federal Security Service (FSB) agents in the city of Yekaterinburg in the Urals region, state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday.
The news agency cited a security official's statement after the FSB accused the woman of collecting funds to help Ukrainian organizations buy military medicine, weapons and ammunition since February 2022. It was reported that a court had ordered her detention on charges of treason. Tass declined to say whether the alleged financing took place in Russia or abroad.
This is the latest detention of Americans in Russia; Police detained Ars Kurmasheva, Prague-based editor of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty at Kazan Airport in Tatarstan on June 2. She was traveling to Russia to attend to her family's emergency, and in October she was charged with failing to register her as a “foreign agent.”
American journalist Evan Gershkovitch was detained by the FSB on suspicion of espionage while on assignment for the Federal Security Service and has been held in a Moscow prison since March last year. wall street journal In Yekaterinburg. Gershkovic and the paper deny the charges.
Russia transports Ural oil to Venezuela, expanding buyer base
A supertanker carrying Russia's main crude Ural crude has arrived off the coast of Venezuela as the Russian government looks for new buyers amid tightening sanctions and chaos in the Red Sea.
The Rigela is currently located near Amuay Bay, where it is connected to a refinery run by state-run company PDVSA, according to ship tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Collected at least 1.7 million barrels of Urals. Ship-to-ship transfer It sailed off southern Greece last month before heading to Venezuela.
The tanker's arrival marks the first time in at least five years that Urals crude oil has been observed being transported to the South American country. In the face of Western sanctions over the Kremlin's war in Ukraine, Russia has typically turned to Asian buyers.
Venezuela has accepted foreign crude oil in the past to dilute it and make it easier to export, but it is unclear whether that is the reason for the Ligera's cargo. DM
