Moscow reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if faced with 'unfriendly actions', Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu has stated in an interview with TASS state news agency.
The US and its allies will have to address the sanctions imposed on Russia in order to achieve an “enduring, sustainable” solution to the Ukraine war, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told journalists in Riyadh. Washington is interested in developing economic cooperation with Moscow after the hostilities are brought to an end, he added.
European Union foreign ministers have agreed to extend the bloc’s economic sanctions on Moscow, after Hungary dropped a last-minute threat to block the extension over Ukraine’s refusal to restart the flow of Russian gas to the EU.
The Council of the European Union has adopted its 15th package of sanctions against Moscow, targeting the Russian shadow fleet of tankers and the military-industrial complex.
The United States and the United Kingdom are setting up continental Europe for a military face-off with Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has claimed.
The majority of EU countries and the European Commission are in favor of extending the sanctions renewal period for the Russian assets frozen by the bloc from six to 36 months, according to a report.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded to European Union (EU) moves to pilfer interest from frozen Russian assets to pay for military aid to Ukraine, warning that such actions will not go unanswered.
Brussels-based depositary and clearing house Euroclear has confirmed that it will confiscate interest generated by the frozen Russian funds that it holds and will transfer the money to Kiev.
Moscow has enough capabilities to counter such hostile moves by Washington as its just-announced deployment of new missiles to Europe, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated.
The European Union approved the transfer of €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) in profits from Russia’s frozen assets as military assistance to Ukraine, the bloc’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has announced.
Russia has expanded its travel ban list and vowed a “proper response” to any further unfriendly acts from Brussels after the EU announced an expansion of unilateral restrictive measures against Moscow.
Moscow has a “wide arsenal” of political and economic countermeasures to respond to the potential confiscation of its sovereign assets, including a tit-for-tat seizure of Western property in Russia, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has warned.
Brussels has failed to agree on the new round of sanctions against Russia because of Germany’s opposition to the proposed plan to punish companies doing business with Moscow, Reuters has reported, citing EU diplomats.
The European Union is considering imposing tariffs on up to €42 billion ($46 billion) worth of imports from Russia that until now have been spared from the bloc’s sanctions regime, Financial Times has reported.
Moscow has castigated the decision by the EU to use income from frozen Russian sovereign assets to help Ukraine as expropriation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated.
The European Union has agreed on the expropriation of revenue generated from frozen Russian assets to continue funding and arming Kiev, Brussels announced. The bloc’s ambassadors agreed on the course of action “in principle”, but the legal text still must be ratified by the EU Council.
EU clearinghouse Euroclear has accrued €1.6 billion ($1.7 billion) in interest from frozen Russian assets in just three months of this year, its CEO Valerie Urbain disclosed. She warned however, that tapping the funds would have a severe impact on global financial markets.
The European Union will reportedly allow neutral member states to opt out of its plan to use the revenue generated from frozen Russian central bank reserves to buy weapons and ammunition for Ukraine and limit themselves to providing non-military aid to the country.
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, has admitted that not every EU member state agrees to view Russia as Europe’s “most existential threat”. He argued that such differences are jeopardizing the bloc’s policies, especially the resolve to provide military aid to Ukraine.
Any Western-backed Ukrainian attack against "Russia’s Crimean Bridge or Crimea itself" will be met with a powerful revenge strike from Moscow, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has cautioned.
No option has been taken off the table as the G-7 countries continue to discuss the possibility of using the Russian assets frozen by the West to aid Ukraine, Reuters has reported, citing a senior US Treasury official.
The European Union has introduced sanctions against correctional facilities Nos. 6 and 3 and thirty-three individuals within the framework of sanctions related to the death of Aleksey Navalny, the EU Council announced in its decree posted in the Official Journal.
