Putin threatens to retaliate against anyone who interferes with war in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin walks past a guard during a ceremony honouring the country’s Olympians and Paralympians at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia April 26, 2022.
Maxim Shemetov | Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned world leaders against interfering with what he continues to call a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“I want to stress once more, the special military operation in the Ukraine and Donbas, which started in February, all the objectives will be definitely carried out to guarantee the security of people in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, the Russian Crimea and all our country,” Putin said before Russia’s Council of Legislators in Moscow.
He said Russia’s military prevented a “real threat, which was hanging over our motherland.” Putin added that the Kremlin would retaliate against anyone who interfered with the ongoing military operation.
“Our response, our retaliation, those attacks will be very fast. We have all instruments for that. Such instruments as nobody can boast and we’re not going to boast. We’re going to use them if we have to. I want everybody to know that,” Putin said.
It was not immediately clear what was meant by instruments. Putin also said the rafts of global sanctions against Russia have failed to “strangle us economically.”
— Amanda Macias
2 Hours Ago
Russia releases U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed in dramatic prisoner swap
Former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, who was detained in 2019 and accused of assaulting police officers, stands inside a defendants’ cage during a court hearing in Moscow, Russia March 11, 2020.
Tatyana Makeyeva | Reuters
Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine detained by Russian authorities in 2019, has been released following negotiations between Moscow and Washington.
Reed was accused of assaulting a Russian officer and was later sentenced to nine years in prison, though his family has maintained his innocence and the U.S. government has described him as unjustly iprisoned.
President Joe Biden, who has previously met Reed’s family, wrote in a statement that the “negotiations that allowed us to bring Trevor home required difficult decisions.”
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Reed was part of a prisoner exchange in which, the U.S. would return Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the United States.
Read more: Russia releases U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed as part of prisoner exchange
— Amanda Macias
2 Hours Ago
Russian gas supply stoppage is ‘first shot back at the West,’ analyst says
Xi Nan, VP of commodity market analysis at Rystad Energy, says Russia’s decision to halt gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria is a shot across the bow as Europe’s support of Ukraine continues.
The commodity analyst also discusses the broader implications of Russia’s decision for other EU members such as Germany.
4 Hours Ago
Euro falls below $1.06 for first time in five years
The euro fell below $1.06 for the first time in five years on Wednesday morning amid fears over Europe’s energy security and economic growth.
The euro declined to a five-year low of $1.05860 after Russia’s state-owned gas giant Gazprom said it had cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday. By mid-morning, the single currency was trading at $1.0614.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the continuing war, now in its third month, has dented the euro, which has fallen 3.5% against the dollar since the start of April.
— Holly Ellyatt
5 Hours Ago
Russia says it has hit an arms depot housing weapons supplied by the U.S., Europe
Russia’s defense ministry said it struck an arms depot which houses a “large batch of foreign weapons and ammunition supplied by the United States and European countries for Ukrainian troops.”
The statement, which the Defense Ministry posted on its Telegram account, said high-precision, long-range sea-based Kalibr missiles hit the depot in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The ministry also said its air force had destroyed 59 Ukrainian military facilities overnight, including four other warehouses with weapons and ammunition.
CNBC was not able to independently confirm Russia’s claim. Moscow has warned Western nations against continuing to supply Ukraine with weapons, saying such supplies are legitimate targets.
— Holly Ellyatt
5 Hours Ago
Natural gas prices surge as Moscow toys with European supplies
A photo taken on April 27, 2022 shows the logo of Polish state-controlled gas utility company PGNiG at the company’s headquarters in Warsaw.
Janek Skarzynski | AFP | Getty Images
Natural gas prices are surging in Europe after Russia halted supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday.
The Dutch wholesale gas contract for the day-ahead, a benchmark for Europe, rose 24.2% this morning to 115.75 euros ($122.30) per megawatt hour, while the U.K. natural gas price for June rose around 20 pence to 222 pence (278 cents) a therm.
Early Wednesday morning, Gazprom released a statement saying it had halted supplies to both Poland and Bulgaria — both heavy consumers of Russian gas — due to payments not being made in the Russian currency. It said supplies would resume once these payments were made.
The move also coincides with a sharp rise in tensions between Western allies and Russia as the war in Ukraine continues into a third month.
— Holly Ellyatt
9 Hours Ago
Russia halts gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria
Poland’s state-owned oil and gas company PGNiG said Russia’s gas giant Gazprom had informed it on Tuesday that it would halt gas supplies that are delivered via the Yamal pipeline on Wednesday morning.
Igor Russak | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
Russia’s gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria have been halted on Wednesday morning after the countries refused Moscow’s demand to pay for gas supplies in rubles.
Russia’s state gas giant Gazprom had contacted Poland and Bulgaria’s state gas companies on Tuesday telling them that their supplies would be halted on Wednesday. Poland said its supplies had been cut today, while the situation in Bulgaria is more uncertain.
Poland’s state-owned oil and gas company PGNiG said Russia’s gas giant Gazprom had informed it on Tuesday that it would halt gas supplies that are delivered via the Yamal pipeline on Wednesday morning.
PGNiG said in a statement Tuesday that the company is monitoring the situation “and is prepared for various scenarios” and to receive gas from other sources, but said that currently it has enough gas in storage and is meeting demand.
The halting of gas supplies to Poland, which imports around 45% of its natural gas from Russia, according to recent data from the EU, is another sign of rising tensions between Russia and the West following the invasion of Ukraine. One official in Kyiv described Russia’s latest move to cut supplies as “gas blackmail.”
Bulgaria imported almost 73% of its natural gas from Russia in 2020, EU data shows.
Russia had demanded that countries importing its gas (the EU as a bloc imports around 40% of its natural gas from Russia every year) must pay in rubles, prompting a backlash from importers, including Poland and Bulgaria, which refused and said the demand is a breach of contract.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed accusations that Moscow was using its gas supplies to blackmail European nations Poland and Bulgaria, saying Russia was a reliable energy supplier. He also declined to say how many countries had agreed to switch to paying for gas in rubles, Reuters reported.
— Holly Ellyatt
18 Hours Ago
Global sanctions will push back Russian economy gains by 20 years, Blinken says
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2022. Blinken and the defense secretary on Monday committed a total of $713 million in foreign military financing for Ukraine and 15 allied and partner countries.
Al Drago | Reuters
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that he believes Russians are feeling the effect of multiple rounds of coordinated global sanctions for the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
“I think what we’re seeing is that people increasingly in Russia are feeling the effects of the disastrous decision by Putin to attack Ukraine,” Blinken said during testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
“For example, upwards of 600 companies have left Russia, including many of the major consumer brands that we all know and are familiar with,” he said, adding, “They can’t buy the things they’ve been used to buying for the last almost 30 years.”
The nation’s top diplomat said that the gains of the last 20 years are being erased and Moscow’s ability to modernize key sectors of its economy is slowing. Despite all of that, Blinken said that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin still holds large support from his citizens, largely due to disinformation campaigns.
“For now, I think what we’re seeing is Russian people to the extent that they’re informed continue to support for the most part President Putin,” Blinken added.
In the weeks since Russia’s invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbor, Washington and its allies have imposed rounds of coordinated sanctions vaulting Russia past Iran and North Korea as the world’s most-sanctioned country.
— Amanda Macias
22 Hours Ago
U.S. will send diplomats back to Ukraine this week, Blinken says
A woman walks past the closed United States Embassy to Ukraine on April 25, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine.
John Moore | Getty Images
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told lawmakers that the U.S. is sending its diplomats back to Ukraine this week.
The nation’s top diplomat added that the State Department is also working on plans to reopen its embassy in Kyiv.
“We are sending diplomats back to Ukraine this week and they will begin to assess how we can most effectively and securely reopen the embassy in Kyiv. And without going into too much detail in this setting, I anticipate that we will be in Lviv and then head to Kyiv subject to the president’s final decision,” Blinken said during testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
“We want to have our embassy reopened and we’re working to do that,” he added.
On Monday, President Joe Biden announced his plan to nominate Bridget Brink to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Brink, a career diplomat, is currently the U.S. ambassador to the Slovak Republic.
— Amanda Macias
22 Hours Ago
U.S. Defense Secretary Austin calls Russian nuclear war rhetoric ‘very dangerous and unhelpful’
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks to the media after the Ukraine Security Consultative Group meeting at Ramstein air base on April 26, 2022 in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany. The meeting is a U.S.
Thomas Lohnes | Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called Russia’s recent rhetoric about the potential use of its nuclear weapons “very dangerous and unhelpful.”
“Nobody wants to see a nuclear war that nobody can win at. And as we do things, we are always mindful of making sure that we have the right balance and we’re taking the right approach,” Austin told reporters at a press briefing in Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
“There’s always a possibility that a number of things can happen but again, I think it’s it’s unhelpful and dangerous to rattle sabers and speculate about the use of nuclear weapons,” Austin said, following a trip to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Austin’s remarks come after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that his country’s war with Ukraine could escalate into a nuclear one.
Lavrov said late on Monday that the risks of nuclear war are now “very, very significant and should not be underestimated.”
— Amanda Macias
9 Hours Ago
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