ROME, Nov 20 (Reuters) – The United Nations’ Security Council needs to take “significant measures” in response to the latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch by North Korea, foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) major industrialised nations said on Sunday.
The Security Council is set to discuss North Korea in a meeting on Monday at the request of the United States, following the latest in a series of missile test launches this year.
“(North Korea’s) actions demand a united and robust response by the international community,” the ministers of the United States, Japan, Canada, Germany, Britain, France and Italy said.
Pyongyang tested on Friday a ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland shortly after warning of “fiercer military responses” to Washington beefing up its security presence in the region.
The G7 statement said Friday’s test was a “reckless act” and “another blatant violation” of U.N. resolutions.
“The unprecedented series of unlawful ballistic missile launches conducted by (North Korea) in 2022 … pose a serious threat to regional and international peace and security,” the G7 statement said, adding that the country “cannot and will never have the status of a nuclear-weapon state”.
Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Alexander Smith and Raissa Kasolowsky
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LONDON/BRUSSELS, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Oil-laden tankers risk being left languishing at sea if insurers do not urgently get clarity on an unfinished G7 and European Union plan to cap the price of Russian crude, two senior industry executives told Reuters.
The Group of Seven (G7), which includes the United States, Britain, Germany and France, agreed in September to enforce a low price on sales of Russian oil.
U.S. officials said the move, which is due to start on Dec. 5, was aimed at allowing it to continue to flow, heading off a potential price shock after total EU bans were ratified in June.
And with just three weeks to go, time is running out to fully convince the shipping services industry it will work.
Concerns are centred around a scenario in which insurers discover that oil in transit at sea, which was believed to have been sold below the price cap, was in fact sold above it.
This would trigger the withdrawal of insurance cover as well as a refusal by buyers to accept delivery, leading to financial and logistical headaches and risking environmental dangers.
“If the time is too short, I think everyone will have a Plan B to de-risk, terminate, stay away, not maybe conclude any new contracts until there is some clarity,” said George Voloshin, Global Anti-Financial Crime Expert at ACAMS, the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists which consults with oil industry bankers, traders and insurers.
If insurance was withdrawn mid-voyage, buyers and traders would have to figure out what to do with a stranded cargo potentially exposed to sanctions, complicating a strategy to deprive Russia of funds over its invasion of Ukraine.
“It will probably be quite messy,” Voloshin said.
A European Commission official said the EU is aware that much more additional detail will be needed as time runs short for businesses to learn about their obligations, but that the issue must be dealt with at the G7 level.
The official spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the matter.
U.S. State Department Ambassador James O’Brien, who heads the coordination of sanctions against Russia, said G7 countries will be ready with all the operational details and that technical talks were underway on pricing and governance.
‘SANCTION ISLANDS’
But if information gaps remain on the cap, it is possible oil-filled tankers could be left without insurance and marooned near ports, posing a major safety issue for nearby countries in the event of a spill, as well as any cleanup costs.
“In that situation, the vessel will go off risk and financial and technical services will be withdrawn and no one is going to take delivery of the cargo,” Mike Salthouse, head of claims at British-based global ship insurer North, told Reuters.
“This would be a bad development as no one will want uninsured ships sitting off coasts,” he added.
Salthouse said an owner of a ship which was potentially not earning anything for many months “will price that into any decision they make about carrying cargo in the future”, adding that this was likely to act as a disincentive.
“If that happens too often, it will run contrary to what the EU/G7 Coalition is trying to achieve.”
Although the EU ratified the price cap last month, insurers point to still unpublished legal details which must align with incomplete but more detailed U.S. Treasury guidance, especially over guarantees that insurers will not face surprise obstacles in the middle of a ship’s voyage.
“We need regulation in the G7 community which is similar, that is, the U.S. – where we have interim guidelines in the meantime – the U.K. and the EU,” said Lars Lange, secretary general of the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI).
“We fear that if we get different regulations from these three ‘sanction islands’ we will struggle to comply with all at the same time,” Lange said, adding that any vessels which are spurned by ports pose serious consequences.
The IUMI and the separate International Group insurance association have let G7 and EU governments know that their guidelines must include guarantees that the proof that a Russian cargo was sold in line with the cap is all that an owner is required to check before agreeing to load and carry the cargo.
Editing by Alexander Smith
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MUENSTER, Germany, Nov 4 (Reuters) – The Group of Seven on Friday urged China to abstain from “threats, coercion, intimidation, or the use of force,” while expressing their aim for cooperation where possible to tackle global challenges including security, global health and climate.
The mildly-worded communique, wrapping up two days of meetings by the foreign ministers of the world’s seven wealthiest democracies, also reiterated the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits.
The G7 increasingly agrees on the need for a coordinated response to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitions following a congress of the ruling Communist party, a senior U.S. State Department official said earlier, but the communique did not make a reference to a common goal.
The gathering coincided with a one-day visit by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to China, which fuelled concern that Germany would continue to prioritize economic relations with its largest trading partner over security and strategic considerations.
This could risk divisions among Western allies that have sought to adopt a tougher stance towards China in recent years.
“We remind China of the need… to abstain from threats, coercion, intimidation, or the use of force,” the G7 communique said. “We strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion.”
The G7 said it remained “seriously concerned about the situation in and around the East and South China Seas” after China earlier this year staged war games near Taiwan.
China claims the self-governed island as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.
Moreover the G7 said they would continue to raise concerns with China on its reported human rights violations and abuses, including in Xinjiang and Tibet, and on the “continued erosion of Hong Kong’s rights, freedoms and autonomy”.
The U.S. State Department official told reporters there was had been an “increasing convergence of the views on what China’s ultimate strategy, both domestically but also globally, is” over the last 1-1/2 years.
“Coming out of the party congress, I think there’s an increasing recognition of ultimately what President Xi’s ambitions are and the need for a coordinated response to that,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“That’s something that I think will be a focus of this group as we head into Japan’s presidency next year,” he noted, referring to Japan taking over the G7’s rotating presidency from Germany at the start of next year.
Sino-Japanese relations have long been plagued by a dispute over a group of tiny uninhabited East China Sea islets, a legacy of Japan’s World War Two aggression and regional rivalry.
On Friday Japan’s Sankei newspaper reported that the Japanese and Chinese governments had started planning a meeting between Xi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for mid-November.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell cautioned earlier in the day that China should not be put in the same category as Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February.
“It is clear that China is… becoming much more assertive, much more on a self-reliant course,” Borrell told reporters.
“But for the time being, many member states have a strong economic relationship with China, and I don’t think we can put China and Russia on the same level.”
The G7 said in their statement that they aimed for “constructive cooperation with China, where possible and in our interest” on global issues such as health and climate change.
Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Sarah Marsh and Sabine Siebold; additional reporting by Sarah Marsh; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Jonathan Oatis
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WASHINGTON/LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) – The Group of Seven rich nations and Australia have agreed to set a fixed price when they finalize a price cap on Russian oil later this month, rather than adopting a floating rate, sources said on Thursday.
U.S. officials and G7 countries have been in intense negotiations in recent weeks over the unprecedented plan to put a price cap on sea-borne oil shipments, which is scheduled to take effect on Dec. 5 – to ensure EU and U.S. sanctions aimed at limiting Moscow’s ability to fund its invasion of Ukraine do not throttle the global oil market.
“The Coalition has agreed the price cap will be a fixed price that will be reviewed regularly rather than a discount to an index,” said a coalition source, who was not authorized to speak publicly. “This will increase market stability and simplify compliance to minimize the burden on market participants.”
The initial price itself has not been set, but should be in coming weeks, multiple sources said. Coalition partners agreed to regularly review the fixed price and revise it as needed, the source said, without disclosing further details.
Pegging the price as a discount to some index would have resulted in too much volatility and potential price swings, the source added.
The coalition worried that a floating price pegged below the Brent international benchmark might enable Russian President Vladimir Putin to game the mechanism by reducing supply, a second source with knowledge of the discussions said.
Putin could benefit from a floating price system because the price for his country’s oil would also rise if Brent spiked due to a cut in oil from Russia, one of the world’s largest petroleum producers. The downside of the agreed fixed price system is that it will require more meetings of the coalition and bureaucracy to review it regularly, the source said.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other G7 officials argue the price cap, set to begin Dec. 5 on crude and Feb. 5 on oil products, will squeeze funding to Russia without cutting supply to consumers. Russia has said it will refuse to ship oil to countries that set price caps.
Shipping services are eager to see more details about the G7 plan which is due to take effect in a month.
A steady price cap could enable insurers to more confidently roll over contracts and initiate new ones without fear that the price could be adjusted by the countries buying Russian oil, which could have potentially exposed insurers to sanctions.
No immediate comment was available from Treasury or the embassies of coalition members, which include the G7 rich nations, the European Union and Australia.
Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the United States and its allies had agreed on further details on which sales of Russian oil will face the price cap.
Each load of seaborne Russian oil will only be subject to the price cap when first sold to a buyer on land, the countries determined. Reuters could not immediately verify the report which cited people familiar with the matter.
Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Timothy Gardner in Washington and Noah Browning in London; editing by Heather Timmons and Matthew Lewis
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A model of 3D printed oil barrels is seen in front of displayed stock graph going down in this illustration taken, December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (Reuters) – The Group of Seven countries is working to cap the price of Russian oil in an attempt to limit Moscow’s ability to fund its invasion of Ukraine, a plan analysts say could work in the long term but might boost oil prices in coming months.
Officials in G7 countries, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, say the unprecedented measure, set to begin Dec. 5, will cut the price Russia receives for oil without reducing its petroleum exports to world consumers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin could push back, causing stress in oil markets even as the plan comes together.
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Below are questions about the price cap and challenges it faces.
WHO’S IN THE PRICE CAP COALITION?
The G7 wealthy nations — the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada — and the EU are hammering out details of the plan. The G7 wants to enlist other countries, including India and China, which have been snapping up heavily-discounted oil from Russia since its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow has managed to maintain its revenues through those increased crude sales to India and China.
But even if India and China don’t join, a cap could help force down prices for Asia and other consumers. U.S. Treasury Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy Ben Harris said on Sept. 9 that if China negotiates a separate 30%-40% discount on Russian oil because of the price cap “we consider that a win.”
The consensus on the price cap level will be reached with the aid of a “rotating lead coordinator,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in guidance issued on Friday suggesting that countries in the coalition will have a temporary leadership role as the plan proceeds.
WHAT’S THE LEVEL OF THE PRICE CAP?
It will likely be weeks before the price of Russian crude oil and two oil products will be decided, Harris said.
Washington-based ClearView Energy Partners has said officials have been talking about a $40-$60 per barrel range for crude. The upper end of that range is consistent with historical prices for Russian crude, while the lower end is closer to Russia’s marginal production cost, analysts say. read more
Coalition members with long economic and military relations with Russia could push for a higher cap, while a limit too low could take market share away from Saudi Arabia and other oil producers. “The level will be determined by both quantitative and qualitative reasons,” said Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group.
Russian crude is priced at a discount to the international Brent benchmark and the G7 wants to keep that spread wide, to keep down Russian oil revenue.
However, achieving a wide spread could mean higher prices for Western consumers as Russia is the world’s second largest crude exporter, after Saudi Arabia.
WHAT DOES THE G7 EXPECT FROM MARITIME SERVICES?
The plan agreed by the G7 calls for participating countries to deny Western-dominated services including insurance, finance, brokering and navigation to oil cargoes priced above the cap. read more
To secure those services, petroleum buyers would make “attestations” to providers saying they bought Russian petroleum at or below the cap.
Maritime services providers will not be held liable for false pricing information provided by buyers and sellers of Russian petroleum, the U.S. Treasury said. read more
G7 officials believe the plan will work because the London-based International Group of Protection & Indemnity Clubs provides marine liability cover for about 95% of the global oil shipping fleet.
Traders point to parallel fleets that can handle Russian oil using Russian and other non-Western insurance that could be used to sidestep enforcement efforts. read more
It remains uncertain how many ports around the world will accept Russian-insured ships.
Craig Kennedy, an associate at Harvard University’s Davis Center for Eurasian and Russian Studies, said the G7 has long term leverage because Moscow is constrained by a small tanker fleet versus the vast scale of exports it needs to get out. If Russia doesn’t want to sell at the cap, it may have to shut in production, which could impose long-term costs on its oilfields.
HOW COULD RUSSIA FIGHT BACK?
Putin has said Russia will withhold exports to countries that enforce the cap, and fears about the threat could cause petroleum markets to rise before December.
Higher prices could also be risky for U.S. President Joe Biden ahead of midterm elections in November when his fellow Democrats hope to keep control of Congress.
Some analysts worry Moscow could respond by taking actions beyond Russia’s borders before the cap takes effect.
“My biggest concern is I think Putin is going to make it very, very painful on the way to Dec. 5,” Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told a Brookings Institution event on Sept. 9. “They also have assets in other producing countries, whether it be Libya, whether it be Iraq, and they have an ability to cause some problems in other producer states.”
HOW WILL THE CAP BE ENFORCED?
The U.S. Treasury warned service companies to be vigilant about red flags indicating potential evasion or fraud by Russian oil buyers. Those could include evidence of deceptive shipping practices, refusal to provide requested price information, or excessively high services costs. read more
Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said on Friday that those who falsify documentation or otherwise hide the true origin or price of Russian oil would face consequences under the domestic law of jurisdictions implementing the price cap.
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Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Additional reporting by David Lawder and London energy team; Editing by Daniel Wallis
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Zelenskiy says forces have recaptured towns and villages
Blinken visits Kyiv with new U.S. aid package
KYIV, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Swiftly advancing Ukrainian troops were approaching the main railway supplying Russian forces in the east on Friday, after the collapse of a section of Russia’s front line caused the most dramatic shift in the war’s momentum since its early weeks.
In a video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said troops had “liberated dozens of settlements” and reclaimed more than 1,000 square km (385 square miles) of territory in Kharkiv region in the east and Kherson in the south in the past week.
Zelenskiy posted a video in which Ukrainian soldiers said they had captured the eastern town of Balakliia, which lies along a stretch of front stretching south of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.
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The Ukrainian military said it had advanced nearly 50 km through that front after an assault that appeared to take the Russians by surprise.
It was the first lightning advance of its kind reported by either side for months, in a war mainly characterised by relentless grinding frontline battles since Russia abandoned its disastrous assault on the capital Kyiv in March.
Nearly 24 hours after Ukraine announced the breakthrough on the Kharkiv front, Russia had yet to comment publicly. The Kremlin declined to comment on Friday and referred questions to the Russian military.
Ukraine has not allowed independent journalists into the area to confirm the extent its advances. But Ukrainian news websites have shown pictures of troops cheering from armoured vehicles as they roar past street signs bearing the names of previously Russian-held towns, and Russian forces surrendering on the side of the road.
“We see success in Kherson now, we see some success in Kharkiv and so that is very, very encouraging,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a news conference with his Czech counterpart in Prague.
The Institute for the Study of War think tank said the Ukrainians were now within just 15 km of Kupiansk, an essential junction for the main railway lines that Moscow has long relied on to supply its forces on the battlefields in the east.
Since Russia’s forces were defeated near Kyiv in March, Moscow has used its firepower advantage to make slow advances by bombarding towns and villages. But that tactic depends on tonnes of ammunition a day reaching the front line by train from western Russia. Until now, Russia had successfully fended off Ukraine’s attempts to cut off that train line.
The Ukrainian general staff said early on Friday retreating Russian forces were trying to evacuate wounded personnel and damaged military equipment near Kharkiv.
“Thanks to skilful and coordinated actions, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the support of the local population, advanced almost 50 km in three days.”
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions have been driven from their homes and Russian forces have destroyed entire cities since Moscow launched what it calls a “special military operation” in February to “disarm” Ukraine. Russia denies intentionally targeting civilians.
In the latest reported strike on civilians, Ukrainian officials said Russia had hit a hospital near the international border in the northeastern Sumy region on Friday morning. Reuters could not independently confirm the report.
Firefighters work at the site of a residential building hit by a Russian military strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine September 6, 2022. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova/File Photo
“Russian aviation, without crossing the Ukrainian border, fired at a hospital. The premises were destroyed, there are wounded people,” regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyi said on Telegram.
BREAKTHROUGH
The surprise Ukrainian breakthrough in the east came a week after Kyiv announced the start of a long-awaited counter-offensive hundreds of km away at the other end of the front line, in Kherson province in the south.
Ukrainian officials say Russia moved thousands of troops south to respond to the Kherson advance, leaving other parts of the front line exposed and creating the opportunity for the lightning assault in the east.
“We found a weak spot where the enemy wasn’t ready,” presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a video posted on YouTube.
Less information so far has emerged about the campaign in the south, with Ukraine keeping journalists away and releasing few details.
Ukraine has been using new Western-supplied artillery and rockets to hit Russian rear positions there, with the aim of trapping thousands of Russian troops on the west bank of the wide Dnipro River and cutting them off from supplies.
Arestovych acknowledged progress in the south had not yet been as swift as the sudden breakthrough in the east.
Russia’s state news agency RIA quoted Russian-appointed Kherson authorities as saying some Ukrainian troops were captured during the counterattack and some Polish tanks they were using were destroyed. Reuters could not verify those reports.
The United Nations accused Moscow of denying access to thousands of prisoners of war, with the head of a U.N. human rights monitoring team in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, describing documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners held by Russian forces and their proxies.
U.N. monitors had also documented incidents of torture and ill-treatment of POWs by Ukraine, which had given them unimpeded access, she said. Ukraine has said it will investigate any violations and take appropriate legal action.
Moscow denies abusing prisoners. Dozens of Ukrainian troops died in a fiery blast while being held by pro-Russian authorities in July in what Kyiv called a massacre. Moscow blamed Ukrainian shelling.
North of the battlefield, Russian missiles struck multiple areas in Kharkiv on Thursday, causing widespread damage and casualties, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
“We are scared … You can’t get used to it, never,” resident Olena Rudenko told Reuters.
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Reporting by Reuters reporters
Writing by Peter Graff
Editing by Philippa Fletcher
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Putin accuses Kyiv and West of flouting grain deal
Says wants to discuss changing terms of deal
Threatens to cut energy exports if Europe caps prices
KYIV, Sept 7 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he wanted to discuss reopening a U.N.-brokered deal that allows Ukraine to export its grain via the Black Sea and threatened to halt all energy supplies to Europe if Brussels caps the price of Russian gas.
In a combative speech to an economic forum in Russia’s Far East region, Putin made little reference to his invasion of Ukraine, but said in answer to a question that Russia would not lose the war and had strengthened its sovereignty and influence.
On the ground, Ukrainian officials remained guarded about how a counter offensive they began late last month was faring but a Russian-installed official in eastern Ukraine said Ukrainian forces had attacked a town there.
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The grain pact, facilitated by the United Nations and Turkey, created a protected export corridor via the Black Sea for Ukrainian foodstuffs after Kyiv lost access to its main export route when Russia attacked Ukraine via land, air and sea.
Designed to help ease global food prices by increasing supplies of grain and oilseeds, the agreement has been the only diplomatic breakthrough between Moscow and Kyiv in more than six months of war.
But Putin said the deal was delivering grain, fertiliser and other foodstuffs to the European Union and Turkey rather than to poor countries whose interests he said were the pretext for the deal and added that he wanted to discussing changing its terms.
“It may be worth considering how to limit the export of grain and other food along this route,” he said, while also saying that Russia would continue to abide by its terms in the hope that it would fulfil its original goals.
“I will definitely consult the President of Turkey, Mr. (Tayyip) Erdogan, on this topic because it was he and I who worked out a mechanism for the export of Ukrainian grain first of all, I repeat, in order to help the poorest countries.”
His comments raised the possibility the pact could unravel if it cannot be successfully renegotiated or might not be renewed by Moscow when it expires in late November.
Ukraine, whose ports had been blockaded by Russia after it invaded in February, said the terms of the agreement, which was signed on July 22 for a period of four months, were being strictly observed and there were no grounds to renegotiate it.
“I believe that such unexpected and groundless statements rather indicate an attempt to find new aggressive talking points to influence global public opinion and, above all, put pressure on the United Nations,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential adviser. read more
The deal threw a lifeline to Kyiv, giving a much-needed source of revenue to an economy devastated by war. It does not say anything about which countries Ukrainian grain should go to and the United Nations has stressed it is a commercial – not humanitarian – operation that will be driven by the market.
According to data from the Istanbul-based coordination group which monitors the deal’s implementation, 30% of the total cargo, which includes that earmarked for or routed via Turkey, had gone to low and lower-middle income countries.
GRAIN AND GAS
Ukraine hopes to export 60 million tonnes of grain in eight to nine months, presidential economic adviser Oleh Ustenko said in July, cautioning that those exports could take up to 24 months if ports do not function properly.
Putin complained that another part of the deal meant to ease restrictions for Russian food exporters and shippers was not being implemented either.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cast doubt on the deal too a day earlier, accusing Western states at the United Nations of failing to honour reciprocal pledges to help facilitate Moscow’s shipments. read more
Russia’s grain exports in August are expected to come in 28% lower than the same period last year, according to a forecast from Russia’s Sovecon consultancy.
The other main global repercussion of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a surge in energy prices as the West responded with sanctions and Moscow restricted exports of gas to Europe, blaming Western restrictions and technical problems.
As the European Union prepared to propose a price cap on Russian gas to try to contain an energy crisis that threatens widespread hardship this winter, Putin threatened to halt all supplies if it took such a step.
“Will there be any political decisions that contradict the contracts? Yes, we just won’t fulfil them. We will not supply anything at all if it contradicts our interests,” Putin said.
“We will not supply gas, oil, coal, heating oil – we will not supply anything,” Putin said.
Europe usually imports about 40% of its gas and 30% of its oil from Russia.
UKRAINIAN BATTLEFIELD SUCCESS?
Asked about what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine by a moderator at the economic forum in Vladivostok, Putin said:
“We have not lost anything and will not lose anything … In terms of what we have gained, I can say that the main gain has been the strengthening of our sovereignty.”
The governor of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, which Russia has said it has taken over on behalf of separatist proxies, told Ukrainian television on Tuesday that Ukraine was fighting back.
A “counter-attack is underway and … our forces are enjoying some success. Let’s leave it at that,” Serhiy Gaidai said on Tuesday, without giving locations.
An official with the pro-Moscow self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic on Tuesday said there was fighting at Balakliia, an eastern town of 27,000 people between Kharkiv and Russian-held Izyum, site of a major railway hub used by Moscow to supply its forces.
“Today, the Ukrainian armed forces, after prolonged artillery preparation … began an attack on Balakliia … ” Daniil Bezsonov said on Telegram, adding that if the town were lost, Russian forces in Izyum would become vulnerable on their northwest flank.
Russia says it has repelled an assault in the south and has not reported any territorial losses.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had taken Kodema in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region from Ukrainian forces. The village of some 600 people is claimed by the Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic as part of its territory.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield accounts.
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Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Philippa Fletcher
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IAEA says Zaporizhzhia plan still producing electricity
Zelenskiy: Russia plans ‘decisive energy blow on all Europeans’
Russia delays pipeline reopening in blow to Europe
G7 finance chiefs agree on Russian oil price cap
KYIV, Sept 4 (Reuters) – A nuclear power plant on the front line of the Ukraine war again lost external power, U.N. inspectors said on Saturday, fuelling fears of disaster while Moscow kept its main gas pipeline to Germany shut to hurt economies of Kyiv’s friends in the West.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest, had its last remaining main external power line cut off, although a reserve line continued supplying electricity to the grid, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. read more
Only one of the station’s six reactors remained in operation, the agency said in a statement.
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The plant, seized by Russian troops shortly after their Feb. 24 invasion, has become a focal point of the conflict, with each side blaming the other for nearby shelling.
A standoff over Russian gas and oil exports ramped up last week as Moscow vowed to keep its main gas pipeline to Germany shuttered and G7 countries announced a planned price cap on Russian oil exports.
The energy fight is a fallout from President Vladimir Putin’s six-month invasion of Ukraine, underscoring the deep rift between Moscow and Western nations as Europe steels itself for the cold months ahead.
“Russia is preparing a decisive energy blow on all Europeans for this winter,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address on Saturday, citing the Nord Stream 1 pipeline’s continued closure.
Zelenskiy has blamed Russian shelling for an Aug. 25 cutoff, the first Zaporizhzhia was severed from the national grid, which narrowly avoided a radiation leak. That shutdown prompted power cuts across Ukraine, although emergency generators kicked in for vital cooling processes.
Moscow has cited Western sanctions and technical issues for energy disruptions, while European countries have accused Russia of weaponising supplies as part of its military invasion.
NUCLEAR CONCERNS
Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations about attacks on the Zaporizhzhia plant, which is still operated by Ukrainian staff.
An IAEA mission toured the plant on Thursday and some experts have remained there pending the release of a report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog in coming days. read more
The remaining inspectors noted one reactor was still producing electricity “for cooling and other essential safety functions at the site and for households, factories and others through the grid,” the IAEA said on Saturday.
The plant said in a statement the fifth reactor was switched off “as a result of constant shelling by Russian occupation forces” and that there was “insufficient capacity from the last reserve line to operate two reactors.”
Deteriorating conditions amid the shelling have prompted fears of a radiation disaster that the International Red Cross has said would cause a major humanitarian crisis. read more
Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of storing heavy weapons at the site to discourage Ukraine from firing on it. Russia, which denies the presence of any such weapons there, has resisted international calls to relocate troops and demilitarise the area.
Russia’s defence ministry on Saturday accused Ukrainian forces of mounting a failed attempt to capture the plant. Reuters could not verify the report. read more
Turkey on Saturday also offered to facilitate the situation. read more
GAS AND OIL
Announcing that it would not make a planned restart of gas shipments through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, one of Russia’s main supply lines to Europe, state-controlled energy giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) blamed a technical fault.
Gazprom said on Saturday that Germany’s Siemens Energy (ENR1n.DE) was ready to help repair broken equipment but that there was nowhere available to carry out the work. Siemens said it has not been commissioned to carry out maintenance work for the pipeline but it is available. read more
The indefinite delay to restarting Nord Stream 1, which runs under the Baltic Sea to supply Germany and others, deepens Europe’s problems securing fuel for winter as energy prices lead a surge in living costs.
Finance ministers from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – said on Friday the cap on the price of Russian oil aimed to reduce “Russia’s ability to fund its war of aggression whilst limiting the impact of Russia’s war on global energy prices”. read more
The Kremlin said it would stop selling oil to any countries that implemented the cap.
Russia calls its invasion of its neighbour “a special military operation.” Kyiv and the West say it is an unprovoked aggressive war against a former part of the Soviet Union.
The United States and other countries have pledged fresh military aid for Kyiv to fight against an invasion that had killed thousands of people and displaced millions.
Ukraine launched a counteroffensive last week targeting the south, particularly the Kherson region, occupied by Russians early in the conflict.
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Reporting by Tom Balmforth in Kyiv; Additional reporting by Michael Shields, Ron Popeski and Reuters bureaus; Writing by Susan Heavey and Simon Cameron-Moore; Editing by Nick Zieminski and William Mallard
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Sept 2 (Reuters) – Group of Seven finance ministers agreed on Friday to impose a price cap on Russian oil aimed at slashing revenues for Moscow’s war in Ukraine while avoiding price spikes, but Russia said it would halt oil sales to countries imposing it.
The ministers from the G7 wealthy democracies confirmed their commitment to the plan after a virtual meeting. They said, however, that key details, including the per-barrel level of the price cap would be determined later “based on a range of technical inputs” to be agreed by the coalition of countries implementing it.
“Today we confirm our joint political intention to finalise and implement a comprehensive prohibition of services which enable maritime transportation of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products globally,” the G7 ministers said.
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The provision of Western-dominated maritime transportation services, including insurance and finance, would be allowed only if the Russian oil cargoes are purchased at or below the price level “determined by the broad coalition of countries adhering to and implementing the price cap.”
A senior U.S. Treasury official told reporters that the coalition would set a specific dollar price limit for Russian crude and two others for petroleum products — not discounts to global market prices — and the price level would be revisited as needed.
“This price cap on Russian oil exports is designed to reduce Putin’s revenues, closing an important source of funding for the war of aggression,” said German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, the current G7 finance chair. “At the same time, we want to curb rising global energy prices. This will minimize inflation globally.”
OIL CUT-OFF
The Kremlin responded to the G7 statement by saying that it would stop selling oil to countries implementing the price cap, saying it would destabilize global oil markets.
“We simply will not cooperate with them on non-market principles,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. [nL8N3091TK]
The Treasury official said Russia would have little choice but to sell oil at reduced prices in line with the cap, because India, China and other countries outside the coalition will still want to buy oil as cheaply as possible and alternative insurance will be considerably more expensive.
A view shows the crude oil terminal Kozmino on the shore of Nakhodka Bay near the port city of Nakhodka, Russia August 12, 2022. REUTERS/Tatiana Meel
“We got positive signals from other countries, but no firm commitments yet,” a senior G7 source said of efforts to recruit other countries into the coalition. “We wanted to send a signal of unity towards Russia and also countries like China.”
The G7 announcement had little effect on benchmark crude prices, which rose in anticipation of an OPEC+ discussion of output cuts on Monday amid weaker demand read more
The ministers said they would work to finalize the details, through their own domestic processes, aiming to align it with the start of European Union sanctions that will ban Russian oil imports into the bloc starting in December.
The G7 consists of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Enforcing the cap would rely heavily on denying London-brokered shipping insurance, which covers about 95% of the world’s tanker fleet, and finance to cargoes priced above the cap. But analysts say that alternatives can be found to circumvent the cap and market forces could render it ineffective read more
Despite Russia’s falling oil export volumes, its oil export revenue in June increased by $700 million from May due to prices pushed higher by its war in Ukraine, the International Energy Agency said last month.
The G7 finance ministers’ statement follows up on their leaders’ decision in June to explore the cap, a move Moscow says it will not abide by and can thwart by shipping oil to states not obeying the price ceiling. read more
PRICING CONCERNS
The U.S. Treasury has raised concerns that the EU embargo could set off a scramble for alternative supplies, spiking global crude prices to as much as $140 a barrel, and it has been promoting the price cap since May as a way to keep Russian crude flowing.
Russian oil prices have risen in anticipation of the EU embargo, with Urals crude trading at an $18-to-$25 per barrel discount to benchmark Brent crude, down from a $30-to-$40 discount earlier this year. read more
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Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski, Matthias Williams, Steve Scherer, William James, Leigh Thomas, Timothy Gardner, Daphne Psaledakis and Rami Ayyub; editng by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Chizu Nomiyama
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Chinese military exercises, involving live-fire, begin
Suspected drones fly over outlying Taiwanese islands
Taiwan says several government websites hacked
China says it’s an internal affair
TAIPEI, Aug 4 (Reuters) – China launched unprecedented live-fire military drills in six areas that ring Taiwan on Thursday, a day after a visit by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the self-ruled island that Beijing regards as its sovereign territory.
Soon after the scheduled start at 0400 GMT, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said the drills had begun and would end at 0400 GMT on Sunday. They would include live firing on the waters and in the airspace surrounding Taiwan, it said. read more
Taiwan officials have said the drills violate United Nations rules, invade Taiwan’s territorial space and are a direct challenge to free air and sea navigation.
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China is conducting drills on the busiest international waterways and aviation routes and that is “irresponsible, illegitimate behaviour,” Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party said.
Taiwan’s cabinet spokesman, expressing serious condemnation of the drills, said also that websites of the defence ministry, the foreign ministry and the presidential office were attacked by hackers.
On Wednesday night, just hours after Pelosi left for South Korea, unidentified aircraft, probably drones, flew above the area of Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen islands near the mainland coast, Taiwan’s defence ministry said. read more
Major General Chang Zone-sung of the army’s Kinmen Defense Command told Reuters that the drones came in a pair and flew into the Kinmen area twice on Wednesday night, at around 9 p.m. (1300 GMT). and 10 p.m.
“We immediately fired flares to issue warnings and to drive them away. After that, they turned around. They came into our restricted area and that’s why we dispersed them,” he said.
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and reserves the right to take it by force, said on Thursday its differences with the self-ruled island were an internal affair. read more
“Our punishment of pro-Taiwan independence diehards, external forces is reasonable, lawful,” China’s Beijing-based Taiwan Affairs Office said.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan a “manic, irresponsible and highly irrational” act bu the United States, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Wang, speaking at a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, said China had made the utmost diplomatic effort to avert crisis, but would never allow its core interests to be hurt.
The foreign ministers in a statement had earlier warned that volatility caused by tensions in the Taiwan Strait could lead to “miscalculation, serious confrontation, open conflicts and unpredictable consequences among major powers”. read more
‘COMRADE PELOSI’
Unusually, the drills in six areas around Taiwan were announced with a locator map circulated by China’s official Xinhua news agency earlier this week – a factor that for some analysts and scholars shows the need to play to both domestic and foreign audiences. read more
On Thursday, the top eight trending items on China’s Twitter-like Weibo service were related to Taiwan, with most expressing support for the drills or fury at Pelosi.
“Let’s reunite the motherland,” several users wrote.
In Beijing, security in the area around the U.S. Embassy remained unusually tight on Thursday as it has been throughout this week. There were no signs of significant protests or calls to boycott U.S. products.
“I think this (Pelosi’s visit) is a good thing,” said a man surnamed Zhao in the capital’s central business district. “It gives us an opportunity to surround Taiwan, then to use this opportunity to take Taiwan by force. I think we should thank Comrade Pelosi.”
Pelosi, the highest-level U.S. visitor to Taiwan in 25 years, praised its democracy and pledged American solidarity during her brief stopover, adding that Chinese anger could not stop world leaders from travelling there.
China summoned the U.S. ambassador in Beijing in protest against her visit and halted several agricultural imports from Taiwan.
“Our delegation came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear that we will not abandon Taiwan,” Pelosi told Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, who Beijing suspects of pushing for formal independence – a red line for China. read more
“Now, more than ever, America’s solidarity with Taiwan is crucial, and that’s the message we are bringing here today.”
The United States and the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations warned China against using Pelosi’s visit as a pretext for military action against Taiwan.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said earlier in the week that Pelosi was within her rights to visit Taiwan, while stressing that the trip did not constitute a violation of Chinese sovereignty or America’s longstanding “one-China” policy.
The United States has no official diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is bound by American law to provide it with the means to defend itself.
China views visits by U.S. officials to Taiwan as sending an encouraging signal to the pro-independence camp on the island. Taiwan rejects China’s sovereignty claims, saying only the Taiwanese people can decide the island’s future.
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Reporting by Yimou Lee; Additional reporting by Tony Munroe; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.