LIVE: EU Intends to Jointly Purchase Gas To Avoid Dependence

The armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine is about to be a month old without any signs of a short-term solution. Below are the main events as they happen.

EU intends to jointly purchase gas to reduce dependence on Russia

European Union leaders are planning to reach agreements on joint gas purchases at a two-day summit beginning Thursday in a bid to reduce dependence on Russian fuel, media reported, citing sources.

The European Commission said Wednesday it is ready to review and identify the amount of collective gas needs of EU countries, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen, to buy the fuel jointly, modeled on the purchase of vaccines against COVID-19.

Brussels intends to take advantage of U.S. President Joe Biden's presence at the summit to negotiate additional U.S. LNG supplies for the next two winters.

European Council President Charles Michel, in an invitation letter to EU leaders for the summit, wrote, among other things, that events in Ukraine pose various challenges within the EU, not least in terms of energy policy.

"At our meeting in Versailles (March 10-11 - IF) we agreed to end dependence on Russian gas, oil and coal as soon as possible. Now we must take immediate measures to protect our energy resources for the coming winter," Michel stressed.

The media forecast that the summit will discuss Moscow's demand to switch to paying for gas in rubles. This, as noted by media sources, could undermine the EU sanctions by effectively unfreezing Russian assets.

At the same time, the EU countries are still divided on the issue of imposing an embargo on Russian oil and gas imports.

Consensus is needed for a decision to be made, but Germany and Hungary are opposed, citing the economic damage that refusal of imports would cause.

Russian National Wealth Fund down by $6.8 bln in February 2022, says ministry

Russia’s National Wealth Fund (NWF) decreased by 675.16 bln rubles ($6.8 bln) in February 2022 to around 12.9 trillion rubles ($131 bln) as of March 1, 2022, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

"As of March 1, 2022, the National Wealth Fund amounted to 12.935 trillion rubles, or 9.7% of GDP projected for 2022," the statement said.

As of February 1, the National Wealth Fund amounted to 13.6 trillion rubles ($177 bln). Its liquid part stood at 7.3% of GDP, or 9.73 trillion rubles ($116.5 bln), as of February 1.

As much as 38.561 bln euro, 4.178 bln pounds sterling, 600.304 bln Japanese yen, 226.702 bln Chinese yuan, 405,708 tonnes of gold in impersonalized form, and 142.1 bln rubles were deposited with the Bank of Russia. Moreover, 531.37 bln rubles were deposited with VEB.RF development bank.

Some $3 bln were invested in debentures of foreign states, 294.846 bln rubles and $2.363 bln were invested in securities of Russian issuers related to implementation of self-sustained infrastructure projects, and another 278.992 bln rubles - in preferred shares of credit organizations.

A total of 138.433 bln rubles were deposited with VTB and Gazprombank for financing self-sustained infrastructure projects, as well as 1.475 trillion rubles and 30.7 bln rubles were invested in ordinary shares of Sberbank and Aeroflot, respectively.

Renault announces suspension of activities at Moscow plant

France’s car producer Renault has suspended the operation of its Moscow plant and it is assessing available options regarding the stake in Avtovaz, the company’s press service said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The Board of Directors of Renault Group met today and approved the following items: Renault Group activities in its manufacturing plant in Moscow are suspended as of today. Regarding its stake in Avtovaz, Renault Group is assessing the available options, taking into account the current environment, while acting responsibly towards its 45,000 employees in Russia," the statement said.

Fitch will withdraw ratings of Russian issuers by April 15

The international rating agency Fitch will withdraw the ratings of all Russian companies and their subsidiaries in accordance with sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union.

As part of the fourth package of sanctions adopted by EU countries on March 15, 2022, European agencies are banned from rating Russia and Russian companies, as well as providing rating services to Russian clients.

"The ratings will be withdrawn by April 15, the deadline set by the EU," Fitch said in a press release.

Earlier this month, Fitch announced it would cease commercial activities in Russia.

Another international rating agency, S&P Global Ratings, this week also announced its intention to withdraw the ratings of Russian issuers by April 15.

China regrets UN Security Council's failure to reach a humanitarian agreement on Ukraine

China described as "regrettable" the failure of the United Nations (UN) Security Council to reach an agreement on the draft resolution submitted by Russia on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.

"It is regrettable that the council was not able to reach as much agreement as possible," the Chinese envoy to the UN Zhang Jun said. 

RELATED: 

Why is the EU Wary of Cutting off Russian Energy?

Russia expels U.S. diplomats. On Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry sent a list of "persona non grata" to the U.S. embassy in Moscow. This action was taken in response to the President Biden's decision to expel Russian diplomats who were assigned to the permanent U.N. mission.

Serbia supports the Russian stance. The Serbian Parliament spokesperson Ivica Dacic assured that his country is undoubtedly on the side of Russia. "Serbia does not want war, but there is no dilemma as to which side its sympathies are on," he stressed. 

This politician, who is running for Prime Minister in the April 3 elections, stated that Russia is the only country that truly supports Serbia. Meanwhile, the European Union is "hypocritical" because, no matter how much Serbia meets its demands, Brussels "will always ask for more and more."

The European Union "will demand the independence of Kosovo. We should look at our interests," Dacic said.

Ukraine will respond to the expulsion of its diplomats from Belarus. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko said his country will respond to Belarus's "hostile" expulsion of some of its diplomats from the Ukrainian embassy in Minsk.

"The Belarusian side announced the reduction of the Ukrainian embassy in Minsk and the closure of the Ukrainian consulate in Brest. Twelve Ukrainian diplomats were ordered to leave Belarus within 72 hours," Nikolenko said, adding that some diplomats will continue to work at the embassy to provide assistance to Ukrainian citizens.

Russia prepares response to expulsion of 45 diplomats from Poland. The Polish government spokesman Stanisław Zaryn announced the expulsion of 45 diplomats on the grounds that they "work for the Russian intelligence service."

Previously, on March 1, the Russian ambassador to Poland, Serguei Andreev, denounced the "deterioration" of diplomatic relations between both countries. He stated that those relations "have never been simple", but they have "worsened even further" after the "hysteria" that has been taking place since the beginning of the military operation in Ukraine.

Sweden will send 5,000 anti-tank rocket launchers to Ukraine. Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister Ann Linde said that her country decided to make a second shipment of weapons to Ukraine, after having authorized on February 26 a first shipment worth 37.7 million euros.

Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist confirmed the news and stated that "it is extremely important to continue to actively support Ukraine."

Since the Soviet invasion of its territory in 1939, Finland had remained a neutral nation and committed not to send weapons to countries in conflict. This diplomatic tradition, however, was broken in February.

Russia warns of consequences of sending of "peacekeepers." On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov warned that a possible deployment of peacekeepers from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Ukraine would be dangerous.

"A special operation is underway in Ukraine and a hypothetical clash between our military and NATO troops could lead to dire consequences," he said.

In mid-March, Poland's Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski suggested sending a NATO peacekeeping mission with an armed contingent to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not rule out that with this initiative Poland wants to control western Ukraine.

Joe Biden will travel to Europe for several days. The U.S. President will take part in international summits organized by NATO, the Group of Seven (G7), and the European Union.

Besides trying to convince his allies to impose new sanctions on Russia, he plans to work with allies on long-term adjustments to NATO's presence in Eastern Europe. Another of the his goals is to get Western countries to speak with "one voice" against China.

Russia will require "unfriendly" countries to pay for gas in rubles. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country will refuse to pay for Russian gas in dollars and euros and that he will collect supplies from "unfriendly" countries only in rubles.

Russian forces destroy major weapons depot. The Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said "high-precision, long-range, sea-based weapons" helped destroy a major weapons storage site in Rovno City.

"The attack destroyed the depot containing a large amount of weapons and military equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including those supplied by Western countries," he said.

Since the military operation in Ukraine began on Feb. 24, Russia has managed to destroy 184 Ukrainian aircraft and helicopters, 246 drones, 189 air defense missile systems, 1,558 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, 156 multiple rocket launchers, 624 artillery campaign and mortars and 1,354 motorized military vehicles.

U.S. dislikes quick success in Russia-Ukraine peace talks. The United States would not like to see a rapid completion of the Moscow-Kiev peace talks but hopes that Russia is mired in prolonged hostilities, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday.

"It is unprofitable for Americans that this negotiation process will be completed quickly. They want to continue to send weapons to Ukraine. Apparently, they want to keep us in a state of hostilities for as long as possible," Lavrov said during a meeting with students and teachers of Russia's MGIMO University.

He expressed concern over the delivery of MiG fighter jets and U.S. Stinger man-portable air defense systems to Ukraine, which will pose "an enormous threat, because they will surely spread all over Europe."

Ukraine sets up nine humanitarian corridors. On Wednesday, Ukraine established nine corridors, enabling civilians to leave the conflict-torn areas and the delivery of aid. These corridors were set up to evacuate civilians from three towns in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and four villages in the central Kiev region, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, adding that people will be also evacuated through the humanitarian routes from Mariupol city in the southeast and Rubizhne town in the east.