Translated material
The cost of war in Ukraine. Online February 2
The Bell continues to host an online video dedicated to the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine that began on February 24, 2022.
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21:54 Checkpoint "Upper Lars" on the border with Georgia from tonight is completely closed for all modes of transport, and only for leaving the Russian Federation, the reported Ministry of Emergency Situations for North Ossetia . The reason is the worsening weather conditions, according to the department.
Upper Lars is the only border crossing on the Russian-Georgian border. Here, after the announcement of mobilization last fall, many kilometers of traffic jams formed , in which they had to stand for several days.
20:13 The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Ukraine's accession to the EU Parliamentarians called on the European Union to start preparing negotiations on Ukraine's accession. 489 deputies voted for the resolution. 36 voted against, 49 abstained.
18:52 Ukrainian servicemen will begin training on Leopard 2 tanks next week, FT reports.
The details of the training plan were worked out the day before at a meeting of representatives of the defense departments of Western countries in Germany. The training will last about six weeks.
Hundreds of Ukrainian troops have already arrived at training grounds in Germany and Poland, one source told the FT: “Training will start next week. Everything is happening very quickly because the Ukrainians see the urgency of the situation.”
In November, the EU agreed to establish a Mission to train Ukrainian military personnel (EU Military Assistance Mission). Initially, it was planned to organize the training of 15,000 soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine throughout 2023 in the EU countries, now twice as many have been announced. Today it also became known that the EU will allocate another €45 million to support the Mission's efforts and an additional €500 million for the purchase of military equipment for Ukraine (thus, the total amount of assistance reached €3.6 billion).
Ukrainian officials are warning of a possible start of a new large-scale Russian offensive in the east and south by the anniversary of the invasion, February 24. Russia's Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov estimates that Russia has already mobilized about 500,000 soldiers for this purpose. It is not excluded the offensive simultaneously on all fronts.
16:20 In the case of the explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines at the end of September, there is still surprisingly little evidence for an event of such significance, The Times writes , citing sources with knowledge of what is happening. The investigation - at least in Germany - did not make much progress, and could not exclude that "the explosions were carried out by a Western state in order to put the blame on Russia," the newspaper claims.
in passing about the "direct participation" of the United States in the explosions in today's interview Sergey Lavrov spoke . Vladimir Putin directly accused some "Anglo-Saxons" of sabotage.
13:16 The international passport of a new sample (biometric) is temporarily not issued, the submission of applications for the issuance of such passports of a new sample is suspended. The State Services website issues such a warning from today when trying to start registration.
What is happening, explained Goznak : in recent months, there have been many applications for biometric passports, the need for microcircuits that are built into the form has increased significantly. “Currently, the manufacturer of these microcircuits, JSC Mikron, is reconfiguring equipment and optimizing technological processes in order to meet the increased demand for the microcircuits under discussion in the future,” the company writes. “We expect that after its completion, the rhythm of production and personalization of foreign passports will be restored within a month.”
In total, 5.4 million foreign passports were issued to Russians in 2022, which is 40% more than in 2021. According to the results of the "mobilization" October, the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued 471,000 foreign passports - a third more than in October 2021 (355,000) and pre-Covid 2019 (366,000). The first month of war remains a record — in March 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued 553,000 documents.
10:20 Shell, leaving Russia at the end of last year, signed with a partner in a joint venture - Gazprom Neft - documents on the sale of the last asset in Russia - 50% of Salym Petroleum Development. Last summer, the joint venture was transferred to Russian jurisdiction, and Shell Salym Development, the owner of half of the joint venture, was banned from disposing of the stake. At the end of December, the ban was lifted at the request of Gazprom Neft, which eventually consolidates the Salym fields.
Details of the deal are contained in Shell's annual report . It is notable for the highest profit in history - $40 billion (doubling by 2021). Losses and write-offs of $3.8 billion due to withdrawal from Russian projects, including Sakhalin-2, are insignificant against this background. The company announced an additional $4 billion buyback and a 15% fourth-quarter dividend increase.
$56 billion shortly before Considering that Shell's record profit (and Exxon's ) was received, among other things, due to an increase in the cost of energy resources due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, money was actually shifted from consumers' pockets to shareholders' accounts. Bloomberg expects a new round of discussions about additional taxation of the industry.
9:54 The return of Crimea to Ukrainian control is unlikely in the near future, and the success of a major offensive is not guaranteed - four senior Pentagon officials gave such an assessment at a recent briefing for US congressmen, Politico learned from the meeting participants.
The publication notes that the conditions for the victory of Ukraine in Ukraine and in the United States are seen differently. The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Republican Mike Rogers, this week did not rule out even some pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from the United States and NATO "regarding what victory should look like." In his opinion, negotiations between Putin and Zelensky could take place this summer.
In Kyiv, they have already answered that American intelligence has constantly underestimated the potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an interview with Rossiya-24, said that everyone in the world wants this to end, but the main thing is not time, but “the quality of the results for our people, for people who want to remain part of Russian culture” . “At this stage, we are acting in the same way as our Western colleagues promised - there must be a victory on the battlefield,” Lavrov said.
The main thing for the night and morning:
- In Russia, the situation with democracy has significantly worsened in 2022, follows from the annual study by The Economist. After the invasion of Ukraine, Russia's democratic indicators showed the sharpest drop of any country in the world, analysts say. “Russia has been on a trajectory away from democracy for a long time and is now acquiring many of the characteristics of a dictatorship,” the report says. In particular, there is unprecedented pressure on the media and the opposition.
- The Imeretinskiy hotel complex, which belonged to Oleg Deripaska, has been turned into state revenue, "events are being taken to change ownership," reports RBC . The asset, which is estimated at a billion dollars, was arrested after the businessman's anti-war posts. The official reason is the use of land for other purposes. But the FT linked the arrest to Deripaska's anti-war stance: "The Kremlin asked him to calm down" after posts on social networks, sources said.
- The Wall Street Journal also writes that the new American package of military assistance to Ukraine will include GLSDB missiles with a range of 150 km. The day before, Reuters reported this, citing sources. What this means, we explained here .
- The production of sour cream in Russia turned out to be totally dependent on imports, told Sergey Bachin, the founder of the AgriVolga agricultural holding, RBC in an interview. According to him, if Europe imposes sanctions on dairy cultures, then there will be no sour cream in Russia. Bachin explained that there are simply no sourdough factories in Russia: “there is an experimental biofactory in Uglich and small laboratories that are trying to do something, but they cover no more than 10%.” The remaining 90% are imports.
- Rosaviatsia offers airlines to organize direct flights to Africa and Nepal, learned Kommersant . Before the pandemic, only a few charters flew there, and individual travelers traveled through Europe. Airlines are skeptical about the idea: they doubt the commercial success of such flights, fear sanctions against dual-registration aircraft, and cite a shortage of long-haul airliners.
- Business Ombudsman Boris Titov suggested that the government soften immigration laws. First, in his opinion, it is necessary to increase the term of a labor patent from one year to three years. Now it takes foreign workers up to 30 days a year to complete it, during which they drop out of the work process. Secondly, Titov proposes to introduce a mechanism for the rehabilitation of foreign workers who are denied entry into the country, at the request of the employer.
- The Russian electric car manufacturer Motorinvest (produces cars under the Evolute brand) has proposed several measures to the authorities to stimulate the electric car market in Russia. In particular, he considers it necessary to limit the cost of charging commercial electric vehicles to 8 rubles (now it reaches 25 rubles) for 3-5 years at the expense of state subsidies. How the electric car market is developing in Russia, we told here .
- At night, Russian troops attacked the center of Kramatorsk, a rocket hit a residential building, said Pavel Kirilenko, head of the Donetsk military administration. According to the latest reports, three people were killed and eight others were injured. Rescuers disassemble the rubble, under which there may be people. The Russian side has not yet commented on the situation.