Asuncion: “An order is being prepared to introduce retaliatory measures against the friendly actions of some foreign governments,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said of the draft, which includes restrictions on entry into Russia.
In response to Western sanctions, Moscow released a list of “non-friendly” countries in early March, including members of the United States, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom (including Jersey, Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and Gibraltar), Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Taiwan, and South Korea. Includes Norway and Australia.
These include Ukraine, Montenegro, Albania, Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Northern Macedonia, Micronesia, New Zealand and Singapore. On Monday, the order under the Lavrov product did not specify whether these countries would apply or which groups would be allowed.
“Unacceptable”
German Economy Minister Robert Hebeck said on Monday that the G7 countries’ payment of Russian gas in rubles was “unacceptable” and showed that President Vladimir Putin was “between a rock and a hard spot”.
“All G7 ministers have acknowledged that this is a unilateral and clear violation of existing agreements (…), that is, accepting payments in rubles is unacceptable,” Hebek said after a telematic meeting with his G7 colleagues.
“I think someone should explain this request so that Putin can be on a bond,” he added. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would no longer accept payments in dollars or euros for Russian gas supplies to the EU, and gave Russian authorities a week to develop a new tariff system.
“We call on the companies involved not to comply with Putin’s demands,” Hebek said on Monday, calling Russia an “unreliable supplier.” With this request, the Minister added that Putin is “trying to divide us”, the country that will hold the chairmanship of the G7 (United States, France, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany and Italy) this year.
According to the Russian president, the move comes in response to a Western decision to freeze Russian assets to allow Moscow to occupy Ukraine. Despite the outbreak of the conflict, the European Union continues to buy Russian gas and reject the embargo imposed by the United States.
No “significant improvement”
The Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the two delegations were preparing for a new round of talks in Istanbul, Turkey, saying that Russia and Ukraine had made “no significant progress” in negotiations to end the conflict.
“Now we can not determine whether there is significant progress or improvement,” Pesco told reporters. However, he described the decision to continue the talks in private as “important”. Pesco said the delegations would arrive on Monday and that talks were unlikely to resume that day. In a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to hold talks in Istanbul.
The recent round of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey on March 10 in Antalya did not bring much progress. Since Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine in late February, both sides have been holding video conferences.
Weekly / La Nacion
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