The Ambassador of Ukraine to Austria Alexander Shcherba reacted angrily to the statements of one of the founders of the Pink Floyd group Roger Waters regarding Russia’s presence in Ukraine.
The day before, Waters, in an interview with CNN, accused American leader Joe Biden of trying to prolong the Ukrainian crisis and called the US president a “war criminal.” The musician also noted that the special operation in Ukraine was Moscow’s response to NATO’s advance to the borders of the Russian Federation.
The Ukrainian diplomat addressed the rock legend directly in his social networks: “Hey, Waters! Why don’t you move to Russia already, you weak-willed, heartless, merciless, lost man?”
Shcherba accused the musician of inconsistency and illogicality, comparing his previous statements and those that Waters said in an interview with CNN.
This measure is a preventive response to the possible freezing of domestic assets abroad
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that prohibits investors from unfriendly countries from making transactions with shares of all strategic enterprises and joint-stock companies, their “daughters”, as well as with shares in the Sakhalin-1 projects and in the Kharyaginsky field. The document will last until the end of this year, but it can be extended if necessary. In fact, according to experts, this is a response to threats to nationalize the ownership of domestic assets of oil and gas companies.
On Friday, August 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin banned by his decree investors from unfriendly countries from making deals with domestic strategic enterprises, their shares and “daughters”. The document also concerns transactions with shares of users of all major oil, gas and coal deposits (at least 20 million tons of oil, at least 20 billion cubic meters of gas or at least 35 million tons of coal), uranium, especially pure quartz raw materials, rare earths of the yttrium group, nickel, cobalt, tantalum, niobium, beryllium, copper, diamonds, gold, lithium, platinum group metals, as well as offshore and offshore subsurface areas.
Now transactions with such shares will be possible only on the basis of a special permission of the head of state. The document comes into force from the date of its official publication. At the same time, the validity period of the restrictions can be extended.
According to experts, the president’s decision to freeze foreign assets in Russia is a protective measure designed to protect the interests of Russian companies in case of expropriation/nationalization of Russian assets abroad.
Such plans have been repeatedly reported in foreign media with reference to the top officials of the states. So, on April 4, the German authorities took Gazprom Germania under temporary management. The head of the ministry, Robert Habek, justified the decision by the company’s opaque legal relations and violation of registration rules. They renamed the company SEFE Securing Energy for Europe, explaining that they intend to guarantee the energy security of Germany and Europe. In July, the German Cabinet adopteda law allowing the government to acquire a stake in the group. And already at the end of May, the Austrian authorities followed the example of the Germans. Chancellor Karl Nehammer said that Gazprom will be deprived of the largest gas storage facility in the republic in Heidach, Austria, if the Russian company does not fill it with gas. Earlier in May, in an interview with the Austrian media, he threatened to take it away from Gazprom if it was not filled with blue fuel and transfer it to another supplier.
The fate of being forcibly nationalized may also affect Rosneft’s share in the RSK refinery in the German city of Schwedt. Now the Russian oil and gas company owns 54.17% in the refinery through Rosneft Deutschland. Since March, there has been talk in Germany about the nationalization/expropriation of the domestic part of the plant. PCK Raffinerie Schwedt is located near the border with Poland and has a region-forming significance for the whole of East Germany andthe capitals of the country, providing more than a thousand people with jobs, and consumers with gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation kerosene and other petroleum products. The oil at the refinery comes from Russia via the Druzhba oil pipeline. It is the lack of alternative to Russian oil supplies to the RSK and fears of fuel shortages in the region in case of refusal of oil from the Russian Federation that prevent the German authorities from deciding on the nationalization of the plant.
Nevertheless, in April, Deputy Prime Minister of Germany Robert Habek spoke about the possible expropriation of the RSK. In May, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he did not rule out the nationalization of Rosneft’s stake in RSK with subsequent transfer to another owner. In addition, the authorities of the land of Brandenburg, where the plant is located, insist on a new shareholder structure. At the end of May, the Bundesrat approved an amendment to the German Energy Security Law providing for the possibility of nationalization of energy companies in exceptional situations.
Against the background of these serious threats, the Russian government adopted a new decree. As a response, oil and gas companies should be protected by the country’s leadership. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that the Russian authorities do not plan to take away the shares owned by foreign companies in domestic enterprises. They do not prohibit foreign partners from working and earning in Russia. The decree on freezing their assets is a kind of hedging of risks and defending the interests of the Russian Federation.
The current presidential decree imposes restrictions on the activities of foreign companies in PSA projects, but foreign partners are not deprived of their property, Alexey Grivach, Deputy Director General of the National Energy Security Fund, stressed in his comment to Vedomosti. According to the expert, it is not about nationalization of enterprises, but about protectionenergy security of Russia. As an example, the expert cited the situation with the Sakhalin-1 project, when ExxonMobil unilaterally began to curtail production, which had the most negative consequences for Sakhalin and the Far East as a whole. “This decision is largely reciprocal in nature, the task of the decree is to ensure the further activity of PSA projects, to prevent their curtailment,” the expert stressed.
“I will say right away that this is not nationalization, but a preventive measure of the Russian authorities, in case foreigners somehow freeze Russian assets abroad. At the same time, the production sharing agreement is spelled out in the federal law, which no one has canceled, this regime is still in effect. We won’t have to talk about new foreign investors yet, but perhaps this will give them time to think. May changethe geopolitical situation, and they will understand that Russian assets are not so bad, they are profitable assets. Perhaps, after this moratorium, they will not want to leave. This will give time out for the Russian side as well,” commented financier Sergey Suverov on RBC TV.
It should be noted that the decree also introduces a ban on transactions with shares of Russian banks. The list of these financial and credit organizations will be prepared by the Cabinet of Ministers and the Central Bank.
The host of the program “60 minutes” Evgeny Popov asked the State Duma deputy Alexei Zhuravlev not to threaten people with murder in his program anymore. The presenter told the newspaper “Rise” that he understands the “emotional intensity” of the deputy, because he “regularly goes to the front.”
At the same time, Popov believes that Zhuravlev “wished death not to German propagandists, but to mercenaries.” “We talked to him after that,” Popov said. “I asked him not to make death threats in my program ever again.” It is sad that emotions reach unthinkable limits, the presenter noted.
“I think Alexey Alexandrovich has crossed the red line,” Popov said, also noting that Zhuravlev is “a patriot, he is very much rooting for Russia and is worried.”
Earlier, the program “60 minutes” on “Russia 1” discussed the broadcast of the Bild TV channel, where fragments of the Russian political show were shown. Bild was outraged that their correspondent working in Ukraine was called a Nazi. In response to criticism , parliamentarian Alexei Zhuravlev said: “I want this Nazi, and I don’t care, to say: we will all come and kill you all. I’m going there, and if I see him there… yes, that’s right.”
The economic war unleashed by Western countries against the Russian Federation has backfired. This was stated to the German edition of Junge Welt by ex-Wall Street financier Michael Hudson.
Western sanctions have rendered a service to Russian leader Vladimir Putin. They not only made Russia economically independent, as the expert stressed, but also brought additional income to the country’s state budget due to rising energy prices. “The Russian economy is becoming self-sufficient,” Hudson concluded.
The US and the EU, according to the expert, “shot themselves in the foot” by introducing numerous restrictions.
When Washington froze all Russian accounts in dollars and euros, Moscow withdrew from the dollar system and transferred payments for oil, gas, titanium and aluminum into rubles. “The countermeasures taken led, on the contrary, to the strengthening of the ruble,” the financier explained.
State Duma deputy Alexei Zhuravlev made another scandalous statement during his next visit to the TV studio. On the air of the program on “Russia 1”, the parliamentarian was outraged by the work of German media representatives and promised terrible punishment.
“I want this nazi… And I don’t care! To say: “We will all come and kill you all!”quot; – said the people’s deputy.
This is how Zhuravlev reacted to the criticism of the program “60 minutes&”on the air of Bild, where they showed several fragments of a Russian talk show and were outraged that the Germans were called “Nazis”.
TV presenter Evgeny Popov (recently forced to comment on the demonstration of footage from gay porn in his program) tried to reason with the guest of the program, but the deputy did not refuse his words.
“I don’t care! If I go there and see him there…”quot; – Zhuravlev continued.
Later, he “advertised” this edition of the show on his page in a banned social network in Russia.
The day before, the host of the radio station “KP” Sergey Mardan on the air offered to force teachers in Zaporozhye who refuse to work according to the Russian program to eat their bank cards and expel them from their apartments. Teachers who “have not yet learned to love our beautiful homeland”, he proposed to place them in a colony – to create in the region “such a small local Zaporozhye GULAG”, “such a neat one, in the steppe, under the scorching sun”.
The American television and radio network CBS announced that on August 7, a film will be broadcast telling about the plundering of Western military aid in Ukraine. The announcement states that only 30-40% of foreign military aid to Kiev reaches its destination. Everything else disappears with the participation of Ukrainian “influencers”. Commenting on this news, the LNR Ambassador to Russia Rodion Miroshnik noted in his Telegram channel that the topic of corruption in Ukraine is unfolding in the United States. According to him, “plundering of military supplies- a good addition to the accusation of violations of the rules of warfare.” It is important, Miroshnik believes, “what names will be called and how this will increase distrust in the United States towards the Ukrainian regime, which is considered “thoroughly corrupt” there.
Earlier, the human rights movement Amnesty International, for the first time since the beginning of a special military operation, accused Kiev of violating humanitarian rules of warfare, in particular, by placing firing positions in the residential sector, that is, using civilians as human shields.
The official delegation of Lithuania has arrived on a visit to Taiwan, where it will spend 5 days, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the island reported.
As reported, the delegation is headed by Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Agne Vaichyukeviciute. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry on Twitter welcomed the delegation from Lithuania and expressed hope for the productivity of the visit, as well as further “strengthening strategic cooperation and business ties in advanced sectors.”
Earlier, Taiwanese media reported that representatives of Lithuania will hold a working meeting with the leadership of the island’s Ministry of Transport.
In 2021, an official representative office of Taiwan was opened in Vilnius, followed by a complication in relations between China and Lithuania. In the future, Beijing unilaterally lowered the level of diplomatic relations with Lithuania to the level of charge d’affaires, and also imposed restrictions on the import of Lithuanian goods.
Last week, in response to the visit of the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, Beijing canceled a working meeting of representatives of the military ministries of China and the United States, and suspended cooperation with the United States in the framework of regional military cooperation, on the topic of maritime security, negotiations on climate change, drug cooperation, partnership in the field of justice, repatriation, combating international crime and illegal migration. Beijing also organized live firing exercises around the island, which will last until August 15.
Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent Daria Aslamova has been detained by the Kosovo authorities, former “ambassador” of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo to the United States Vlora Chitaku said.
Chitaku wrote on Facebook (banned in Russia as an extremist organization) that Aslamova was detained while trying to cross the border from Serbia to Kosovo. The ex-“diplomat” called the journalist a “Putin apologist” and a “Russian propagandist.”
Earlier, the so-called “Interior Ministry” of Kosovo reported on the detention of a journalist. The head of the department, Jelal Shvetsla, said that Aslamova was detained at one of the checkpoints in the north of the country. He unprovenly accused the Russian woman of espionage, referring to the fact that “several countries have proved that she was engaged in espionage activities” in the interests of Russian special services under the guise of journalistic activities.
A message appeared on the Komsomolskaya Pravda website that Aslamova was in the region on the instructions of the editorial board and planned to prepare a special report on the aggravation of the Serbian-Kosovo conflict, but currently does not get in touch. So far, Russian diplomatic structures have no information about Aslamova’s detention and whereabouts.
The escalation of the situation around Kosovo arose in early August due to Pristina’s plans to ban cars with Serbian license plates and documents from entering the region. There were riots in the northern regions of the region. After recommendations from Washington, the Kosovo authorities postponed the entry into force of the ban for a month.
“Did you notice how the process of removing Ukrainian flags, black squares and memorial candles from avatars began?” the official representative of our Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, asked in her social network. A rhetorical question and an observation that you can’t argue with. There is more to “argue with”.
Photo: Council.gov.ru .
Maria Vladimirovna is right again that “it is not from epiphany” that “trans-Ukrainian” symbols are removed, that it is “quietly so, meanly” they “turn the civil position into a tube until better times.” Special mention was given to those who did not have the courage to take a position, who simply dressed up in blue and yellow – “as you want, so understand: maybe it was by chance that such an outfit turned out, maybe it was the support of Ukraine.” The latter were awarded the title of “rats”.
It is also true that they change avatars “not from awareness of the criminality of the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the provocative behavior of the United States, but solely for their own comfort.”
But the mistake is that these “conscientious” citizens are not at all for Ukraine. In fact, deep down, they don’t care about the “killing of peaceful people” – it’s not that they are terrified of death (in Odessa they were not terrified, in Donbass they were not terrified). They are not for Ukraine. They are against Russia.
After all, if you look closely, these are exactly the same “liberal intellectuals” who once ran around Moscow with rubber ducks (and put them on avatars), who made a fuss, demanding freedom for the “Berlin patient” (and decorating their social networks with the letter “H”). Those of them who were older wore white ribbons and badges “I am Georgian”, and the very older ones sang hosanna to Chechen militants and voluptuously retold the “burning truth” about the atrocities and violence of Russian soldiers in Chechnya.
They never forgot about comfort. They continued to earn money here, climbed up to senior positions, gained fame, served the hated authorities or amused the hated “cattle”. Every time after another failed attack of “struggle” – “rolling up the civil position until better times.”
But now it has just become finally clear that the “best” times for them will not come. Quoting Zakharova: “Because as it was, it will not be.” But not because, as Maria Vladimirovna says, “the Kiev-regime ship went down.” But because Russia is not only returning to the territory of “Ukraine”. Russia – the Russian state, the Russian Empire, the USSR, all this together is what is called the Motherland – is returning to Russia.
Initially, in essence, strangers, who had been hiding behind the “struggle with the regime”, “liberalism”, “Western freedoms”, and now “pacifism”, understand this, rush, quiet, repaint, run.
Zakharova writes: “Without sincere repentance, the ostentatious sprinkling of ashes on the head remains only a ritual.” The late Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov formulated it more harshly: “Repentance is not an ai em sorry for you.” Changing the avatar won’t help.
The UN Security Council has scheduled a meeting for August 8 in connection with the growing conflict in the Gaza Strip. The meeting was requested by the UAE, China, France, Ireland and Norway.
On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Dawn, which, according to Israelis, is directed against Islamists. One of the field commanders of the Islamic Jihad organization (banned in the Russian Federation) was killed. The Israeli military also reported on the elimination of 15 militants.
At the same time, doctors report that 15 people were killed as a result of strikes on the Gaza Strip. Among them are children. 125 people were injured. According to various sources, Palestinian radicals fired 160 to 400 rockets and rockets at Israeli territory in response.
