EU efforts to gradually reduce Russian gas imports over time will only bolster Moscow’s revenues by driving prices upwards, Mike Fulwood, a senior fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), warned in a paper.
While the front line has moved to Eastern and Southern Ukraine, Russian troops still remain in Belarus. The question is, what are they still doing there? Moreover, what are the objectives of Lukashenko's revived dialogue initiatives with the West?
The EU's latest sanctions package makes it harder for Russian and Belarusian actors to evade sanctions using cryptocurrencies. In light of this, it's also important to remember what the Belarusian regime's "crypto friendliness" is actually based on.
In mid-March, Hiroshi Makino, a venture capitalist, made the difficult choice to relocate his family and business from St Petersburg, Russia back to his home country of Japan.
Alongside hard-hitting sanctions, over 750 multinationals are voluntarily reducing operations in Russia. Those which remain are finding their decision increasingly difficult to justify, dealing with reputational damage and disrupted supply chains.
Ukraine is rapidly depleting its Soviet era weapons stockpiles as well as “burning through a week’s worth of anti-tank munitions every day”, according to Bloomberg.
Europe’s unprecedented push to sever all energy ties with Russia has left Moscow scrambling to re-orientate its vast oil, gas and coal exports to Asian markets. But achieving such a monumental feat would likely take years and cost billions.
On April 16 Moscow confirmed that its Black Sea flagship Moskva had sunk after the survivors of her crew of 500 men had abandoned ship. It is the biggest naval loss to enemy action since WWII and a major blow to Russia’s military prestige.
European officials are drafting plans for an embargo on Russian oil products, the most contested measure yet to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and a move long resisted because of its big costs for Germany.
In its current state, Kazakhstan’s army is in little condition to discourage sabre-rattling from the north.
Voices are calling very loudly for the EU to shut off deliveries of Russian gas immediately. Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, Germany has paid Russia some €9bn a week for gas imports that critics say is being used to fund the Putin war.
Grain has not been included in the sanctions the West has imposed on Russia, and is very unlikely to be, as so many countries rely on the commodity. But Russia is threatening to restrict exports of grain and fertiliser for exactly this reason.
Following the death of ultranationalist firebrand Zhirinovsky, his LDPR party may get a new leader for the first time in 30 years. Leonid Slutsky is the most likely candidate, but rumours say that the party may not have any future in the Duma.
The EU's fifth package of sanctions targets Russian imports from practically all remaining sectors. The one notable exception is gas, which is still welcome at European ports and on European roads.
Russia dominates Europe’s oil supplies, accounting for 25% of all oil deliveries. Most of Europe wants to diversify away from Russian oil, but adding to the difficulties is that much of this oil is delivered not by ship but the Druzhba pipelines.
Coal was included in the EU’s fifth package of sanctions, the first time that energy has been targeted by the tough sanction regime being imposed on Russia. Coal only makes up 3% of EU imports, but Russia continues to be the major supplier.
Russia has been condemned for its attack on Ukraine at two votes in the UN but the voting patterns shed some light on who Russia's friends are and those that are sitting on the fence
Warsaw has been accused of dragging its feet about ending Russian oil imports, while calling for an urgent EU-wide embargo at the same time.
Lukashenko has demanded that Belarus is granted a place at Russia's and Ukraine's peace negotiations. Minsk is more and more sidestepping its previous war rhetoric against Ukraine, and has stopped calling Russia's invasion a "special operation".
Independent Russian publication Meduza has obtained files containing high-quality videos depicting the southern districts of the city of Bucha that show the dead bodies in the street while Russian troops still occupied the Kyivian suburb.