Putin and Erdogan conclude an economic and energy agreement at their meeting in Sochi. Gazprom apparently burns gas at the starting point of Nord Stream 1 in a targeted manner. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war in the ticker.
7:15 p.m .: According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have agreed on increased cooperation on economic and energy issues. According to the Kremlin, at their meeting in Sochi on the Black Sea, the two agreed on increased trade between the two countries “despite the current regional and global challenges”.
4:15 p.m .: At his meeting with Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke out in favor of signing an agreement to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries. “I hope that today we can sign a memorandum on the development of our trade and economic relations,” Putin said at the meeting in the Russian Black Sea port of Sochi on Friday.
“I believe that (today’s meeting) will turn a whole new page in Turkish-Russian relations,” Erdogan said. He added that the conflict in Syria will be discussed in particular. Ankara wants to launch another military operation there against Kurdish fighters. At the last meeting between Erdogan and Putin in Tehran in mid-July, the Russian President made it clear that he rejected Turkey’s plans. Before the meeting in Sochi, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned Turkey against “destabilizing the situation in Syria”.
Putin also thanked Erdogan for mediating the conclusion of the grain agreement. Erdogan not only promoted the resumption of Ukrainian grain deliveries from the Black Sea ports, Putin said in a statement with Erdogan in Sochi before joint talks on Friday. “But at the same time, a package solution was adopted for the trouble-free delivery of Russian food and fertilizers to world markets.”
Agricultural exports via the Ukrainian Black Sea ports had recently been blocked for months because of the Russian war of aggression. War opponents Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement separately with Turkey on July 22, through UN mediation, to allow grain exports from Ukraine from three ports. As part of the agreement, the UN and Russia also signed a separate memorandum of understanding. According to UN information, this provides for the promotion of the export of Russian food and fertilizers.
3:10 p.m .: The television journalist Marina Owsjannikova, who became known for her live protest against the Russian military operation in Ukraine, compared her return to Moscow to a game of Russian roulette. In an interview with the AFP news agency, the 44-year-old said she knew she could be arrested at any time: “I decided to play Russian roulette.” She was “a fighter” and was “not afraid despite the intimidation”.
“You can find a law to punish any person,” Ovzyannikova said, alluding to a somber aphorism from the days of Stalinist terror. “If they make that decision, they will arrest me within a day, it will only be a few seconds last.”
Ovzyannikova came to international attention when she appeared behind the news anchor during a live TV show on March 14 and held a protest poster up to the camera. The journalist then spent several months abroad and worked briefly for the German newspaper “Die Welt”. In early July, she announced her return to Russia to resolve a custody battle over their two children with her ex-husband, who works at pro-Kremlin broadcaster RT.
After her protest action on television, she was briefly taken into police custody, but was released again. However, she has since been fined for repeatedly criticizing the military operation in Ukraine. On Monday she has to appear in court again because she is said to have “discredited” the Russian army.
Friday, August 5, 8:05 a.m.: As the “Nexta” news channel reports on Twitter, the dead bodies of civilians are said to still lie on the streets of Mariupol. The city was fiercely fought over. The news channel relies on an advisor to the mayor for its statements.
Fighting in the southern Ukrainian city claimed the lives of thousands of people. Russia recently announced plans to rebuild the city, which its army had previously destroyed in large parts. According to this, the first residential buildings and hospitals are said to be in place in September.
8:08 p.m .: The Russian company Gazprom apparently burns parts of the gas that should actually go to Germany at the compressor station of Nord Stream 1 near Saint Petersburg. This is reported by the Finnish news site “Yle” and shared corresponding photos on Twitter. The “world” also reports.
The compressor station should be visible on these, with a large flame blazing above it. This is so high that it can be seen across the national border. The station near St. Petersburg is the starting point of Nord Stream 1.
In fact, data from the NASA space agency’s “Fire Information for Resource Management Systems” also shows that larger fires have been blazing steadily across the site since June 16. There had been no flames there prior to the curtailment deadline. The starting point of Nord Stream 1 is located on the site near Saint Petersburg. Here the Russian natural gas is compressed and pressed into the pipeline, which then leads to Lubmin in Germany.
Gazprom claims the gas throttling is due to technical reasons. The federal government considers this to be a pretense. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) visited a turbine that was serviced in Canada and brought back to Germany on Wednesday. Russia has not yet requested them again.
7:24 p.m .: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan want to meet this Friday in the Russian seaside resort of Sochi. The conversation should start around 2:00 p.m. CEST, it was said on Thursday from the Turkish presidential palace.
According to the Kremlin, possible sales of combat drones from NATO member Turkey are also on the agenda. Turkish sources did not confirm this for the time being. The Ministry of Communications said it would deal with current global and regional issues. In addition to the war in Ukraine, Turkish plans for a new offensive in northern Syria are also likely to be discussed. Moscow recently advised against this.
Shortly after the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Erdogan said he would not rule out arms deals with Russia. For example, Russia is interested in the Turkish combat drone Bayraktar TB2, which has been successfully used by the Ukrainian military. Putin has suggested working with Turkey on Baykar’s drones, Erdogan said, according to broadcaster CNN Türk.
5:08 p.m .: The US basketball player Brittney Griner has been found guilty by a court of drug smuggling. She was sentenced to nine years in prison. This was reported by the Tass agency on Thursday from the court in Chimki near Moscow.
The US is trying to get Griner free as part of a prisoner swap. This could succeed with the judgment that has now been passed.
US President Biden has sharply criticized the conviction and called for her release. “Russia is wrongly holding Brittney,” Biden said in a written statement Thursday. “This is unacceptable and I call on Russia to release her immediately so that she can be with her wife, family, friends and teammates.” Biden said the US government is continuing to work tirelessly to get Griner home safely as soon as possible.
9:59 a.m .: Doubts about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are apparently growing in the United States. This is reported by the “New York Times”, citing government circles. US officials are “significantly more concerned about Ukraine’s leadership than they officially admit,” the newspaper said in an article. There is “deep mistrust” between the White House and Selenskyj.
In particular, the recent dismissals in Zelenskyj’s environment – the attorney general and his intelligence chief – are causing concern in the United States. The “New York Times” reports that there is still no convincing explanation for this harsh step. Columnist Thomas L. Friedman writes: “It seems to me that now that we’ve invested so much, we’d rather not look so closely under the hood in Kyiv for fear of discovering corruption or escapades there.
8:55 a.m .: The Ukrainian leadership considers statements by former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to be implausible, according to which Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin is ready for peace negotiations. “There is nothing more cynical than the claims by Putin supporters that Russia is ready to negotiate,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on his Twitter channel on Wednesday. The daily shelling of Ukrainian territory said otherwise.
The Ukrainian chief diplomat referred to heavy artillery fire and rocket attacks against civilian objects. In addition, he once again accused the Russian military of serious war crimes. “Russia remains focused on the war – everything else is a cloud of smoke,” added Kuleba.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Russia was quite ready for a diplomatic settlement of the “problem” – but only on Russian terms.
7.38 a.m .: Germany has to reduce its absolute gas consumption more than any other EU country in order to achieve the European Union’s savings target of 15 percent. According to a calculation by the German Press Agency based on data from the EU Commission, the Federal Republic of Germany must use a good 10 billion cubic meters less gas from the beginning of August to March next year in order to achieve the target set by the EU countries.
The amount of gas that can be saved in Germany is roughly equivalent to the average annual consumption of five million four-person households. Because 10 billion cubic meters of gas correspond to around 100 billion kilowatt hours, and a typical four-person household in Germany consumes around 20,000 kilowatt hours a year.
This means that Europe’s largest economy has to save more in absolute terms than others because of its comparatively high gas consumption. Next is Italy, with a required saving of just over 8 billion cubic meters by March next year. France and the Netherlands both need to use around five billion cubic meters less. Overall, the EU has to save around 45 billion cubic meters of gas – so Germany would be responsible for almost a quarter of the savings.
5:35 a.m .: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj attacked ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder without specifically naming him. Zelenskyy said in his nightly speech: “It’s just disgusting when former leaders of powerful states with European values work for Russia – that is, fight against their own values.” The statement almost certainly refers to Schröder’s recent visit to Vladimir Putin in Moscow . Schröder is said to have spoken to the despot about peace negotiations. Ukraine does not believe that Putin is seriously interested in such negotiations.
3:02 a.m .: Despite the ongoing Russian war of aggression, Ukraine has increased its harvest forecast for this year by around ten percent. 65 to 67 million tons of grain and oilseeds are now expected instead of the initial 60 million tons, said Minister of Agriculture Mykola Solskyj according to a government statement on Wednesday. According to Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal, twelve million tons of the new harvest have already been harvested.
Thursday, August 4, 1:13 a.m.: Zelenskyj placed the Ukraine war in a series of international conflicts and criticized the global security architecture as inadequate overall. There are currently headlines about conflicts in the Balkans, around Taiwan and the Caucasus, which are one factor: “The global security architecture did not work,” said the Ukrainian president in his daily video address on Wednesday.
Once again Zelenskyy accused Russia of violating international law with its war of aggression. The problem is that the world has long let Russia get away with these violations – be it the annexation of Crimea or the downing of the Boeing over the Donbass. The war in Ukraine shows how fragile freedom is. It can only be protected by collective action, and for this to work in the long term, an effective global security architecture is required to ensure that no state can ever again use terror against another state.
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