A poll conducted in all 27 EU countries has revealed that the majority of EU citizens support sanctions against Russia. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war in the ticker.
Wednesday, September 7th, 7:29 a.m.: According to a survey by the EU Commission, the majority of Europeans support the sanctions imposed on Russia. 47 percent of respondents fully agree with the sanctions, and another 31 percent tend to agree, according to figures released on Tuesday. A total of 68 percent of those surveyed are also in favor of financing military support or direct arms deliveries to Ukraine – 35 percent of them particularly.
Around nine out of ten EU citizens (92 percent) think that humanitarian aid for war victims is the right thing to do, of which 61 percent totally agreed with the statement and 31 percent somewhat agreed. The majority of respondents are also in favor of accepting refugees from Ukraine in the EU. 56 percent totally agreed and 56 and 34 percent tended to agree).
In the discussion about energy security, 55 percent of EU citizens say that the EU should invest “massively” in renewable energies. Another 32 percent agree with the statement in principle. The situation is similar when it comes to the demand for more independence from Russia on energy issues: 32 percent of citizens would tend to support this and 54 percent would fully support it.
Between June 17 and July 17, 26,468 citizens of all 27 EU countries were interviewed online for the so-called Eurobarometer.
9:07 p.m .: Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has warned against becoming dependent on autocratic systems when looking for energy suppliers for Germany. Reliable partners will be necessary in the future, said the Greens politician on Tuesday at the Federal Foreign Office at the business day of the heads of German missions abroad under the motto “Business for climate protection and sustainability”.
Baerbock accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ever more open attempts at blackmail in connection with the halted gas deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The Kremlin thinks it has the upper hand.
“This principle of hope – it will work out somehow – we paid dearly for that. We’re paying dearly for that now. And other people are paying for it with their lives,” said Baerbock, referring to Germany’s dependence on Russian gas. “In reality, we have never received cheap gas from Russia. The price may have been cheap at certain moments. But what led to a low price were just blind dependencies or exchange of infrastructure, which was actually a security risk.” Russian gas was “paid for twice or three times with our national security”.
4:41 p.m .: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) calls for a security zone after visiting the Ukrainian Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The current situation is “unsustainable,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
1:11 p.m .: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed the Western sanctions imposed on Russia for the energy crisis in Europe. European countries would “reap what they sow,” Erdogan said in Ankara on Tuesday.
Putin uses all his means and weapons. “Unfortunately, natural gas is one of them,” said the Turkish head of state. He assumes that Europe will have “serious problems” this winter. In his country, however, this does not apply.
11:32 a.m.: The gas pipeline Nord Stream 1 will not be restarted until Siemens Energy repairs defective equipment, Gazprom Deputy CEO Vitaly Markelov told Reuters on Tuesday. Because of the increased risk of fire and explosion, the Rostechnadzor technical supervisor has prohibited the turbine from continuing to operate, Gazprom said on Monday evening in Moscow. A company with the identified deficiencies contradicts “the norms of Russian legislation”.
9.41 a.m .: Chancellor Olaf Scholz has apparently turned down requests from Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal for more military support during his visit to Berlin. This is reported by “Welt”, citing Ukrainian government circles. It was about the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks by the industry, for which Scholz had shown “no willingness at all”.
The armaments company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann had already offered direct delivery to the Ukraine in April. Even then, however, Scholz had rejected a promise for an export license.
Tuesday, September 6, 9:07 a.m .: According to Russia, gas deliveries via Nord Stream 1 cannot be resumed until further notice due to the sanctions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted on Tuesday at the economic forum in Vladivostok, according to the Interfax news agency. “We don’t know how to do the repair work because the sanctions prevent it,” he said. The Kremlin states “with regret that the responsibility for the situation lies entirely with the European states and the states that have introduced sanctions against our country”. Peskow said on Monday that there was no other reason for the delivery stop. Previously, the Kremlin repeatedly referred to technical problems that caused the delivery stop.
9:14 p.m .: The Russian gas company Gazprom makes the delivery stop via the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline due to an alleged design defect in the Siemens Energy turbine used. Because of the increased risk of fire and explosion, the Rostechnadzor technical supervisor has prohibited the turbine from continuing to operate, Gazprom said on Monday evening in Moscow. A company with the identified deficiencies contradicts “the norms of Russian legislation”.
Gazprom failed to resume gas supplies to Europe on Saturday after scheduled turbine maintenance. The company justified this with allegedly leaking oil from the Siemens Energy unit.
Oil is leaking from the Trent 60 turbine at Russia’s Portovaya pumping station in a place where it is very hot, Gazprom wrote on Monday. The oil could ignite; then the risk of explosion threatens the safety of the entire pumping station. The problem did not occur when this turbine was serviced in July. However, it has already been observed in other turbines of this type. This suggests that the error was in the design and can only be remedied by a conversion at Siemens Energy.
The federal government considers the technical problems with the pipeline to be advanced. She accuses Moscow of refusing gas supplies for political reasons. The Kremlin blames the West for the delivery stop and its sanctions against Russia.
2:55 p.m .: In the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia occupied by Russian troops, the last reactor still working was taken off the grid on Monday. This was announced by the Ukrainian state operator Energoatom in the messenger service Telegram. The reason is a fire triggered by attacks that damaged a power line between the power plant and the Ukrainian power grid.
Because for Petraeus, a residual doubt remains – despite the defense that Ukraine has so far “mastered with flying colors”: “But they have not yet demonstrated the same competence in conducting offensive operations with combined arms, in which they use the actions of tanks, infantry, artillery, mortars, anti-aircraft artillery, engineers, electronic warfare, attack helicopters, close air support, and so on, as well as the myriad logistical support functions needed to maintain offensive forces.”
But here, too, the former CIA chief is optimistic: “I think that the Ukrainians have the expertise, motivation, determination and skills to pull this off, but the coming days will show if this is really the case .”
11:56 p.m .: The first Bundeswehr soldiers of a new brigade arrived in Lithuania on Sunday to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank. Around a hundred soldiers from Panzergrenadierbrigade 41 and military material arrived in Klaipeda on a ferry from Kiel. They should set up an advanced command post there in order to hold joint training and exercises in coordination with the Lithuanian armed forces, as the Bundeswehr announced in the short message service Twitter.
The Bundeswehr is thus making a contribution to the tactical planning of the joint alliance defense on NATO’s eastern flank, it said. The Bundeswehr is thus creating the conditions to be able to immediately relocate the parts of the brigade remaining in Germany to Lithuania if the threat situation intensifies.
As a reaction to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, NATO decided at its summit in Madrid at the end of June to strengthen the eastern flank. Germany held out the prospect of a multinational “combat brigade”. A brigade consists of around 4000 soldiers. It is now important “to show a visible presence in Lithuania for a year with a high degree of flexibility and resilience” and to coordinate the exercises with the requirements on site, Brigadier General Christian Nawrat said on Twitter.
Speaking to journalists in Klaipeda, he said the “message to our local allies on the eastern flank” was that Germany was committed to ensuring security there. According to a senior Bundeswehr representative, the first exercises could be held in October. Around 1,500 Bundeswehr soldiers are currently stationed in Lithuania. The new German-led brigade is to be set up in addition to the multinational NATO task force that Germany has been leading in Lithuania for more than five years.
NATO has increased its presence on the eastern flank in recent years, especially since the Ukrainian annexation of the Black Sea island of Crimea. In 2017, she began relocating soldiers to the Baltic States and Poland. After the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine at the end of February, NATO decided on four new so-called battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
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