Date: 2024-12-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00022001
MEDIA
BLOOMBERG
Bloomberg stories for March 30th 2022
BLOOMBERG
Bloomberg stories for March 30th 2022
Original article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-30/ukraine-update-nato-looks-for-signs-of-pledged-russian-pullback
Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
Ukraine Update: U.S. Says Putin Feels Misled by Military Leaders
The U.S. has intelligence suggesting Russian President Vladimir Putin feels misled by his military officials over the preparation for and conduct of the war in Ukraine, because advisers are according to the White House.
Russia said it’s regrouping forces in Ukraine in a push to complete the takeover of the eastern Donbas region, after announcing it would scale back operations around Kyiv. President Joe Biden promised another $500 million in U.S. aid to Ukraine during a call with his counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Germany said Russia has backed off from its demand that natural gas purchases must be made in rubles, with a payment mechanism being worked out. Oil rose after the Kremlin played down progress in peace talks.
Biden Pledges $500 Million in Aid for Ukraine
Play1:06
President Joe Biden spoke to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for about an hour Wednesday, and pledged “$500 million in direct budgetary aid” according to the White House. David Westin gets reaction from Rep. John Katko, a Republican from New York. He speaks on “Balance of Power.”Source: Bloomberg
(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)
Key Developments
- Why Half of Russia’s 20 Richest Billionaires Are Not Sanctioned
- U.S. Eyes $500 Million More for Ukraine Despite Peace Talks
- Putin’s Old Ally in EU Faces Tough Vote as War Rages Next Door
- Some Hedge Funds See Putin’s War as the Opportunity of Lifetime
- Germany Says Putin Is Backing Off Demand for Ruble Gas Payments
All times CET:
Oil Rises on Concern Peace Talks Are Stalled (10:50 p.m.)
Oil rose after the Kremlin said there’s been no breakthrough in peace talks. Futures in New York settled near $108 a barrel on Wednesday, reversing a two-day decline. Prices of other commodities such as wheat and corn, which had fallen this week on optimism over the negotations, also increased.
White House Weighs More Russian Sanctions (9:48 p.m.)
The Biden administration is weighing new sanctions on Russia, the White House said hours after a phone call between Biden and Zelenskiy.
“We are continuing to look at options to expand and deepen our sanctions and I anticipate that we would probably have more for you on that in the coming days,” White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield told reporters.
U.S. Says Putin Feels Misled by Russian Military (9:01 p.m.)
White House officials said U.S. intelligence suggests Putin has felt misled by his advisers about the war in Ukraine, including in the lead-up to the conflict last month, raising tensions between the Russian president and military.
“We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing, and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions, because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth,” Bedingfield told reporters, without providing details on the evidence behind the assessment.
New U.S. Aid to Ukraine to Pay for Government Operations (7:38 p.m.)
The $500 million Biden pledged Zelenskiy in Wednesday’s phone call can be used to bolster Ukraine’s economy and meet budgetary expenses, such as paying government salaries and maintaining public services, a White House official said after the two leaders spoke by phone earlier Wednesday.
Germany Says Putin Agrees to Keep Taking Euros for Gas (7:20 p.m.)
Germany said Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated that European nations can continue paying for Russian gas in euros, despite a previous demand for ruble payments.
After German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke with Putin on Wednesday, a German government spokesman said that Putin told Scholz that “the payments would continue to be made exclusively in euros” to Russia’s Gazprom bank and would then be converted into rubles. Scholz asked for “written information in order to understand the procedure more precisely.” The Kremlin said only that Scholz and Putin agreed that their experts would discuss the issue.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi also spoke with Putin Wednesday on the issue, as French President Emmanuel Macron did a day earlier. The countries are among the European Union’s largest consumers of Russian gas, and the calls may signal a sense of alarm in Europe about a potential cut-off. Energy ministers from the Group of Seven nations this week rejected the demand to pay in rubles, which officials say violates contract terms.
South Ossetia Say It’s Seeking to Join Russia (6:45 p.m.)
The breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia will take legal steps to join the Russian Federation, its President Anatoly Bibilov said in an address posted on the Russian ruling party’s website.
Only a handful of countries, including Russia, Syria and Nauru, have recognized South Ossetia since it declared independence after Russia’s 2008 war with Georgia. Russia last annexed a territory in 2014, when it seized Crimea from Ukraine.
Biden Pledged More Aid in Call With Zelenskiy (6:32 p.m.)
President Joe Biden spoke to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for about an hour Wednesday, and pledged “$500 million in direct budgetary aid” from the U.S., according to a White House statement.
They discussed how the United States is “working around the clock to fulfill the main security assistance requests by Ukraine” and “continued efforts by the United States with allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian military defend its country, according to the statement.
Zelenskiy said on twitter that they shared an “assessment of the situation and at the negotiating table” as well as “specific defensive support, a new package of enhanced sanctions, macro-financial and humanitarian aid.”
EU May Tighten Sanctions Next Week (4:32 p.m.)
The European Union may agree as early as next week on a new set of measures to tighten existing sanctions against Russia and strengthen their enforcement.
The measures could include sanctioning banks that the EU has cut off from the international payments system SWIFT, including state-controlled VTB, but hadn’t yet applied other restrictions to, according to people familiar with the preparations who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.
The bloc is also looking to add more people to its listings as it continues to go after Russian tycoons and their associates. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on the timing of the possible sanctions.
Russia’s Internet Giant Risks Running Out of Key Tech (4:09 p.m.)
Russia’s omnipresent tech company, which created products ranging from the country’s dominant search engine to its biggest ride-hail service, is facing a shortage of hardware due to U.S. sanctions.
Yandex NV may run short of semiconductors needed for its servers within a year to 18 months because of import restrictions, two people with direct knowledge of the issue said. Sanctions on dual-use technology, which have both military and commercial uses, have hit its self-driving vehicle unit particularly hard, they said.
Yandex has plunged into crisis since Putin began the war, caught between the Kremlin’s increasingly harsh internet censorship and a backlash in its key foreign markets.
Russian Negotiator Says Ukraine Agreeing to Key Demands (3:57 p.m. CET)
Vladimir Medinsky, Russia’s chief negotiator, struck an upbeat tone on the results of Tuesday’s talks, saying that the written offer Ukraine presented “for the first time showed readiness to fulfill a whole range of the most important conditions” set by Moscow, state-run Tass news service reported.
Medinsky cited Kyiv’s willingness to agree to give up its ambition to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as well as declare its neutrality and commit not to obtain nuclear weapons. But he reiterated that Moscow refuses to discuss the status of Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Kyiv had sought talks on the issue as part of the peace deal.
Zelenskiy Says Russia Is Sending Reinforcements to Ukraine (3:24 p.m.) Russia is deploying new forces for fighting in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a speech to Norway’s parliament, without specifying the time frame.
“We have to do more to stop this war and first and utmost is weapons,” Zelenskiy said via video link from Ukraine. He added that Russian military has mined the Black Sea to blockade Ukrainian ports, endangering marine traffic.
Ukraine Calls on Marine Insurers to Withdraw Russia Coverage (2:40 p.m.)
Oleg Ustenko, chief economic advisor to Zelenskiy, urged a group of shipping insurance specialists in a letter to withdraw coverage in a bid to reduce cash flowing into Russia from international buyers of its energy.
The letter was sent to the International Group of P&I Clubs, a collection of insurance associations which say they provide marine liability coverage for around 90% of sea-bound cargo. The club’s members have insured 363 vessels carrying oil, gas and coal from Russian ports since the invasion of Ukraine began, the letter said.
Kremlin Downplays Talks, Delays Ruble Gas Payments (12:21 p.m.)
Talks with Ukraine in Istanbul yielded “no breakthrough,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells journalists a day after peace talks in Istanbul, adding that much work remains to be done. He said Ukrainian negotiators’ willingness to provide specific proposals on paper was “positive.”
Peskov also told reporters that the process of switching to rubles payments for Russian gas export deliveries will take time and won’t begin immediately this week despite a March 31 deadline in a presidential order on the issue. “This process is more drawn out in time technologically,” he said.
Russia’s exports of refined fuels are sliding fast as buyers stay away following the invasion of Ukraine, denting supplies in a market that’s already fretting over stockpiles.
Ukraine Refugees Top 4 Million (10:48 a.m.)
More than 4 million refugees from Ukraine have fled after five weeks of fighting, according to the United Nation’s refugee agency. Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, said he’s in Ukraine now to meet with officials in the western city of Lviv.
Overall, some 10 million people in Ukraine have been forced from their homes.
Poland to Shun Russian Energy Supplies This Year (10:14 a.m.)
Poland plans to “do everything” to stop importing Russian oil and gas by the end of 2022, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a news conference. The European Union’s largest economy outside the euro will also halt coal purchases from Russia by April or May, he said.
The premier has called on the EU to tax Russian hydrocarbon imports in order to limit Russia’s ability to build its army and attack neighboring countries.
U.K. Says Sanctions to Stay Until Troops Leave Ukraine (10:00 a.m.) U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said sanctions on Russia will remain until the nation withdraws its troops from Ukraine.
“The sanctions are there to tighten the grip on Putin’s war machine and until the invasion is withdrawn -- and I think that would need to be entirely or on a verifiable basis -- I don’t think the sanctions can or should be lifted,” Raab told BBC radio in London.
UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT
A Ukrainian serviceman stands near a destroyed Russian tank in the northeastern city of Trostianets, Ukraine, on March 29.Photographer: Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images
Attacks Continue Near Kyiv, Ukraine Says (9:24 a.m.)
Fighting continued north and west of Kyiv, despite Russia’s declaration it would pull its forces back. Russian forces shelled targets in several cities, including Hostomel, Bucha and Makariv and there were skirmishes in villages along the main westbound highway out of the capital, according to Ukraine’s defense ministry.
Russian forces also shelled the northern city of Chernihiv overnight, damaging civilian structures including libraries and shopping centers, according to Vyacheslav Chaus, the region’s governor, who said he was skeptical of Russia’s promise. “Do we believe this? Surely not,” he said in a video statement.
Ceasefire Talks, Russian Pullback Spark Hope, Doubts
Play3:14 WATCH: Questions remain about the Kremlin’s de-escalation pledge. Marc Champion has more.Source: Bloomberg
Ruble Recovers as Moscow Stock Rebound (9:16 a.m.)
Russia’s ruble strengthened for a third straight day, edging closer to wiping out the steep losses it incurred in the weeks after Putin sent troops into Ukraine. Stocks in Moscow climbed as much as 3.5% as oil and gas producers rallied. Crude oil rebounded after two days of gains, while stocks in Europe slipped along with U.S. equity futures.
Germany Triggers Emergency Plan for Energy Supplies (8:55 a.m.)
Germany activated an emergency plan to secure supplies of natural gas on concern the war in Ukraine could disrupt shipments from Russia. A task force will be established that will meet on a daily basis to monitor the situation and Economy Minister Robert Habeck urged companies and consumers to help by reducing energy consumption wherever possible.
Ukraine Pushes for More Humanitarian Routes (8:51 a.m.)
Ukraine proposed that Russia should agree to establish humanitarian corridors to 97 areas that have suffered war damage, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video statement. As of Wednesday, three such corridors have been agreed, leading from Mariupol, Melitopol and Energodar.
TOPSHOT-POLAND-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT-REFUGEES
Ukrainian refugees wait for transport at the Medyka border crossing in Poland, on March 29.Photographer: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images
India Eyes New Ruble Payments for Russian Oil (8:45 a.m.)
India is considering a proposal from Russia to use a ruble-based system developed by the Russian central bank for bilateral payments as the Asian nation seeks to buy oil and weapons from the sanctions-hit country. India is keen to continue bilateral trade due to its dependency on Russian weapons and the prospect of buying cheaper oil as global prices surge.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrives in India for a two-day visit Thursday.
— With assistance by Kevin Whitelaw
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