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Business Standard
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Zelenskyy thanks Britain after UK announces new sanctions on Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday (local time) expressed his gratitude towards UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer following the UK's new sanctions on Russia, as Zelenskyy believes it would help pressure Moscow toward peace. Zelenskyy, during a call with the UK PM, emphasised the need for a coordinated international response, urging the US also to take stronger action against Russia to support the ongoing diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire and lasting peace in Ukraine. "I spoke with UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer. I thanked him for the new British sanctions, which help pressure Russia toward peace. Only coercion will work. Today we have a sanctions decision from the UK, as well as from the EU, and it would be good if the United States also helped," the Ukrainian President said, taking to X. He highlighted the importance of sustained pressure, noting, "Our European partners are already preparing the next steps in this critically important canvas of pressure on Russia to stop the war." Zelenskyy and Starmer also discussed key elements of Ukraine's diplomatic strategy, focusing on potential meetings to secure a ceasefire and progress toward peace. The conversation also included reflections on Zelenskyy's recent call with US President Donald Trump, as well as joint actions within the Coalition of the Willing. "Keir and I discussed the key elements of our diplomatic efforts and the potential meetings that could really ensure a ceasefire and progress toward lasting peace. We also discussed yesterday's conversation with President Trump, as well as our joint actions within the Coalition of the Willing. We agreed to stay in close contact, nearly on a daily basis. Thank you, Britain!" Zelenskyy added. Earlier on Tuesday, the UK and the European Union (EU) unveiled new sanctions targeting Russia's economy, shadow oil fleet, and military supply chains. The EU adopted its 17th and most extensive sanctions package, while the UK imposed 100 fresh sanctions, including on financial institutions and military suppliers. The European Council adopted the 17th package of economic and individual restrictive measures, cutting off Russia's access to key military technology. Meanwhile, as per a statement from the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the latest sanctions target entities supporting Russia's military machine, energy exports and information war, as well as financial institutions helping to fund Putin's invasion of Ukraine and to disrupt the supply chains of deadly Russian weapons systems, including Iskander missiles. The UK's sanctions also target 14 more members of the Social Design Agency (SDA), which carries out Kremlin-funded information operations that are designed to undermine sovereignty, democracy, and the rule of law in Ukraine and across the world. The sanctions also target 46 financial institutions that help Russian attempts to evade sanctions, as well as the St Petersburg Currency Exchange and the Russian Deposit Insurance Agency, which insures Russian banks. The UK will also sanction 18 more ships in the 'shadow fleet' carrying Russian oil, along with the fleet's enablers. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Euronews
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
15 EU countries call for 'renewed' ties with Russia's closest allies
The European Union should "renew and intensify" its diplomatic engagement with countries that still maintain close ties with Russia in a bid to increase the pressure on the Kremlin to accept a 30-day unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, a group of 14 member states has said in a joint letter to High Representative Kaja Kallas. The suggestion comes after last week's face-to-face, low-level talks between Kyiv and Moscow envoys failed to deliver progress on the ceasefire proposal, which has been firmly backed by the "Coalition of the Willing" and the United States. Brussels has already threatened a new raft of sanctions if Russia continues to drag its feet and refuses the truce. US President Donald Trump is expected to discuss the issue in a new phone call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. "It is timelier than ever to renew and intensify our engagement with our Global Partners to secure their support for this initiative," the 14 member states write in the letter, which was sent on Monday ahead of a meeting of foreign affairs ministers on Tuesday. "Many countries maintain close ties with Moscow, which could and should be leveraged to increase diplomatic pressure on Russia. This outreach must run in both directions and should take on board the specific situation and concerns of the countries in those regions," they add. Austria led the initiative. Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden co-signed. The letter, seen by Euronews, contains no specific ideas and specifies no nations. Instead, it is designed as a call for action for Kallas to "lead the way in coordinating a renewed, targeted and joint global diplomatic outreach effort" and for member states to kick-start a political discussion among themselves. "It is crucial that the European Union takes swift and decisive action towards a renewed and coordinated diplomatic initiative aimed at building a broad global coalition in support of a full, unconditional and immediate ceasefire," the 14 signatories say. "Now is the time to act for a ceasefire in Ukraine in order to stop the bloodshed." Although not mentioned by name, the letter appears aimed at relations with BRICS, the international organisation that comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The group, often described as a counterweight to the G7, has expanded its reach and clout to welcome Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). BRICS members have distanced themselves from the Western consensus when it comes to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, calling for an end to the war but refusing to apply sanctions or curtail bilateral trade. Some BRICS leaders, like China's Xi Jinping, Brazil's Lula da Silva and Egypt's Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, attended Vladimir Putin's 9 May parade in Moscow, which Brussels decried as a propaganda event to justify its aggression. This position has regularly frustrated Europeans, who see the impact of unprecedented sanctions dented by continued circumvention enabled by Russia's allies. China, in particular, has been accused of supplying 80% of dual-use goods to Moscow. "China is the key enabler of Russia's war. Without Chinese support, Russia wouldn't be able to wage the war in the amount that they are waging it," Kallas said last month. Still, the EU has gradually moved towards a realpolitik approach to explore economic and political opportunities with countries in the Kremlin's orbit, hoping the rapprochement would convince them to adopt a harder line. Last year, Brussels concluded a mammoth trade deal with Mercosur, which covers Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, and intends to do the same with India by the end of 2025. Trade talks are also ongoing with Indonesia and the UAE. A summit between the EU and South Africa took place earlier this year, with a focus on energy and investment. Another high-level summit was hosted with Central Asian countries. More recently, Trump's sweeping tariffs are fuelling speculation of an impending reset in EU-China relations, which Russia's war has plunged to an all-time low. The bloc appears increasingly willing to overlook Beijing's "no-limits" partnership with Moscow to guarantee alternative markets to compensate for America's protectionist policies.
West Australian
18-05-2025
- Politics
- West Australian
Australian news and politics live: Albanese meets with Zelensky and reaffirms support in war with Russia
Scroll down for all the latest posts. The Prime Minister has met Ukraine's President Volodmyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Pope Leo XIV's inaugural mass on the steps of St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican in Rome. 'During our campaign I made it clear that the Australian government position that I lead is very supportive of your struggle,' Mr Albanese told President Zelensky. 'The Russian illegal aggression needs to be resisted and we stand with UKraine very clearly and unequivocally. 'Ukraine has to be able to determine your future enough to have something imposed on you.' He said Australian tanks were on their way to Ukraine and repeated that he was willing to join the Coalition of the Willing being formed by French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Read Latika Bourke's full story here. Anthony Albanese is in Rome and has been meeting with world leaders after the Pope's inauguration. For all the latest politics and world news stay right here throughout the day.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Starmer is kidding himself if he thinks cosying up to the EU will boost Britain
Monday sees a summit in London between the UK and the EU which could lead to what the British government terms 'an EU reset'. What should we expect? A good deal of what is going to be discussed concerns defence. The likely agreement here is largely going to be formalising the existing situation. Britain and France have been leading the attempt to establish a 'Coalition of the Willing' to support Ukraine. And it has been obvious for some time that with the US growing increasingly weary of paying for the defence of Europe, European countries, including the UK, are having to step up to the plate. Nevertheless, there is a potential economic benefit to the UK from a defence agreement. It seems likely that UK companies will be able to bid for and win defence contracts funded by the EU's €150bn (£126bn) defence scheme. This would undoubtedly be good news. But it is hardly a game changer. To put this apparently enormous sum into perspective, it represents about 4pc of the UK's GDP. So if British firms were able to win about 10pc of the contracts available, this would represent a total boost to UK demand of just under 0.5pc of our GDP. But this boost would be spread over a number of years so the impact on GDP in any one year is likely to be pretty small. The deal may also involve removing customs checks on British food exports into the EU, which would be a considerable boost to this sector. The downside, however, is that, once again, our fishermen are likely to be sold out by the British Government in order to secure a deal. Moreover, a removal of checks on British food exports to the EU is likely to come at a higher price, namely British agreement to so-called 'dynamic alignment'. This means adopting all new EU regulations with regard to the production and movement of food and food products. Making such an agreement would render it extremely difficult for the UK to forge a full Free Trade Agreement with the United States, since the treatment of US food exports has, all along, been one of the principle sticking points. Furthermore, if we were to agree to 'dynamic alignment' on foodstuffs, we could easily find ourselves pressured into adopting dynamic alignment with regard to all other forms of production and distribution. In that event, we would effectively be back inside the EU's regulatory ambit even though we were no longer a member of the bloc. This would be a betrayal of all those who voted for Brexit since the ability to fashion our own regulatory regime was one of the principle sources of potential gain from leaving the EU. This Government finds it difficult to understand that economic growth is forged by risk-taking businesses, not governments signing agreements and treaties and that over-regulation stifles business. You can see how the changing shape of international relations is pushing the UK closer to Europe in a number of spheres. But the economic urge to align more closely with the EU surely derives from the belief, widely held in the Government and the economic establishment, that Brexit has cost the UK dearly. The number that has somehow become lodged in the collective consciousness is a cost from Brexit to the UK of 4pc of GDP, even though this figure has not been satisfactorily established. Indeed, believing it requires quite a leap of faith. It is striking, for instance, that since Brexit, UK exports to the rest of the world have been just as weak as our exports to the EU. How can this be explained by Brexit? A more likely explanation is that UK exports in general have been damaged by some other factor, probably to do with the sectoral composition of British exports. As the trade expert Phil Radford recently explained in 'Less than Meets the Eye – the Real Impact of Brexit on UK Trade' (published by Policy Exchange), UK exports have been strongly affected by the weakness of its two largest goods export sectors: cars and aerospace. The aerospace industry was devastated by the impact of Covid-19 as orders for aircraft plunged, while the car industry has been going through a period of costly upheaval triggered by net zero. Moreover, Radford also points out the significance of the collapse in exports of clothing and footwear to the EU since our departure. Yet before the fall-off, our production in these sectors was extremely low. In fact, these 'exports' were in reality re-exports of goods that had been imported into the UK for re-export to the Continent, thereby adding virtually nothing to the UK's GDP. This is not to say that I think Brexit has brought the UK decided economic benefits so far. On the contrary, I always thought it likely that there would be some short-term economic loss inflicted by Brexit. And there probably has been – although its quantification is extremely difficult and I suspect the figure of 4pc is much too high. But it must be remembered that Brexit was a once in a generation event. And we only formally left the EU on January 1, 2021, not yet even five years ago. It is really rather early to be attempting an overall assessment, particularly since the political, economic and military scene on the Continent is so uncertain. The UK Government is right to be trying to improve our relations with our close neighbours on defence and related matters. But it must not kid itself into believing that on economic matters the EU is the future. In economic matters, it remains a laggard, dogged by over-regulation, high taxes and out-of-control welfare spending, all of which we should ourselves be trying to escape from. Most importantly, however difficult it may be to do business with Donald Trump's administration, it needs to be remembered that America will still be there long after Trump has left the White House. Roger Bootle is senior independent adviser to Capital Economics and a senior fellow at Policy Exchange. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
IOL News
17-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
The Don strikes again
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was certain that he could rein Trump in and bend all Americans' will to his bidding. Image: Independent Newspapers WHEN the European leadership and their Canadian counterparts had settled into the notion that the US is their best friend forever, it is difficult to imagine how they are feeling right now. They had come to expect that every newly elected President of the United States would, as perfunctory custom, dedicate his first overseas visit to any one of their countries, especially the United Kingdom. President Donald Trump, however, resorted to a different instinct and so struck out an unfamiliar comportment. He didn't even invite them to his inauguration as the 47th President of the US. He quickly set out to commence negotiations aimed at resolving the US/NATO proxy war in Ukraine against Russia without the Europeans. Despite the vociferous protestations from the Europeans still yearning for more war with Russia, convened in a toothless contraption called the Coalition of the Willing, President Trump cowed them to embarrassing submission. Unbeknownst to most, he was warming up to a routine, which would have far-reaching consequences as it would become apparent in his later diplomatic manoeuvres. It would be hypocritical to the extreme to claim ignorance that this US President re-assumed the reins of power with a pronounced disdain for senseless forever wars. In his estimation, wars consume so much of the creative energies of the sovereign, its blood and its treasure, and tend to illumine the most odious streak among the worst of them. And in the meanwhile, business suffers tremendously as a consequence, the singular most important value that the Donald reveres the most as first among equals. Video Player is loading. 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Next Stay Close ✕ It is an oddity that beguiles reason, how Benjamin Netanyahu's overzealousness tricked him into such an unpardonable miscalculation. Credited for having coined the phrase 'never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity', he did not miss an opportunity to misread Trump, with devastating consequences. In their historic agony, however, the people of Palestine revel in a timeless aphorism. Somehow, it had occurred to them that, notwithstanding the peacemaker overtures, real ducks do not waddle nor quack in copy. They have learnt that what quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck is a platypus. And they are watching this strange peace-making phenomenon with an admixture of trepidation and anticipation. Who knows, it could just as well be a Donald Duck! The effervescent US President, even before assuming office, had despatched his plenipotentiary Steve Witkoff to force a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Netanyahu was certain that he could rein Trump in and bend all Americans' will to his bidding. Ron Dermer, the Israeli Strategic Minister, had assured him that Mike Waltz was their mole in the White House and would provide reliable back-channel feedback undetected. After all, in his first term in the Oval Office, Trump scrapped the Iranian nuclear deal, sanctioned the assassination of the Iranian General, Qassem Suleimani, engineered the signing of the Abrahamic Accords, and somewhat gleefully moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem. Even in his first 100 days as POTUS 47, he had Netanyahu deliriously exhilarated when he removed sanctions on some violent settlers in the occupied West Bank. He also lifted Biden's ban on the supply of 2000-pound bombs against Israel. But something went horribly off script. The Israel Hayom reported that the relations between the two countries, or to be fair, between Trump and Netanyahu, had reached a low point. Netanyahu's plan to attack Iran's nuclear sites and their oil and gas assets was rejected. As a consequence, Mike Waltz, the erstwhile National Security Advisor, was fired for texting with Netanyahu in an Oval Office cabinet meeting. He was texting on TM Signal, an Israeli modified Signal chat version with archiving features, destined to store and relay classified information. Waltz and Netanyahu were coordinating plans of war against Iran, despite Trump's inclinations to the contrary! And for his ultimate humiliation, Waltz will be appointed US ambassador to the UN, where he may possibly end up tabling before that august body the resolution to recognise the state of Palestine. Or put differently, Mike Waltz will be President Donald Trump's facilitator to garner the Nobel Laureate nomination. The sequence of events has been dizzyingly rapid. The US signed a truce with the Ansar Allah fighters in Yemen, what they insensitively refer to as Houthis, not to bomb American ships in the Suez, a feat accomplished without Israel's input. The US negotiations with Iran at the persuasion of Qatar are sensitively advanced, and there too, without the involvement of the regime in Tel Aviv. The US 52 Bombers, which were stationed in the Al Udeid Air base in Qatar, have been flown back to base in San Diego, to the chagrin of the war hawks both in the US and in Israel. What has triggered the latest umbrage of the Zionists is the successful negotiation between the US and Hamas, of the release of the last remaining American-Israeli prisoner of war, the 22-year-old Eden Alexander from New Jersey, conveniently termed 'a hostage', all without consultation or tacit acquiescence of the Israelis. The memory of the global commons is still brimming with vivid images of an Israeli official who was fired for revelations about the Hannibal Directive. It seems to suggest, according to the Haaretz of May 2025, that the hostages or hatufim in Hebrew must first be degraded or replaced by a lesser politically charged term, b'nai aruba! In fact, the Israeli Army places returning hostages at the bottom of its Gaza war goals, despite promises to families. The release of Eden Alexander, therefore, has denied Netanyahu his last American bargaining leverage that would have kept the Americans engaged in the siege of Gaza, in pursuance of elusive objectives where Israel does not want any hostages released in the first place. Trump has also agreed with Hamas to facilitate the lifting of the blockade and permit the supply of humanitarian aid to the devastated enclave. Rounding up his West Asia charm offensive, he visited the countries of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE in quick succession. He did not, however, visit what has been coined as America's ally in West Asia, to the consternation of the Tel Aviv administration. The Israelis watched in bewilderment as the Don struck again! Israel is not so sure about all these unilateral actions. They are seething with incandescent rage, and not for the first time. Dangerous rage! In August of 1963, President JF Kennedy warned Israeli leaders, David Ben-Gurion and Levi Eshkol, that the US commitment and support for Israel could be seriously jeopardised absent of the right of the US to inspect the Israeli Dimona Nuclear reactor. Three months later, the beloved JFK died violently in a pool of blood from an assassin's bullet in a motorcade in Texas. That assassin also died from another assassin's bullet in a twisted plot that remains shrouded in mystery. * Ambassador Bheki Gila is a Barrister-at-Law. ** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, Independent Media, or IOL.
