Latest news with #VyacheslavProkofyev
UPI
21-05-2025
- Business
- UPI
Britain, EU issue sweeping sanctions targeting Russia's shadow fleet of oil tankers
Britain and the European Union on Tuesday separately issued sweeping sanctions targeting the shadow fleet of vessels that Russian President Vladimir Putin is accused of using to evade sanctions and sell oil to fund his war against Ukraine. File Photo by Vyacheslav Prokofyev/EPA-EFE May 21 (UPI) -- Britain and the European Union have imposed sweeping sanctions targeting Russia, particularly its shadow fleet of oil tankers, over its war in Ukraine. Russia has been accused of operating a shadow fleet of hundreds of oil tankers to illegally sell its sanctioned products, shipping more than $24 billion worth of cargo since the start of last year. Britain earlier this month sanctioned 110 tankers belonging to this shadow fleet and added an additional 18 ships on Tuesday. The EU said its package of sanctions was its largest ever, and targeted 189 vessels. The Washington-based Brookings Institution think tank said in a recent report that Russia's shadow fleet consisted of 343 shipping vessels as of April 25. The two governments separately announced their tranches of sanctions, with Britain also blacklisting 46 financial institutions aiding Russia's sanction-evasion tactics, the St. Petersburg Currency Exchange and the Russian Deposit Insurance Agency. London also sanctioned British national John Michael Ormerod, whom it accuses of procuring ships for Russia's shadow fleet, as well as two Russian captains who operate its vessels. Britain described its punitive measures as targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin's supply chain of weapons systems that have been used in recent attacks killing dozens of Ukrainian civilians. It also sanctioned 14 members of the Social Design Agency, which conducts Russia-funded disinformation campaigns seeking to undermine the sovereignty, democracy and rule of law in Ukraine and worldwide. The EU similarly blacklisted operators of the shadow fleet vessels, as well as major Russian oil company Surgutneftegaz, 45 Russian companies and individuals involved in the Kremlin's military-industrial sector and those accused of looting cultural heritage in Crimea and the illegal exploitation of Ukrainian agricultural products. Thirty-one new entities have also been added to a list of dual-use goods and technologies subject to tighter export controls. To date, the EU has sanctioned more than 2,400 individuals and entities since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. "While Putin feigns interest in peace, more sanctions are in the works," Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, said in a statement. "Russia's actions and those who enable Russia face severe consequences. The longer Russia persists with its illegal and brutal war, the tougher our response will be."
Scotsman
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Scotsman
Readers Letters: War with Russia is not imminent
Russia's Vladimir Putin isn't stupid enough to start a war that would mean mutually assured destruction, says reader Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Your editorial yesterday contains the apparently innocuous statement: 'Amid concern about a possible war with Russia should the situation in Ukraine escalate...' Russia's President Vladimir Putin last month (Picture: Vyacheslav Prokofyev /Pool/ AFP This is ridiculous scaremongering. A possible war with Russia is unimaginable – we have neither the firepower, the manpower or the resources to fight a war with Russia, other than to use nuclear weapons in a scenario of mutually assured destruction. Comparisons with Hitler and the Nazis, who really did desire world domination, is ludicrous and profoundly unhelpful. We know Vladimir Putin is a crazy megalomaniac but even he is not stupid enough to invite a war with the West. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad I've seen a lot of references to potential war with Russia recently, justifying re-arming Europe and spending vast sums on 'defence'. Our politicians and the press need to dampen down such talk, not develop it. We can't just sleepwalk into a conflagration! Brian Bannatyne-Scott, Edinburgh Phase in change The amazing furore the passage of the assisted dying bill is creating would all (OK, nearly all) vanish if logic was applied: phase it in! By making it at first available exclusively to fully compos mentis octogenarians who have a medically agreed six month's terminal diagnosis and who have given the clear instruction that they wish, when they feel the time is right, to invite any ready, willing and able medically qualified person to offer the appropriate poison under an agreed and lawful protocol, problems are circumvented. Then, wait a couple of years to learn lessons before opening up the process, one stage at a time, to younger applicants, but always under the above conditions. Patients deemed non compos mentis (or young enough such that suitable medically sound advances in their case may make termination redundant) should never be candidates. Nor should anyone where there is a suspicion of undue pressure from relatives or potential beneficiaries. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The foregoing should be thoughtfully phased in over a decade or two to detect and close loopholes and loose ends. I'm 88 and healthy, but don't fancy a lingering and painful death, bed blocking and pumped full of chemicals merely to extend a life I no longer wish extended. My life: my choice. That is everyone's human right and should always be respected under the appropriate circumstances and with due care, and respect, as above. See you on the other side when that time comes? Tim Flinn, Morningside, Edinburgh Class ended Of the 53 members of my medical school year, two have ended their lives by assisted dying, one in Tasmania and one, who had seen her husband, another member of our medical school year, suffer a long death from a horrible neurological condition, went to Switzerland. I am confident that both were fully able to access palliative care and were not coerced. Hugh Pennington, Aberdeen Easy targets There was an ominous statement from the panel on the most recent Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: soon there will be a new generation of 'progressive' politicians and a 'generational transfer of power' from the Baby Boomer generation who, current received wisdom seems to agree, have caused many of the younger generation's problems and need to pay up. Main methods suggested include taxation of wealth and property, ideally sooner rather than later. The problem is we're living too long and the transfer needs to happen sooner – even for those of us who paid our kids' mortgage deposits, are forced by waiting lists to go private and have never taken a state benefit in our life. The answer may be assisted dying. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Already experts say there are too many approval stages, eligibilty restrictions and conditions left out, such as mental health, long-term disability and people feeling – or made to feel – they're a burden. All leading to inevitable 'mission creep'. For example, one day our new Gen Z/Millennial 'progressive' politicians might introduce the 'I'm a liability, get me out of here' OAP Assisted Dying opt-in, targeted at those who are fed up shelling out £80,000 per year to stare out of their care home bedroom window. That could go, minus increased wealth and Inheritance Tax, to their families. One way or another we're an easy target to pay for the country's ballooning benefits and care bill. All we need to do is die quicker. Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire E-scooter danger A teenage boy in a wheelchair has been left seriously injured after being struck by an e-scooter in Dundee on Saturday 10 May (your report, 13 May). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Despite there being 48 deaths and thousands of injuries across the UK related to e-scooters since 2019 a UK Government trial using hired e-scooters is still in place. E-scooters are illegal in Scotland other than on private land with the owner's permission. It would appear that the Scottish Government condones the use of these illegal machines since my Freedom of Information request to Police Scotland asking how many e-scooters had been confiscated was rejected, supposedly because it would cost over £600. I had not realised Police Scotland were still using pen and paper, not computers. The Chief Constable, Jo Farrell, did not respond to my letters. The Scottish Government must immediately instruct Police Scotland to confiscate all e-scooters on our roads and pavements. Clark Cross, Linlithgow, West Lothian Empty rhetoric In the 1980s, Wendy's burger chain adopted the marketing slogan 'Where's the beef?', suggesting that competing brands were stingy with the main component of their product. This was also used by US politicians about opponents' policies. The slogan comes to mind whenever I read a separatist propaganda letter, such as that by Alan Hinnrichs (Letters, 15 May). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Hinnrichs is long (very long) on rhetoric, but very short on substance. He dilates on the presumed threat of bogeyman Nigel Farage and foregrounds the usual self-regarding view of Scots as 'civic nationalists' who are overflowing with 'empathy', unlike the dastardly English. Somehow – and we are not vouchsafed how at all – Scotland can escape the threat of 'incipient fascism' by leaving the UK. Mr Hinnrichs makes not the slightest effort even to sketch out a plan for how a separate Scotland would fare better. For all Scots' alleged 'intellectual honesty' and 'moral fortitude' – for heaven's sake, is this for real? – the 'categorical moral imperative' of secession comes without an iota of evidence that Scots would be better off outside the UK. But perhaps Mr Hinnrichs is one of those nationalists who would rather live in poverty outside the UK and EU, allegedly to maintain his moral purity, than enjoy the standard of living to which we are accustomed. Advice to Mr Hinnrichs: don't use the word 'fascism' in a context to which it is entirely unsuited. And try to find an answer, with substance, to questions about how a separate Scotland could afford the goodies it currently enjoys. Where's the beef? Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh Perhaps a seer Is Robert IG Scott prescient (Letters, 15 May)? He writes that the situation at Holyrood is destined to change. The SNP's fate is set to mirror the 2024 General Election. They will sustain huge losses. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The very latest Scottish Opinion Poll from Survation on 2-5 May had the SNP on 33 per cent, Reform 19 per cent, Labour 19 per cent, Conservative 11 per cent, Lib Dems 11 per cent, Scottish Greens 5 per cent and Alba 1 per cent. I just wonder what his motive was in writing this letter? What was his evidence? John V Lloyd, Inverkeithing, Fife Why the silence? Day after day we read of atrocities being carried out by the Israelis on the Palestinians. Day after day, our government is silent. Why? All my long days, I have felt great compassion for the Jewish people and the horror of the genocide perpetrated on them. It is difficult to understand the campaign against 'antisemitism', outraged by an ex-footballer's social media, while there is nothing said about the wholesale slaughter of over 52,000 Palestinians. It is not antisemitic to call out the inhumanity of the Israeli government: their conduct should be universally condemned. When will enough be enough? Heera Barton, Kingussie, Highland Steel yourselves Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad When compiling lists of major faux pas made by SNP over the years, the demise of the steel industry is up there with the better-known ferry fiasco and other major cash-devouring mega-blunders. Sir Keir Starmer has challenged John Swinney to re-open two mothballed Lanarkshire steelworks. He suggested, with some sense, that Mr Swinney create a mechanism to attract contracts and get Dalzell and Clydebridge 'up and running again'. That kind of approach is not SNP-friendly. They like others to man the front line and do the graft, and then either elbow their way to the front and take the plaudits or, if things do not quite work out, take shots at them from a distance, yelling 'Westminster'. All this is not helped by the Labour leadership in Scotland, who lack impetus of any kind and do not inspire – to be better than the SNP is no achievement at all. Alexander McKay, Edinburgh Write to The Scotsman
CTV News
28-04-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Russia declares a ceasefire in Ukraine on May 8-10 for WWII Victory Day
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on economic issues via videoconference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside of Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at CTV News. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.
