Kiev has accused Hungary and Slovakia of provocation and blackmail following threats to cut off energy supplies unless Kiev resumes the flow of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline.
“Statements from Budapest and Bratislava are provocative, irresponsible, and threaten the energy security of the entire region,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X on Saturday.
Kiev is considering activating an early warning mechanism in its Association Agreement with the European Union, he added.
Earlier, Slovakia and Hungary had threatened Ukraine with a halt to emergency power supplies if Kiev does not allow the resumption of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline.
If oil transit to Slovakia is not resumed on Monday, Prime Minister Robert Fico said he would call on the state grid operator SEPS to halt emergency power supplies to Ukraine, according to a government statement, quoted by news agency CTK.
Ukraine: Repair work on pipeline under way
Unlike other EU states, Hungary and Slovakia continue to receive relatively cheap Russian oil despite Western sanctions and rely on the Druzhba pipeline for their supplies. Ukrainian officials have said that the pipeline was damaged in the Russian attacks and repair work is under way despite the risk of further missile strikes.
However, Hungary and Slovakia accuse the Ukrainian leadership of deliberately preventing the resumption of deliveries.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said the governments in Budapest and Bratislava should address their complaints to the Kremlin, not to Kiev, and criticized what it said were plans to withhold electricity, heating and gas from Ukrainians during a period of extreme cold.
“The governments of Hungary and Slovakia are not only playing into the hands of the aggressor, but also harming their own energy companies that supply energy on a commercial basis,” it added.
Ukraine sees the purchase of gas and oil from Russia by the two EU countries as helping finance Russia’s war against it.
Hungary threatens to block huge Ukraine loan
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hinted a few days ago that his country could hinder power supplies to neighbouring Ukraine if Kiev continues to disrupt Hungary’s supplies.
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó also announced on Friday that his country would block the EU’s €90 billion ($106 billion) loan for Ukraine until oil transit to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline is resumed.
Orbán has expressed the view that Ukraine is interested in him losing the parliamentary election scheduled for April 12, and therefore wanted to ensure that heating costs in Hungary rise by blocking the Druzhba pipeline.
Out on the western Baltic, a coastguard officer radios a nearby, sanctioned oil tanker.
“Swedish Coastguard calling… Do you consent to answer a few questions for us? Over.”
Through heavy static, barely audible answers crackle over from a crew member, who gradually lists the ship’s insurance details, flag state and last port of call – Suez, Egypt.
“I think this ship will go up to Russia and get oil,” says Swedish investigator, Jonatan Tholin.
This is the front line of Europe’s uneasy standoff with Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”; a term that commonly refers to hundreds of tankers used to bypass a price cap on Russian oil exports.
After the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many Western countries imposed sanctions on Russian energy, which Moscow is accused of dodging by shipping oil on aged tankers often with obscure ownership or insurance.
European coastguards and navies are regularly coming in contact with vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet which they suspect are transporting oil [BBC]
Some “shadow” ships are even suspected of undersea sabotage, illicit drone launches or “spoofing” their location data.
Out on the waves, where freedom of navigation is a golden rule, the ability and appetite of coastal countries to intervene is limited, even though the risk they face is escalating.
As the BBC has learned, a growing network of “shadow” ships are sailing without a valid national flag, which can render vessels stateless and without proper insurance.
That is a troubling trend, given many are practically “floating rust buckets”, says senior maritime intelligence analyst at Windward AI, Michelle Wiese Bockmann. If there is an accident, like a billion-dollar oil spill, “good luck with trying to find somebody responsible to pick up any cost”.
Driven by record sanctions and tighter enforcement, the number of falsely flagged ships globally has more than doubled this year to over 450, most of them tankers, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) database.
The BBC has been tracking one ship that appears to have sailed without a valid flag.
The head of Estonia’s navy, Commodore Ivo Värk, says that vessels travel back and forth, past Estonia, to major Russian oil terminals [BBC]
The head of Estonia’s navy, Commodore Ivo Värk, says they have seen dozens of such passing vessels this year whereas they used to see just one or two.
The rise is alarming, he tells me, as we talk in his office overlooking the Gulf of Finland, a narrow gateway to the major Russian oil terminals of Ust-Luga and Primorsk.
What’s more, he suggests, it’s brazen: “There’s no secret made about it.”
We spot the tanker Unity on the MarineTraffic app, the day we board an Estonian (British-built) Minehunter that is also used in Nato’s Baltic Sentry patrols to protect critical infrastructure.
Journeying east, Unity is over 100 miles away but sailing in our direction.
The BBC has investigated its history and it offers an illuminating insight into the enigmatic life of a shadow ship.
Tracking data shows that Unity has passed through the English Channel four times in the last twelve months, including journeys between Russian ports and India; a key oil customer that has not signed up to the price cap.
Originally known as Ocean Explorer, the tanker was built in 2009 and flew the flag of Singapore for more than a decade.
By late 2021, the vessel – which that year operated under the name Ocean Vela – took the flag of the Marshall Islands but was struck from that list in 2024, a registry spokesperson told us, because the ship’s then-operator and beneficial owning company had been sanctioned by the UK.
The tanker appears to have had three further names since 2021 (Beks Swan, March and Unity) and three further flags (Panama, Russia and Gambia) but always retains a unique IMO number.
In August, ship broadcasting data shows Unity claimed the flag of Lesotho which was designated as “false”. Lesotho is a small, landlocked African enclave kingdom that, according to the IMO, does not have an official registry.
Over the past year, Unity has made several voyages to and from Russian oil ports [BBC]
The BBC has tried to contact Unity’s listed owner, a Dubai-registered company called FMTC Ship Charter LLC, but our emails and our calls went unanswered.
The beneficial owners of 60% of shadow fleet vessels remain essentially unknown, according to maritime intelligence company Windward AI.
Opaque ownership structures – and frequent name or flag changes – have become a signature trait of the shadow fleet as a means of avoiding detection.
Purged from reputable registries and having circled the drain of poor-quality alternatives, some ships are now at a point “where they just don’t even bother at all”, says Michelle Wiese Bockmann.
Unity’s most recent journey saw it sail through the North Sea in late October before entering the Baltic and passing countries including Sweden and Estonia – the point at which we spotted it.
By 6 November, it was anchored outside the Russian port of Ust-Luga where it remains at the time of publication.
The tanker was added to the UK and EU’s ever-growing list of sanctioned vessels earlier this year but, like so many others, continues to do business despite other difficulties.
Back in January, it reportedly sheltered in the English Channel after suffering a mechanical failure during a storm. The following August it was reportedly detained at a Russian port due to technical issues and unpaid wages.
At the time of publication the vessel was anchored just outside the major Russian oil port, Ust-Luga [Planet Labs]
Unity is just one of hundreds of vessels subject to UK and EU service and port bans as both London and Brussels try to increase pressure on the Kremlin.
Nevertheless, Russian revenues from crude and oil product sales were $13.1bn (£9.95bn) in October alone, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) – although this was down by $2.3bn when compared with the same month a year ago.
Analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air finds that “shadow” tankers, either sanctioned or suspected, account for 62% of shipped Russian crude oil exports, while China and India are by far the biggest customers for crude, followed by Turkey and the European Union itself.
While politicians talk of toughening action, navy and coastguard officers point out that a country’s power to act fades the further you go out to sea.
The right of innocent passage remains a cornerstone of maritime law, but stateless vessels technically are not entitled to it.
Countries such as France, Finland and Estonia have detained ships, and they can do so where a crime is suspected, however such drastic controls remain a relatively rare event.
“There’s a complexity associated with it,” argues Commodore Ivo Värk. “With the Russian presence next to our borders, the risk of escalation is too high to do it on a regular basis.”
The Estonians speak from experience.
When they attempted to intercept a flagless tanker in May, Russia briefly deployed a fighter jet and has “constantly” had about two naval vessels in the Gulf of Finland since, says Commodore Värk.
The fear of escalation sits alongside broader concerns of commercial retaliation if a more aggressive approach were to be taken.
“Every day in the Baltic, there’s suspicious activity,” a Nato official told the BBC, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Nevertheless, the official added, “we don’t want to be cowboys and jumping on ships. The act of monitoring ships is a deterrent in itself”.
“Freedom of navigation is the lifeblood of all of our economies.”
Back on the bridge of the Swedish coastguard ship, the radio call with the sanctioned tanker has wrapped up.
“Thank you for your co-operation,” says the officer as the vessel carries on towards Russia.
The exchange lasted just over five minutes.
“You need to see it in a larger perspective,” says investigator Jonatan Tholin when I suggest these measures appear less than muscular: “This information can be used in our maritime surveillance.”
But as Europe steps up checks and watches the waves, Windward’s Michelle Wiese Bockmann spies something else: “You can literally see the international rules-based order crumbling through the sanctions-circumventing tactics of these vessels.”
There is a lot at stake for the environment and on security, she says, and meanwhile “the dark fleet is getting darker”.
The BBC approached Russia’s embassy in London for comment. In response, a spokesman said that the West’s “anti-Russian sanctions” were “illegitimate” and “undermine established principles of global commerce”.
“Labelling ships used to export Russian oil as ‘shadow fleet’ is discriminatory and misleading,” the embassy said, and instances of invalid flags were typically down to “easily resolved” issues such as administrative delays.
It was sanctioning countries, the spokesperson said, that had “heightened” the risks by “forcing shipowners and operators to navigate an increasingly fragmented and restrictive regulatory landscape”.
Additional reporting by Adrienne Murray, Michael Steininger and Ali Zaidi
President Donald Trump returned to the United Nations on Tuesday to boast of his second-term foreign policy achievements and lash out at the world body as a feckless institution, while warning Europe it would be ruined if it doesn’t turn away from a “double-tailed monster” of ill-conceived migration and green energy policies.His roughly hour-long speech was both grievance-filled and self-congratulatory as he used the platform to praise himself and lament that some of his fellow world leaders’ countries were “going to hell.”The address was also just the latest reminder for U.S. allies and foes that the United States — after a four-year interim under the more internationalist President Joe Biden — has returned to the unapologetically “America First” posture under Trump.“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump said. “The U.N. has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”World leaders listened closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.Trump escalated that criticism on Tuesday, saying the international body’s “empty words don’t solve wars.”Trump offered a weave of jarring juxtapositions in his address to the assembly.He trumpeted himself as a peacemaker and enumerated successes of his administration’s efforts in several hotspots around the globe. At the same, Trump heralded his decisions to order the U.S. military to carry out strikes on Iran and more recently against alleged drug smugglers from Venezuela and argued that globalists are on the verge of destroying successful nations.The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.Warnings about ‘green scam’ and migrationTrump touted his administration’s policies allowing for expanded drilling for oil and natural gas in the United States, and aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration, implicitly suggesting more countries should follow suit.He sharply warned that European nations that have more welcoming migration policies and commit to expensive energy projects aimed at reducing their carbon footprint were causing irreparable harm to their economies and cultures.“I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the ‘green energy’ scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said. “If you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before that you have nothing in common with your country is going to fail.”Trump added, “I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration. This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake, and they cannot let that happen any longer.”The passage of the wide-ranging address elicited some groans and uncomfortable laughter from delegates.Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leadersTrump touted “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars. He peppered his speech with criticism of global institutions doing too little to end war and solve the world’s biggest problems.General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday said that despite all the internal and external challenges facing the organization, it is not the time to walk away.“Sometimes we could’ve done more, but we cannot let this dishearten us. If we stop doing the right things, evil will prevail,” Baerbock said in her opening remarks.Following his speech, Trump met with Secretary-General António Guterres, telling the top U.N. official that the U.S. is behind the global body “100%” amid fears among members that he’s edging toward a full retreat.The White House says Trump will also meet on Tuesday with the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speechTrump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.Trump sharply criticized the statehood recognition push.“The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists,” Trump said. “This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7.”Trump also addressed Russia’s war in Ukraine.It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.Trump said a “very strong round of powerful tariffs” would “stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.” He repeated his calls on Europe to “step it up” and stop buying Russian oil.Trump has Oslo dreamsDespite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the spurious claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.“Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Prize — but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless wars,” Trump offered.He again highlighted his administration’s efforts to end conflicts, including between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” Trump said. “Sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them.”Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.___AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
UNITED NATIONS —
President Donald Trump returned to the United Nations on Tuesday to boast of his second-term foreign policy achievements and lash out at the world body as a feckless institution, while warning Europe it would be ruined if it doesn’t turn away from a “double-tailed monster” of ill-conceived migration and green energy policies.
His roughly hour-long speech was both grievance-filled and self-congratulatory as he used the platform to praise himself and lament that some of his fellow world leaders’ countries were “going to hell.”
The address was also just the latest reminder for U.S. allies and foes that the United States — after a four-year interim under the more internationalist President Joe Biden — has returned to the unapologetically “America First” posture under Trump.
“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump said. “The U.N. has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”
World leaders listened closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.
After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.
Trump escalated that criticism on Tuesday, saying the international body’s “empty words don’t solve wars.”
Trump offered a weave of jarring juxtapositions in his address to the assembly.
He trumpeted himself as a peacemaker and enumerated successes of his administration’s efforts in several hotspots around the globe. At the same, Trump heralded his decisions to order the U.S. military to carry out strikes on Iran and more recently against alleged drug smugglers from Venezuela and argued that globalists are on the verge of destroying successful nations.
The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.
Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.
The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.
Warnings about ‘green scam’ and migration
Trump touted his administration’s policies allowing for expanded drilling for oil and natural gas in the United States, and aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration, implicitly suggesting more countries should follow suit.
He sharply warned that European nations that have more welcoming migration policies and commit to expensive energy projects aimed at reducing their carbon footprint were causing irreparable harm to their economies and cultures.
“I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the ‘green energy’ scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said. “If you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before that you have nothing in common with your country is going to fail.”
Trump added, “I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration. This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake, and they cannot let that happen any longer.”
The passage of the wide-ranging address elicited some groans and uncomfortable laughter from delegates.
Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leaders
Trump touted “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars. He peppered his speech with criticism of global institutions doing too little to end war and solve the world’s biggest problems.
General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday said that despite all the internal and external challenges facing the organization, it is not the time to walk away.
“Sometimes we could’ve done more, but we cannot let this dishearten us. If we stop doing the right things, evil will prevail,” Baerbock said in her opening remarks.
Following his speech, Trump met with Secretary-General António Guterres, telling the top U.N. official that the U.S. is behind the global body “100%” amid fears among members that he’s edging toward a full retreat.
The White House says Trump will also meet on Tuesday with the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.
Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speech
Trump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.
France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.
Trump sharply criticized the statehood recognition push.
“The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists,” Trump said. “This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7.”
Trump also addressed Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.
European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.
Trump said a “very strong round of powerful tariffs” would “stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.” He repeated his calls on Europe to “step it up” and stop buying Russian oil.
Trump has Oslo dreams
Despite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the spurious claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.
“Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Prize — but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless wars,” Trump offered.
He again highlighted his administration’s efforts to end conflicts, including between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.
“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” Trump said. “Sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them.”
Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.
___
AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
The former speaker of the House discussed Silicon Valley Bank, January 6 revisionist history, the coming election, and more in a South by Southwest interview focused on money and greed.
Travis P Ball / Getty for SXSW
House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s message at the annual South by Southwest festival could be summarized in three words: Follow the money.
Pelosi uttered that specific phrase—and similar versions of it—several times during her interview with Evan Smith, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, as part of the magazine’s Future of Democracy summit this morning in Austin, Texas.
Pelosi, who represents California’s 11th congressional district, began by discussing the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the anxiety sweeping through not only her home district but the tech and financial industries as a whole. “I don’t think there’s any appetite in this country for bailing out a bank,” she said. “What we would hope to see by tomorrow morning is for some other bank to buy the bank.” She said there were multiple potential buyers, but she couldn’t reveal their names. Pelosi pointed out that former President Donald Trump had authorized the reduction of certain Dodd-Frank protections that had been instituted following the 2008 financial crash: “If they were still in place and the bank had to honor them, this might have been avoided,” she offered. Rather than repeating our recent history and using taxpayer money to rescue the failed institution, Pelosi said the focus should be on protecting depositors and small businesses at risk of closing or not making payroll. “We do not want contagion,” she said.
Pelosi pointed to money—the reckless use and exploitation of it—as the root of virtually every problem facing America and the world today. Whether the potential fallout of a failed bank like SVB or the rise of autocracy around the world, it all comes down to money, money, money, and little else. “Money buying Russian oil is paying for the assault on democracy in Ukraine,” Pelosi said. She accused China of “buying” votes from smaller countries at the United Nations, and said the U.S. must join with the European Union “in using the leverage of this big market to have the playing field be more even.”
Pelosi refused to say Trump’s name even once during her one-hour session, referring to the 45th president instead by “What’s his name” under her breath. Still, she condemned the extremism and anarchy that had overtaken American politics since Trump began his rise nearly eight years ago. Her husband, Paul Pelosi, who was struck in the head with a hammer by a home invader last fall, joined her on today’s trip to Texas, which was unusual, given that he’s still recovering from the attack. “I was the target,” she said. “He paid the price.”
She spoke of the January 6 insurrection with sadness and disgust—anarchists “making poo-poo on the floor of the Capitol”—and acknowledged the rioters’ goal to put a bullet in her head that day. Her successor, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, recently gave a trove of January 6 material to Fox News in the name of governmental transparency. Fox’s biggest star, Tucker Carlson, downplayed the severity of the Capitol storming in a broadcast last week. “Something must be wrong with Tucker Carlson,” Pelosi said. “There’s money that runs a lot of it.”
Taking a brief conciliatory note, she said she was hoping “for the best” for McCarthy as he continues his first year as House speaker. “We need to listen, and I hope that Kevin will listen to other than just the very radical, right-wing fringe of his party,” she said, apparently gesturing at Trump and other election deniers. When asked about the prospect of Trump again becoming the GOP nominee in 2024, she was ready with a canned line: “If he is, we impeached him twice, and he’s gonna lose twice.” (Left unsaid was that neither impeachment resulted in Trump’s removal from office.)
As for President Joe Biden, Pelosi called him a “magnificent leader” and said that she “certainly hopes” he will run again. (She joked that he’s younger than she is.) Nevertheless, Pelosi seemed slightly agitated that Biden had yet to formally declare his candidacy, leaving other potential candidates in the Democratic party with few options. “I think it would be efficient for us to have a president seek reelection, and we should be moving on with it when we can. Whatever decision he makes, we’d like to know.”
The Group of Seven price cap on Russian seaborne oil came into force on Monday as the West tries to limit Moscow’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine, but Russia has said it will not abide by the measure even if it has to cut production.
The price cap, to be enforced by the G7, the European Union and Australia, comes on top of the EU’s embargo on imports of Russian crude by sea and similar pledges by the United States, Canada, Japan and Britain.
It allows Russian oil to be shipped to third-party countries using G7 and EU tankers, insurance companies and credit institutions, only if the cargo is bought at or below the price cap.
Because the world’s key shipping and insurance firms are based in G7 countries, the cap could make it difficult for Moscow to sell its oil for a higher price.
Russia, the world’s second-largest oil exporter, said on Sunday it would not accept the cap and would not sell oil that is subject to it, even if it has to cut production.
Selling oil and gas to Europe has been one of the main sources of Russian foreign currency earnings since Soviet geologists found oil and gas in the swamps of Siberia in the decades after World War Two. A source who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the situation told Reuters that a decree was being prepared to prohibit Russian companies and traders from interacting with countries and companies guided by the cap.
In essence, such a decree would ban the export of oil and petroleum products to countries and companies that apply it.
Still, with the price cap set at $60 per barrel, not much below the $67 level where it closed on Friday URL-E, the EU and G7 countries expect Russia will still have an incentive to continue selling oil at that price, while accepting smaller profits.
The level of the cap is to be reviewed by the EU and the G7 every two months, with the first such review in mid-January.
“This review should take into account … the effectiveness of the measure, its implementation, international adherence and alignment, the potential impact on coalition members and partners, and market developments,” the European Commission said in a statement.
The cap on crude will be followed by a similar measure affecting Russian petroleum products that will come into force on Feb. 5, though the level of that cap has not yet been determined.
The United States is happy for India to continue buying as much Russian oil as it wants, including at prices above a G7-imposed price cap mechanism, if it steers clear of Western insurance, finance, and maritime services bound by the cap, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday.
The cap would still drive global oil prices lower while curbing Russia’s revenues, Yellen said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of a conference on deepening US-Indian economic ties. Russia will not be able to sell as much oil as it does now once the European Union halts imports without resorting to the capped price or significant discounts from current prices, Yellen added.
“Russia is going to find it very difficult to continue shipping as much oil as they have done when the EU stops buying Russian oil,” Yellen said. “They’re going to be heavily in search of buyers. And many buyers are reliant on Western services.”
India is now Russia’s largest oil customer other than China.
Final details of the price cap to be imposed by wealthy G7 democracies and Australia are still coming together ahead of a Dec. 5 deadline.
The existence of the cap would give India, China, and other major buyers of Russian crude leverage to push down the price they pay to Moscow, Yellen said. Russian oil “is going to be selling at bargain prices and we’re happy to have India get that bargain or Africa or China. It’s fine,” Yellen added.
Yellen told Reuters that India and private Indian oil companies “can also purchase oil at any price they want as long as they don’t use these Western services and they find other services. And either way is fine.”
The cap is intended to cut Russia’s oil revenues while keeping Russian crude on the market by denying insurance, maritime services, and finance provided by the Western allies for tanker cargoes priced above a fixed dollar-per-barrel cap. A historical Russian Urals crude average of $63-64 a barrel could form an upper limit.
The cap is a concept promoted by the United States since the EU first laid out plans in May for an embargo on Russian oil to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
INDIA WARY
Yellen’s remarks were made after India’s foreign minister said last week that his country would continue to buy Russian crude because it benefits India.
India’s finance and energy ministries were not available for comment on Yellen’s remarks, but other officials have said they were wary of the untested price cap mechanism.
“I do not think we will follow the price cap mechanism, and we have communicated that to the countries. We believe most countries are comfortable with it and it is in no one’s case that Russian oil should go offline,” one Indian government official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official added that stable supplies and prices are most important.
Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil exporter, is expanding its tanker charter business to avoid its buyers having to find tankers, insurance, or other services as the price cap.
Yellen said that even with Russian tankers, Chinese tankers, and a “shadow” fleet of older, decommissioned tankers and re-flagged vessels, “I just think they will find it very difficult to sell all the oil that they have been selling without a reasonable price.”
