Nezavisimaya Gazeta: EU to explain to United States how to talk with Russia
On Monday, January 24, the EU Council will hold a session of its Foreign Affairs Council, where EU top diplomats will convene. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also participate in it via video link. He is expected to brief his European colleagues on his Friday talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and discuss the US response to Moscow’s security proposals. However, experts told Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the EU is unlikely to become a major participant in the Russia-West discussion since it has not been able to develop a coherent response to Moscow’s proposals.
According to the EU Council's website, the meeting's agenda is fairly comprehensive and includes an exchange of views on a number of international political concerns, particularly the situation in Sudan, Mali, Libya, and the Indo-Pacific. However, the major focus will be on the Russia-Ukraine crisis, with Blinken playing a key role in the meeting, according to the newspaper.
Leading researcher at the Department of Social and Political Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergey Fedorov doubts that Brussels will be able to cobble together some sort of common position on the Russia talks and thus would hardly become a noticeable participant in them.
"The EU countries, of course, will find a minimal common denominator in the form of expressing support for Ukraine, but nothing more. What matters to the Europeans is that the United States consults with them, and that the Americans neither abandon them, nor act behind their backs. Let us recall the sharp reaction the AUKUS coalition evoked in France. This event has certainly taught the United States a lesson. They will now listen closely to their European allies. Of course, they will not act in accordance with their opinion, if only because the EU does not have a consensus," the expert told the newspaper.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta: US in talks with Qatar on LNG in case Russia-Ukraine crisis explodes
Biden administration representatives are in talks with Qatari officials on possible supplies of natural gas to Europe in the event of an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Experts told Nezavisimaya Gazeta they doubt that Qatar’s gas can fully substitute for Russian fuel. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from Qatar are still far behind Gazprom's exports to the EU, and they do not meet the needs of European states themselves.
The Qatari-US negotiations are tied to a potential scarcity of energy supplies in the event that the current crisis between Russia and Ukraine heats up even further, according to Bloomberg. At the same time, the agency's sources stated that it will be difficult to considerably boost LNG supplies to Europe in the immediate future due to increased global demand for gas. However, it is expected that Qatar may be ready to divert its LNG tankers to Europe in the event of a war in Ukraine.
It is unlikely that an alternative to Russian natural gas supplies will be found quickly, asset manager at BCS Mir Investments Vitaly Gromadin told the newspaper. At the same time, the expert does not rule out that in the long term it is quite possible to launch new large projects in other regions. "But it will cost more for European consumers than pipeline supplies from Russia," he pointed out.
Today, Russia has an almost half-a-century-long impeccable reputation as a supplier of energy resources to the EU, economist Andrey Loboda noted. "Russian pipeline transport is the safest and most competitive today. Russia's share in Europe’s energy supplies is unlikely to fall below 40% of the total market," he told Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
Izvestia: Turkey gambling on role as mediator between Russia, Ukraine
The self-proclaimed republics of Donbass are not interested in shifting the Trilateral Contact Group negotiations from Minsk to another location, according to the leadership of the Lugansk People's Republic in response to Turkey's invitation that the parties to the conflict meet in Istanbul. Changing the venue for the Trilateral Contact Group's meetings will have no effect on their conclusion, according to Donbass, therefore moving them from Minsk to Istanbul makes no sense.
"We have not received any proposals," adviser to the head of the Lugansk People's Republic Rodion Miroshnik told Izvestia. "It should be understood that we are just referring to the discussion platform, where officials from Kiev and Donbass continue to meet. Therefore, in this case, I would not place as much emphasis on it," he added. If Ukraine is ready, face-to-face meetings of the Trilateral Contact Group, which had previously been shifted online due to the pandemic, should be resumed as soon as possible, the negotiator concluded.
That being said, an informed source told Izvestia that Russia sees no point in participating in such a meeting.
"Since Turkey's relations with the United States will not improve in the near future, Ankara is betting on Europe. They don’t want a war on the territory of Ukraine, and the Turks decided to gamble on this," Director of the Center for the Study of New Turkey Yuri Mavashev explained to Izvestia. "Ankara is making its presence felt by offering mediation services. If other platforms, particularly European ones, fail to generate results, Russia may benefit from its assistance," the expert added.
Izvestia: Russia shows ‘absolute cooperation’ in talks with West, says Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Moscow is demonstrating absolute cooperation in relations with Washington and it awaits a written response to the Russian draft security guarantees, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with Izvestia. In a conversation that took place after the talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Geneva, the diplomat noted that Ukraine is remembered at every opportunity since the West sees it as a tool of influence.
"We have submitted written proposals to our Western partners, primarily the United States. We have been very open in our actions. We specified what we wanted, we put it in writing and handed it over to them, after some time we published it. We held rounds of negotiations and also rounds of media coverage on our position after that. All that we want now is a written response to what we proposed point by point, everything else comes later," she told the newspaper. According to the diplomat, Russia shows "absolute cooperation".
Speaking about the popularity of the Ukrainian agenda among the Western countries, she noted, "Ukraine is perceived by the West as an instrument of influence, carrying out its interests in the region, destabilizing the situation, influencing some processes, and for endless accusations against us. You need a reason, you need to continue to add fuel to the sanctions fire, constantly throwing something on there".
"Diplomacy is precisely the tool that makes it possible for either common language, points of contact, or even dialogue in conditions where the parties, might not want to understand each other's position or have polar opposite positions. That's what diplomacy is for," Zakharova concluded.
Kommersant: WHO plans to inspect Sputnik V production in February
The Russian Ministry of Health and the Gamaleya Institute are waiting for the next inspection review of the Sputnik V jab by the WHO in February. After that, as the Kremlin said, the Russian vaccine could be recognized "in the foreseeable future". Experts interviewed by Kommersant believe that Sputnik V’s export prospects will not change significantly, but the WHO’s recognition should bolster Russians’ confidence in Sputnik.
Molecular biologist, researcher at Moscow State University Sergey Kharitonov believes there are no medical or epidemiological reasons not to register the Russian jab. "The real effectiveness of Sputnik is not disputed by anyone. Data from Bulgaria and elsewhere confirms that Sputnik is at least as good as Pfizer, Moderna, and other leading anti-COVID vaccines. And according to some reports, it even surpasses them by a few percent [points]," the expert told Kommersant.
DSM Group CEO Sergey Shulyak believes that by denying Sputnik recognition for a long time, global regulators protected the market for Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca who occupied "the lion's share of it". The approval of Sputnik by the WHO, expected in 2022, is unlikely to have a significant effect on the Russian vaccine’s rivalry with Western ones, he added.
At the same time, a source close to the Russian Ministry of Health denied any political or other implicit motives regarding the WHO. At the same time, he emphasized that even providing a complete set of documents for the vaccine does not guarantee anything.
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