Media: Macron seeks to encourage Moscow to make historic decision
French President Emmanuel Macron has launched a series of talks with his counterparts who are one way or another involved in the Russia-initiated negotiations on a new global security architecture. On Sunday, Macron held a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden. Then, on Monday, he arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and on Tuesday, he is expected to travel to Kiev to meet with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes.
France is in the middle of an election campaign with a presidential election set for April. An official announcement about the incumbent president entering the electoral race is expected any day now so Macron seeks to start his election campaign with an impressive move.
According to Leading Researcher with the Department of Social and Political Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Europe, Sergey Fedorov, Macron is positioning himself as a strong president who seeks to increase France’s clout on the international stage. Europe’s common affairs would be the field where Macron can demonstrate the power and influence of his country. If he succeeds in proving himself as a peacemaker to some extent, it would be a good start for his re-election campaign.
Macron is in fact the only major European politician who has made it clear that the current crisis is related, first and foremost, to Moscow’s demand that the existing inadequate security system should be reviewed, Director of the Kiev Center for Political Studies and Conflictology Mikhail Pogrebinsky told Izvestia. "The Donbass issue and the need to resolve the Ukrainian conflict remain one of the French president’s foreign policy priorities," Director of the Institute for Peacekeeping Initiatives and Conflictology Denis Denisov pointed out.
Vedomosti: Putin’s State of the Nation Address may focus on global issues
Russian President Vladimir Putin may deliver his annual State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly in early March, Vedomosti writes, citing a source close to the presidential administration and a source in the government.
The address will come amid a busy international agenda. In December 2021, Russia handed a draft agreement on security guarantees over to the United States and NATO. In January, talks between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the US Department of State took place, as well as a Russia-NATO Council meeting and consultations on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) platform. The US later provided Russia with a response to its proposals on security guarantees. In addition, the Russian president held a number of meetings with foreign leaders in January and February, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez and French President Emmanuel Macron. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro are expected to visit Moscow later in the month.
Although the president delivers his annual address in front of the Federal Assembly’s members, its actual audience is far larger, Head of the Civil Society Development Foundation Konstantin Kostin emphasized. He expects that "the president will take stock of the diplomatic marathon of the past months, clarify priorities and formulate Russia’s position." "One of the achievements made at the first stage is that Russia’s demand on security guarantees has become part of the day-to-day diplomatic practice of the leading global powers. However, reaching specific agreements is what has yet to be done," he noted.
The presidential address will probably provide a detailed response to the proposals that Russia received from the US and NATO, Russian International Affairs Council Director General Andrey Kortunov pointed out.
Russian society, in turn, is concerned about domestic issues, including efforts to overcome the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and the need to solve economic and social problems, so it’s crucial to maintain a balance in the president’s address, Kortunov stressed. Kostin, in turn, said that the well-being of the country’s people and economic development are also issues that are crucial for the address.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Russia ready to boost gas supplies to China
Russia’s total capacity in terms of gas exports to China - given the already established and planned export routes - can reach nearly 100 bln cubic meters, which will equal half of the country’s annual gas exports to Europe, Rossiyskaya Gazeta notes.
China’s CNPC and Russia’s Gazprom signed a contract on the delivery of 10 bln cubic meters of gas through the Far Eastern route on February 4. The already operational Power of Siberia gas pipeline will reach its planned capacity in 2024. The second one, the Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline, received a feasibility study in January 2022.
China needs additional gas supplies but given the current high market prices, it’s not easy to sign a major contract, so the 10 bln cubic meters deal is sort of an intermediate option, AriCapital Investment Strategist Sergey Suverov said.
The question is whether Russia will have enough gas to export to Europe. Suverov explained that the resource base for supplies to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline and the Far Eastern route had nothing to do with gas exports to Europe as these were two separate directions. However, as Russia plans to develop gas fields in the Arctic, which are mostly connected to LNG production projects, all the additional amounts of gas will flow to the east after the Soyuz Vostok pipeline is launched.
Russian gas supplies to Europe won’t grow but may remain at the current level of about 200 bln cubic meters a year. Europe won't be left without Russian gas, but Moscow is more likely to boost eastward exports.
Vedomosti: Washington annoyed at China’s implementation of Trump-era trade deal
The Biden administration is annoyed at how China is implementing the trade deal that the two countries made under then US President Donald Trump in 2020. According to Washington, Beijing has failed to take real steps to reduce the trade gap by increasing imports from the US, Vedomosti writes.
Signals about Washington not being happy with the trade deal came amid an active legislative campaign in the US Congress aimed at preparing new economic measures to contain China, Head of the Trade Policy Department at Higher School of Economics Maxim Medvedkov noted. The White House clearly views the trade deal as a burden it inherited from Trump, the analyst added.
At the same time, according to the expert, despite efforts to distance itself from the previous president, the Biden administration is maintaining continuity in its Trump-like protectionist economic policy and is unwilling to join global economic integration projects, only paying lip service to improving the rules of the game. The current US strategy is to create customs barriers and then trade them for concessions.
The US and China are so far determined to maintain Trump’s trade deal because regardless of rhetoric, the resumption of a trade war is hardly acceptable for any of the parties, Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies Vasily Kashin pointed out. According to him, it was impossible to implement the deal in some fields due to the coronavirus pandemic. That said, there will be statements and talks but the deal itself will remain in place, Kashin noted.
Izvestia: Living in skyscrapers may be hazardous to human health
Russian doctors believe that living in skyscrapers harms human health. According to medical experts, prolonged residence in highrise buildings can negatively affect the cardio-vascular system and internal organs and even trigger mental disorders, Izvestia writes.
According to Chief Physician at Invitro Moscow Sergey Khomyakov, it’s not dangerous to stay in skyscrapers - that is, buildings higher than 100 meters - for a few days or months. It is permanent residence that can create problems. Large crowds of people and an unconscious fear of heights are among the reasons. Besides, windows don’t usually open in highrise buildings, so air is supplied only through a ventilation system, which "can cause infections to spread quickly."
In addition, residents living on upper floors are more exposed to electromagnetic radiation and vibrations, which negatively impacts blood vessels and the brain. People who live on upper floors have been found to suffer from headaches and insomnia more often.
Aron Osmanovich, an expert with the medical department at Synergy University, noted that the higher the floor, the longer a person would have to wait for an ambulance. However, living on upper floors has its advantages as lighting is better there, the air is cleaner and there is less noise from the street.
Cardiologist Asiyat Khachirova noted, citing a study on the impact of highrise buildings on human health published in the European Journal of Epidemiology in 2013, that there is no ‘perfect’ floor to live on. Each floor has its strengths and weaknesses.
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