MOSCOW, September 10. /TASS/. The EU seeks to use sanctions to disrupt Russia-US dialogue; Israel’s operation in Qatar ends in failure; and Syria’s interim president receives an invitation to visit Moscow. These stories topped Wednesday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.

 

Izvestia: EU aims to use sanctions to undermine Russia-US dialogue

The European Union has come up with another way to hamper talks on Ukraine. After failing to engage the US in efforts to deploy additional troops to Ukraine, the European Commission is now trying to persuade Washington to join the EU’s 19th package of sanctions on Russia. As a requisite, the US demands the Europeans cut off Russian energy imports.

Experts interviewed by Izvestia believe that US President Donald Trump’s decision on sanctions against Russia depends on how relations between Washington and Moscow progress.

The European Union has two options to abandon Russian energy supplies. The first one is to end direct purchases of oil and gas. Brussels has recently put forward a roadmap to achieve this goal by 2028. The second option, which is where Trump is pushing Europe, is to stop buying oil products manufactured in third countries such as India, Valdai Discussion Club expert Andrey Kortunov pointed out.

The logic of events could lead to the United States joining the new package of sanctions on Russia, but only formally. Trump is highly likely to achieve some success in replacing Russian energy in Europe with US supplies, said Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of Moscow State Pedagogical University’s Institute of History and Politics.

The energy and finance sectors will be the focus of the EU’s 19th package of sanctions. The list of banned vessels will probably be expanded. There is also a possibility of sanctions on certain ports in third countries, Yekaterina Arapova, deputy head of the Department of International Relations at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, noted.

Meanwhile, the US president has made it clear that he continues efforts to find a compromise. He has announced plans for another telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and further communication with European leaders. Besides, Washington also needs to convince Ukraine. According to US Permanent Representative to NATO Matthew Whitaker, Kiev is ready to suspend hostilities along the current frontline in exchange for security guarantees.

That said, new US restrictions on Moscow will depend on how Russia-US relations and the negotiation process unfold, Kortunov stressed.

 

Izvestia: Israel’s operation in Qatar ends in failure

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is increasingly prioritizing the need to defeat Hamas over efforts to rescue hostages, said experts interviewed by Izvestia. On September 9, the Israeli Air Force targeted the Palestinian group’s leaders in the Qatari capital of Doha. The attack triggered a sharp response from Qatar, which suspended its mediation efforts.

Hamas has said that the Israeli attack was unsuccessful because Khalil al-Hayya, the movement’s leader in the Gaza Strip and head of its negotiating team, survived, as well as his associates. The Israeli authorities claimed that the strike had come in response to recent terrorist attacks in Jerusalem and Gaza but the Jerusalem Post newspaper notes that plans for the strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar were drawn up several days ago, which means they can hardly be seen as a direct retaliation.

According to Murad Sadygzade, president of the Center for Middle East Research, the current Israeli government is not really interested in negotiations with Palestine. "The government largely consists of far-right politicians, oriented towards nationalist Zionism. Their goal is not to create a Palestinian state but to expand Israel to the historic borders of the kingdom of David," the expert elaborated. In his view, Israeli strikes targeting southern Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and even Hamas leaders in Doha fit well into this strategic plan.

Middle East expert Kirill Semyonov believes that the issue of hostages has long ceased being a priority for the Israeli leadership. Netanyahu initially took advantage of it to achieve domestic goals. "Now, the government’s primary objective is to clear out the Palestinian population, first, of the Gaza Strip, and then, perhaps, the West Bank. According to this logic, the hostages are just an obstacle that the authorities intend to bypass," the expert added.

"In fact, Qatar has already stepped out of its role as a mediator, while Israel, by carrying out a strike on Doha, seeks to abandon negotiations once and for all in order to continue implementing its own scenario of escalation, with the ultimate goal being to remove the Palestinian population from Gaza," the analyst concluded.

 

Media: Mass protests leave Nepal without leadership

Nepal’s prime minister and several cabinet members have resigned amid mass protests. The unrest was sparked by a social media ban, but the real reasons behind the current developments are an economic crisis and corruption, said experts interviewed by Izvestia.

The protests were initially dubbed the "Gen Z Revolution" as the ban on social media - a crucial communication tool in Nepal - primarily worried the country’s youth. However, the ban was just a pretext for mass riots. Protesters are dissatisfied with the economic situation in the country and the high level of corruption. "The large-scale protests are the result of a set of common problems, which includes corruption," said Denis Korablin, senior researcher with the Department of Comparative Culture at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies.

Many people in Nepal are disappointed with the government’s unwillingness to investigate corruption cases. Public outrage also stems from structural problems in Nepalese society, where a caste system persists despite an official ban on caste-based discrimination, Elza Shigazina, junior researcher with the Center for Indo-Pacific Studies under the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations, points out. "The economy has been stalled for years, to put it mildly. Governments change, but the situation stays the same regardless of what campaign rhetoric political parties use and what policy document they issue," the expert noted.

"There is an opposition in Nepal but being highly disparate and poorly coordinated, it is hardly capable of organizing an alternative force," Shirgazina said. Protest activities are certainly being coordinated from within but only further developments will show whose hands it could play into, the expert emphasized.

Meanwhile, in a conversation with Vedomosti, Shirgazina ruled out the possibility of foreign interference in the Nepalese protests because, in her words, regardless of what party is in power, Kathmandu always maintains working contact with all its neighbors. The current crisis is likely to lead to the formation of another coalition, with the leader of the Nepali Congress party replacing the head of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) as the country’s prime minister.

 

Vedomosti: Syria’s interim president gets invitation to visit Moscow

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has visited Syria for the first time since the toppling of the Bashar Assad regime. He is the highest-ranking Russian official to make a trip to Damascus in the past nine months, Vedomosti writes.

A Novak-led delegation held talks with senior Syrian officials, discussing economic, security, defense and political issues, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported. At a press conference following talks with the new Syrian foreign minister, Novak announced a Moscow visit by Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham group and Syria’s interim president.

If al-Sharaa does visit Moscow, this will serve as an official confirmation of Russia recognizing the current Damascus authorities as a legitimate government and even a partner it is ready to work with, Russian International Affairs Council expert Kirill Semyonov said.

A source close to the new Syrian authorities told Vedomosti that the agenda of Novak’s visit included discussions of fuel supplies to Syria, where an energy crisis, which broke out under Assad, has intensified. According to the US-based Institute for Energy Research, the Syrian Kurds, whom the new Damascus authorities are unsuccessfully trying to bring under control, hold 70% of the country’s pre-war oil and gas stockpiles.

According to Igor Yushkov, an expert with the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, the Syrian authorities are interested in oil products due to insufficient production capacities and the deteriorated condition of the country’s oil refineries: "The issue of supplies is rather a political than an economic one. It’s about the volume and terms of supplies and the preferences and guarantees that could be provided in return."

Nikolay Sukhov, senior researcher at the Center for Middle East Studies under the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations, believes that the Syrian authorities expect to get fuel actually for free in exchange for guarantees for Russian military bases. They also want Russian technical workers to return to the country to revive and operate gas and oil fields.

 

Media: Gold prices hit another all-time high in less than week

It has taken gold prices less than a week to reach another all-time high, climbing to a record level of $3,700 per troy ounce. Now, it looks like the scenario of prices rising to $4,000 per troy ounce may well materialize before the end of the year, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports.

The US Federal Reserve’s expected return to monetary policy easing is the main long-term driver behind the surging prices. Moves to mitigate the monetary policy always reduce the profitability of the US dollar, making gold a more attractive investment asset, Freedom Finance Global analyst Vladimir Chernov observed.

Another factor that is fueling prices on the long-term horizon is high demand for gold from global central banks and exchange-traded funds. By purchasing gold, such funds hedge their exchange rate risks and also hedge against global inflation and foreign policy factors, as well as against the uncertainty created by the United States’ trade policy, the expert specified.

As for a short-term boost for global gold prices, it’s the escalating conflict in the Middle East. It has pushed market participants to look to defensive assets, including precious metals, Chernov added. In his opinion, gold prices could test the $3,800-$4,000 per troy ounce level by the end of the year as long as the Federal Reserve maintains a soft approach and geopolitical tensions persist.

"The conflict in the Middle East is far from over, and on top of that, tensions have started to rise around Venezuela," Finam analyst Nikolay Dudchenko told Kommersant. As a result, central banks continue to actively increase their gold reserves. "Gold is becoming a perceived risk-free asset in contrast to US treasuries, whose profitability is rising amid debt problems and overall political instability," Alyona Nikolayeva, portfolio manager at Astero Falcon, pointed out.

TASS is not responsible for the material quoted in these press reviews