MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. The recent negotiations on Ukraine, which began in Davos, have continued in Moscow; Slovakia plans to join forces with Hungary and the Czech Republic to counter new EU anti-Russian sanctions; and the EU’s ban on Russian petroleum product imports will force carriers to revise their logistics plans. These stories topped Friday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
Izvestia: Americans arrive in Moscow to hear Russia's position on Ukraine conflict
The recent negotiations on Ukraine, which began in Davos, have continued in Moscow. US special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner once again traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and discuss the details of a peaceful settlement. Prior to this, American negotiators heard from the Ukrainian side, and Vladimir Zelensky managed to meet with Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos. However, experts consider this to be more of a coincidence, and the pace of meetings to discuss the crisis does not indicate a breakthrough in its resolution. Nevertheless, immediately after the reception in the Kremlin, trilateral talks are expected in the UAE with the participation of Russia, Ukraine, and the US, but at a technical level.
Such a high frequency of meetings on the Ukrainian issue, first in Davos and then in the UAE, does not yet indicate any significant progress in the settlement, Grigory Karasin, the head of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, told Izvestia.
"This 'political figure', Zelensky, will continue to intrigue until the last minute of his political career, and perhaps even his life. Therefore, all his statements about Europe being disarmed in the face of Russia and so on will continue, and there will be no end to it. I personally do not believe this, so a tough approach is needed. The fact that the conversation was positive is important. It is also significant that representatives from Washington arrived in Moscow afterwards," the senator said.
"In Davos, we saw Trump's unwillingness to play along with Zelensky. Impressed by his recent successes, he is trying to push forward efforts on the Ukrainian track. However, the outcome of the negotiations in the UAE is not yet clear. Apparently, much depends on the territorial question," Russian Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy Vice Rector Oleg Karpovich pointed out.
Actions on the part of the US could force Kiev to make territorial concessions, political scientist Bogdan Bezpalko noted. "For example, they could stop funding, halt intelligence and satellite data transfers, and set targets for certain weapons systems, such as the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system. That would be a start. But it is clear that Zelensky is being hinted at the need to conclude a peace agreement," he said.
There are still many details to be clarified, and diplomats have a lot of serious work ahead. Ultimately, the result will be the fulfillment of Russia's conditions, Karpovich emphasized.
Izvestia: Slovakia seeks to form EU coalition against new sanctions
Slovakia plans to join forces with Hungary and the Czech Republic to counter new EU anti-Russian sanctions, said Lubos Blaha, deputy head of the ruling SMER (Direction - Social Democracy) party. According to him, restrictions against Russia are completely ineffective. Experts believe the three countries will be unable to stop the adoption of sanctions but may secure exceptions and concessions from the European Commission. Amid the key round of negotiations on Ukraine between Russia and the US, the EU has lost the initiative and is reduced to the role of an observer. A divided union cannot develop a unified position on Russia.
Despite the ongoing negotiation process on Ukraine, the EU leadership is working on a 20th package of anti-Russian sanctions. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas confirmed that the new package is expected to be adopted in February. Information about the content of the next restrictions is gradually emerging in the media. For instance, a ban on Russian uranium imports is under discussion, as well as measures against Russia’s maritime oil trade.
"Regarding the possibility of coordinating policy with like-minded partners, we are primarily talking about Hungary and the Czech Republic. We are trying to cooperate with them as closely as possible within our limits and capabilities," Blaha told Izvestia. According to him, sanctions against Russia are completely pointless and ineffective.
Despite recent statements, the Czech Republic is unlikely to become as vocal a critic of anti-Russian sanctions as Hungary and Slovakia. These two countries are actively using their ability to block new sanctions as a bargaining chip with Brussels, Mikhail Vedernikov, a senior researcher at the Central and Eastern Europe Research Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Europe, told Izvestia. "Given that Prague has fewer issues to bargain with, its position will be more restrained. Everything will be limited to statements by individual politicians, primarily representatives of the Freedom and Direct Democracy party," the expert noted.
The EU has lost the initiative and is merely observing, acting by inertia. Therefore, given the fragmented nature of the meetings between the various participants in the process, Brussels will continue to impose sanctions, Fyodor Basov, senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ World Economy and International Relations Institute, emphasized. Talks about appointing a special envoy for negotiations with Russia have emerged so that Europe can have a "seat at the table" and defend its conditions. However, the EU has not yet agreed on a candidate for this position.
Vedomosti: Why US servicemen move 7,000 terrorists from Kurdish prisons in Syria to Iraq
Due to new Syrian authorities’ attacks on Syrian Kurds, the US military has begun a mission to "transfer" the militants of IS (Islamic State, also known as ISIS, an organization recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia) held in Syrian prisons. A total of about 7,000 terrorists will be transferred from northeastern Syria to Iraqi prisons, according to a January 21 statement from the US Central Command (CENTCOM).
Previously, the new Syrian authorities, led by interim president and former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (an organization recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia) Ahmed al-Sharaa, sought to take responsibility for guarding IS militants captured by the Kurds. This provision was included in the January 18 ceasefire agreement announced by al-Sharaa with Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Grigory Lukyanov, deputy dean of the Eastern Faculty at the Russian State Academic University for the Humanities, told Vedomosti that the burden of the IS militants captured by the Kurds poses more challenges than advantages to al-Sharaa. This issue has caused friction between the new Syrian authorities and their "security agencies." The US, which has placed its bets on the Syrian authorities while simultaneously scaling down its presence in the country, will be the first to oppose any rift among them, the expert noted: "Seeing this, al-Sharaa is obviously not averse to shifting responsibility and costs onto the Americans and Iraqis. This is especially true given that Iraq has already expressed concerns about the threat posed by released IS militants."
According to Nikolay Sukhov, senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ World Economy and International Relations Institute, there are Iraqi citizens and foreigners among the prisoners who fought for IS in Iraq from 2014 to 2017. This gives Baghdad the formal right to determine their fate. "Iraq will probably take on the task of guarding the militants in exchange for Western assistance, which it consistently needs. The Iraqi justice system can handle the large number of prisoners, given that the law provides for the death penalty for terrorism," Lukyanov concluded.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta: US may face gas shortage in 2027
In 2027, demand for gas in the US will exceed supply, according to a forecast made by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). In other words, the US will face a gas shortage in just over one year.
It should be noted that this shortage will not be like the one that occurred in the EU in 2022, when there was simply no gas available. The US will remain the world's largest gas producer, with production exceeding domestic consumption. However, given the volumes sent for export, which largely depend on liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity, there will not be enough gas for all potential consumers. Ivan Timonin, senior manager at Implementa, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta that there is a high probability that growth in US gas demand will outpace growth in supply in 2027. The key factor here is the rapid expansion of LNG export infrastructure.
The process of increasing the gas industry's dependence on exports and widening the gap between demand and supply in the US is already underway, Alexey Grivach, deputy head of the National Energy Security Fund, noted. It is no coincidence that against the backdrop of increased LNG production, the average gas price in the US rose by 60% last year. If production grows more slowly than the commissioning of new LNG facilities, gas prices will continue to rise, which could become a political challenge for the US authorities, as LNG supply is expected to grow in foreign markets while prices are expected to fall in Europe and Asia, Grivach emphasized.
According to Timonin, direct restrictions on gas exports by the US government seem unlikely, but regulatory measures cannot be entirely ruled out.
In turn, Andrey Ryabov, project manager at the Global Markets Division of the Oil and Gas Consulting Department of the Russian Energy Agency, noted that in the long term, gas price dynamics in the US will be determined by market mechanisms based on the balance between demand and production. Higher domestic prices will stimulate additional investment in gas production. Based on the country's resource base and production cost curve, the US has the potential to increase annual production by 200-300 billion cubic meters over the next ten years, provided that market conditions are favorable.
Kommersant: Ban on oil product imports into EU to raise logistics costs
The EU’s ban on Russian petroleum product imports, which has now taken effect, will force carriers to revise their logistics plans. Previously, ships carrying Russian petroleum products over long distances could return to India and other countries with products made from Russian oil. Now, however, these volumes will no longer be available. Analysts expect this to push up transportation costs, which kept rising in mid-January.
The effectiveness of the EU's measures to control the origin of petroleum products is very limited, and the sanctions themselves are applied selectively to individual ships, Maxim Malkov, a partner at Kept and head of the oil and gas sector practice, said. Therefore, the increase in transportation costs will reflect political risks rather than actual changes in carriers' costs, he noted. The introduction of new EU rules will face operational difficulties, Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Russian Financial University, emphasized. It is impossible to reliably determine the origin of raw materials at refineries, he said.
Adjusting logistics, as was the case after previous rounds of sanctions, may take several months, Kirill Bakhtin, head of the Russian equity analytics center at BCS, stressed. However, according to him, there will be no material effect on the cost of transporting Russian petroleum products.
In September 2025, when wholesale prices were reaching record highs, the Russian government banned the export of gasoline and diesel fuel for all market participants. In October, however, diesel fuel exports were allowed for refineries. Sources told Kommersant that the government is now considering lifting the ban on gasoline exports for producers starting February 1. However, the authorities are unlikely to lift the ban on foreign supplies ahead of time, Yushkov pointed out. He added that gasoline usually accounts for a small share of petroleum product exports and that refineries' partial utilization leaves no surplus for large-scale growth.
Bakhtin said that if the restrictions are lifted in March, the volume of diesel fuel, fuel oil, and gasoline supplies in the first quarter of 2026 could reach about 18 million tons. At the same time, he believes that monthly gasoline shipments will not exceed around one million tons.
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