⚡️⚡️
Key updates on Russia and #UkraineCrisis as on February 6
Kyiv’s reshuffle
Ukraine is set to
replace Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov with the chief of its military spy agency, a close ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, in a reshuffle at the forefront of Ukraine's war campaign. Reznikov would be transferred to another ministerial job and replaced by Kyrylo Budanov, head of the GUR military intelligence agency, said David Arakhamia, a senior lawmaker and chief of Servant of the People parliamentary bloc.
“War dictates personnel policy. Time and circumstances call for strengthening and regrouping. This is happening now and will continue to happen in the future,”
said David Aramkhia, who is heading the “Servant of the People” bloc in Ukraine’s parliament. According to his statement, Ihor Klymenko will become Foreign Minister and SBU will be headed by Vasyl Malyuk.
Nuclear sanctions
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky
signed a decree imposing sanctions against 200 legal entities from the Russian Federation, including Rosatom State Corporation, its subsidiaries and other companies in the nuclear industry of the Russian Federation. The list, in particular, includes the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Zaporizhia NPP".
"The terrorist state uses the nuclear industry as one of the elements of foreign expansion. To put pressure on other states. To create respective threats to the sovereignty of other states. All of these are sufficient reasons for Russia's nuclear industry to be subject to global sanctions. And we are working on this with our partners," Zelensky
said in his evening address.
Special audience
Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a series of traditional meetings with governors of regions whose term of office expires this year (in total, 19 regions), Kommersant reports.
Being given such audience generally means that the head of the region will run for a new term, even if there is no public discussion about it. Governor of the Samara region Dmitry Azarov, the head of the Voronezh Region Alexander Gusev, the head of Primorye Oleg Kozhemyako are among those with whom, according to Kommersant, such meetings have been planned already.
Tracking oil prices
S&P Global Platts is now
tracking the cost of Russian Urals grade oil in Indian ports since the end of January. According to Vedomosti, the new quote on February 1 was $18 per barrel to the benchmark Brent. On February 6, April Brent futures on the ICE exchange are trading at $80.1 per barrel.
Vedomosti notes that S&P’s data takes into account the cost of oil, cargo insurance and freight, and is linked to forward Brent. The outlet’s sources believe that the benchmark is more representative than the assessments done by Argus, although it is far from ideal. India now accounts for about 70% of Urals exports.
Oh that baloon
The saga of the Chinese spy balloon has plunged relations between Washington and Beijing into fresh crisis. For European governments, that spells all kinds of trouble, Politico
writes.
As the “U.S.-China rivalry sharpens, there will be more pressure on Europeans, whose approach to China is very diverse, to pick sides,” said Ricardo Borges de Castro, head of the Europe in the World Program at the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think tank. “The reality is, if the world becomes increasingly dominated by two poles — U.S. and China — the EU and Europeans will need to pick sides for as long as Europe’s security and defense depends on the U.S. umbrella.”
👉 Follow
t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.
Show more ...