Europe’s energy crisis deepened yesterday as the failure to resolve a bitter dispute between Russia and Ukraine left hundreds of thousands enduring a second week of freezing conditions without heating gas.,
Russia defied the EU by refusing to resume gas supplies transiting through Ukraine as huge swathes of Europe froze and EU energy ministers gathered in Brussels for emergency talks.
An EU-brokered accord on terms for Russia to resume gas supply collapsed when Russia accused Ukraine of secretly altering the deal, prolonging one of Europe’s worst energy crises.
“I am ordering the government not to accept the document signed yesterday,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in televised remarks late on Sunday.
“We are obliged to consider the document signed as null and void,” he said.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who negotiated the accord on behalf of the EU presidency, had expected Russia to resume supplies immediately.
Central Europe and the Balkans suffered for a sixth consecutive day from the abrupt cut-off of Russian natural gas supplies that has left homes without heat and idled factories and schools.
“Moscow is clearly taking no prisoners and has gambled its image as a reliable supplier … to get the best economic and political benefits,” the Russian daily Vremya Novostei said.
The dispute between former Soviet giants Russia and Ukraine over gas payments and prices has raised urgent questions about the reliability of supply from Russia, which the EU relies on for a quarter of its total gas consumption.
EU energy ministers were to hold an emergency meeting in Brussels later yesterday to discuss ways to resolve the crisis and “increasing European energy security,” Czech Industry Minister Martin Riman said.
Medvedev and other senior Russian officials including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin charged that Ukraine had added phrases to the accord after it had been signed by Russia and the EU.
Putin telephoned Barroso on Sunday and informed him that the modifications introduced by Ukraine were “unacceptable” to Russia and then told Topolanek that Kiev should sign the deal again “without any additions or notes.”
European Commission spokesman Ferran Tarradellas said later that Kiev had agreed to re-sign the paperwork, although there was no confirmation from Ukraine.
The agreement in question laid out terms for international monitors to check the flow of natural gas transiting through pipelines in Ukraine that account for the bulk of Russia’s exports to customers in Europe.
Despite Russia’s assertions, Valentyn Zemlyansky, spokesman for Ukraine’s national gas company Naftogaz, was quoted by Interfax-Ukraine as saying that Kiev was still ready to resume transit of Russian gas to Europe.
“We confirm all prior guarantees on resuming transit and on having it monitored by independent observers,” he said.
Shortly before Medvedev announced Russia’s rejection of the modified agreement, the European Commission said it had “taken note of a Ukrainian declaration” it had received “in the afternoon.”
Commission spokesman Ferran Tarrabellas said, however that, for the EU at least, the declaration changed nothing in the agreement.
The controversial Ukrainian declaration, seen late on Sunday, maintains that Ukraine no longer owes money to Russia’s Gazprom and denies stealing gas intended for European customers.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Kemal Ozdemir looked up at the bare peaks of Mount Cilo in Turkey’s Kurdish majority southeast. “There were glaciers 10 years ago,” he recalled under a cloudless sky. A mountain guide for 15 years, Ozdemir then turned toward the torrent carrying dozens of blocks of ice below a slope covered with grass and rocks — a sign of glacier loss being exacerbated by global warming. “You can see that there are quite a few pieces of glacier in the water right now ... the reason why the waterfalls flow lushly actually shows us how fast the ice is melting,” he said.
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS