Russia assesses possibility of ending Ukraine conflict

Dhaka August 23 2022 :

Inside Russia : Outside Russia : News Digest by the Embassy of Russian Federation in Bangladesh on August 23 2022

INSIDE RUSSIA

Putin comments on journalist’s murder

The Russian president expressed his condolences to the relatives of Darya Dugina, who was killed in a car bombing

Journalist Darya Dugina was a “talented person with a radiant personality and true Russian heart,” President Vladimir Putin said on Monday as he expressed his condolences to her relatives following Saturday’s car bombing.

Dugina “showed with her actions what it means to be a patriot of Russia,” the president added, blasting her murder as a “heinous and cruel crime.”

The 29-year-old journalist was the daughter of anti-Western author and political commentator Aleksandr Dugin. Darya herself was also known for her active support of the ongoing Russian military offensive in Ukraine.

She was killed while returning from a conservative family festival held outside of Moscow. A bomb was planted under Dugina’s car, according to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). The agency has identified the prime suspect behind the murder as Ukrainian national Natalya Vovk.

According to some media, Vovk allegedly served in Ukraine’s National Guard and was reportedly a member of the Azov Battalion, which has fighters who openly hold nationalist and neo-Nazi views.

Dugina was driving a Toyota SUV that belonged to her father when the bomb went off, suggesting that Dugin may have been the intended target. Kiev has denied any relation to the incident, saying that Ukraine “has nothing to do with this.”

The Russian president has posthumously awarded Darya Dugina the Order of Courage.

Russians name key national symbols

President Vladimir Putin was mentioned alongside the people, birches and bears, a poll shows

Citizens of Russia associate their nation with its nature and people – and also its president, Vladimir Putin, a poll conducted by the state VTSIOM polling agency has shown. Published on National Flag Day, the survey suggested that people tend to link the word ‘Russia’ with the official national symbols, the Russian people and their motherland.

“Our fellow citizens have only positive associations with the word ‘Russia’,” the polling agency said in a statement, adding that these include “nature, history, architectural landmarks, cities, animal, culture and literature” among others.

The biggest group of respondents (12%) linked Russia to its national symbols – the flag, emblem and national anthem. Almost as many people, a respective 11% and 10%, said they associate it with “the people” and “home.” Around 7% of Russians named Putin as the symbol of Russia and just as many mentioned the country’s nature, such as the birch tree or Siberia’s Lake Baikal, the biggest freshwater lake in the world.  

The poll showed that young Russians tend to associate their nation with Putin more closely than their older compatriots. Among those aged between 18 and 24, 10% saw Putin as the symbol of Russia. The bear was named by just 5% of respondents.

On Monday, Putin addressed the nation on National Flag Day and said that the flag “remained Russia’s symbol in difficult, challenging periods of its history,” including World War I and “the contradictory, arduous 1990s” that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The flag has become “a symbol of the unity of our people and their devotion to the Fatherland and readiness to uphold national interests,” the president said, adding that it “symbolizes our faith in our traditional values that we will never give up – truth and justice, solidarity and mercy, and respect for Russia’s centuries-long uninterrupted history.”

Russia is a “strong, independent world power” that is “committed” to defending its national interests and will not “permit any foreign hegemony or diktat,” he added. His words came amid the ongoing Russian military operation in Ukraine, which has led to unprecedented tensions between Moscow and the West. The US and its allies in Europe and elsewhere have subjected Russia to harsh sanctions.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.

Huge tricolor flag unfurled on Poklonnaya Hill on Russia’s National Flag Day

According to All-Russian People’s Front Youth representative Elmaddin Guliyev, on each piece of a huge tricolor flag, measuring 13.5 by 30 m, there are greetings, warm wishes and words of support left by residents of the regions: doctors, teachers, servicemen

MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. A tricolor Russian flag made of 90 pieces brought from all regions of Russia, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and liberated Ukrainian territories was unfurled on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow on the occasion of Russia’s National Flag Day, the press service of the All-Russian People’s Front reported on Monday.

“In the early morning, on Poklonnaya Hill, a unique flag, consisting of 90 pieces, was unfurled with the support of the People’s Front. Eighty-five pieces were delivered from all regions of the country, five were brought from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, the Zaporozhye, Kherson and Kharkov regions,” the All-Russian People’s Front said in a statement.

According to All-Russian People’s Front Youth representative Elmaddin Guliyev, on each piece of a huge tricolor flag, measuring 13.5 by 30 m, there are greetings, warm wishes and words of support left by residents of the regions: doctors, teachers, servicemen.

Russia blames Kiev for deadly Moscow blast

The murder of journalist Darya Dugina was committed by a Ukrainian national, the Federal Security Service claims

The car bombing outside Moscow on Saturday night, which took the life of journalist Darya Dugina, was orchestrated and carried out by Ukrainian secret services, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has said.

Dugina was killed while returning from a conservative family festival held in Moscow Region. She was the daughter of anti-Western author and political commentator Aleksandr Dugin. Like her father, she was known for her vocal support of the Russian military operation in Ukraine.

In a statement on Monday, the FSB said that Ukrainian national Natalya Vovk, born in 1979, carried out the bombing.

According to the FSB, Vovk arrived in Russia with her teenage daughter on July 23 and rented an apartment in the building in Moscow where the victim also lived.

Vovk and her daughter attended the ‘Tradition’ festival on Saturday, where Dugin was giving a lecture and his daughter was present, the FSB said.

Investigators stated earlier that a bomb was planted under the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado SUV Dugina used to leave the event. According to the FSB, Vovk detonated the bomb remotely, killing Dugina as she was driving on a highway. She then left with her daughter for Estonia on Sunday.

The FSB added that Vovk used a car with a license plate from the Donetsk People’s Republic when entering Russia, but replaced it with a Kazakhstan license plate when driving in Moscow, and a Ukrainian license plate when crossing into Estonia.

OUTSIDE RUSSIA

Secretary of Russia’s Security Council believes United States may default on its debt

MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolay Patrushev believes that the United States may default on its debt in the near future.

Speaking at consultations with colleagues from the countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which took place on Monday via video link, he noted that the US national debt has exceeded $30 trillion, and the debt of Japan has reached almost $10 trillion. According to Patrushev, “taking into account such dynamics, there is every reason to believe that in the foreseeable future these countries will have problems with servicing this debt.”

“As a result, Washington will default, as they have already done regarding their liabilities to Russia. The financial assets of any state denominated in US dollars and euros will simply be stolen,” Patrushev concluded.

He drew attention to the fact that food and energy prices in the world have risen mainly because of “the printing press operating in the US and Europe.”

“The main reason for the surge in food and energy prices is the printing press operating in the US and Europe. During the pandemic, the largest emission of money in 40 years took place. The United States printed $5.9 trillion. As for the inflation burden which emerges in this situation, the Westerners cynically shift it to developing countries,” the Secretary of the Security Council of Russia emphasized.

India to accept Russian debit and credit cards – media

Indian ATMs and terminals may soon start accepting Russian Mir debit and credit cards, India’s Deccan Herald news outlet reported on Sunday.

According to the newspaper, in return Russia is likely to “clear the way” for Indian RuPay cards to be accepted in the country. Currently, the parties are also reportedly discussing options for the mutual implementation of interbank transfer services, India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and SPFS, the Russian version of SWIFT.

In addition, according to the news outlet, India and Russia are continuing negotiations on expanding the use of national currencies in bilateral trade and discussing creating a new reserve currency within BRICS.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin has also confirmed that Moscow was negotiating with New Delhi on the use of Mir cards.

“The unjustified blocking of all Russian clients by the largest international card payment systems has made it important to expand the geography of Mir cards. We are actively working in this direction,” he said last week, adding that discussions about this matter are also being held with Egypt, China, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cuba, Myanmar, Nigeria and Thailand.

Russian Mir payment cards currently can be used in 11 countries: Abkhazia, Armenia, Belarus, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, South Korea and South Ossetia.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT’s business section

UN calls for investigation of Dugina murder

The Russian envoy to the organization said the Moscow car bombing shows the true nature of Ukraine

The UN is calling for “an investigation to establish the facts” behind Russian journalist Darya Dugina’s violent death, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters on Monday.

The car bombing that killed Dugina shows the true nature of the Ukrainian state and the UN Security Council will be briefed about it in an upcoming meeting, Russia’s permanent representative to the body Vassily Nebenzia added.

“We have asked for an urgent meeting tomorrow on Zaporozhye, where Ukrainian provocations continue,” Nebenzia told TASS, adding that he will bring up Saturday’s car bombing in Moscow in that context.

The attack “clearly demonstrates the nature of the Ukrainian state,” the ambassador added. “The connection between their saboteurs and this murder is obvious, and has already been revealed by the FSB.”

Dugina, 29, was the daughter of philosopher Aleksandr Dugin. They attended a festival outside Moscow on Saturday. She was killed in an explosion of a bomb planted in her father’s Toyota SUV. A source within the Russian security service told TASS on Monday that Dugina herself was the intended target, and that the bomb was detonated remotely once the killer knew she was behind the wheel.

The FSB has identified the suspect as Ukrainian national Natalya Vovk, 43. The Russian security service released a video on Monday showing Vovk entering the country in July with Donetsk People’s Republic license plates and in the company of her teenage daughter. Vovk was also registered as renting an apartment in the same Moscow building as Dugina, and hastily leaving the country on Sunday – crossing into Estonia with Ukrainian license plates and her hair a different color.

Ukraine has denied any official involvement with the bombing. According to Russian media, however, Vovk appeared in the database of Ukrainian National Guard personnel published in April, under the surname Shaban and linked to the neo-Nazi “Azov” regiment.

SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE

Russia assesses possibility of ending Ukraine conflict

The longer it goes on, the harder it will be to resolve, a top Russian diplomat has said

Western nations are stalling the conflict in Ukraine to cause more damage to Russia, but the longer it lasts, the more difficult it will be to end with a peaceful solution, a senior Russian diplomat has stated.

Ukraine’s current position makes diplomatic contact with Russia impossible, Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, told the Financial Times on Sunday.

The US and its allies are using the hostilities in Ukraine “as a matter of pressure on Russia, as a tool of isolation of Russia … damaging our position, economically, politically,” he said.

Consequently, Kiev broke off direct talks with Russia in March, which promised a potential resolution to the conflict, the diplomat said. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed the talks with Russia were no longer possible after accusing Russia in April of committing war crimes in the town of Bucha near Kiev. Russia denied the allegations.

Zelensky repeatedly said he was ready to talk to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to end the conflict, but would do so only after all Russian troops withdrew to the pre-2014 positions. Moscow believes this indicated that there was no “practical platform” for a Putin-Zelensky meeting, Gatilov said.

“Now, I do not see any possibility for diplomatic contacts,” Gatilov told the British newspaper. “And the more the conflict goes on, the more difficult it will be to have a diplomatic solution.”

Russian ties with Western nations have likewise become virtually non-existent, and the delegation he leads has no formal or personal contacts with any Western counterparts, he added.

Russia believes that the US does not care about the interests of Russia’s neighbor and wants to fight Russia “to the last Ukrainian,” the diplomat said.

INSIGHTS

Deputy PM Yury Trutnev: Year-round Northern Sea Route navigation possible in 2024, then then momentum needs to be kept up

Yury Trutnev

1. PETERSBURG. (Interfax) – The battle for the Arctic is intensifying under the new geopolitical conditions as various countries increasingly assert their economic, military, and political interests there. Arctic regions make up a significant portion of the territory of Russia, and it is therefore not surprising that several sessions at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) are dedicated to the Arctic or touch on the problems of the region every year.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Representative to the Far East Yury Trutnev, who oversees Arctic development projects, told Interfax in an interview in the run-up to SPIEF about the consequences of terminating multinational partnerships in the Arctic, the president’s instructions on the Northern Sea Route (NSR), and tax and benefits ideas for the Arctic and Far East regions.

Question: SPIEF has been an excellent opportunity to announce expansion of international cooperation in the past. Are there still grounds to talk about Russia’s cooperation in the Arctic under the current conditions?

Answer: There are always temporary and constant factors, and this just needs to be remembered. Regarding the Arctic, the constant factors are obvious to everyone. First of all, the Northern Sea Route goes along Russia’s Arctic seas and is 30% shorter than the route through the Suez Canal. The volume of global shipping grows year upon year, and the need for international logistic corridors arises. Can Russia afford not to develop a second route from Europe to Asia in this context? Clearly, it cannot, and not a single month should be lost in this process, no matter what passing considerations might get in the way. There should be another, second route.

The second factor is climate. Scientists have long agreed that the state of the poles, both Arctic and Antarctic, determines the climate on planet Earth: the level of water in the ocean, natural phenomena, weather, and lots of other things depend on the poles. Does humanity have the right not to care for the Arctic and the Antarctic? No, that’s impossible. It seems to me that the current difficulties only underline how important it is for us to study and solve planetary problems together. We should all maintain the stability of life on the planet. Russia, under the leadership of our president, has exhibited the highest degree of responsibility for conserving the climate, cleaning up the Arctic zone, which we have been doing very actively, and conserving rare animal species and the biosphere in general. We are very meticulous about all of this.

And thirdly, two-thirds of the global Arctic coast is Russian territory. The international community will be unable to cooperate in the Arctic without the Russian Federation. So, I’m optimistic about the situation. Just like all Russians, I read the news and watch what’s happening. I am very surprised by the attitude of many countries. But I very much hope that the world will come through this streak of instability soon enough and cooperation will resume in a majority of areas. The Arctic is an obvious priority of international cooperation, and it will facilitate rapprochement between states.

Q.: Is it possible the time has come for Russia to attempt to make a breakthrough in the Arctic?

A.: Undoubtedly. Everyone will draw conclusions based on the current situation, approaches and views will change, and certain points will require a national egoism of sorts. The richest natural resources of the Arctic are located on the coast, the territory of the Arctic shelf. It’s absolutely clear that Russia will more actively use the richest natural resources of the Arctic for economic growth. There are also unique hydrocarbon reserves here, especially on the shelf, as well as solid minerals and rare metals. New infrastructure and new investment projects are already shaping the immediate future of the Russian North. We know where our interests lie here.

The Russian Federation is motivated at the same time by the principle of sustainable use of natural resources, with the priority being prudent economic activity. Our country is forming a distinct vision of care for the environment in the North and very solicitously preserving rare animal species and the biosphere. We have, for example, far stricter regulations for the protection of rare animal species than most Arctic countries: whales, polar bears, and so on. A lot of what is acceptable in Canada, Norway, Japan, and other countries is prohibited in Russia.

Q.: Russia’s chairmanship of the Artic Council began more than a year ago with great hope for new subjects for international partnership. Now those hopes aren’t destined to be…

A.: Unfortunately, the Arctic Council, in essence, isn’t working right now, inasmuch as our neighbors and colleagues have withdrawn from it. This decision is absolutely unfounded, a more political than logical action. Once again, I hope that this ill-conceived decision is temporary and everything will return to normal in the end.

On the one hand, the efficiency of such international mechanisms is relative, considering that this council doesn’t make policy decisions. However, it has allowed Arctic nations, while sovereign, to consult on activities and has helped to solve common problems using a set of tools convenient for everyone. The need for bodies such as the Arctic Council is obvious – it’s the ability to come to agreements on things jointly. The problems of such a large and important region of our planet cannot be solved individually.

Q.: The president held a big meeting on the Arctic in April, after which fairly sparse minutes of instructions were published. What key areas of Arctic development were specified at the meeting?

A.: I didn’t get the impression that the minutes were sparse at the end of the meeting. To the contrary, this is a very rigorous document. Concrete goals are set in it with tight deadlines that will impact the country’s entire economy.

For example, it’s necessary to compile a plan for the development of the Northern Sea Route in one month, with all the details – icebreakers, satellites, Emergency Situations Ministry bases, railroads, ports, and everything else. Overall investments total up to 2 trillion rubles annually. And that means the detailed and difficult work of many people, long stages of talks with the Ministry of Finance, the Transport Ministry, companies.

Support for investment projects is a separate block. Time has told that it was the right decision to allocate four categories of economic activities in the Arctic for which preferential conditions were created. As a result, we have gotten an effect that we weren’t even expecting: the influx of new residents in the Arctic exceeds the influx of residents in the preferential zones of the Far East, where we also came up with new benefits from scratch, by approximately 20%. There are 461 projects active here today, more than 166 billion rubles have already been invested, and we can hope that by the time the primary projects are implemented, overall investments will cross the threshold of 1.3 trillion rubles. That isn’t a bad number. The volume of investments in the Far East is now already over 2.5 trillion rubles, but we started support and stimulation for business there six years earlier.

Economic development has been and remains a main task, of course, but an important direction is creating comfortable conditions for people’s lives. This is written into the minutes separately. Among short-term goals resulting from the meeting: creating social amenities, renovating cities, raising standards of living. We are obligated to fulfill this instruction. An Arctic program to build schools, hospitals, develop public transport, and other issues at the instruction of the president should be put together in the shortest period. Every federal ministry and agency should give individual attention to both the Far East and the Arctic. But having a separate program intended for the social sphere, which is reliant on the opinions of residents, that’s an additional flexible mechanism, which will allow additionally solving issues important to people.

Further, there is Northern Delivery, which is very important for the Arctic regions. It has been carried out exclusively by governors and the heads of municipalities, inasmuch as it’s vital for them. But a dangerous bell tolled last year – seafaring vessels didn’t make it to Arctic ports on time with Northern Delivery goods. Threats emerged with the supply of food, medicine, and other necessary cargo for the cities and towns of the North. The government was forced to resolve the problem manually. Conclusions have been drawn, and we don’t intend to step on the rake a second time. This year, we will do our best to ensure that the Northern Delivery is completed on time and without problems.

And as early as next year, I hope, it will be regulated by the special law On Northern Delivery. This law should designate the priority of passage of Northern Delivery cargo and financing mechanisms and allow for the correction of many shortcomings, including in the organization of state procurement.

It’s already clear that we need to create a single operator that will deal with all of the Northern Delivery. Most likely, we won’t go through the creation of a new state-owned enterprise; instead we’ll try to determine a private company for this role in order to organize everything to the max initially in market conditions. Correctly organizing the Northern Delivery will substantially affect prices for northerners and thus improve people’s standard of living of people.

Q.: And nonetheless the meeting on the Arctic was to a large degree dedicated to the development of the Northern Sea Route. It was said that the volume of traffic along the NSR will exceed 200 million tonnes by 2030, and growth in cargo traffic was confirmed at up to 80 million tonnes in 2024. What sources will be used to form these cargo flows?

A.: The Northern Sea Route requires the most serious and largescale approach. First of all from the standpoint of competition, because thus far, the volume of traffic along the NSR is less than 3% of the Suez Canal. There are several reasons, with the initial one being the climate. Yes, in recent years, warming has slightly widened the temporary navigation corridor along the Northern Sea Route, but this period is limited so far, meaning that we need as many icebreakers as possible, which only Russia can build so far.

Also, for the unimpeded passage of vessels and a reduction in insurance commissions, as well as to ensure safety and reliability, stable communications are required along the length of the entire route, along with accurate meteorological support, rescue and assistance points, bunkering, and if we want to develop the Northern Sea Route as not only a transit route, but in the interests of the country, as well, then railways are needed that will approach ports, airports and much more are needed. This is big, complex work that is important for developing the Arctic. Currently, a large team of specialists from various agencies and companies is jointly preparing a long-term program to increase traffic along the NSR by 2030, where transit will play a role of no small importance.

The starting point for boosting traffic along the NSR is a forecast prepared with a clear link to specific investment projects and legally binding documents. For example, cargo traffic in the waters of the NSR totaled 34.9 million tonnes last year with a target of 31 million tonnes.

In terms of the immediate prospects, the figure of 80 million tonnes for cargo traffic [along the NSR] in 2024 is confirmed by agreements between Rosatom, the operator of the Northern Sea Route, and companies. The four key carriers are Novatek, Rosneft, Norilsk Nickel and Severnaya Zvezda. Given that the obligations are set, the companies understand the full level of responsibility, and the government also has no doubts about achieving the designated goals.

Q.: However, companies drafted projects under completely different economic conditions. Sanctions now limit them across the board. Are companies asking for additional benefits and help from the government under these conditions so that projects don’t get put off and aren’t halted?

A.: In terms of tax breaks for largescale projects in the Arctic, we have selected practically all possible standbys. It’s still possible to experiment with something a little, as with the decision to collect social insurance from enterprises not from the moment of registering as a resident, but to push back these benefits until the launch of a project into operation. But there are no longer options for relaxing the tax climate, because the state’s budget should be replenished, and companies, as economic entities, are obligated to bear a portion of the overall costs. Therefore the next steps, more than likely, will be less hackneyed than simply lowering taxes. For example, selective relaxation of administrative pressure is in the works, and there is potential here to protect individual sections of business, particularly in the initial stage. So, there are a lot of complaints from investors that inspectors start checks on them virtually from the moment of announcing plans to build. That is to say, there’s still no cash flow, there’s almost no workers on site, and inspectors are already right there. We’ll come out with an initiative to ban interference from supervisory agencies during the investment cycle, let nobody bug business at the beginning of a project other than those agencies that oversee safety provisions protecting people’s lives during construction work.

An old idea is also being discussed that earlier just couldn’t make headway, but under the current conditions could be extremely timely. Russia doesn’t currently have a lot of countries with which it has active economic relations, and all these countries are located in the East. So let’s do what we’ve talked about for a long time – open preferential cross-border territories.

This to a considerable degree concerns business operations in the Far East. But there’s also something to offer the populations of the Far East and the Arctic, for example, introducing land amnesty. There are disputed territories everywhere: someone built a home, someone is farming, someone has launched a business on land. And people are told here that the land isn’t zoned for that or isn’t the right category. Land always makes people work. In fact, a temporary period can be determined for such an amnesty, setting it back a year, for example, but on the whole, land amnesty could be good support for households.

Q.: How do you assess the pace of construction and preparation of infrastructure on the Northern Sea Route so that this logistics route can truly be year-round as soon as 2024?

A.: Above all, there is the question of the Northern Sea Route’s safety. It is necessary to lay out each infrastructure block based on area and timeframe. In order to individually monitor and require fulfillment of obligations for the deployment of satellites, railroads, and ports. Everything is formalized precisely thus in the president’s instructions. I’ll say honestly, the level of preparation of infrastructure for opening up the Northern Sea Route today leaves much to be desired.

It’s clear that each of these areas costs not even hundreds of millions of rubles, but a thousand times more, and decisions of such a level are made either by the head of the government or by the president. A lot of time is needed to search for funds and develop projects. All this difficult work is being carried out, not a single area has been suspended, but it would be good to speed up the dynamics.

There are also areas that raise no doubts, particularly the construction of icebreakers. Yes, within this process, certain difficulties exist, but critical decisions have been made: four icebreakers are being built, preliminary approval has been received for another four, that they will be built on non-budget funds. These will be not nuclear-powered icebreakers, but icebreakers fueled by LNG, which will enhance the Artic fleet. Construction also continues on high ice class Arc7 transport vessels.

On the whole, I think that Russia has the ability to reach year-round shipping operations on the Northern Sea Route in 2024. Even if this is caravanning year round to start with, when one icebreaker accompanies a caravan of transport vessels. But in doing so, we’ll make a start, and then we just need to not lose pace.

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