Har Rysslands centralbank kastat in handduken?Reuters skrev:The Russian rouble tumbled past 89 against the dollar for the first time in more than 15 months on Friday, weighed down by domestic political risk concerns after an aborted armed mutiny over the weekend, and lacking any support drivers.
[...]
"The rouble continues to crumble," Alor Broker said in a note. "It lost another 1.4% in value yesterday, despite stabilising oil. The target for the dollar-rouble pair of 90 is approaching and is likely to be reached."
Capital controls have helped insulate the rouble against geopolitics in the 16 months since Russia invaded Ukraine, but mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's aborted weekend march toward Moscow reverberated through markets and raised questions about President Vladimir Putin's grip on power.
Oil settles higher but posts fourth straight quarterly decline
Flera medlemsländer i oljekartellen Opec-plus, inte minst Ryssland, fuskar med sina kvoter. Men som synes faller den ryska valutan ändå...Reuters skrev:Benchmark Brent crude futures for August delivery which expires on Friday, settled up 56 cents, or 0.8%, at $74.90. In the three months to the end of June, the contract finished down 6%.
[...]
"Despite the announcements of two fresh rounds of cuts from OPEC+/Saudi Arabia, crude prices have largely remained below $80 a barrel as the market has been driven less by fundamentals and more by macroeconomic concerns," HSBC analysts said in a note.
"We think this will continue to be the case for part of the summer, although the deep deficit of around 2.3 million barrels forecast for 2H23 should help to spur some upwards price momentum."
EU leaders push to fund Ukraine with proceeds from Russia's frozen assets
Samtidigt planerar EU att ge de frysta pengarna från Rysslands centralbank till Ukraina.Reuters skrev:European Union leaders will push senior officials on Thursday to find legal ways to funnel proceeds from billions of dollars of frozen Russian assets into projects helping rebuild Ukraine, papers showed.
The bloc has said it froze more than 200 billion euros ($218.2 billion) of Russian central bank assets in reaction to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February last year. Another 30 billion euros of Russian oligarchs' private assets were also immobilised.
[...]
The sums are substantial. Belgium's Euroclear, which settles transactions and safeguards assets, said blocked coupon payments and redemptions boosted its balance sheet by 88 billion euros year-on-year by the end of March to 140 billion euros.
CIA director, on secret trip to Ukraine, hears plan for war’s endgame
Ukraina hoppas att en belägringen av den ockuperade halvön kan få Putin att förhandla.Washington Post skrev:Publicly, Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration with critics of the pace at which the counteroffensive has played out thus far. But in private, military planners in Kyiv have relayed to Burns and others bullish confidence in their aim to retake substantial territory by the fall; move artillery and missile systems near the boundary line of Russian-controlled Crimea; push further into eastern Ukraine; and then open negotiations with Moscow for the first time since peace talks broke down in March of last year, according to three people familiar with the planning.
[...]
In an ideal scenario favored by Kyiv, Ukraine’s military would gain leverage over Russia by advancing troops and powerful weapons to the edge of Ukraine’s boundary with Crimea — holding hostage the peninsula that is home to Russia’s prized Black Sea Fleet.
[...]
In agreeing not to take Crimea by force, Kyiv would then demand that Russia accept whatever security guarantees Ukraine can secure from the West, said Ukrainian officials.