Europe to use frozen Russian profits to arm Ukraine, Scholz says
Reuters skrev:Ukraine's backers will use windfall profits on frozen Russian assets to finance arms purchases for Kyiv, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said following a meeting with his French and Polish counterparts aimed at showing unity after weeks of friction.
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Scholz said the leaders also agreed on the need for the Ukraine Defence Contact group - a U.S.-led group of some 50 countries that provide military support to Ukraine - to set up a coalition to provide long-distance artillery to Kyiv.
A proposal to set up a long-range missile coalition had already been agreed in Paris on Feb. 26. It was unclear whether Scholz' comments referred to this and how Germany, which has opposed sending its long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, would participate.
Tyskland, Frankrike och Polen lovade på fredagen att skaffa mera vapen till Ukraina, i synnerhet raketartilleri med lång räckvidd. Däremot nämndes inte Taurus.
Der Spiegel: German FM is trying to persuade Scholz to hand over Taurus missiles to Ukraine
The Kyiv Independent skrev:Baerbock is exploring ways for Germany to potentially provide Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine while respecting chancellor's "red lines," according to Der Spiegel. One option under consideration involves Germany transferring the Taurus missiles to the U.K., who would then pass them on to Ukraine. However, the British would maintain control over the deployment and selection of targets for the missiles.
Tysklands splittrade regeringskoalition fortsätter emellertid att träta om den långräckviddiga missilen som skulle kunna förstöra Kertjbron och ge Ukraina fördel.
India Refuses To Buy Russian Premium Oil
Charter 97 skrev:India, which has become the largest buyer of offshore oil shipments from Russia, has not purchased Russian premium-grade ESPO oil for two months. This follows from the Kpler data cited by Kommersant.
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India has also reduced shipments of another premium grade of Russian oil — Sokol. Rosneft and Indian Oil could not find a compromise on payments for the supply of this variety. As a result, about 10 million barrels were acquired by other Indian companies and buyers in China.
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All Russian grades of oil, which are "obviously traded above the price cap", cause certain concerns among Indian buyers, says Viktor Katon from Kpler. At the same time, according to him, there are no such problems for Chinese oil refiners, since payments are made by telegraphic transfer, and in yuan trade takes place outside the knowledge of the sanctioning parties.
Belarusiska Charter 97 skriver att Ryssland har allt svårare att sälja olja till de neutrala indierna. Det finns flera likheter mellan Kina och Indien - samt olikheter!
Drones Attack Two Oil Refineries At Once In Samara Region, Russia
Charter 97 skrev:In the morning of March 16, drones attacked two oil enterprises at once in the Samara region of the Russian Federation.
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The Syzran Oil Refinery, owned by Rosneft, came under attack. The enterprise's capacity is 8.9 million tons (65.1 million barrels) of oil per year. The plant's secondary processing facilities include catalytic reforming, fuel hydrotreating, catalytic and thermal cracking, isomerization, bitumen and gas fractionation units. The plant produces a wide range of petroleum products, including high-quality motor fuel, jet fuel, and bitumen.
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The Novokuibyshevsk Oil Refinery, like its “colleague” from Syzran, belongs to Rosneft. The plant's capacity is 8.8 million tons of oil per year. This enterprise produces fuel for all types of transport: automobile, aviation, railway, river and sea vessels, lubricating oil components, bitumen, coke, and petrochemical products.
Samtidigt fortsätter de ukrainska drönarattackerna mot ryska oljeraffinaderier, vilket förstås
ökar drivmedelspriserna i Ryssland:
Bloomberg skrev:This week’s flurry of Ukrainian drone attacks have prompted a surge in prices for gasoline and diesel on the nation’s SPIMEX commodity exchange. The price for regular gasoline in the European part of Russia rose to a six-month high.
The refining system inherited by Vladimir Putin was largely built in Soviet times and had long lacked investment. Putin has pushed for the modernization of the refineries in his time in office, partly by making changes to the tax system as a way to incentivize production of fuels such as diesel.
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As well as uncertainty about what Ukraine is able to strike, there is also a question about what its allies would support in terms of future attacks. The US in particular has been careful to avoid measures that could cause fuel-price spikes when designing sanctions on Moscow.
“If Ukraine wanted to escalate its pressure on Russian oil refining revenue, they would target the key product export terminal infrastructure at the ports of Primorsk or Novorossiysk,” Williams said. “That would further pressure the relationship with its western allies as the impact on global oil and refined product prices would be substantial.”
Men Ukraina kan eskalera ytterligare, speciellt om det västerländska stödet uteblir. Kofman hade rätt: Ukrainas drönare är bättre än Irans!
for their own interests