“The damage suffered by the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in international waters of the Baltic Sea is very worrying. All currently available information indicates that it is the result of deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage,” reads the bloc’s statement. military.

The alliance pointed out risks to navigation and considerable environmental damage as a result of the act.

“We support the ongoing investigations to determine the origin of the damage,” he said before expressing his commitment to deterrence and defense “against the coercive use of energy and other hybrid tactics by state and non-state actors.”

Meanwhile, the German security organs recognized today the possibility of large explosions as the cause of leaks registered in pipes of the Russian North Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines.

To create such a magnitude of damage, explosives equivalent to 500 kilograms of TNT had to be used, says the daily Der Spiegel. This is also based on several seismic monitoring centers, says the publication.

The company North Stream AG referred last Tuesday to unprecedented destruction in the three pipes of the aforementioned gas pipelines, indicated Berlin television.

Even the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who advocates suspending purchases of hydrocarbons from Russia, had to describe these incidents as sabotage.

Von der Leye stressed that the willful violation of Europe’s energy infrastructure was unacceptable and would lead to the most severe response measures, she stated.

The Russian Embassy in the United States commented this Thursday on its social networks the attempts of some US legislators to blame Russia for the incidents that occurred in the Nord Stream gas pipelines, highlighting that, in reality, there are facts that may indicate the opposite.

Thus, he mentioned the activity of US warships a day before there is a failure in the Russian infrastructure there, as well as the US Navy exercises with underwater explosives that were carried out in the Same area a while ago.

In this way, the Embassy raised the question: “Who benefits from the rupture of the gas pipelines?”. According to the legation, “the answer is on the surface.”

On the same day, the spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, María Zajárova, assured that the emergencies in the Nord Stream gas transportation system took place in an area controlled by the United States secret services.

“It’s the commercial and economic zone of Denmark and Sweden, and these are two very NATO-focused countries that are riddled with American weapons, these are the same countries that are completely controlled by American intelligence services. They are absolutely and precisely under the control of the US intelligence services, which are in total control of the situation there,” he said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov recalled on Wednesday the statements made by US President Joe Biden last February, when he promised that he would put an end to Nord Stream 2.

In this regard, Zajárova maintained that the US president “is obliged to answer the question of whether the United States carried out its threat on September 25 and 26, 2022.”

The spokeswoman stressed that “the declaration of intent was backed by a promise” and that “one has to take responsibility for his words.” “Not understanding what is said does not exempt from responsibility. Europe must know the truth!”, she concluded.

In addition, the spokeswoman announced that Moscow intends to convene a meeting of the UN Security Council to deal with the issue of breakdowns.
The news about the leaks did not take long to generate all kinds of reactions.

“As we say in Polish, a small thing, but a lot of joy,” former Polish Foreign Minister and current MEP Radoslaw Sikorski wrote on his Twitter account.

He also retweeted a video from the first days of February in which US President Joe Biden threatened to end Nord Stream 2. “If Russia invades (Ukraine)… then there will be no Nord Stream 2. We will end it.” said the president.

Finally, he published another tweet with the comment: “Thank you, USA”, along with a photo showing the size of the leak on the surface of the Baltic Sea. “Is it an official statement of a terrorist attack?” María Zajárova reacted on her Telegram account, after Sikorski’s publications.

(With information from RT in Spanish and Prensa Latina)

The new import bans on Russian goods, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, will deprive Moscow of an additional €7 billion ($6.7 billion) in revenue. In addition, new prohibitions on the export of key technology used for the army, such as aviation products, electronic components and specific chemical substances, are incorporated.

In announcing the sanctions, von der Leyen noted that “some developing countries still need some supplies of Russian oil, but at low prices,” and therefore the G7 countries agreed to introduce a price cap. of Russian crude.

“This is why the G7 has agreed in principle to introduce a cap on Russian oil prices for third countries. This cap will, on the one hand, help reduce Russia’s income and, on the other hand, keep global energy markets stable,” Von der Leyen said, adding that the current sanctions package lays “the legal foundation for this cap on oil prices”.

Members of the Group of Seven (G7), made up of the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan, have already agreed to introduce caps on Russian oil prices on September 2.

The cap on the price of Russian oil is in line with the political agreement reached by the G7 leaders, proposing that the transport of Russian oil and its derivatives be only allowed globally if the products are sold below a certain amount.

The prohibition for EU citizens to be part of the boards of directors of companies is designed to avoid possible cases such as that of former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who worked for Gazprom.

“Russia must not benefit from European knowledge and its experts,” said von der Leyen.

The high representative of the EU for Foreign Policy and Security, Josep Borrell, revealed that the number of natural and legal persons subject to the bloc’s punitive measures will amount to about 1,300, and among them there are individuals and entities that contribute to that the “territorial integrity of Ukraine” is undermined.

The sanctions will target Russian individuals and authorities in Russian-controlled areas who organized referendums on joining Russia in two republics of Donbass and the Kherson and Zaporozhie regions.

In addition, Borrell proposes to appoint the top officials of the Russian Defense Ministry responsible for supporting the country’s army in Ukraine with weapons and equipment, as well as the declared mobilization of 300,000 reservists.

In the category of economic actors, people, not necessarily Russians, who participate in the circumvention of sanctions will be included, Borrell said.

The European Commission’s announcement comes after the leaders of Lugansk and the Kherson and Zaporozhie regions asked Vladimir Putin to join Russia after holding referendums on accession, which took place from September 23 to 27.

Moscow: Russian oil only for countries operating under market conditions
From the Kremlin they warned that Moscow will send its crude only to countries that “operate under market conditions”, and that supplies that do not go to nations that support price limits will go to “alternative destinations”.

The cap on the price of Russian oil is in line with the political agreement reached by the G7 leaders, proposing that the transport of Russian oil and its derivatives be only allowed globally if the products are sold below a certain amount.

EU countries will stop importing Russian oil by pipeline from December 5.

Leaders of Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye ask Putin to join Russia
The leader of the Lugansk People’s Republic (PLR), Leonid Pásechnik, the head of the Regional Civil-Military Administration of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, and the representative of the Zaporozhye region, Yevgueni Balitski, addressed this Wednesday to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, with the request to incorporate the territories into Russia.

“Since the population of the republic approved the decision in the referendum, I ask you to consider the possibility of the Lugansk People’s Republic becoming part of Russia as a constituent entity of the Russian Federation,” said the LPR leader.

In his speech to Putin, Passechnik noted that the RPL is aware of its historical, cultural and spiritual ties with the people of Russia.

The senior official denounced that “for eight years, residents of the Lugansk People’s Republic have been subjected to brutal bombing and genocide by the kyiv regime.”

“In their impotent rage at their unsuccessful attempts to invade the territory of the Luhansk People’s Republic and their failures in open combat with the republic’s defenders, the neo-Nazis have only intensified their terror and bombardment of civilian infrastructure. and industrial, destroying schools, hospitals and nurseries,” he said.

According to Pásechnik, most of the world is “silent” about what is happening in Donbass.

“Not a single state or international organization has condemned kyiv’s actions in Donbass,” he continued, adding that only Russia “has provided and continues to provide extensive assistance to the population of Donbass.”

For his part, Saldo stressed that “the people of Kherson province have decided courageously and unequivocally that the only path they want to follow is that of union with Russia as an integral part of their multinational people.”

“Today, when freedom of thought, expression, conscience and religion is in danger of being eradicated in favor of centrally imposed values ​​that are often contrary not only to reason but also to nature itself, we, the people of Zaporozhie For the sake of our common goal of guaranteeing peace and security, the rule of human rights and freedoms, we want to become a single state with the Russian Federation”, says Balitski’s petition to the Russian president.

In the referendums, which took place from 8:00 a.m. (local time) on Friday, September 23, to 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 27, the voters of the people’s republics of Donbass and the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhie voted for Please join Russia.

93.11% of voters in Zaporozhie and 87.05% in Kherson voted yes to being part of Russia. In the Lugansk and Donets republics, 98.42% and 99.23% of voters voted affirmatively.

The process of integrating new regions into the Russian Federation can take some time, as it requires the approval of the president and parliament.

However, last Friday the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, was convinced that the necessary steps will be taken “quickly enough”.

Russians withdraw from the Dakar 2023 due to the demand to condemn their country
The Russian team KAMAZ-Master will not participate in the next Dakar rally after announcing that it will not sign the documents that would force it to “denounce” its own country.

Thus, for the first time in 24 years, the famous annual competition will not have Russian representation.

In a statement published on the KAMAZ-Master website, the 19-time rally-winning team criticized the decision of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), which allows the Russians to participate neutrally, but on the condition to sign certain documents that include statements about the conflict in Ukraine.

“The participation of Russian athletes in the Dakar rally is conditioned by the need to sign the FIA ​​questionnaire denouncing the Russian special operation in Ukraine. In our opinion, the content of this document is of a political nature and violates the principles of equal conditions for athletes.

“We consider that it is impossible for us to sign those documents and participate in the competitions in those conditions,” the message reads.

The drivers indicate that their position “is clear: always be with the country, especially when it finds itself in a difficult situation.”

Last March, the FIA ​​required Russian and Belarusian drivers to sign a declaration of commitment to the principles of peace and political neutrality that includes a clause of solidarity with Ukraine.

The move was announced amid broader restrictions imposed on Russian sport by various sports federations, which followed a stern rebuke of Russia by the International Olympic Committee.

Earlier this month, Russian drivers Sergei Karyakin and Anastasia Nifontova condemned the requirement, announcing that they will not take part in the 45th edition of the Dakar to be held in Saudi Arabia between December 31, 2022 and January 15, 2023.

Meanwhile, co-driver Konstantin Zhiltsov chose an alternative option by changing his sporting nationality and will participate in the Dakar under the Israeli flag, evading the restrictions.

(With information from EFE, AFP and RT in Spanish)

The text asks if the promoters of this farce would be willing to demand that the U.S. government end this aggressive policy which, through the end of March 2020, caused accumulated damages to the Cuban economy amounting to 144,413,400,000 dollars. “Are they also willing to defend European natural and legal persons affected by the increasing extraterritoriality of the blockade? Will they ask their U.S. counterparts to repeal the Helms-Burton Act? Will they demand the elimination of the 243 measures adopted by former President Donald Trump, which the current U.S. administration maintains in effect?

It is shameful that a group of representatives has promoted the inclusion of this issue as part of the agenda of the European Parliament. European voters and the international community in general would expect objectivity and impartiality from the European legislature, instead of selectivity and double standards when examining issues related to human rights, when every day events occur that touch the universal conscience, about which the European Parliament has maintained and continues to maintain a complicit, immoral silence, reads the embassy’s communiqué, published on the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s website.

This obsession with Cuba has an explanation. It reflects the agenda of the United States government which has been attempting to overthrow the Cuban Revolution for more than 60 years, unable to tolerate the existence of a people that does surrender to their designs and resists the ironclad blockade, criminally tightened in the midst of a global pandemic, the Cuban mission emphasized.

The statement pointed out that this anti-Cuban maneuver is also intended to hinder relations between Cuba, the European Union and member states, to undermine the implementation of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement, which is being implemented in a positive manner, making clearly evident the political will of the signatories to continue building bridges between our peoples and governments.

(Taken from Granma)

Through his Twitter account, the Minister of Foreign Affairs reported on his participation in the Informal Ministerial Meeting of the European Union with Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC) that takes place virtually.

‘I reiterated the importance of safeguarding the Celac-European Union Mechanism and preventing the exclusion of countries from the area, such as Venezuela,’ the foreign minister wrote.

In this tweet, Rodríguez refers to the links of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) with the European bloc, a dialogue that was resumed after 2011.

According to the website of the island’s Foreign Ministry, the EU-LAC meeting addresses the need for a joint response to Covid-19, as well as the use of new information and communication technologies in that context.

Initiatives to face climate change and multilateral cooperation in post-pandemic recovery are also valued, taking into account the different levels of development of the nations of both regions.

According to specialized sources, the Latin America and the Caribbean-European Union summits have science, research, innovation and technology among their main topics; sustainable development; Regional integration; migrations; education and employment; among others.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

In the meeting, the Cuban delegation together with the rest of the delegations will hold talks on the need of a joint response to Covid-19, as well as the use of new information and communication technologies, in that context.

They will also discuss the initiatives to tackle climate change, and post-pandemic multilateral cooperation, which takes into account the different development levels in our nations, the source pointed out.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

During the Council meeting, according to the official website of Cuba’s Foreign Ministry, the parties reviewed progress on implementation of the Agreement on Political Dialogue and Cooperation (ADPC), signed in 2016 between Cuba and the European Union and its member states.

Previously, on September 3, the first meeting of the Joint Committee between Cuba and the European Union, which assists the Council in fulfilling its functions and obligations, was also held in Havana. On this occasion, the Cuban delegation was headed by Emilio Lozada García, general director for Bilateral Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, and a European Union delegation, led by Hugo Sobral, deputy director for the Americas witin the European External Action Service.

The first Cuba-European Union Joint Council took place in Belgium on May 15, 2018. During the meeting, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla and the head of European diplomacy, Federica Mogherini, signed a cooperation agreement involving 18 million euros, to support the development of renewable energies in the Caribbean nation, Prensa Latina reported.

The high level meeting was agreed upon when the Agreement on Political Dialogue and Cooperation entered into effect November 1, 2017, with which a new framework was established for the ties between the Cuba and the regional bloc.

(Granma)

According to González Fraga, this First encounter, “will provide an opportunity to advance relations between Cuba and the regional bloc,” following on from their Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement signed in 2017.

On May 14, the European Council (EC) announced that it was ready to host the encounter, during which cooperation programs in the fields of energy, agriculture and others will be reviewed in efforts to consolidate the joint bilateral framework, established on the bases of respect, equality and reciprocity.

A press release from the EC notes that favorable conditions and opportunities exist to expand economic, trade, investment and cooperation relations, as well as the EU’s active and effective participation in Cuba’s socio-economic development plans.

According to data from the EU representation office in Havana, from 2008 through 2017, the bloc – composed of 28 countries – has financed projects on the island valued at around 120 million Euros, across sectors such as food security, renewable energy, exchanges between experts, and disaster preparation and response.

(Granma)

During her speech before the regional parliament, the head of the European diplomacy stressed the importance of the first joint council with the Caribbean nation, which ‘is scheduled for mid-May and will be an opportunity to consolidate and increase the actions carried out so far.’

This new stage is very promising. We will discuss with the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, the beginning of cooperation in areas such as renewable energy, sustainable agriculture and culture, he pointed out.

The Italian politician stressed that this latter sector has enormous potential in terms of increasing and deepening relations between the two sides.

She also indicated that during the meeting the negative consequences of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba for more than 50 years will be analyzed.

‘The EU’s position on that issue is very clear. We believe that this measure only harms the Cuban people and its economy,’ she assured.

On the other hand, she reiterated the bloc’s intentions to expand the exchange and strengthen its relations with Cuba.

(Prensa Latina)

The note also highlighted that Slovakia will be the first country in the European Union (EU) to adopt the pharmaceutical, since it was launched on the international market over 10 years ago.

According to statistics from the National Medical Information Center, 8,000 people currently suffer from diabetic foot ulcers in the European country.

Slovakia’s Health Minister Boris Bánovsk, stated that the goal is to offer citizens modern, specialist treatment, able to cure the condition and improve their quality of life.

The aim is to see the largest possible number of patients, who meet the indicated requirements, receive the treatment, noted the official.

Meanwhile, the Cuban doctors were received by State Secretary at Slovakia’s Ministry of Health Andrea Kalavská, while the island’s Ambassador to the country, Yamila Pita, was also present during the encounter.

Since being launched on the international market, Heberprot-P has been registered in more than 20 countries and used to treat some 250,000 people worldwide, according to figures provided by Cuban healthcare institutions.

The injectable medication, which speeds up the healing process in patients with diabetic foot ulcers and reduces the risk of lower limb amputation in almost 80% of cases, received the Intellectual Property gold medal awarded by the World Health Organization.

(Cubasí)

The document was signed by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, and EU Foreign Policy High Representative Federica Mogherini, representing the regional bloc’s member countries.

In statements made during the signing ceremony, Rodríguez and Mogherini noted the significance of the agreement which should contribute to the positive development of bilateral relations in the future.

The two diplomats held a meeting at the European Council’s headquarters in Brussels prior to the signing.

The Cuban Foreign Minister commented that economic ties with Europe will continue to be a priority for the island country focused on the construction of a sustainable and efficient economy.

Mogherini also highlighted Fidel Castro as an historic figure and conveyed condolences to the government and people of Cuba, on the occasion of the revolutionary leader’s death.

Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno explained recently that the signing of this new agreement comes in the wake of the revocation of the so-called Common Position adopted by the EU in 1996, which was rejected by Cuba given its unilateral, interventionist, discriminatory nature.

(Prensa Latina)