A waltz in two stages. On Friday September 2, the G7 countries announced that they wanted to force Russia to sell its oil at unreasonably low prices. A sanction that would fix the finances of the West, on the sidelines of the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis. But a few minutes after these declarations, a leak “triggered” in the Nord Stream gas pipeline: Russian gas no longer passed. A coincidence difficult to swallow for Europe, especially since the excuse put forward seems dubious. At the same time, kyiv has let it be known that it suspects Russia of having evacuated its weapons from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant on the sly.
On Friday, the idea was presented as a double whammy. The member countries of the G7 have announced that they want to force Russia to sell them oil at very low prices. “An essential step in achieving our dual goals of putting downward pressure on global energy prices while depriving (Vladimir) Putin of revenue to fund his brutal war in Ukraine,” the US secretary said. at the Treasury, Janet Yellen.
G7 members have already limited or even suspended their purchases of Russian oil. To have an effect, the capping project must therefore be adopted by other countries, in priority large customers of Russia such as India or China. These countries are already buying cheap oil from Russia. And Moscow has already let it be known that it will not bend. Russian Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs Alexander Novak warned on Thursday that Russia would no longer sell oil to price-cap countries.
On Friday, the Russian company Gazprom announced the total interruption of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, for at least three days. Reason given: an oil leak, which would endanger the operation of engines, explained the giant, in a press release on the Telegram platform. Not very convincing. “As a turbine manufacturer, we can affirm that such a finding does not constitute a technical reason to halt operations,” Siemens Energy said in a statement.
Siemens also claimed that in the past the appearance of “this type of leak has not led to the cessation of operations”. What undermine the Russian explanations. Especially since this “leak” comes just after a series of G7 statements aimed at reducing Russian profits from their oil. The EU is not fooled either: “the use of the gas weapon will not undermine the Union’s resolve. We are going to accelerate our efforts towards energy independence”, declared Charles Michel, the President of the European Council. While waiting for independence, Europe will have to hold on.
Hundreds of Russians bid farewell to the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, on Saturday September 3. A great political figure of the 20th century, Gorbachev died Tuesday evening at the age of 91 following a “long and serious illness”, according to the hospital where he was treated.
Hailed in the West as a man of peace, Gorbachev is seen by many in Russia as responsible for Moscow’s geopolitical downgrade and the years of political and economic crisis that followed the fall of the USSR. A sign of disaffection from Russian power, no day of national mourning has been announced. Above all, the funeral took place in the absence of Vladimir Putin, justified by the Kremlin by a busy “schedule”.
But in the midst of an open crisis between Moscow and the West because of the conflict in Ukraine, no major world leader was present at the ceremony. Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, close to the Kremlin, is the only foreign leader whose arrival was announced on Saturday, at the last moment. According to the Russian presidency, no meeting is planned with Vladimir Putin.
Did Russia make weapons disappear in Zaporizhia? This is what the Ukrainian army claims. All Russian equipment would have been evacuated from the plant before the arrival on Thursday of the mission of the IAEA, the international organization responsible for verifying that there are no significant radioactive releases on the premises. For several weeks, kyiv and some Western countries have accused Russia of amassing weapons on the nuclear site, the largest in Europe. A strategy which would make it possible to protect them from Ukrainian fire, which systematically targets ammunition depots, but which raises a little more fear of a nuclear accident, while bombings have already damaged the site.
For now, the IAEA says the situation is relatively stable. Given the “cohabitation” of Ukrainian employees, representatives of the Russian nuclear sector and “military forces”, the plant continues to operate thanks to a “professional modus vivendi”, explained Rafael Grossi, the head of the organization international. But kyiv immediately questioned the reliability of such a finding. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia has banned certain journalists from accompanying the visit. The IAEA retorts that it is independent, and that two of its members will settle on the nuclear site to monitor it.
