#CSTO_Russia: During today's CSTO summit celebrating 20 years since the bloc's creation, interest was expressed in developing practical cooperation with NATO to ease tension on the continent (?). Earlier, Putin noted that the accession of Sweden and Finland ⤵️
does not pose any serious threat to Russia. On the other hand, the CSTO did not publicly commit to supporting Russia, although it did refer to the peacekeeping mission sent to Kazakhstan in early 2022. Unilateral sanctions were also criticized. The CSTO bloc explicitly ⤵️
mentioned Afghanistan as a problem but did not say a word about Ukraine. It is worth noting that the CSTO condemned the use of force to resolve conflicts, clearly covering up Russian aggression against Ukraine. ⤵️
Finally, the CSTO suggested that it is available to act beyond the borders of the organization to ensure security. kremlin.ru/supplement/5800
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#Moldova: I have read some recent comments about the situation in Moldova in the light of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. I will underline some common fallacies, which are detrimental to understanding the true roots of the problems in Moldova:⤵️
1) There are two issues where Russia has a say and can push the buttons to worsen the situation, if necessary - energy and the Transnistrian conflict. 2) Energy dependence of Moldova on Russian is mainly on gas. Now, this issue depends on the global market and⤵️
the contract signed by the current pro-EU government, with all the implications and risks (criticized by the opposition and even by former members of the government); 3) The Transnistrian regime is another "black box" that the government has no idea how to handle,⤵️
#Russia_Ukraine: Russia's defense spending exceeded $9 billion a month in April, or about $300 million a day (twice as much as before the attack on Ukraine). This is almost half of the amount that Ukraine needs to resist aggression and other implications of the war.⤵️
In April, Zelenskiy admitted that Ukraine needs monthly aid of up to 7 billion dollars to overcome the losses caused by the Russian war. While Ukraine demands Western help, Russia is maximizing its budget surpluses due to high oil and gas prices.
#Russia_Sanctions: Today's FAC meeting did not bring the sixth energy package to fruition. Borrel has been quite dissatisfied when responding to journalists. He underlined the following: 1) Serbia is the only candidate state in the Western Balkans that does not align ⤵️
with the EU's foreign policy on Russian sanctions; 2) The EU does not have a cost compensation mechanism for the adherence to the sanctions of North Macedonia, which, on the other hand, has requested macro-financial assistance; ⤵️
3) Hungary's opposition against Russian Patriarch Kirill's sanction and the oil embargo are not interconnected. However, the deadlock in the adoption of new sanctions is related only/mainly to oil; 4) The Hungarian side raised technical and financial questions related to ⤵️
#Russia_Oligarchs: The Swiss Bankers Association reported that Russian citizens hold up to 200 billion francs in the country. Of these, only 7.5 billion francs have been arrested so far. The Swiss authorities are not determined to freeze the assets. ⤵️
However, Bern established contacts with the "Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs (REPO)" working group, led by the EU and the G7. Meanwhile, Abramovich has announced that the $3.1 billion from the sale of Chelsea FC will be transferred to ⤵️
support the victims of Russian military aggression against Ukraine on both sides, including the population in the LNR and DNR. Other oligarchs such as Tinkov have admitted that they would criticize Russian aggression on moral grounds. ⤵️
#Ukraine_EU: A new controversy is emerging around EU membership. No leader of the EU member states questions Ukraine's well-deserved candidate status (to be confirmed in June). However, Macron, von der Leyen and Baerbock said that⤵️
after Ukraine receives candidate status, a long (perhaps shorter than we think, depending on progress in Ukraine) process of reforms (in parallel with reconstruction) will begin on the way to full EU membership. It's worth recalling that Russia's first aggression in 2014 came⤵️
as a result of pro-EU (signing of the Association Agreement) and anti-Yanukovych/anti-corruption protests. The second aggression in 2022 by the official Kremlin discourse was linked, among other things, to Ukraine's orientation towards NATO (a matter of sovereign choice!).⤵️
#Ukraine: The great conversation about Ukraine's post-war reparation has begun. The EU wants to link reconstruction with a deep reform process. This means conditionality. Clearly, the money will not be poured out unaccountably and the central authority will play a key role.⤵️
One of the areas that Ursula von der Leyen first mentioned recently was the fight against the oligarchs (setting the rules, enforcing them and disciplining the oligarchs who don’t act by law). She is right because some oligarchs (such as Akhmetov and others) are already⤵️
staring at the imaginary amount of 600 billion dollars, contemplating how they could benefit from it. The war is not over yet, but the principle of the future of Ukraine's reconstruction must be to consider reforms and partial conditionality (as a minimum and for the⤵️