Day: March 20, 2023

The US Federal Reserve and five other major central banks launched a coordinated effort on Sunday to boost the flow of US dollars in the global financial system via swap line arrangements, the regulators announced in a joint statement. Apart from the Fed, the action was joined by the Bank of Canada, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, and Swiss National Bank.

The move will “enhance the provision of liquidity via the standing US dollar liquidity swap line arrangements” by increasing the frequency of seven-day maturity operations from weekly to daily. Swap lines are agreements between two central banks to exchange currencies, usually with the aim of allowing one of the central banks to obtain liquidity in a foreign currency that can then be forwarded to commercial banks in that country that need the funding.

The operations will begin on Monday and are slated to continue at least through the end of April. The measure is aimed at “serv[ing] as an important liquidity backstop to ease strains in global funding markets, thereby helping to mitigate the effects of such strains on the supply of credit to households and businesses,” the monetary authorities stated.

The announcement came after UBS, Switzerland’s largest lender, agreed to buy embattled Credit Suisse in a deal brokered by the Swiss government. The emergency takeover became necessary after Credit Suisse, one of the 30 globally systemically important banks, faced the risk of insolvency amid an outflow of investors and customers following a string of scandals and losses. Banking experts warned that the bank’s failure could have impacted the entire global financial system.

The turmoil at Credit Suisse is not the only problem weighing on the global banking system, however. Markets were thrown into disarray earlier this month by three bank collapses in the US.

The Fed usually allows liquidity injections when banks outside the US have obligations denominated in dollars but are experiencing reduced access to dollar funding in times of financial turbulence. Such action by the Fed is “very much needed” at the moment, Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief Asia-Pacific economist at Natixis SA told Bloomberg, especially by the Swiss National Bank and European Central Bank.

“We learned that the hard way during the global financial crisis in 2008 when it took too long to set them up,” she stated. During the global financial crisis of 2008 investors became averse to risks following the infamous collapse of Lehman Brothers, which caused funding markets to seize up and made it hard for European banks to get ahold of US dollars.

Source: Russia Today

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow on Monday for a three-day official visit to discuss strategic cooperation and other issues with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. RT looks at the state of economic relations between the two nations in the face of growing outside pressure, and what it means for Russia.

Record trade

Official statistics show that Russia was the leader among China’s 20 largest partners in terms of trade growth in 2022. China’s trade with Russia hit a record high last year, growing by nearly a third despite Western sanctions against Moscow. It has continued to rise this year, with both exports and imports jumping by double digits in the first two months of 2023 in annual terms, customs data shows. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the $200 billion turnover goal set by Moscow and Beijing for 2024 could be achieved earlier than expected. The two countries are on pace to reach that milestone this year.

Energy cooperation

Bilateral cooperation in the oil and gas sectors has been growing dramatically. Russia has become one of the leading oil suppliers to China and the largest supplier of natural gas to the country. In February, Moscow and Beijing sealed an agreement for additional natural gas supplies to China via the Far Eastern Route. While China’s economy gets an adrenaline boost from cheaper Russian energy, Moscow makes up for lost revenue on the European market, which is critical for withstanding Western sanctions.

‘Yuanization’ of Russian settlements

The Chinese currency, the yuan, has become a major player in Russia’s foreign trade, according to data from the country’s central bank. The share of renminbi in Russia’s import settlements jumped to 23% by the end of last year from only 4% in January 2022. The yuan’s share in export settlements also surged from 0.5% to 16%. At the same time, the two countries have been slashing the share of the US dollar and euro in their bilateral trade.

China filling Western void

Chinese companies have been actively filling the gaps in the Russian market left after the departure of Western companies, hundreds of which were forced to leave the country due to Ukraine-related sanctions. There was a surge in Chinese exports to Russia, primarily of machinery and other types of goods, including computers, cell phones, and cars. The share of Chinese auto sales in the Russian market is projected to reach 60% this year, according to car-dealer chain Autodom.

Russian exports growth

Goods made in Russia have also been gaining popularity on the Chinese market, and there are expectations of further broadening the scope of Russian exports in spheres like the pulp and paper industry, chemical industry, fertilizer production and metallurgy. Over the past several months, China has overtaken the EU as the top importer of Russian agricultural products.

Joint projects

Moscow and Beijing have completed a number of projects in transport infrastructure, including the launch of railroad and motorway bridges over the Amur River in the Far East, which separates the countries. The two sides have also been developing cooperation on major projects in such fields as energy, aviation, space and connectivity. Collaboration in scientific and technological innovation, cross-border e-commerce and other emerging areas is “showing strong momentum,” according to President Xi.

Global projects

The development of the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the expansion of BRICS and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) are also on the agenda, in order to provide more institutional support for bilateral and regional cooperation.

No-limits partnership

Analysts point out that Beijing has proven to be a particularly crucial economic partner for Moscow due to the unprecedented Western sanctions aimed at shutting Russia out of the global economy. Ties between the two countries are now “at the highest level in their history and are gaining even more strength,” without any limitations or taboos, according to President Putin.

Sanctions

Having the world’s second biggest economy as a major trading partner makes Russia sanctions-proof and impossible to isolate from the global economy.

Source: Russia Today

Russia has become China’s largest supplier of natural gas, beating Turkmenistan, Qatar, and Australia, data from the Chinese customs agency shows.

Total supplies of the Russian fuel amounted to 2.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) in January. During the same period, Turkmenistan and Qatar supplied 2.2 bcm each, while 1.9 bcm more came from Australia.

Most of the Russian gas comes to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline, which has an annual capacity of 38 billion cubic meters. Russia’s state energy major Gazprom delivered nearly 2 bcm of gas via the pipeline in January. Another 0.77 bcm came in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments.

China’s total gas imports in January 2023 rose by 1% year-on-year, up to 11.3 bcm. The rise largely came from increased LNG imports which grew for the first time in 13 months, by 7% year-on-year.

In February, Moscow and Beijing signed an agreement for additional natural gas supplies to China via the Far Eastern Route.

Under the project, Russia will construct a cross-border section across the Ussuri River between the already operational Russian pipeline and the Chinese city of Hulin. The route will have annual capacity of 10 bcm, bringing the total capacity of Russia’s annual pipeline gas deliveries to China to 48 bcm.

Source: Russia Today

The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin is a sign of the collapse of the system of international law, former President Dmitry Medvedev has said.

Medvedev dismissed the judicial body as “s**tty and wanted by nobody,” citing its poor record of holding high-profile suspects accountable. Even former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been wanted by the court since 2005, “spits on the charges, and despite a military coup at home [in 2019], remains unavailable,” the former president, who currently serves as deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, said in a social media post on Monday.

The biggest demonstration of the ICC’s impotence was its failed attempt to investigate war crimes committed by US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, he stated.

Washington derailed the court’s probe. John Bolton, the national security adviser under then-President Donald Trump, mused at the time that “for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead,” so Washington will allow it to “die on its own.”

Last week’s decision by the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber to go after the leader of another nuclear power that likewise refused to recognize its jurisdiction is obviously just for show, Medvedev said, adding that this will only serve to eradicate whatever trust in international institutions remains.

Even before the ICC issued its arrest warrant for Putin, international law was undermined by the court’s pro-Western bias, which infringes on the sovereignty of non-Western states, the former president noted. Nations ignore rulings that they perceive as inherently unjust and prefer to make direct agreements between each other, while “stupid decisions of the UN and other structures come apart at the seams.”

Medvedev added that one could “imagine a situation” in which the building of the ICC in The Hague could be struck by a Russian hypersonic missile. “This court is just a puny international organization, not a NATO nation’s people. They would not dare to start a war over it. No one would even be sorry about it.”

Source: Russia Today

South Africa has taken note of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a spokesperson for President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The country will hold the 15th BRICS summit this August, with the heads of state from Russia, Brazil, India, and China expected to attend. As a signatory to the ICC, South Africa is obligated to carry out an arrest warrant if a person named in a court order enters the country.

However, Vincent Magwenya has stated that it’s too early to say what would happen should Putin visit the country. “We are, as the government, cognizant of our legal obligation. However, between now and the summit we will remain engaged with various relevant stakeholders,” he told the media on Sunday.

In 2017, the ICC found South Africa in a breach of its obligations by failing to arrest former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he visited the country in 2015 for an African leaders’ summit. In 2009, the court issued a warrant for him on charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity for his role in the long-running conflict in Darfur, which has killed around 300,000 people and displaced more than two million.

Following the incident, South African officials applied to withdraw from the court, a decision that was later reversed after a High Court ruling determined that such a move was unconstitutional.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president and the presidential commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, on March 17. The court claimed that the two were complicit in the “unlawful deportation” of children “from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that the warrants are “null and void from the legal standpoint,” while the court is not recognized in Russia.

Source: Russia Today

As Chinese leader Xi Jinping prepares to visit Moscow, he takes a swipe at Western attempts to dominate the world order, while Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasizes the strength of their countries’ bilateral partnership. India increases its rice exports to Africa, helping the continent cope with devastating food shortages in certain regions. Africa currently accounts for two-thirds of India’s total rice exports. A senior Russian lawmaker warns that Poland would unleash World War III if it enters the Ukraine conflict. That’s after a Polish diplomat suggests his country could fight in support of Kiev. And, today marks exactly two decades since US-led forces invaded Iraq to impose regime change by force, leaving behind massive destruction and an estimated one million people dead. RT continues its special coverage of the devastating conflict.

Source: Russia Today

The Russian leadership has taken note of the arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin announced by the International Criminal Court (ICC) last week but is not worried by it, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said. It is just one of many attacks on Russia and its leader, he explained.

“We take notice [of such things], but if we were to take to heart every hostile action, certainly nothing good would come out of it,” Peskov told journalists on Monday. “We are unfazed” and will keep working, he added.

The ICC’s pre-trial chamber announced on Friday that it was seeking the arrests of Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the presidential commissioner for children’s rights. They are suspected of “unlawful deportation of population,” including children, which is how Kiev describes what Moscow regards as the evacuation to safety of civilians from territories at risk of attacks by Ukrainian troops.

The court acts on the authority of the Rome Statute, an international treaty that Russia never ratified and from which it fully withdrew in 2016. Several other major world powers, including the US, China, and India, do not recognize the ICC either. Washington infamously derailed the court’s attempt to investigate war crimes allegedly committed in Iraq and Afghanistan by US troops and their allies under President Donald Trump.

The Russian government dismissed the arrest warrant as irrelevant. Former President Dmitry Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chair of the National Security Council, called the court earlier on Monday a “puny international organization.”

The ICC couldn’t even take into custody former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted from power in 2019, Medvedev noted. Its move against Putin was performative and only further degrades the system of international law, which is already under strain due to its pro-Western bias, the official argued.

Source: Russia Today

The International Criminal Court has accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine. Of course, the Biden administration could not be more pleased. The ICC has a history of doing Washington’s bidding – the same court Washington refuses to be a part of.

CrossTalking with Martin Jay and George Szamuely.

Source: Russia Today

US national security advisor John Bolton has come out against the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to indict Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling the court “fundamentally illegitimate.”

“I believe and have for many years [that] the International Criminal Court is fundamentally illegitimate,” Bolton told Sky News on Monday, adding that its arrest warrant for Putin is “not something that the United States should cooperate with.”

“It’s a very dangerous institution,” he continued. “It is an exercise of governmental power in a vacuum without any constitutional framework to restrain it.”

The Court’s pre-trial Chamber issued a warrant on Friday for the arrest of Putin and Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the “unlawful deportation” of children from “occupied areas of Ukraine.” The charges refer to Russia’s efforts to evacuate civilians away from areas – mostly in the predominantly Russian-speaking region of Donbass – shelled by the Ukrainian military.

Neither the US nor Russia recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction. Speaking to reporters on Friday, US President Joe Biden said that he believed the arrest warrant was “justified,” but admitted that the court was “not recognized by us either.”

In addition to sanctioning a number of top International Criminal Court officials in 2020, the US maintains the ‘Hague Invasion Act’, giving its military permission to invade the Netherlands were any US citizens detained at the court.

As George W. Bush’s undersecretary of state, Bolton signed the official letter withdrawing the US from its jurisdiction in 2002. As Donald Trump’s national security advisor, he threatened sanctions against anyone cooperating with its investigations into alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan.

While Bolton has maintained for two decades that the ICC is a “direct assault on the concept of national sovereignty,” he argued on Monday that its indictment of Putin could hinder eventual peace talks in Ukraine.

“If you want negotiations to take place, do you think an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin makes it more likely or less likely he will negotiate?” he asked Sky’s Kay Burley. Instead, he suggested that either Ukraine or a hypothetical pro-Western government in Moscow should try the Russian president.

Bolton is a lifelong advocate for using US hard power against other nations, and throughout his political career has called for regime change or military action in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya, North Korea, Venezuela, and Russia. Last summer, he admitted to CNN that he had “helped plan coups d’etat” around the world.

The Kremlin is “unfazed” by the charges against Putin, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. Peskov has previously called the indictment “null and void from a legal standpoint.”

Source: Russia Today

Russia and the Republic of Congo are planning to sign an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of a pipeline for transporting petroleum products to Brazzaville, according to Russian Ambassador Georgy Chepik.

“It is assumed that this agreement will be signed before the Russia-Africa summit, and probably a joint venture will be created, which will deal with the practical issues, and a concession agreement will be signed,” he told reporters on Friday.

The Russia-Africa Summit will take place in July 2023 in St. Petersburg.

The ambassador specified that the pipeline will run between the two largest cities of the African country – Pointe-Noire and the capital, Brazzaville. “It is named after the points it crosses: Pointe Noire, Lutete, and Maloukou Trechot,” Chepik explained.

On the Russian side, the ZNGS Prometey company has shown interest in the project, and “it will most likely be involved in the intergovernmental agreement.”

The diplomat also said that Russian energy giant Lukoil, which has been working in Congo since 2019, will lead the development of cooperation between the two countries. “This is a very important, significant presence for us. It can only be compared with Rusal in Guinea and Alrosa in Angola. Lukoil is our most important economic presence here now,” Chepik stressed.

The ambassador also revealed that ahead of the summit, Russia and the Republic of Congo are preparing several agreements, including on trade and maritime transport. Work is also underway on a memorandum of cooperation in the construction sector, he said.

Source: Russia Today