A collection of 26 posts
Pressure to resign is building on Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas amid revelations that her husband part-owns a company that is still active in Russia. A staunch Kremlin critic, Kallas has consistently advocated for Europe to sever business ties with Russia and Belarus. Last year she even went beyond official
The EU on Saturday released its 10th package of sanctions against Russia targeting 87 individuals and 34 entities to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The package aims to sever ties between the EU and Russia by more than EUR 10bn
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte reacted to criticism on Thursday over her country’s acceptance of the transport of civilian-use goods from Russia to Kalingrad across its territory. “It would be irrational to continue to argue with EU partners” Simonyte said, after the European Commission (EC) on Wednesday clarified its
Austria’s foreign and European affairs minister said he expects the countries in the Western Balkans (WB) to join the EU, after he met Serbian government officials in Belgrade on Monday, 13 June. Alexander Schallenberg added that he hopes Serbia and other WB states will align their stances on Russia
In a letter to be sent to EU finance ministers, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia jointly call for frozen Russian assets to be used towards the reconstruction of Ukraine in the aftermath of its invasion by Russia. The letter written by the four Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, seen
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen paid an unexpected visit to Budapest on Monday evening to discuss the EU’s proposed package of sanctions against Russia with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. After the meeting, von der Leyen tweeted: “This evening’s discussion with PM Viktor Orban was helpful
New sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas currently being discussed by EU leaders would impact several Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries much harder than their Western neighbours, a French government economic research institute estimates in its latest report. In CEE, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Czechia could experience national
The EU banned Russian seafaring vessels from entering European ports, as it approved its fifth tranche of sanctions against Russia on Friday. The bloc also embargoed Russian coal supplies from August and enforced restrictions on all transactions with four major Russian banks. “We are proposing a fifth package of sanctions,
The EUR 12.5 bn expansion of Hungary’s only nuclear power plant at Paks remains viable, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told members of the press on Wednesday afternoon. Russian state nuclear company Rosatom’s addition of two blocks at the facility, can still go ahead, according to the
NATO representatives meeting on Thursday will consider boosting the strength of the defence alliance’s eastern flank even further given Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. While NATO has already bumped up troop numbers, which now number 40,000 on its eastern border, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia could see
Efforts to reduce dependency upon Russian sources of energy within countries in Central and Eastern Europe have taken on a new urgency following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine over three weeks ago. Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister Asen Vassilev says Bulgaria will not renew its contract with Gazprom when the
The BBC reported that Russian troops were holding 400 doctors and patients captive in a hospital in the coastal city of Mariupol on Tuesday evening. In a separate development, the city’s local authorities said that around 2,000 cars were able to leave the besieged city, and the ICRC
Delegations from Russia and Ukraine held a fourth round of peace talks on Monday, aiming for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian troops, and security guarantees for Ukraine. Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of office for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, told the BBC that Moscow’s approach was becoming “more
The European Commission said it planned to cut its reliance on fossil fuels from Russia by 2030, reducing dependence on Russian sources of energy by two-thirds by the end of the year. But it turned out there will be no ban on imports of Russian oil and gas imports to
On the evening of Sunday, 27 February, as Russian President Vladimir Putin had put his nuclear forces on high alert, Ukraine’s government agreed to talks in Belarus with Russian officials. Al Jazeera reported that President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv would send a delegation of officials to Ukraine’s border