Russia and Ukraine trade drone strikes as Kyiv signs deals to boost drone production
Photos circulating on social media showed crowds huddling at Russian airports including key international hubs in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled due to Ukrainian drone strikes on Saturday and overnight, according to Russia's Transport Ministry.
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Canada News.Net
2 hours ago
- Canada News.Net
Oil Price Cap, Slovak Veto Stand In Way Of New EU Russia Sanctions
The European Union is edging closer to finally adopting its latest sanctions package, the 18th since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine over three years ago. But two items still remain to be negotiated. Firstly, the price cap on Russian oil. Its still in the draft proposal seen by RFE/RL, but there is a question whether it will remain there. Secondly, there's a Slovak veto on an issue that is related to the sanctions though not directly part of the package. When the European Commissionpresentedthe proposed package to EU member states in early June the signature proposal was to lower the price cap on oil from the current level of $60 per barrel to $45. As this policy is under the Group of Seven (G7), the EU tried to secure approval from other G7 countries, notably the United States, on such a move at a summit in Canada last month. But it failed to get the Americans onboard, especially as oil prices surged after Israeli and American attacks on Iran. Brussels has, however, considered going ahead regardless, especially as the Russian oil price cap initially was a way around an EU ban on services to transport Russian oil. In recent discussions in Brussels, EU officials familiar with the file but not authorized to speak on the record, note that Cyprus, Greece, and Malta -- countries with considerable maritime services sectors -- are against lowering the price cap. It is, however, understood that Cyprus and Greece could ease their stance especially as the United Kingdom, another big maritime insurer, is onboard with Brussels on a lower oil price cap. Diplomats even think that the United States eventually could join as well if Brussels and London are fully onboard. The last holdout appears to be Malta, even though there are some hopes that Valletta could accept a lower oil cap, though above the proposed $45 per barrel. SEE ALSO: Wider Europe Briefing: Why EU Sanctions On Russia Are Delayed -- And What Denmark's EU Presidency Has In Store Then there is the Slovak veto. Bratislava has conditioned its thumbs up for more Russia sanctions on the reworking of a separate proposal by the European Commission to phase out Russian energy imports into the bloc by the end of 2027. The proposal, presented in May, is called RePowerEU and has caused consternation in Slovakia as well as Hungary, which is understood to be quietly backing its northern neighbor. And it is easy to see why. The European Union has since 2022 limited various Russian energy products through sanctions, for example banning most coal and oil imports into the bloc. But sanctions require unanimity of the 27 EU member states, and Hungary and Slovakia have in the last couple years vetoed some of the more restrictive proposals from Brussels targeting Russian energy. The European Commission is therefore attempting via RePowerEU to regulate the EUs internal market with a raft of measures, most of which can be adopted via a qualified majority of 55 percent of the member states representing 65 percent of the total EU population voting in favor. In other words, a route that circumvents Bratislava and Budapest. The key proposal will be a legal requirement to ban all new Russian gas contracts and short-term so-called spot contracts for Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) by the end of this year at the latest. For longer-term contracts, the regulation will suggest a wind-down period ending no later than the end of 2027. SEE ALSO: Does The EU Still Have The Sanctions Cards Needed To Hurt Russia? EU gas imports from Russia have decreased from 45 percent in 2021 to 19 percent in 2024 and are expected to fall to 13 percent in 2025 after the end of the Ukraine transit route at the start of the year. The EU has, however, been embarrassed that Russian LNG imports increased by 12 percent last year compared to 2023. With regard to oil imports, the situation is less dramatic but very geographically specific and politically sensitive. Russian oil imports only constitute 3 percent of total EU oil imports today, compared to 27 percent back in 2022 largely due to sanctions that banned Russian seaborne imports and refined petroleum products. But landlocked Central European nations got an exemption from these measures. While the Czech Republic now has stopped importing from this source, Hungary and Slovakia still get 80 percent of their oil imports from Russia. The European Commission will now demand an end to Russian oil imports by the end of 2027, and the pair need to provide a timeline on how they plan to achieve this, present what alternative options they are planning to take, and provide greater transparency of their current contracts with Moscow. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico indicated at the EU summit in Brussels on June 26 that he would not green light the sanctions package, saying that he needs clarifications over RePowerEU. According to diplomats familiar with the file, Bratislava is not so much asking about exemptions but legal certainty about potential Gazprom claims over contracts. Last week, European Commission officials visited Bratislava to meet with both Slovak officials and representatives of energy companies. While EU diplomats said the meetings went well, it appears that Fico still isnt fully onboard. EU ambassadors who met in Brussels on July 4 to discuss the sanctions were told that it's not ripe for approval just yet. The press release issued by the Slovak Economy Ministry after the European Commission visit also hinted that more talks are needed in the coming days. Economy Minister Denisa Sakova said that the Bratislava meeting was an important step towards finding solutions that take into account the specific factors of each member state when diversifying sources and thus ensure affordable energy prices also for the Slovak industry, which is facing rising costs. She added that we are ready to continue to take a constructive approach to the proposed measures and to continue the expert discussion with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders."
Canada Standard
2 hours ago
- Canada Standard
Oil Price Cap, Slovak Veto Stand In Way Of New EU Russia Sanctions
The European Union is edging closer to finally adopting its latest sanctions package, the 18th since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine over three years ago. But two items still remain to be negotiated. Firstly, the price cap on Russian oil. Its still in the draft proposal seen by RFE/RL, but there is a question whether it will remain there. Secondly, there's a Slovak veto on an issue that is related to the sanctions though not directly part of the package. When the European Commissionpresentedthe proposed package to EU member states in early June the signature proposal was to lower the price cap on oil from the current level of $60 per barrel to $45. As this policy is under the Group of Seven (G7), the EU tried to secure approval from other G7 countries, notably the United States, on such a move at a summit in Canada last month. But it failed to get the Americans onboard, especially as oil prices surged after Israeli and American attacks on Iran. Brussels has, however, considered going ahead regardless, especially as the Russian oil price cap initially was a way around an EU ban on services to transport Russian oil. In recent discussions in Brussels, EU officials familiar with the file but not authorized to speak on the record, note that Cyprus, Greece, and Malta -- countries with considerable maritime services sectors -- are against lowering the price cap. It is, however, understood that Cyprus and Greece could ease their stance especially as the United Kingdom, another big maritime insurer, is onboard with Brussels on a lower oil price cap. Diplomats even think that the United States eventually could join as well if Brussels and London are fully onboard. The last holdout appears to be Malta, even though there are some hopes that Valletta could accept a lower oil cap, though above the proposed $45 per barrel. SEE ALSO: Wider Europe Briefing: Why EU Sanctions On Russia Are Delayed -- And What Denmark's EU Presidency Has In Store Then there is the Slovak veto. Bratislava has conditioned its thumbs up for more Russia sanctions on the reworking of a separate proposal by the European Commission to phase out Russian energy imports into the bloc by the end of 2027. The proposal, presented in May, is called RePowerEU and has caused consternation in Slovakia as well as Hungary, which is understood to be quietly backing its northern neighbor. And it is easy to see why. The European Union has since 2022 limited various Russian energy products through sanctions, for example banning most coal and oil imports into the bloc. But sanctions require unanimity of the 27 EU member states, and Hungary and Slovakia have in the last couple years vetoed some of the more restrictive proposals from Brussels targeting Russian energy. The European Commission is therefore attempting via RePowerEU to regulate the EUs internal market with a raft of measures, most of which can be adopted via a qualified majority of 55 percent of the member states representing 65 percent of the total EU population voting in favor. In other words, a route that circumvents Bratislava and Budapest. The key proposal will be a legal requirement to ban all new Russian gas contracts and short-term so-called spot contracts for Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) by the end of this year at the latest. For longer-term contracts, the regulation will suggest a wind-down period ending no later than the end of 2027. SEE ALSO: Does The EU Still Have The Sanctions Cards Needed To Hurt Russia? EU gas imports from Russia have decreased from 45 percent in 2021 to 19 percent in 2024 and are expected to fall to 13 percent in 2025 after the end of the Ukraine transit route at the start of the year. The EU has, however, been embarrassed that Russian LNG imports increased by 12 percent last year compared to 2023. With regard to oil imports, the situation is less dramatic but very geographically specific and politically sensitive. Russian oil imports only constitute 3 percent of total EU oil imports today, compared to 27 percent back in 2022 largely due to sanctions that banned Russian seaborne imports and refined petroleum products. But landlocked Central European nations got an exemption from these measures. While the Czech Republic now has stopped importing from this source, Hungary and Slovakia still get 80 percent of their oil imports from Russia. The European Commission will now demand an end to Russian oil imports by the end of 2027, and the pair need to provide a timeline on how they plan to achieve this, present what alternative options they are planning to take, and provide greater transparency of their current contracts with Moscow. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico indicated at the EU summit in Brussels on June 26 that he would not green light the sanctions package, saying that he needs clarifications over RePowerEU. According to diplomats familiar with the file, Bratislava is not so much asking about exemptions but legal certainty about potential Gazprom claims over contracts. Last week, European Commission officials visited Bratislava to meet with both Slovak officials and representatives of energy companies. While EU diplomats said the meetings went well, it appears that Fico still isnt fully onboard. EU ambassadors who met in Brussels on July 4 to discuss the sanctions were told that it's not ripe for approval just yet. The press release issued by the Slovak Economy Ministry after the European Commission visit also hinted that more talks are needed in the coming days. Economy Minister Denisa Sakova said that the Bratislava meeting was an important step towards finding solutions that take into account the specific factors of each member state when diversifying sources and thus ensure affordable energy prices also for the Slovak industry, which is facing rising costs. She added that we are ready to continue to take a constructive approach to the proposed measures and to continue the expert discussion with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders."
Canada Standard
2 hours ago
- Canada Standard
Cancellations at Canadian film festivals raise questions about accountability
Film festivals are unique cultural institutions, spaces to see diverse films by local and global filmmakers and an important market for distributors. These films are often difficult to see, or even know about, outside of festival circuits. Festivals are also answerable to funders and to different stakeholders' interests. Cancellations of planned films raise questions about festivals' roles and accountability to community groups who find certain films objectionable, the wider public, politicians, festival sponsors, audiences, filmmakers and the films themselves. In September 2024, The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) faced a backlash from pro-Ukrainian groups - and former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent - when the documentary Russians at War was included in the program. Read more: 'Russians at War' documentary: From the Crimean to the Iraq War, soldier images pose questions about propaganda The Ukrainian Canadian Congress and other advocates called on TIFF to cancel the film, directed by Russian Canadian Anastasia Trofimova, which they accused of being Russian propaganda. TIFF did cancel festival screenings after it was "made aware of significant threats to festival operations and public safety," but once the festival was over, showed Russians at the TIFF Lightbox Theatre. In November, the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) cancelled the Canadian premiere of Rule of Stone , directed by Israeli Canadian director Danae Elon. As a film and media professor, I supervised Elon's research for the film while she pursued a master's degree at Queen's University. RIDM acknowledged Elon's "personal commitment to criticizing and questioning the state of Israel" through her story about the stone that, by Israeli law, has to be used on the exterior of every new building in Jerusalem. In the film, Elon examines how, in post-1967 Jerusalem, "architecture and stone are the main weapons in a silent, but extraordinarily effective colonization and dispossession process" of Palestinians. As a documentarist and a researcher in Israeli and Palestinian media representations of fighters, I have analyzed both films and followed the controversies. Each focuses on contemporary political issues relevant to our understanding of current affairs. While the reasons for the cancellations are different, in both cases the festivals responded to pressures from community groups, placing the public right to a robust debate at the festival and beyond as secondary. Director Anastasia Trifamova embedded herself in a Russian supply unit, and later a medical team, eventually making her way to the front lines in occupied Ukraine. Trifamova comes across as a naive filmmaker, using an observational, non-judgmental form of filmmaking common in 21st-century war documentaries, as seen in films like Armadillo and Restrepo (respectively following Danish and U.S. troops in Afghanistan). As noted by TIFF, Russians was "an official Canada-France co-production with funding from several Canadian agencies," and Trifamova said she did not seek or receive official permission from the Russian army to film. The film documents the machination of war, where soldiers are both perpetrators of violence and its victims. It humanizes the soldiers, which understandably can be upsetting to Ukrainian and pro-Ukrainian publics. But should emotions of one group, outraged and incensed as they may be, prevent the public from having the difficult conversations promoted by the film? Early in the film, Trifamova confronts the soldiers about why they are fighting and they respond with Russian propaganda (fighting Nazism, defending the borders). Later, soldiers approach Trifamova - on camera - to express doubts about the justification of the war and their presence in Ukraine. The film provides an unflattering view of Russia's attack on Ukraine, emphasizing the futility of the war and the incredible toll on soldiers and civilians (including some Ukrainian civilians). Russian troops appear untrained and poorly equipped to fight in chaotically managed battles. Like Armadillo and Restrepo , Russians at War represents the soldiers without judgment and contributes to necessary conversations about war. In my analysis, while Trifamova refrains - in her sporadic voice-over - from condemning the war outright, it is difficult to read the film as Russian propaganda. While TIFF cited security concerns as the reason for cancellation, security was in place for another film that attracted controversy, Bliss . A cancellation from such an established festival likely has an effect on how a film is able to circulate. For example, TVO, one of the funders of Russians at War , cancelled its scheduled broadcast days after the TIFF cancellation. Rule of Stone , as noted by RDIM, "critically examines the colonialist project of East Jerusalem following its conquest by Israeli forces in 1967." The title references a colonial bylaw to clad building with stone, first introduced by the British, which still exists today. The film, which examines architecture's role in creating modern Jerusalem, is led by Elon's voice-over. It mixes her memories of growing up in 1970s Jerusalem and her reckoning with the "frenzy of building," which included projects by architect Moshe Safdie, a citizen of Israel, Canada and the United States. Elon recounts that her father, journalist and author Amos Elon, was a close friend of Safdie, as well as legendary Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kolek. Safdie is among the Israeli architects, architectural historians and planners who Elon interviews. The expansion of Jewish neighbourhoods is contrasted with the restrictions on and disposession of Palestinians in Jerusalem. Multiple scenes show the demolition of Palestinian homes or the aftermath. In intervwoven segments, Izzat Ziadah, a Palestinian stonemason who lives in a stone quarry, gives a tour of what is left of his destroyed home. Viewers hear how the planning, expansion and building of Jewish neighbourhoods, post-1967, were designed to evoke biblical times. As architectural historian Zvi Efrat notes, the new neighbourhoods look like, or attempt to look like, they were there forever. As reported by La Presse , the RIDM cancellation came after the festival received information about the documentary's partial Israeli financing, something that "embarrassed" them with some of the festival's partners. Funding for the development of the film came from the Makor Foundation for Israeli Films, which receives support from Israel's Ministry of Culture and Sport. Two organizations, the Palestinian Film Institute and Regards Palestiniens, opposed the film's showing on the basis of their commitment to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). In the organizations' logic, Israel state funding means a film should be subject to boycott as "PACBI specifically targets Israeli institutional funding in the arts which serves to culturally whitewash and legitimize the Israeli state." In my view, this position differs from the PACBI guidelines, which state: "As a general overriding rule, Israeli cultural institutions, unless proven otherwise, are complicit in maintaining the Israeli occupation and denial of basic Palestinian rights, whether through their silence or actual involvement in justifying, whitewashing or otherwise deliberately diverting attention from Israel's violations of international law and human rights." Makor should be exempted since it regularly funds films that draw attention to Israel's violations of Palestinian human rights. In 2024 alone, the list includes The Governor , The Village League and Death in Um al hiran . RIDM's website does not disclose support for a boycott. In the end, RIDM announced that Elon withdrew her film. She stated: "Screening my film at RIDM does not serve the long-term purpose of the festival, nor is it possible now to address the nuances in our common fight for justice for Palestine. I am deeply saddened and distressed by [what] has brought it to this point." To date, the film has not found a cinema in Montreal willing to screen it. The two festivals' mission statements promise high-quality films that transform or renew audiences' relationships to the world. It is clear why programmers chose both films, since they're cinematically innovative and provoke important conversations. However, both festivals silenced these films and signalled to other filmmakers that these festivals are not brave spaces to have difficult and necessary conversations.
