Latest news with #Kremlin-friendly
RTÉ News
6 days ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
EU leaders agree to extend Russian sanctions
The EU's 27 leaders have agreed to extend sanctions on Russia for another six months, resolving fears that Kremlin-friendly Hungary would let the measures lapse, officials said. The decision at a summit in Brussels yesterday means that the EU's sweeping sanctions over the war in Ukraine, including the freezing of more than €200 billion in Russian central bank assets, will remain in force until at least early 2026. It comes after officials said they were preparing contingency plans to keep the bloc's economic punishments on Moscow in place should Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán refuse to budge. EU counterparts had feared a refusal by Hungary to renew the measures could impede the leverage the bloc holds over Russia as the United States presses peace efforts. Mr Orbán took the decision to the wire the last time the sanctions, which need to be extended every six months, came up for renewal in January. But while the EU made sure its existing measures will remain in place, it failed to get clearance on a new package of sanctions due to a blockage by Hungary's ally Slovakia. At the summit, Slovakia's Prime Minister Roberto Fico refused to greenlight the new round of sanctions due to a separate dispute with Brussels over plans to cut off imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027. Slovakia remains dependent on Russian gas imports and earns money from transit fees for supplies piped across its territory. Mr Fico held talks with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen yesterday but failed to get the concessions that he wants and announced he would hold approval of the sanctions package. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky urged EU leaders in a video address to adopt the strong package "targeting Russia's oil trade, shadow tanker fleet, banks and supply chains that bring equipment or parts for making weapons". Officials say, however, that a push to lower a price cap on Russian oil exports has been shelved after the United States failed to back the push as part of a broader G7 initiative. Trade talks Meanwhile Ms von der Leyen did not rule out that tariff talks with the United States could fail, saying "all options remain on the table" as the EU leaders discussed new proposals from Washington on a trade deal. Time could be running out for the bloc to find a common position before a respite on higher tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump expires on 9 July, which will impact exporters from cars to pharmaceuticals. However, the White House said Mr Trump could extend a July deadline for higher tariffs on imports. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the "deadline is not critical". European leaders were meeting to decide whether they want to push for a quick trade agreement or keep fighting for a better deal, with the EU's two biggest economies apparently at odds. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged the EU to do a "quick and simple" trade deal rather than a "slow and complicated" one. But in a separate briefing, French President Emmanuel Macron, while also wanting a quick and pragmatic trade deal, said his country would not accept terms that were not balanced. All tools must be used to ensure a fair deal and if the US baseline rate of 10% remained in place, then Europe's response would have to have an equivalent impact, he said. "Our goodwill should not be seen as a weakness," Mr Macron added. French officials have argued the commission should take a firmer stance including by targeting US services. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said there is a strong appetite at EU level for a trade deal with the United States. Mr Martin said "every effort has to be made to get a landing zone that we can live with". "It's not ideal. It's not optimal. Europe doesn't want tariffs, but we have to deal with the situation that is before us," he added. Similarly, Mr Merz said European leaders were "basically united" on concluding the Mercosur trade deal with the South American trade bloc, but Mr Macron said he could not support the deal in its current form. Ms Von der Leyen said yesterday the EU had received the latest US document for further negotiations and the bloc was still assessing it. "We are ready for a deal. At the same time, we are preparing for the possibility that no satisfactory agreement is reached," she told reporters, adding: "In short, all options remain on the table." No specifics were immediately available on the document, which one EU diplomat described as a "two-pager, principle agreement", adding the United States did not want to get into specific industrial sectors. The bloc is already subject to US import tariffs of 50% on its steel and aluminium, 25% for cars and car parts along with the 10% tariff on most other EU goods that Mr Trump has threatened could rise to 50% without an agreement. The European Union has agreed, but not imposed, tariffs on €21 billion of US goods and is debating a further package of tariffs on up to €95 billion of US imports. Among the EU rebalancing options is a tax on digital advertising, which would hit US giants like Alphabet Inc's Google, Meta, Apple, X and Microsoft and eat into the trade surplus in services the US has with the EU. The EU leaders also discussed ideas to carve out a new form of trade cooperation with Asia-Pacific countries that would be a way of reforming what they see as an ineffective World Trade Organisation. Mr Merz said the idea was in its early stages but could include mechanisms to resolve disputes as the WTO was meant to do.
LeMonde
6 days ago
- Business
- LeMonde
EU extends Russia sanctions again despite Hungary concerns
The EU's 27 leaders on Thursday, June 26 agreed to extend sanctions on Russia for another six months, resolving fears that Kremlin-friendly Hungary would let the measures lapse, officials said. The decision at a summit in Brussels means that the EU's sweeping sanctions over the war in Ukraine, including the freezing of more than 200 billion euros ($234 billion) in Russian central bank assets, will remain in force until at least early 2026. It comes after officials said they were preparing contingency plans to keep the bloc's economic punishment on Moscow in place should Hungarian leader Viktor Orban refuse to budge. EU counterparts had feared a refusal by Budapest to renew the measures could blow a massive hole in the leverage the bloc holds over Russia as the United States presses peace efforts. Orban took the decision to the wire the last time the sanctions – which need to be extended every six months – came up for renewal in January. But while the EU made sure its existing measures will remain in place, it failed to get clearance on a new package of sanctions due to a blockage by Hungary's ally Slovakia. Slovakian leader Roberto Fico refused at the summit to greenlight the new round of sanctions due to a separate dispute with Brussels over plans to cut off imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027. Slovakia remains dependent on Russian gas imports and earns money from transit fees for supplies piped across its territory. Fico held talks with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen earlier on Thursday but failed to get the concessions he wants and announced he would hold up approval of the sanctions package. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky urged EU leaders in a video address to adopt the strong package "targeting Russia's oil trade, shadow tanker fleet, banks, and supply chains that bring equipment or parts for making weapons". Officials say, however, that a push to lower a price cap on Russian oil exports has been shelved after Washington failed to back the push as part of a broader G7 initiative.
NDTV
6 days ago
- Business
- NDTV
EU Agrees To Renew Russia Sanctions For Another 6 Months
Brussels: The EU's 27 leaders on Thursday agreed to extend sanctions on Russia for another six months, resolving fears that Kremlin-friendly Hungary would let the measures lapse, officials said. The decision at a summit in Brussels means that the EU's sweeping sanctions over the war in Ukraine, including the freezing of more than 200 billion euros in Russian central bank assets, will remain in force until at least early 2026.
American Military News
17-06-2025
- Politics
- American Military News
Pro-Kremlin Media Hail Los Angeles Unrest As ‘Civil War'
This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission. Kremlin-friendly pundits and programs have been savoring every shot of protesters in Los Angeles this week, some proclaiming that the United States must be in midst of a new 'civil war.' Prominent state-run Rossia-1 TV host Vladimir Solovyov put it bluntly: 'I'm enjoying what I see.' He was not alone. 'Congratulations on the beginning of a civil war in the United States of America,' pro-Kremlin TV personality Sergei Mardan said. 'Unfortunately, I'm joking,' he added mirthlessly. Andrey Cherkasov of RFE/RL's Current Time surveyed the Kremlin-friendly media landscape over the past few days and found it rife with pronouncements of widespread pandemonium in the United States. 'In reality, the unrest in Los Angeles is limited to a small area,' Cherkasov said, 'but the propagandists describe it as a nationwide catastrophe.' The key scenes and images appearing so far are generally those of street demonstrations in the Los Angeles area, which were sparked by recent high-profile arrests of suspected undocumented immigrants by agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Locals have demanded an end to ICE raids and enforcement actions there, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. ICE said it arrested over 40 suspected undocumented migrants at a work site and another 77 people were reportedly arrested by ICE and federal partners across the greater L.A. area on June 6, which appeared to be the focus of the protests. 'This is a city of immigrants,' Bass said. 'This is a city that wants to help you get your legal status. This is a city that embraces everybody that is here, regardless of when you got here or where you came from.' Kremlin-friendly journalists have been airing a far more alarmist viewpoint — but at times are also gleeful. 'I can't help gloating over it all, I admit,' Mardan said on-air on Rossia-1. 'The worse it is for the United States, the better it is for us.' As Cherkasov pointed out, 'Cheering over unrest in the United States is standard fare for the Kremlin and Kremlin-friendly media.' The rhetoric is well-practiced and hardly new, he added. 'These outlets have, after all, come up with surveys that purportedly show America as their country's main adversary for the last 20 years.' Much of the pro-Putin coverage that depicts the Los Angeles area as 'apocalyptic,' Cherkasov said. But he noted that some broadcasters in the United States have been using similar language, at least some of the time. Viewers of CBS's Face the Nation heard reports with a voiceover that said: 'Chaos erupted in the Los Angeles area over the weekend following increased activity across the country by ICE.' But the Kremlin-aligned outlets have shown a passion for the most tabloid elements, Cherkasov said. 'Russian presenters are savoring every detail: flying rocks, smoke, and rubber bullets. Three he cited were succinct: 'Chaos in Los Angeles,' proclaimed Russia-1 TV, 'Fighting, violence, and provocations,' said a TVC host, and 'The tension is rising,' announced another Russia-1 TV presenter. Another usual angle in the Putin-approved media, Cherkasov said, was the invocation of Ukraine's Euromaidan protest movement, sparked a decade ago when pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych blocked progress toward EU membership. 'Just remember the Kyiv Maidan in 2014: It was a war zone,' said a commentator on Russia's Vesti FM. Suggesting deliberate conspiracies behind the Los Angeles demonstrations is also standard pro-Kremlin fare, said Cherkasov. 'The Kremlin has always tried to suggest there's foreign backing behind any civil protest.' So-called color revolutions are also said to be the work of US agents, he said, such as Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution and Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution. As if on cue, a presenter on Russia's Channel 5 summed up the L.A. protests this way: 'All the elements of a color revolution are there.' Another, a guest on Solovyov's program, Solovyov Live, proclaimed, 'This did not happen spontaneously.' According to Western sources, since June 6, nearly 400 people have been arrested in Los Angeles, including 330 undocumented migrants and 157 people charged with assault and obstruction — including one charged with attempted murder of a police officer.
Daily Mirror
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Top Putin ally pushes childless couple social media ban so they have more sex
MP Mikhail Ivanov, 51, has suggested childless couple should be forced into "digital abstinence" - banning them from social media between 11pm and 2am - in the hopes it will help spark their passion for each other Childless Russian couples should be banned from accessing social media late at night in a bid to encourage them to have sex and start families, according to a pro-Putin politician. The madcap plan for 'digital abstinence' comes from the mind of Mikhail Ivanov, 51, a regional MP in region Bryansk which borders Ukraine. If the scheme is implemented, the Russian state would switch off the couples' access to social media each night from 11pm to 2am. This is the latest bizarre scheme to meet Vladimir Putin 's order to boost the flagging birth rate in Russia and help bring back 'strong Russian families'. 'If young people spend nights on their phones instead of paying attention to each other, then this is a road to nowhere,' said Ivanov, deputy head of the pro-dictator World Russian People's Council which seeks a return to the Kremlin's empire. 'Russia has always been famous for its strong families, and our task is to bring back this tradition. If this requires temporarily restricting access to entertainment content at a late hour, then this is not a large price to pay for the future of the nation.' He also wants psychologists to teach couples 'the importance of live communication and a conscious approach to creating a family'. Critics say the Russian population is plummeting because couples are against having children in the middle or a war, which has also killed an estimated 250,000 people. But Ivanov, married with children, believes social media is the problem. 'The Internet has become a new form of addiction that corrodes the foundations of the family,' he said. 'Young people, instead of communicating with each other, building relationships and thinking about children, spend hours scrolling through the feed, playing games or watching TV series. 'This is not just a bad habit, it is a threat to the demographic security of the country. We must create conditions in which couples will have an incentive to return to real communication and conscious parenting.' Meanwhile, a Kremlin-friendly MP has suggested giving workers one week's paid leave a year to procreate. An annual 'demographic week' would meet Putin's urgent demand to boost Russia's shrinking population level, according to Georgy Arapov, 25. 'For many citizens it would be a rare opportunity to stop, breathe out, recover from stress and come to that internal state that doctors and psychologists call optimal for making a decision to have a child,' said Arapov, Russia's youngest MP. Another scheme for a tax on childlessness has been proposed by the Russian Orthodox Church, aiming to stigmatise 'sick' men in their 40s who fail to father babies. This was proposed by pro-Putin archpriest and propagandist Andrei Tkachev, 55.
