Sergei Lavrov News

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose to its highest since mid-May on Monday, supported by gains in the capesize vessel segment.The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, rose 21 points, or 1.3% to 1,614, its highest level since May 10.The capesize index added 65 points, or 3.1% to 2,148, its highest level in over four months.Average daily earnings for capesize vessels…

Russia warned the West on Friday that unless obstacles to its exports of grain and fertilisers were removed, then Ukraine would have to export grain over land and Moscow would work outside the UN-brokered landmark grain export deal.The Black Sea grain deal is an attempt by the United Nations to ease a food crisis that predated the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but was made worse by the most deadly war in Europe since World War Two.The deal, first signed by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey…

A Russian research vessel which has been prospecting for oil and natural gas in the Antarctic docked in South Africa on Saturday following protests by green campaigners who say its operations in the region violate a treaty banning mineral exploration.Several members of the Extinction Rebellion environmental group held banners reading "Hands off Antarctica" as the polar explorer ship Akademik Alexander Karpinsky arrived as scheduled in Cape Town's port during the morning.Earlier this week, several dozen protesters from Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion demonstrated at the port, saying the ship's seismic surveys in the Antarctic were a threat to marine life in the area and violated a 1958 international agreement.A 1998 amendment to the 55-nation Antarctic Treaty…

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the West was not honoring its promise to help Russian food and fertilizer exports reach global markets, raising potential questions about Russia's commitment to a landmark grain deal struck with Ukraine.Lavrov said the West had not relaxed sanctions to make it easier for Russia to ship its agricultural products abroad. Moscow saw the commitment as a key part of a July deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to…

Deck cadet Burak Kinayer, 19, is waiting to hear when he will set sail home to Turkey after five months of being stranded by the war in the Ukraine now a grain export deal has been signed.As clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces echoed off the coast of Odesa last weekend, he became concerned, but Kinayer said his nervousness gave way to excitement as the Kaptan Cevdet gets ready to leave, potentially in the coming days."The way back does not scare me," the trainee navigational deck officer told Reuters via videolink from aboard the ship."We can say that our excitement and hopes have been through the roof in the recent days," he said.Kinayer's ship is one of dozens preparing to depart from three Black Sea ports blockaded by Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia on Wednesday said it has offered "safe passage" for Ukraine grain shipments from the country's Black Sea ports but is not responsible for establishing the corridors, as Turkey suggested that ships could be guided around sea mines.Ukrainian grain shipments have stalled since Russia's invasion and ports blockade, stoking global prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer. The United Nations is trying to broker a deal to resume Ukraine grain exports and Russian food and fertilizer exports…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow is facing difficulties exporting grain due to sanctions against its ships."There are also problems with the export of Russian grain... Vessels that carry Russian grain have fallen under sanctions," Lavrov said during a visit to Saudi Arabia.Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which is also a major grain exporter, has driven world food prices higher but Russia blames Western sanctions against it for disrupting its fertilizer and grain exports.(Reuters - Reporting by Reuters)

Britain froze the assets of Russia's Gazprombank and Alfa Bank, and the state-run shipping firm Sovcomflot FLOT.MM, in its latest round of sanctions announced on Thursday.They were among 59 individuals and entities added to the sanctions list which has been used to target Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine.Gazprombank is one of main channels for payments for Russian oil and gas.Alfa-Bank is one of Russia's top private lenders, controlled by Mikhail Fridman, who was sanctioned by Britain earlier this month…

Russian troops were in the center of the Ukrainian port of Kherson on Thursday after a day of conflicting claims over whether Moscow had captured a major urban center for the first time in its eight-day invasion.Russia's defense ministry said it had captured Kherson on Wednesday but an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy responded that Ukrainian forces continued to defend the Black Sea port of about 250,000 people."We are a people who broke the enemy's plans in a week," Zelenskiy said in a video address.

Germany signaled on Tuesday that it could halt the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia if Moscow invades Ukraine, and Western nations rallied behind Kyiv over a Russian troop buildup that has stoked fears of war.Stepping up diplomacy after talks with Russia ended in stalemate last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Kyiv on Wednesday before heading to Berlin to discuss "joint efforts to deter further Russian aggression against Ukraine" with German, British and French officials.As fears of conflict rose…

Russia on Monday urged Germany and the European Union not to drag its feet over certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which has become a focal point in political disputes between Moscow and the West.The pipeline to Germany would double Russian gas export capability under the Baltic Sea to 110 billion cubic meters per year, circumventing Ukraine.The project, lead by Russia's Gazprom, has been a geopolitical irritant to the United States and countries including Ukraine and Poland since before construction was completed in September, with regulatory clearance expected no earlier than t

The United States and Germany on Wednesday unveiled an agreement on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline under which Berlin pledged to respond to any attempt by Russia to use energy as a weapon against Ukraine and other Central and Eastern European countries.The pact aims to mitigate what critics see as the strategic dangers of the $11 billion pipeline, now 98% complete, being built under the Baltic Sea to carry gas from Russia’s Arctic region to Germany.U.S. officials have opposed the pipeline…

The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday that clear and convincing evidence was needed to apportion blame for attacks last month on four oil tankers off its coast, and that tensions in the region needed to be dialled down.The United States and Saudi Arabia have publicly blamed Iran for that attack and a subsequent one on two vessels in the Gulf of Oman. Tehran has denied any involvement.The UAE has submitted the results of an investigation into the first attack, which showed that a state entity was behind them, without naming the country.If a country was to be identified, "this evidence must be clear and precise and scientific and convincing for the international community…

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on Friday to draw up proposals this year to end a row over a group of disputed islands that has bedevilled relations between their countries for over 70 years. The dispute stems from the Soviet Union's decision, in the final days of World War Two, to seize the islands - known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kuriles - that Tokyo says are its sovereign territory. Concessions over the islands would carry risks for Putin but could boost Japanese investment in Russia at a time when Moscow, battered by low global oil prices and Western sanctions, badly needs an injection of cash.

The eight Arctic Council nations pledged on Friday to do more to combat climate change that is shrinking the vast frigid region, with countries trying to put aside disputes over issues like Russia's intervention in Ukraine. Meeting in the Canadian town of Iqaluit, 300 km (200 miles) south of the Arctic Circle, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States pledged to work to address emissions of black carbon and methane. Both are seen as particularly harmful to the Arctic, whose sea ice this year was the smallest in winter since satellite records began in 1979, according to U.S. data. The region is warming at twice the rate of other parts of the globe…

The Arctic is heating up, both climatically and militarily. Vladimir Putin sends troops and jets to oil- and gas-rich region also coveted by Canada, United States, Norway and Denmark. A report by the Inquisitr says that although not a single politician or world leader has specifically mentioned the possibility of World War 3 over Arctic oil drilling, many experts feel long term economic pressures may be the driver for war. Vladimir Putin's deployment of thousands of Russian ground troops into the Arctic might seem simply like a strategic shift north of Europe, but why put so many men so far away? Analysts feel that it is in reaction to NATO’s recent interest in the region.

During the open lecture on Russia’s foreign policy, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that he could see no need for NATO presence in the Arctic. ‘From time to time, we have heard talks on NATO wishing to grow its presence in the region, long before the events in Ukraine. They continue to claim this. NATO doctrines periodically mention the military factor will increase in the Arctic in the context of increased competition for resources,’ said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. According to Lavrov, Moscow firmly believes that the Arctic has no problems that require any involvement of NATO, moreover, there are no problems that require military solutions.

Ukrainian forces launched a "special operation" on Tuesday against separatist militia in the Russian-speaking East, authorities said, although aside from a landing by airborne troops the action was limited. Soldiers disembarked from two helicopters at an airfield at Kramatorsk, where reporters earlier heard gunfire that seemed to prevent an air force plane from landing. The troops withdrew into barracks after local civilians manning a barricade gave them a hostile reception when they tried to leave the compound. In Kiev, acting President Oleksander Turchinov declared a much-needed victory over pro-Russian rebels by saying the air base had been "liberated." But there was no sign of militants.

As tensions around Syria escalate, media reports said a Russian warship with marines onboard had arrived off the Syrian coast, although Russia, an ally of President Bashar al-Assad, denied the reports, but a senior member of the European parliament demanded an inquiry into the allegations. The Russian Defense Ministry said one of its tankers, Iman, had arrived off the Syrian coast for technical reasons and its civilian crew was accompanied by security guards. The ministry said the tanker was carrying fuel and food supplies for the Russian Black Sea and Northern fleets, which are engaged in anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden.

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans informs 'Russia info' that he has met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss the situation concerning the Greenpeace vessel. Relations between Russia and the Netherlands have been tense recently since an attack on a Russian diplomat in the Hague and the arrest in Russia of the Arctic Sunrise vessel, which sailed under the Dutch flag. On 19 September, 2013, border guards stormed the Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise ship after the conservationists tried to hold a protest on the Prirazlomnaya platform in the Pechora sea.

Pro-Russian militants raised their flags over official buildings in two eastern Ukrainian cities on Saturday, deepening a stand-off with Moscow which, Kiev warned, was dragging Europe closer to a "gas war" that could disrupt supplies across the continent. At least 20 men armed with pistols and rifles took over the police station and a security services headquarters in Slaviansk, about 150 km (90 miles) from the border with Russia. Officials said the men had seized hundreds of pistols from arsenals in the buildings. The militants replaced the Ukrainian flag on one of the buildings with the red, white and blue Russian flag. Some local residents helped the militants build barricades out of tyres in anticipation that police would try to force them out, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.

Kremlin. warned it will act to protect eastern Ukraine's Russian-speakers if they come under attack. operation" to re-assert Kiev's control in Slaviansk. flying over the town's police headquarters where militants were holed up. windows," Avakov wrote on his Facebook page. any one had been hurt. into Slaviansk, but there was no independent confirmation of this. Sunday business. Ukraine that began when the Moscow-backed president was pushed out, and Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. to a Russian military incursion, though Moscow has strenuously denied any such intention. further military intervention," said Laura Lucas Magnuson, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Kiev on April 22, becoming the most senior U.S.

Moscow. weapons. forces of Ukraine," Turchinov said in an address to the nation. months of pro-Western protests, for being behind the rash of rebellions across Russian-speaking towns in eastern Ukraine. "We will not allow Russia to repeat the Crimean scenario in the eastern regions of Ukraine," Turchinov said. in Ukraine's government under control. "It is now the West's responsibility to prevent civil war in Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement. A United Nations Security Council diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the council would meet at 8 p.m. GMT) in New York at Russia's request. Another diplomat said negotiations were under way on Ukraine's participation. bore "the telltale signs of Moscow's involvement". the table, and there's a lot in between," she added.