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Iran leader hosts Putin, says U.S. policies threaten Tehran, Moscow

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (C) receives a gift from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (L) in Tehran November 23, 2015. Iran’s supreme leader, at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tehran, said on Monday U.S. policies in the Middle East region were a threat to both countries and called for closer ties between Tehran and Moscow. The civil war in Syria has evolved into a wider proxy struggle between global powers, with Russia and Iran supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Western powers, Turkey and Gulf Arab states want him out. "The Americans have a long-term plot and are trying to dominate Syria and then the whole region … This is a threat to all countries, especially Russia and Iran," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, according to his website, at the meeting on the sidelines of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) Summit in Tehran. "The United […]

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Iran Moves Toward Relief With Russian Go-Ahead to Export Uranium

Iran moved a step closer to relief from oil and banking sanctions when President Vladimir Putin decreed Russia is ready to import enriched-uranium stockpiles, allowing an agreement with world powers to take effect. Russia is willing to take any low-enriched uranium over 300 kilograms (660 pounds) in exchange for natural-uranium ore, the Kremlin said today on its website. At current stockpile levels, that amounts to about 8,000 kilograms, with a value of almost $635,000, according to the most recent spot price published by UX Consulting. The July 14 deal with world powers requires Iran to reduce its uranium stockpile by more than 96 percent. Last week, International Atomic Energy Agency officials reported Iran had accelerated compliance with other parts of the agreement, including a reduction in installed enrichment technology. Once IAEA monitors have verified that Iran has met its commitments, oil and banking sanctions that have dragged on the […]

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Russia says to halt gas supplies to Ukraine, mulling coal cut off over Crimea

Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak (C) attends an extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Tehran November 21, 2015. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow would cut gas supplies to Ukraine on Tuesday or Wednesday because Kiev had not paid up front for more gas and might also halt coal supplies to Ukraine in retaliation for a power blackout of Crimea. Alexander Novak, in comments to Vesti FM radio station, was speaking as Russian-annexed Crimea continued to rely on emergency generators to meet its basic power needs after unknown saboteurs blew up electricity pylons supplying the peninsula with electricity over the weekend. Pro-Ukrainian activists have so far prevented repairs to the damaged pylons and associated power lines. "Today or tomorrow gas deliveries will be stopped because of lack of advance payment," said Novak, saying Ukraine was in any case using very little Russian gas. […]

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Ukraine Says Will Restore Power to Crimea After Pylons Blown Up

KIEV, Ukraine—Ukraine said Monday it would restore electricity to Russian-annexed Crimea within three days after pylons were blown up, but appeared to make a major concession to activists blocking repair work by imposing a temporary ban on all commercial traffic to the contested region. Pylons supplying electricity to Crimea from southern Ukraine were blown up over the weekend , leaving much of the peninsula without power. While the Ukrainian Interior Ministry still hadn’t identified suspects in the explosions, pro-Ukrainian activists—many of them from the minority Muslim community of Crimean Tatars—continued to block repair works on the pylons Monday. “We are prepared to repair the power lines within 72 hours,” Ukraine’s Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn told the Interfax news agency. “At this time, workers are unable to conduct repair works; explosives have been discovered at those [power] lines.” The activists have staked out the border between mainland Ukraine and Crimea […]

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Russia’s Putin in Iran for talks set to focus on Syria

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was in Tehran on Monday for talks with Iranian leaders expected to focus on the Syrian crisis and an international peace plan intended to end the conflict. The visit comes as Russia, the United States, France and others are talking about possible joint action against the Islamic State group following the terror attacks in Paris and the downing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt. Putin’s trip also comes on the heels of agreement on an incomplete peace plan that calls for talks between Assad and his foes. Moscow and Tehran have been the key backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout his nation’s civil war, which has killed over 250,000 people and turned millions into refugees. Russia has shielded Syria from international sanctions, and on Sept. 30 it launched an air campaign against the Islamic State group and other insurgents, […]

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How Poland’s Crusade for Energy Autonomy Affects EU and Russia

Poland’s new government seeks to shake up the nation’s power, gas and oil industries in the name of boosting energy security, with consequences for both dominant supplier Russia and the country’s partners in the European Union. While Prime Minister Beata Szydlo vowed last week to exploit coal and lignite deposits in the face of EU attempts to curb carbon emissions, tankers with Saudi and Kurdish crude sailed to Polish refineries reliant on Russian oil. Meanwhile, a Qatari tanker was loading its first liquefied natural gas shipment for a Polish terminal. Q: Will Poland Switch Russian Oil for Saudi? No, but the country of 38 million people, which buys about a 10th of Russian crude exports to the EU, can do more to diversify its supplies. Deliveries from the world’s biggest energy exporter account for more than 90 percent of Poland’s annual imports of 23.6 million tons of oil, according […]

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Russian oil producer adds to global glut

Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft reports an increase in production for the first nine months of the year, adding to global oil glut. Photo courtesy of Gazprom Neft MOSCOW, Nov. 23 (UPI) — Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft added to the oversupplied market, saying its output for the first nine months of the year increased more than 20 percent. Crude oil prices are 45 percent lower than at this time last year in part because the increase in global production is more than a weakened economy can absorb. That’s hurt economies like Russia, whose finances depend in part on export revenue. Gazprom Neft, a division of Russian energy giant Gazprom and the country’s fourth-largest crude oil producer, said production volumes of 436.4 million barrels of oil equivalent represented a 22.2 percent increase year-on-year. The company credited the gains in part to an increase at its arctic Prirazlomnoye field. The […]

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State of Emergency Declared in Crimea

KIEV—Authorities declared a state of emergency on Sunday in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia last year, after pylons supplying energy to the territory from Ukraine were blown up. Russia’s Energy Ministry said almost two million people had been left without power. The local energy ministry said that between 20% and 30% of the peninsula was supplied with electricity, almost half of that by generators. Russian media outlets reported that pylons in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson had been blown up by pro-Ukrainian activists. The Russian ministry didn’t mention the cause of the outage. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry confirmed that the pylons had been blown up and pledged to help facilitate repair work. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine last year , and the territory still receives 85% of its water and 80% of its electricity from mainland Ukraine. The U.S. and Europe imposed trade sanctions on […]

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West looks for splits in Russia’s alliance with Iran over Syria

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Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple