A civilian cargo ship sailing from Ukraine reached Istanbul on Thursday in defiance of a Moscow blockade that sent tensions soaring after Russia open fired on a Turkish-owned ship. 

The Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte left the port of Odesa on Wednesday — the first vessel to directly challenge Russia’s new bid to seal Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea. 

Marine traffic sites showed it approaching its final destination in Istanbul after moving along a western route that avoided international waters in favor of those controlled by NATO members Romania and Bulgaria. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the ship was using a “new humanitarian corridor” Kyiv established after Russia last month pulled out of a wartime agreement to export grain along the Black Sea. 

The Joseph Schulte’s mission came days after the Russian navy fired warning shots and boarded a Turkish-owned but Palau-flagged vessel that was sailing to the Ukrainian river port of Izmail. 

The Russian attack put immense pressure on NATO member Turkey to stiffen its officially neutral line in the war. 

The Turkish presidency broke a four-day silence on Thursday by announcing that it had “warned” Moscow about the need to avoid further maritime escalations. 

But the Turkish statement stressed that it was technically up to Palau — a Pacific archipelago often used as a “flag of convenience” by global shipping companies — to lodge a formal complaint. 

Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s shipping infrastructure since pulling out of the grain deal mediated by the U.N. and Turkey. 

Ukraine’s decision to confront Russia over sea access comes with world attention focusing on ways to secure grain export routes in time for this autumn’s harvest. 

Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of grain and seed oil. 

New US push

Last year’s grain agreement helped push down global food prices and provide Ukraine with an important source of revenue to fight the war. 

Ukraine is now using the Danube River to ship out its grain. 

Much of that traffic flows down the river and ends up reaching the Black Sea at Ukraine’s border with Romania. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. officials are holding talks with Turkey and both Ukraine and its neighbors about increasing traffic along the Danube route. 

An unnamed U.S. official told the paper that Washington was “going to look at everything” — including the possibility of military support for the Ukrainian ships. 

But a Turkish defense official appeared to push back against Washington’s initiative on Thursday. 

“Our efforts are focused on making the grain corridor deal active again,” the unnamed defense official told Turkey’s NTV television. “We are not working on other solutions.” 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin this month for talks focused on the Black Sea. 

Erdogan has tried to use his good relations with Moscow and Kyiv to raise Turkey’s diplomatic profile during the war. 

Turkey hosted two early rounds of Ukraine peace talks and stepped up its trade with Russia while supplying Kyiv with arms. 

Diplomatic ‘counteroffensive’

Russia pulled out of the grain agreement after claiming that the pact had failed to fulfill the goal of relieving hunger across Africa and other famine-stricken regions. 

The Kremlin has since asked Turkey to help Russia export its grain to African countries without any involvement from Ukraine. 

African countries have become an important ally that Russia is using to counter its wartime isolation from the West. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told AFP this week that Kyiv needed to launch a diplomatic “counteroffensive” on the continent. 

“Our strategy is not to replace Russia but to free Africa from Russia’s grip,” Kuleba said in a wide-ranging interview. 

Russia’s attempts to win unilateral control of Black Sea shipping routes come as Ukraine inches forward in its high-stakes but brutal summer offensive. 

Kyiv this week announced the capture of Urozhaine, a small village lying along one of Ukraine’s main lines of attack. 

Kyiv is trying to reach its southern coast and cut Moscow’s access to Ukraine’s Russian-seized peninsula of Crimea. 

NATO row

The offensive is relying on new Western equipment and training but progressing slower than Kyiv and its allies had hoped. 

The strength of Russia’s resistance has intensified debates in some Western capitals about a need to find a diplomatic end to the war. 

A top NATO official this week outraged Kyiv by suggesting that one possible solution to the war could involve Ukraine ceding territory in exchange for Kyiv’s membership in the U.S.-led alliance. 

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg intervened on Thursday, reiterating the alliance’s position that it was “up to Ukrainians, and Ukrainians alone, to decide when the conditions for negotiations are in place.” 

Kuleba insisted that Ukraine was “not feeling” pressure from its Western allies to demonstrate quick results. 

“It’s easy to say that you want everything to be faster when you are not there,” he said.
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An Iranian journalist said Thursday she had no regrets over posting on social media a picture of herself without a headscarf in defiance of Iran’s dress laws, sharing a similar image following her latest release from jail. 

Nazila Maroufian last year interviewed the father of the young Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, whose death in police custody sparked months of protests. 

She walked out of Tehran’s Evin prison on Sunday after more than a month behind bars, posting on social media a picture of herself without a headscarf and the slogan “Don’t accept slavery, you deserve the best!” 

She was promptly detained again and moved outside of Tehran to Qarchak women’s prison, where conditions have been criticized repeatedly by human rights groups. 

But Maroufian, whose age is given by Persian media outside Iran as 23, was then released from Qarchak on Wednesday, she posted on social media. 

“Do you regret the photo you posted when you were released? Do you admit you made a mistake?” she asked herself in a rhetorical question in the post.   

“No; I didn’t do anything wrong,” she added in reply, posting a similar image of herself bareheaded in a white shirt with her right arm stretched up in a ‘V’ for victory sign. 

Arrested after publishing interview

Last October, Maroufian published an interview on the Mostaghel Online news site with Amjad Amini, the father of Mahsa Amini whose death in custody last September after she allegedly violated the dress rules sparked months of protests. 

In the interview, Amjad Amini accused authorities of lying about the circumstances of his daughter’s death. 

Iranian authorities have indicated she died because of a health problem, but the family and activists have said she suffered a blow to the head while in custody. 

Maroufian, a Tehran-based journalist from Amini’s hometown of Saqez in Kurdistan province, was first arrested in November.  

She was later released but in January said she had been sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for five years, on charges of propaganda against the system and spreading false news. 

Actions reminiscent of Gholian

Maroufian’s rapid return to prison after posting defiant images upon her release recalled the case of labor activist Sepideh Gholian.  

In March, Gholian was rearrested hours after she walked free from jail bare-headed and chanting slogans against Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

Gholian, one of the most prominent female activists detained in Iran, remains in prison. 
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Sweden raised its terrorism alert level on Thursday one notch to the second highest, following a recent string of public desecrations of the Quran in the Scandinavian country by a handful of anti-Islam activists, sparking angry demonstrations across Muslim countries.

Sweden has in recent weeks asked citizens abroad and businesses linked to the country to “be attentive and aware of the information the authorities communicate,” following a string of public burnings of copies of the Quran by an Iraqi asylum-seeker.

The Scandinavian country’s domestic security service, SAPO, said the overall security situation has deteriorated, and the risk of terrorism in Sweden was now at Level 4, or “high” on its five-point scale, a first since 2016.

“We are in a deteriorating situation, and this threat will continue for a long time,” SAPO head Charlotte von Essen said, adding that “the threat of attacks from actors within violent Islamism has increased during the year.”

She said that Sweden is currently regarded as “a priority target” for such attacks.

While urging people in Sweden to continue to live “normally,” von Essen stressed that there wasn’t a single incident that led to the heightened alert.

Earlier this year, a far-right activist from Denmark burned a copy of Islam’s holy book outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. Some 250 people retaliated and gathered outside the Swedish Consulate in Istanbul, where a photo of the Danish-Swedish anti-Islam activist Rasmus Paludan was set on fire.

Denmark’s national police said Wednesday that “on the recommendation” of the domestic intelligence service PET, it was “necessary to maintain the temporarily intensified efforts at the internal Danish borders.” Sweden has also stepped up border controls and identity checks at crossing points.

On Tuesday, PET and its foreign intelligence counterpart said in a joint statement that the recent Quran burnings “have resulted in considerable, negative attention from, among others, militant Islamists.” The terror alert level in Denmark is also at the second-highest level.

The recent burnings of the Quran have further complicated Sweden’s attempt to join NATO, a step that has gained urgency after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. In July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signaled that the burning incidents would pose another obstacle to Sweden’s bid.

Like many Western countries, Sweden doesn’t have any blasphemy laws that prohibit the burning of religious texts, and Swedish police allowed the protests by a handful of demonstrators, citing freedom of speech.

United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk during a debate last month called for respect of “all others” including migrants, LGBTQ people, and women and girls who wear headscarves, while affirming the right to freedom of expression.
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A Russian court on Thursday imposed a $32,000 fine on Google for failing to delete allegedly false information about the conflict in Ukraine.

The move by a magistrate’s court follows similar actions in early August against Apple and the Wikimedia Foundation that hosts Wikipedia.

According to Russian news reports, the court found that the YouTube video service, which is owned by Google, was guilty of not deleting videos with incorrect information about the conflict — which Russia characterizes as a “special military operation.”

Google was also found guilty of not removing videos that suggested ways of gaining entry to facilities which are not open to minors, news agencies said, without specifying what kind of facilities were involved.

In Russia, a magistrate court typically handles administrative violations and low-level criminal cases.

Since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has enacted an array of measures to punish any criticism or questioning of the military campaign.

Some critics have received severe punishments. Opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced this year to 25 years in prison for treason stemming from speeches he made against Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
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England will play Spain in the final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Sydney on Sunday. Spain beat Sweden 2-1 in its semifinal while England defeated co-hosts Australia 3-1 to reach the final.

Thirty-two teams started the 2023 Women’s soccer World Cup co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia. Two remain.

On Tuesday, Spain defeated Sweden by two goals to one at Eden Park in Auckland to reach its first World Cup final.

Spain first qualified for the event in 2015 and will face England, the current European champion, in Sunday’s final at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium.

England defeated co-hosts Australia in front of more than 75,000 supporters in Sydney. It was arguably the biggest match on home soil in the host nation’s football history.

Australian player Mary Fowler told reporters after the game that it was an honor to play in a team that had inspired the nation.

“It was unreal tonight, just like it has been for all the games, actually,” she said. “It is really nice even when we are under the pump and we are down by some goals to hear the crowd get behind us and really try to cheer us on. Not many people get to experience that in their life being able to play at a home World Cup and really feel the support of the country behind them. So, [it is] something, you know, we are all very lucky to be part of.”

The Australians – known as the Matildas – had reached the World Cup semifinals for the first time. Co-host New Zealand failed to advance from the group stage of the competition, where four teams competed in eight sections. The top two countries progressed to the knockout round of 16.

Players – both past and present – as well as coaches and administrators hope that the co-hosts’ world cup journey will leave a legacy for female sport in Australia and New Zealand.  It is hoped the performances of other nations, including Nigeria, Morocco and South Africa, will also promote the sport in other parts of the world.

Angela Iannotta, a former Matilda forward who scored Australia’s first World Cup goal in 1995, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that women’s football is changing dramatically.

“It is quite interesting,” she said, “because I remember when I am sitting at the airport with the Australian tracksuit and people would say, ‘Oh, what are you doing with Australian colors?’ and I said, ‘Oh, I am playing for the Australian women’s football team.’ ‘Oh, have we really got a national team?’ So, yeah, and the crowds were like, you know, 100 people, 200 people and things like that. So, just to see this change and this growth in women’s football in Australia is really unbelievable.”

Australia’s Matildas play Sweden in the World Cup third- and fourth-place playoff in Brisbane on Saturday.

The final takes place between Spain and England in Sydney on Sunday.

England striker Chloe Kelly told reporters after the semifinal victory against Australia that reaching the final was “what dreams are made of.” 
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A business organization founded by Hong Kongers in London is launching a startup program to help new Hong Kong migrants establish businesses in the United Kingdom.

Hong Kong Business Hub, the organizer, unveiled the program in London on August 8. Successful applicants will each receive a minimum of $64,000 in equity investment, while total investment for the program is slightly more than $635,000.

Puifung Leung, co-founder and director of the Hong Kong Business Hub,  said that many Hong Kongers who move to the U.K. are interested in entrepreneurship but might not be familiar with the local business environment. Many of the hub’s members and potential program participants fled Hong Kong after 2019, when China began clamping down on the pro-democracy movement in the former British colony.

“They might have great ideas, but they might not have enough funds, experience, resources or knowledge to make it happen,” Leung said. “Hong Kong Business Hub hopes to help these friends through this startup training program. They can get funds and directly introduce their products and services to the investor to explain why they need this funding.”

‘Go on a date’

The hub did not reveal the identity of the investor who, Leung said, wants to support Hong Kong entrepreneurs from behind the scenes.

She said the group would ensure sufficient time for matching the parties.

“The investor and investees need to go on a date,” she said, explaining the process. “After they get to know each other, we play the role of a matchmaker. Once they get to know each other, then we will see if they can get married.”

The program is supported by the Federation of Small Businesses and the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, according to the Hong Kong Business Hub.

Founded in 2021, the hub aims to support, promote and connect Hong Kong entrepreneurs and companies developing in the U.K. and the U.S. Other co-founders include Simon Shen, an international relations scholar at Taiwan’s National Sun Yat-sen University, and Patrick Woo, former head of the Department of Microbiology of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong.

Eric Yung, the program director, said that the investor would secure a board seat in the startup that it is funding and may provide access to networks and advice, but it would not be involved in day-to-day management.

The investor’s equity stake would be negotiated with the successful applicant, with the investor’s ownership share usually not exceeding 20%, Yung said.

Successful participants could attend training and networking events for free and meet the potential investor, Yung said.

Requirements

The program will be accepting applications through September 17. Applicants must have established their companies in 2020 or later, the founding team must hold at least half of the shares, and one of the founders must be a new migrant from Hong Kong who holds at least 30% of the company’s shares.

A judging committee will review business elements and consider four additional factors for bonus points, including whether the business benefits the Hong Kong community and aligns with Hong Kong Business Hub core values. Successful applicants will be required to pay 1% of the investment amount as a referral fee to the hub to support the program’s operation and development.

Yung estimated that dozens of companies would apply.

Forster Chiu, a new Hong Kong migrant who runs a cybersecurity company, Cybergroot, in the U.K., is among those interested in joining the incubation program. His company already participates in a mentorship program organized by the Hong Kong Business Hub for its members. He expects that other mentees will be interested as well.

“Companies who wish to develop and grow in the U.K. would gain funding and resources from an external investor, which will support our businesses in a good way,” he told VOA Cantonese.

Chiu said that while he was concerned about learning the identity of the investor, he would accept the initial mystery as long as he learned the name before any agreements were signed.

Another new migrant from Hong Kong, who did not want to reveal his identity, given his immigration status, is applying for asylum and has yet to start his business. He told VOA Cantonese that he believed the program would help those newly arrived Hong Kongers who want to embark on new path.

“It is a rare opportunity for us to work on our dreams after leaving Hong Kong, as we do not have enough funds, training and network,” he said. “The program is a good entry point for people like me, who wish to start their own businesses and had to leave Hong Kong in a hurry.”
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The British Museum said Wednesday that a member of its staff has been dismissed after items dating back as far as the 15th century B.C. were found to be missing, stolen or damaged.

The museum said it has also ordered an independent review of security and a “vigorous program to recover the missing items.”

The stolen artifacts include gold jewelry and gems of semiprecious stones and glass dating from the 15th century B.C. to the 19th century A.D. Most were small items kept in a storeroom and none had been on display recently, the museum said.

“Our priority is now threefold: first, to recover the stolen items; second, to find out what, if anything, could have been done to stop this; and third, to do whatever it takes, with investment in security and collection records, to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said George Osborne, the museum’s chair.

“This incident only reinforces the case for the reimagination of the museum we have embarked upon,” Osborne said.

The museum said that legal action would be taken against the dismissed staff member and that the matter was under investigation by London’s Metropolitan Police Service.

The 264-year-old British Museum is a major London tourist attraction, drawing visitors from around the world who come to see a vast collection of artifacts ranging from the Rosetta Stone that unlocked the language of ancient Egypt to scrolls bearing 12th century Chinese poetry and masks created by the indigenous people of Canada.

But the museum has also attracted controversy because it has resisted calls from communities around the world to return items of historical significance that were acquired during the era of the British Empire. The most famous of these disputes include marble carvings from the Parthenon in Greece and the Benin bronzes from West Africa.

Hartwig Fischer, the director of the British Museum, apologized and said the institution was determined to put things right.

“This is a highly unusual incident,” said Fischer said. “I know I speak for all colleagues when I say that we take the safeguarding of all the items in our care extremely seriously.”
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The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on three entities it accused of being tied to arms deals between North Korea and Russia as Washington cracks down on those seeking to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said that Russia has increasingly been forced to turn to North Korea and other allies to sustain its war in Ukraine as it expends munitions and loses heavy equipment on the battlefield.

The action is the latest by Washington, which has imposed rafts of sanctions targeting Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin since the start of the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and turned cities to rubble.

“The United States continues to root out illicit financial networks that seek to channel support from North Korea to Russia’s war machine,” Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in the statement.

“Alongside our allies and partners, we remain committed to exposing and disrupting the arms trade underpinning Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine.”

The entities targeted in Wednesday’s action are Limited Liability Company Verus, Defense Engineering Limited Liability Partnership and Versor S.R.O.
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Georgia, a NATO and European Union aspirant, is touting a new strategic partnership with China, prompting concerns the alliance will strain Tbilisi’s long-standing Western partnerships.

Georgia signed a strategic partnership agreement with China following an official visit to Beijing last month by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili. 

The partnership carries with it the potential of increased trade and infrastructure development, with possible economic benefits which Tbilisi is touting for its more than 3.5 million citizens. 

“China very rapidly became the third-largest trading partner for Georgia. And today, since you asked about the potential, what else could we achieve? I think easily, if we continue to export more goods, more products, more quality products on the Chinese market and vice versa, I think China can easily become the No. 1 trading partner for Georgia. So, there’s a big potential,” Garibashvili recently told the Chinese CGTN show “Leaders Talk.”

Garibashvili underscored his country’s unique strategic location at the eastern end of the Black Sea as a way to connect East with West by what he termed “the shortest route.”

Path to prosperity or long-term risk?

The agreement has come under scrutiny as Georgia awaits a European Commission decision on its EU candidacy, expected at the end of this year.

As explained by Garibashvili, the strategic partnership aims to enhance trade and logistics cooperation. He says it commits Georgia, among others, to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative as well as a Global Security Initiative, or GSI, part of a proposed security architecture announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year. 

Some view this latest move as a threat to Georgia’s European aspirations, which are backed by an overwhelming majority of the population and enshrined in its constitution. Some experts are particularly concerned about the GSI, which, according to Lily McElwee, a fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, “basically is a way to provide Chinese-style solutions to governance issues.”

‘Anti-Western, anti-American initiative?’

Formally announced on April 21, 2022, two months after Russia started its full-scale war in Ukraine, GSI is “an alternative to the support that the West has given to Ukraine,” former Georgian Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli told VOA.

The fundamental premise of GSI as outlined by the Chinese Communist Party is that the “security of one country should not come at the expense of others.”

“The legitimate and reasonable security concerns of all countries should be taken seriously and addressed properly, not persistently ignored or systemically challenged,” states a position paper published by China’s foreign ministry. 

Some observers view it as a challenge to the rules-based international order dominated by Western democracies.

“This is an initiative stemming from China, aiming to reshape the global landscape and the current world order,” said Miro Popkhadze, a fellow in the Eurasia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

He told VOA the Chinese version of global order directly undermines Georgia’s security.

“Russia is not in favor of countries like Georgia or Ukraine joining NATO,” he said. “If one were to heed Russia’s concerns in line with this initiative, Georgia might need to reconsider its European aspirations. Georgia’s stance appears conflicting: Georgia aims to be part of NATO and the European Union, yet the country’s government also is supporting an initiative that might be harmful to Georgia’s interests.”

While the partnership with Georgia expands China’s economic and security interests in the Caucasus and the Black Sea, other observers say Tbilisi itself is not getting much out of the deal.

Tinatin Khidasheli, Georgia’s former defense minister who now heads the Tbilisi-based non-governmental organization Civic Idea, called the partnership “a game changer” and “a huge challenge for the Georgian state.”  

“Not only on the level of everyday life, but even on the level of the constitutional foundation of this country,” she told VOA. “Because the constitution of Georgia specifically says that Georgia’s foreign policy priority is becoming a member of the European Union.”

One of the most meaningful indicators of Georgia not being an equal partner in the relationship is the document’s opening paragraph, which reads, “The two sides reaffirm their respect for the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of all countries. Georgia firmly adheres to the one-China principle.”

China understands the one-China principle to legitimize its sovereignty over the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, a position that the United States and most Western countries have not endorsed in the case of Taiwan.

Georgia’s occupied territories

The document also fails to mention Georgia within its internationally recognized borders, which include the two Russian-occupied regions of Georgia — the Tskhinvali Region, also called South Ossetia, and Abkhazia — which Russia invaded in 2008 and then declared as independent states.  

“This omission is likely because China’s close strategic partner is Russia,” said Khidasheli, adding that a balanced statement would have recognized Georgia’s territorial integrity “in relation to the occupied territories.”

Others see Georgia’s budding alignment with China as moving in the opposite direction of the West, said Kurt Volker, former U.S. ambassador to NATO.

“It’s true that lots of countries, including Western countries, have ongoing substantial relationships with China, but the trend has been to pull away from that,” he told VOA. “Whereas what we’ve seen from the Georgian government is going in the opposite direction by just recently signing a new strategic partnership with China.”

Georgia’s foreign affairs ministry did not respond to VOA requests for a response.

Volker thinks some economic deals signed with China “give advantage to China in these foreign markets.”

Citing the 2022 enactment of the U.S. CHIPs and Science Act, Volker points to the United States as just one example of a Western nation weaning itself from Chinese supply chains by “favoring domestic production of semiconductors to ensure system integrity.”

Taiwan currently produces some 60% of the world’s semiconductors, which are used in a wide variety of products including smartphones and electric vehicles, and have military applications. Because Taiwan faces threats from China, which claims the self-ruling island as its own, the U.S. has allocated $52.7 billion to promote semiconductor research, development, manufacturing, and workforce development on its own soil. 

In this global context, Volker cautions that by favoring short-term deals with China, the Georgian government “may be underestimating Georgia’s own long-term interests and its relationship with the West.” 

Matthew Bryza, a former U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, expressed worries about the timing of this partnership and the message it might send to the West.

“The moment chosen to announce this strategic partnership and form it is now against the backdrop of Ukraine’s counteroffensive and Georgia’s refusal to join the sanctions against Russia,” he told VOA.

“[The Georgian government’s] ridiculous lies that the United States wants to use Georgia to open a second front against Russia … all this together cannot be seen as a friendly set of actions by a country that wishes to join the transatlantic community,” he said. “Any country that does that is not fit for joining the transatlantic family.”

The official U.S. government position was subtler.

In a written comment obtained by VOA’s Georgian service, the State Department said, “The United States respects countries’ sovereign decisions about with whom they want to engage with or do business with.”

“However, we emphasize the importance of these activities being done transparently, according to the rule of law, and with trusted vendors,” it said.

The United States has had a strategic partnership with Georgia since 2009. 
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Germany’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a plan to liberalize rules on cannabis, setting the scene for the European Union’s most populous member to decriminalize possession of limited amounts and allow members of “cannabis clubs” to buy the substance for recreational purposes.

The legislation is billed as the first step in a two-part plan and still needs approval by parliament. But the government’s approval is a stride forward for a prominent reform project of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s socially liberal coalition, although significantly short of its original ambitions.

The bill, which the government hopes will take effect at the end of this year, foresees legalizing possession of up to 25 grams (nearly 1 ounce) of cannabis for recreational purposes and allowing individuals to grow up to three plants on their own.

German residents who are 18 and older would be allowed to join nonprofit “cannabis clubs” with a maximum of 500 members each. The clubs would be allowed to grow cannabis for members’ personal consumption.

Individuals would be allowed to buy up to 25 grams per day, or a maximum 50 grams per month — a figure limited to 30 grams for people under 21. Membership in multiple clubs would not be allowed. The clubs’ costs would be covered by membership fees, which would be staggered according to how much cannabis members use.

The government plans a ban on advertising or sponsoring cannabis and the clubs, and consumption won’t be allowed within 200 meters (656 feet) of schools, playgrounds and sports facilities, or near cannabis club premises.

Officials hope their plan will help protect consumers against contaminated products and reduce drug-related crime. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said he expects the system to produce “very competitive” prices, “so we think that we can push back the black market well with these rules.”

At present, “we have rising consumption, problematic consumption,” Lauterbach told reporters. “It simply couldn’t have carried on like this.”

The center-right opposition argues that the government is pressing ahead with legalizing a risky drug despite European legal obstacles and expert opinion. An organization representing German judges says the plan is likely to increase rather than decrease the burden on the judicial system and could even increase demand for black-market cannabis.

Some advocates of legalization aren’t happy either.

“What we’re getting from the health minister is overregulation, a continued stigmatization of cannabis users and a much too tight regulatory corset, which simply makes it impossible for many, many [cannabis clubs] to work,” said Oliver Waack-Jürgensen, who heads the Berlin-based High Ground “cannabis social club” founded last year. He is also on the board of a national association representing such clubs.

Lauterbach rejected the objections.

“The fact that it’s being attacked from both sides is a good sign,” the minister said. He added that “approval with much more liberalization, like for example in Holland or some American states, would have led to consumption expanding,” and that those who oppose any legalization “have no answer” to rising consumption, crime and a burgeoning black market.

The legislation is to be accompanied by a campaign meant to sensitize young people to the risks of consuming cannabis.

The government says it plans to follow the new legislation by mapping out a second step — five-year tests of regulated commercial supply chains in select regions, which would then be scientifically evaluated.

That’s far short of its original plan last year, which foresaw allowing the sale of cannabis to adults across the country at licensed outlets. It was scaled back following talks with the EU’s executive commission.

Approaches elsewhere in Europe vary. The Netherlands combines decriminalization with little market regulation.

Dutch authorities tolerate the sale and consumption of small amounts of the substance at so-called coffeeshops, but producing and selling large amounts of it, necessary to keep the coffeeshops supplied, remains illegal. Amsterdam, long a magnet for tourists wanting to smoke weed, has been cracking down on coffeeshops.

The Dutch government, meanwhile, has launched an experiment it says aims to “determine whether and how controlled cannabis can be legally supplied to coffeeshops and what the effects of this would be.”

In Switzerland, authorities last year cleared the way for a pilot project allowing a few hundred people in Basel to buy cannabis from pharmacies for recreational purposes. The Czech government has been working on a plan similar to Germany’s to allow sales and recreational use of cannabis, which isn’t finalized.

Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, has proposed legalizing weed, but parliament turned down the idea. France has no plans to liberalize its strict cannabis rules.
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Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that Russia damaged grain infrastructure at a port in the Odesa region in southern Ukraine as part of an overnight drone attack.

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Telegram the attack targeted the port of Reni on the Danube River.

Odesa’s Gov. Oleh Kiper said on Telegram the attack damaged warehouses and grain storage facilities at the port.

Odesa’s Gov. Oleh Kiper said on Telegram the attack damaged warehouses and grain storage facilities at a port on the Danube River.

Kiper said there were no reported casualties from the attack, and that Ukraine’s air force had downed 11 Russian drones over Odesa.

The Ukrainian military said its air defenses destroyed 13 total drones overnight, saying Russia had used Iranian-made Shahed drones to target Odesa and Mykolaiv.

In the eastern part of the country, Ukrainian forces recaptured the settlement of Urozhaine in the Donetsk region, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said.

“Urozhaine liberated,” Maliar said on Telegram. “Our defenders are entrenched on the outskirts.”

Russia’s defense ministry said Wednesday its air defense systems destroyed three Ukrainian drones over the Kaluga region.

The Russian ministry said the early morning attack did not cause any injuries or infrastructure damage.

Black Sea shipping

The Hong-Kong-flagged container ship Joseph Schulte left Ukraine’s port of Odesa on Wednesday.  

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the vessel was the first to set off down a temporary Black Sea corridor that Ukraine established for civilian ships following Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

The Joseph Schulte was carrying 30,000 metric tons of cargo, Kubrakov said.  The vessel had been stuck in Odesa since Russian launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia has not said whether it will respect Ukraine’s shipping corridor.  On Sunday, a Russian patrol ship fired warning shots at a vessel after what Russia said was a failure by the captain to respond to a request for an inspection.  

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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s a woman and a journalist, Nafisa Sahar saw no future for herself when the Taliban took back power in Afghanistan. Now in Dusseldorf, Germany, she is picking up the pieces of her life. For Helay Asad in Dusseldorf, Bezhan Hamdard has the story for VOA News.
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Poland on Tuesday held its largest military parade in 29 years — a display of strength aimed at neighbors Belarus and Russia and a sign that Polish attitudes on defense are changing in the wake of Russian aggression in Ukraine. For VOA, Lesia Bakalets reports from Warsaw.
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Victor Tsvyk harvested 4,800 tons of wheat this month. But after Russia exited a wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to ship grain to the world, he has no idea where his produce will go. Or how his beloved farm will survive.

Tsvyk, who normally exports up to 90% of his harvest from the southern port of Odesa, faces a crisis: His yield is 20% higher compared with last year, which would have been a boon in times of peace. But in war, exorbitant logistics costs and Russia’s blockage of the ports has made shipping grain too expensive for him.

Tsvyk is one of thousands of Ukrainian farmers facing a similar dilemma.

“It’s too painful to talk about,” the 67-year-old said when asked how he envisions the future.

Last month, Russia pulled out of the deal that the U.N. and Turkey brokered to provide protection for ships carrying Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea. Moscow has since stepped up attacks on Ukrainian ports and grain infrastructure while Ukraine has hit one of Russia’s own ports, leading wheat and corn prices to zigzag on global markets.

While countries worldwide press for a restoration of the grain deal and fighting intensifies in the Black Sea, Ukraine’s farmers are left wondering how they will stay in business and provide the food critical to people in nations struggling with hunger.

Tsvyk doesn’t know what he will do with his harvest or how he will keep paying his 77 workers.

“What could I feel in this situation?” he asked. “It is a great sorrow for everyone.”

Blocked port hinders sales

Tsvyk’s vast farm in Shurivka, 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Kyiv, produces not only wheat but also goat cheese and juices. Goats munch on hay, and workers toil around the clock, turning milk into cheese, kefir and yogurt drinks that are bottled and sold across Ukraine.

While four of Tsvyk’s employees have left to join the fight, the ones who remain have harvested and stored his wheat and are now seeding his many acres of land, preparing for the next season.

The tinge of uncertainty hangs heavy. Grain is the farm’s main source of income, and the now-blocked Odesa port was the key gateway to trade with the world.

Tsvyk’s products went as far as India and poverty-stricken countries in North Africa, he says. Now, with the only other options being more costly road, rail and river routes through Europe that have stirred pushback from neighboring countries, his grain will likely sit in storage depots, costing him tens of thousands of dollars in losses.

Last year, Tsvyk was left with 1,500 tons of grain he was unable to sell. This year, he is scared he may not be able to sell any.

Growing less risks less

It means many farmers are simply not planting as much: corn and wheat production in agriculture-dependent Ukraine is down nearly 40% this year from prewar levels, analysts say.

The soaring cost to transport wheat eroded Tsvyk’s income last year. Every step in the supply chain has increased in price because of the risks associated with the war, leading some farmers to turn to other products, such as sunflower oil, to squeeze out some profit.

Oleksandr Sivogorlo, Tsvyk’s trusted agronomist, said that profit or no profit, the land can’t be neglected.

“There are some limited routes [for export] through the Danube [River], but it’s very limited,” Sivogorlo said. Plus, Russia has targeted Ukrainian ports on the Danube, raising uncertainty about their use.

The farm is conducting barter schemes with suppliers, where some of their crop is exchanged for better fertilizer to produce higher-quality wheat next year, he said.

Tsvyk also will produce different products he knows he can sell without incurring exorbitant costs, such as sunflower and rapeseed oil, and lessen his reliance on grain exports.

“We cover our losses with these products,” Sivogorlo said. “And what will be with our wheat crops — hard to say at this point, it all depends on export.”

These are strategies Tsvyk has resorted to in times of desperation to keep the farm afloat. But he doesn’t expect to make a profit — breaking even is the best he can hope for.

Even that’s better than other farmers he knows who are losing money this year.
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NATO member Poland staged a massive military parade on Tuesday to showcase its state-of-the-art weapons and defense systems, as war rages in neighboring Ukraine and ahead of parliamentary elections on October 15.

President Andrzej Duda, the chief commander of the armed forces, said in his opening speech that the protection of Poland’s eastern border is a key element of state policy. He also noted that Poland is supporting Ukraine in its struggle against Russia’s aggression of almost 18 months.

“The defense of our eastern border, the border of the European Union and of NATO is today a key element of Poland’s state interest,” Duda said.

Crowds waving national white-and-red flags gathered in scorching temperatures that reached 36 degrees Celsius to see U.S.-made Abrams tanks, HIMARS mobile artillery systems and Patriot missile systems.

Also on display were F-16 fighter planes, South Korean FA-50 fighters and K9 howitzers. A U.S. Air Force F-35 roared overhead, in a sign that Poland was also purchasing these advanced fighter planes.

Polish-made equipment including Krab tracked gun-howitzers and Rosomak armored transporters were also featured.

Some 2,000 troops, 200 vehicles and almost 100 aircraft took part in the parade. Poland’s armed forces have more than 175,000 troops, up from some 100,000 eight years ago, Duda said.

Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland’s conservative government has focused on strengthening the armed forces and has spent more than $16 billion on tanks, missile interceptor systems and fighter jets, many purchased from the U.S. and South Korea.

Duda said Poland’s defense budget this year will be a record $34 billion, or some 4% of the gross domestic product, the highest proportion in all of NATO.

“The goal of this huge modernization is to equip Poland’s armed forces and create such a defense system that no one ever dares attack us, that Polish soldiers will never need to fight,” Duda said, while voicing his respect for the military.

Responding to criticism that Poland, a nation of some 37 million, was taking out huge loans to make the purchases, Duda said, “We cannot afford to be idle. This is why we are strengthening our armed forces here and now.

“The security of Poles is priceless,” he said.

Poland borders on the east with the Russian city of Kaliningrad; with Lithuania, a fellow NATO member; with Russia’s key ally Belarus and with Ukraine.

The parade was held in Poland’s capital, which was vastly destroyed during World War II, on the anniversary of the 1920 Battle of Warsaw, in which Polish troops defeated Bolshevik forces advancing on Europe.

The military upgrades have bolstered Poland’s defense capabilities, and some items replaced Soviet- and Russian-made equipment that Poland gave to Ukraine.

Poland is building one of Europe’s strongest armies to beef up deterrence against potential aggressors and has increased the number of troops to some 10,000 along its border with Belarus, where it has also built a wall to stop migrants arriving from that direction.

Showing off its military is also a way for Poland’s government to attract voter support ahead of October elections, in which the populist ruling Law and Justice Party will seek to win an unprecedented third term.
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A former high-ranking FBI counterintelligence official pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge Tuesday, admitting that he agreed after leaving the agency to work for a Russian oligarch he had once investigated to seek dirt on the oligarch’s wealthy rival in violation of sanctions on Russia.

Charles McGonigal, 55, entered the plea in federal court in Manhattan to a single count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and to commit money laundering, saying he was “deeply remorseful for it.”

McGonigal told Judge Jennifer H. Rearden that he carried out his crime in the spring and fall of 2021, accepting over $17,000 to help Russian energy magnate Oleg Deripaska by collecting derogatory information about a Russian oligarch who was a business competitor of Deripaska.

Sentencing was set for Dec. 14, when McGonigal could face up to five years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Dell told the judge that prosecutors had proof McGonigal was making efforts to remove Deripaska from a U.S. sanctions list.

She also said McGonigal in 2021 was in negotiations along with co-conspirators to receive a fee of $650,000 to $3 million to hunt for electronic files revealing hidden assets of $500 million belonging to Deripaska’s rival.

McGonigal, a resident of Manhattan, is separately charged in federal court in Washington with concealing at least $225,000 in cash he allegedly received from a former Albanian intelligence official while working for the FBI.

McGonigal was special agent in charge of the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York from 2016 to 2018. McGonigal supervised investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska, who was sanctioned in 2018 by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia later affirmed the sanctions against Deripaska, finding that there was evidence that Deripaska had acted as an agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

McGonigal, who became choked up at one point as he described his crime, said Deripaska funneled the $17,500 payment he received through a bank in Cypress and a corporation in New Jersey before it was transferred into McGonigal’s bank account.

“This, as you can imagine, has been a painful process not only for me, but for my friends, family and loved ones,” McGonigal said. “I take full responsibility, as my actions were never intended to hurt the United States, the FBI and my family and friends.”

In a release, Matthew G. Olsen, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said, “McGonigal, by his own admission, betrayed his oath and actively concealed his illicit work at the bidding of a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

“Today’s plea shows the Department of Justice’s resolve to pursue and dismantle the illegal networks that Russian oligarchs use to try to escape the reach of our sanctions and evade our laws,” he said.
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Brazil forward Neymar has signed for Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal from Paris Saint-Germain, the clubs announced on Tuesday, joining Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema as the latest big name lured to the oil-rich Gulf state.

“I am here in Saudi Arabia, I am Hilali,” the 31-year-old Neymar said in a video posted to Al Hilal’s social media accounts.

“It is always difficult to say goodbye to an amazing player like Neymar, one of the best players in the world,” said PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi in a statement from the French champions.

“I will never forget the day he arrived at Paris Saint-Germain, and what he has contributed to our club and our project over the last six years. We had a great moment and Neymar will always be a big part of our history,” he added.

Neymar joined PSG from Barcelona in 2017 for a world record fee of $242 million, a few weeks before they recruited Kylian Mbappe.

The Brazilian scored 118 goals in 173 matches for PSG, winning five Ligue 1 titles and three French Cups, but his time at PSG was blighted by injuries.

Although he helped the club to the 2020 Champions League final, which they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich, he was sidelined for key games.

Neymar underwent surgery on his right ankle in early March, only returning to join PSG on their preseason tour of Asia.

However, he no longer figured in new coach Luis Enrique’s plans and was immediately linked with a move to Al Hilal, where he will earn “100 million euros a season,” according to a source close to the matter.

PSG will not come close to recouping the fee they paid for Neymar but will still pocket close to 100 million euros as well, according to the same source.

Al Hilal have traditionally been one of Saudi Arabia’s top clubs and have been crowned Asian Champions League winners on four occasions.

They are coached by Portugal’s Jorge Jesus, who is in his second spell at the club, while the squad currently boasts four international players recently lured from Europe — Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Kalidou Koulibaly and Neymar’s Brazilian compatriot Malcom.

Last month Al Hilal made a $328 million bid for Mbappe, though the striker reportedly refused to meet with officials from the team.

Neymar’s departure from PSG follows that of Lionel Messi who now plays for Inter Miami in the United States.
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Ukrainian officials said Tuesday a Russian air attack on the northwestern city of Lutsk killed at least three people and wounded several others.

Regional governor Yuriy Poguliaiko said the Russian attack hit a business in Lutsk.

Officials also reported widespread damage in the western city of Lviv after Russia targeted the area with missiles Tuesday.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said on Telegram there were no casualties, but that the attack damaged more than 100 apartments and destroyed a kindergarten.

Ukraine’s air force said it downed 16 of 28 missiles Russia launched at the country.

Presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Russia had used cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to attack residential and industrial buildings in Lutsk, Lviv and Dnipro.

“Deliberate large-scale attacks on civilians. Solely for the sake of killing and psychological pressure,” Podolyak said.

US aid

The United States announced Monday a new security assistance package valued at $200 million for Ukraine. U.S. officials said it’s the first installment of a $6.2 billion aid package previously authorized under presidential drawdown authority guaranteeing the speedy delivery of existing Pentagon stockpiles to Ukraine.

The aid includes air defense munitions, artillery rounds, anti-armor capabilities, and additional mine-clearing equipment, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Two U.S. officials told the Reuters news agency last Monday that the U.S. government would commit the $6.2 billion in funds to Ukraine after discovering a Pentagon accounting error that had overvalued billions of dollars of aid.

In May, the Pentagon said it had mistakenly overvalued U.S. weaponry shipped to Kyiv by inputting “replacement value” instead of “depreciated value” to calculate the billions’ worth of ammunition, missiles and other equipment it sent to Ukraine. The accounting error works to Kyiv’s benefit because more equipment can be sent.

Washington is currently working on a supplemental budget request to continue aid to Kyiv, the U.S. officials said.

“Every day, Russia is killing Ukrainian civilians and destroying civil infrastructure, while also weaponizing hunger and contributing to global food insecurity through its destruction of Ukraine’s civilian ports and grain infrastructure,” Blinken said in his statement.

“Russia started this war and could end it at any time by withdrawing its forces from Ukraine and stopping its brutal attacks. Until it does, the United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine, for as long as it takes,” he added.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Spain will play for its first Women’s World Cup championship after Olga Carmona’s goal in the 89th minute lifted La Roja to a 2-1 victory over Sweden in the Tuesday semifinal.

Spain, which overcame last year’s near mutiny by its players against coach Jorge Vilda, will play the winner of tournament co-host Australia and England on Sunday in the final in Sydney.

The winner Sunday will be a first-time World Cup champion.

Sweden has now lost in four of five semifinals and will play for a fourth third-place finish.

Carmona’s goal capped a flurry of late scoring that saw Sweden tie the game, then Spain win it 90 seconds later on the surprise score.

Salma Paralluelo, the 19-year-old super-sub who also scored the game-winner in Spain’s 2-1 extra-time quarterfinals victory over the Netherlands, scored in the 81st minute to break a scoreless game. She gestured for the crowd, which thought it was celebrating Spain’s decider.

But the celebration was brief. Rebecca Blomqvist tied it for Sweden in the 88th.

Then just 90 seconds later, Carmona beat Sweden goalkeeper Zecira Musovic with the game-winner.

The Swedes have never won a World Cup, but they’ve come close: they were the 2003 runner-up and have finished third three times. Sweden won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago and at the 2016 Games in Brazil.

Spain is making only its third overall World Cup appearance. Four years ago, La Roja advanced to the knockout round but lost to eventual champions the United States.

The Swedes swept their opponents in the group stage before knocking out the United States, the two-time defending champions, on a penalty shootout after a scoreless draw. Sweden then got by Japan 2-1 in the quarterfinals.

Spain fell to second in its group to Japan before downing Switzerland 5-1 and the Netherlands 2-1 to reach the semifinals. It was La Roja’s first appearance in a major semifinal since the 1997 European Championships.

Spain’s two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas made her third start of the World Cup. Putellas ruptured her ACL last summer and has been working her way back to full fitness. She came off the bench in the team’s last two matches.

Putellas, who replaced Esther Gonzalez in the starting 11, was subbed off in the 57th minute for 19-year-old Paralluelo, who scored in extra time for Spain in the victory over the Netherlands.

Spain dominated possession and had the better chances in the first half. Defender Olga Carmona’s blast from the top of the box but the low shot went just wide. But Sweden’s defense, which had allowed just two goals in the tournament, held.

Putellas nutmegged Filippa Angeldal before delivering a cross in the 35th minute but Magdelena Eriksson was there to clear it away.

Spain goalkeeper Cata Coll dove to save Fridolina Rolfo’s shot late in the half, then punched the ball away on a corner kick to keep the game scoreless at the half.

Sweden had energy to start the second half but Spain still had chances. Paralleulo’s header in the 63rd minute sailed over the goal.

Alba Redondo was on the ground in front of the goal but got a foot on the ball and appeared to score in the 71st minute, but she was just wide and the ball was caught up in the side netting.

There were a few tense moments when Paralluelo’s goal was checked by video review, but the goal was awarded.

There were 43,217 fans on hand for the match at Auckland’s Eden Park.

That Spain made it this far was something of a surprise after a turbulent year. Last September 15 players wrote the federation saying they were stepping down from the national team to protect their mental health. The players called for a more professional environment.

Ultimately the Spanish federation backed coach Jorge Vilda. Three of the 15 players, including Bonmati, returned to the team for the World Cup.

Spain and Sweden had never met at the World Cup.
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A fire at a fuel station in the southern Russian region of Dagestan late on Monday killed at least 30 people including three children, Russia’s emergency services ministry said on Tuesday.

The fire started at an auto repair shop on the roadside of a highway in Dagestani capital Makhachkala on Monday night and caused blasts as it spread to the nearby filling station, officials said.

Images shared by the emergency services ministry showed firefighters trying to put out a colossal blaze as flames rose high in the night sky.

Footage posted online showed a one-story building ablaze, Reuters TV reported.

“During the rescue operation in Makhachkala, the bodies of three more victims were found,” the ministry said on Telegram.

“According to the updated information, as a result of the fire at the petrol station 105 were injured, and of them, 30 died.”

Thirteen of the wounded were children, Interfax reported earlier, citing the Dagestani health ministry.

It took firefighters more than 3-1/2 hours to put out the fire that spread into an area of 600 square meters, TASS reported, citing a statement from the Russian emergency service.
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((PLAYBOOK SLUG:   RUSSIA ECON RUBLE

HEADLINE: 

TEASER:  The Bank of Russia, which has struggled to keep the country’s economy on track since the invasion of Ukraine, will hold an emergency meeting Tuesday

PUBLISHED AT: 08/14/23 at 6:31p   

BYLINE:   Rob Garver

CONTRIBUTOR:     

DATELINE:    

SCRIPT EDITORS:   Page, Megan Duzor

PLATFORMS (mark with X):  WEB X TV __ RADIO __   

EDITOR NOTES: ))    

Nearly 18 months after launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government is facing significant economic challenges, with the country’s currency, the ruble, plunging in value on global markets.

On Monday, the ruble’s value accelerated its monthslong decline against benchmark currencies, like the U.S. dollar. With the Russian central bank calling an emergency meeting for Tuesday, the exchange rate was above 100 to the dollar, a roughly 30% decline in value since the beginning of the year.

Russia also revealed that the country’s current account balance, which tracks the relative value of goods and services exported from and imported to the country, had fallen to $5.4 billion in the second quarter of the year, a 93% year-over-year decline. The shrinking number, which suggests a significant decline in exports, is a bad sign for an economy that is largely reliant on the export of commodities such as fossil fuels and grain.

Economic realignment

After Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his country’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the country was immediately placed under myriad sanctions by a broad alliance of the world’s largest economies.

The economic sanctions on Russia have only increased over time, especially with the recent imposition of a price cap on Russian oil and gas, which makes it very difficult for Moscow to sell its most lucrative exports on the open market without offering a significant discount to prevailing prices.

In response to both the international sanctions regime and the Kremlin’s need to continue supplying its invading army, Russia has taken steps to significantly reorient its economy toward the support of the war effort. The result has been the transition of significant productive capacity away from commercially lucrative production and toward military hardware and materials.

Kremlin comments

In an article written for the government-run media organization Tass on Monday, Kremlin presidential aide Maxim Oreshkin acknowledged that the drop in the ruble’s value is a challenge but insisted that the currency’s value will recover quickly.

“The current exchange rate has largely deviated from fundamental levels, though it is expected to normalize in the near future,” Oreshkin wrote. “A weak ruble complicates the economy’s structural transformation and negatively influences real household earnings. A strong ruble is in the interests of the Russian economy,” he said.

In the same article, Oreshkin pinned the blame for the ruble’s slide on the Russian central bank, which has been working to stabilize the nation’s economy in the wake of the invasion.

“Soft monetary policy is the main source for the ruble’s weakening and acceleration of inflation. The Central Bank has all necessary tools for normalizing the situation as early as in the near future and lowering lending rates to sustainable levels,” Oreshkin wrote.

For its part, the Bank of Russia, as the country’s central bank is known, has blamed the ruble’s weakness on declining demand for Russia’s exports and an increased demand for the imports that remain available to Russian consumers, a claim supported by the country’s declining current account surplus.

Central bank struggles

The Bank of Russia has had an extremely difficult job in the wake of the invasion, attempting to stabilize the country’s currency and to keep the economy on track.

In the weeks following the invasion, after the value of the ruble began to plummet, the central bank announced a sharp increase in interest rates, which did much to preserve the ruble’s value on the global market.

Russia entered the war with large foreign currency reserves, held in banks around the world, which might have allowed it to purchase rubles on the open market during times of stress, helping to keep its value stable. However, international sanctions blocked Moscow’s access to much of its holdings.

At first, the Russian economy appeared surprisingly resilient in the face of sanctions. At one point in 2022 — even after the beginning of the invasion and the imposition of sanctions — the ruble was among the world’s best-performing currencies.

However, preserving that resilience has been difficult, as Russia has been forced to rely increasingly on China for trade, and to rely on a shadowy network of countries and corporations willing to purchase Western goods and resell them into Russia in violation of international sanctions.

Possible action

The Bank of Russia said Monday that its leaders would hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to address the ruble’s decline. The expectation is that the bank will authorize a significant hike in interest rates to shore up the currency’s value. The bank said on its website that an announcement of any decision would be made at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Moscow time.

The ruble recovered somewhat on global currency markets after the central bank’s announcement, however by late Monday afternoon, it continued to trade at more than 100 rubles to the dollar, significantly above its price from the previous trading session.
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Romania aims to double the monthly transit capacity of Ukrainian grain to its flagship Black Sea port of Constanta to 4 million metric tons in the coming months, particularly via the Danube River, Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu said.

Ukraine is one of the world’s top grain exporters and Russia has been attacking its agricultural and port infrastructure after refusing to extend a year-old safe passage grain corridor brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. The attacks included Ukraine’s inland Danube ports of Reni and Izmail. 

Before Russia pulled out of the safe passage corridor, the Danube ports accounted for around a quarter of Ukraine’s grain exports. Grain is loaded onto barges at the ports, shipped downriver through territorial waters of European Union and NATO-member Romania, and onwards from Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta.

By hiring more staff to ease the passage of vessels into the Danube’s Sulina canal and by finalizing connecting infrastructure projects — many of them EU-funded — Romania could increase the transit capacity, Grindeanu told reporters.

“I have underlined the importance of Romanian rail, road and naval transport routes to maintain a constant flow for Ukrainian exports,” Grindeanu said after a meeting with representatives of the EU, the United States, Moldova and Ukraine in the Danube town of Galati.

“It was a good meeting which will lead us through the agreed measures to raise grain transit capacity from over 2 million tons per month at present to almost 4 million tons in the coming months.”

Grindeanu said Romania’s Danube administration agency will have 60 pilots to take ships in and out of the Sulina canal by the end of August. An EU-funded project to make sailing possible at night on Sulina will likely be completed in October, he said. 

“When all these investments are made and the number of pilots increases, Romanian ports of Galati and Braila will automatically be used alongside Reni and Izmail.”

Present at the meeting, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the Danube remained “one of the key and attractive logistics routes for export of Ukrainian agricultural products.”

“Ukraine also is interested in the possibility to organize additional places for roadside trans-shipment of vessels in the territorial waters in Romania in particular near the port of Constanta and near Sulina channel,” he said.

“We also asked Romanian side to ensure that at least 14 vessels per day to and from Ukrainian ports on the Danube through Sulina channel will be processed.” 
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Britain’s government Monday rejected claims that it was slow to evacuate asylum-seekers from a barge moored off the south coast of England once traces of the bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s disease were found in the ship’s water system.

In the latest critique of the government’s ballyhooed efforts to control migration and reduce the cost of housing a rising number of asylum-seekers, local health officials said over the weekend that the barge operator was told about the bacteria last Monday — the day before asylum-seekers were moved onto the Bibby Stockholm.

But Health Secretary Steve Barclay said ministers weren’t informed about the bacteria until Thursday and they took “very quick action.”

The Home Office, the central government department that oversees migration, moved all 39 men who were being housed on the ship into other accommodation on Friday.

Questions about the government’s response to the bacteria issue came after immigration dominated the weekend news, with a surge of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats during a period of good weather and at least six people dying when one boat sank off the coast of France. More than 1,600 people arrived in England on 30 boats from August 10-12, the government said Monday.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping the boats a key goal as he looks for issues that will bolster voter support for his Conservative Party, which is trailing badly in opinion polls, ahead of a general election that is expected to take place next year.

Part of that strategy is a plan to move asylum-seekers from hotel accommodations onto barges and disused military bases to make it less attractive for people to come to the U.K. and to cut the cost of housing those who seek shelter in Britain. Sunak also wants to deport people who enter the country illegally to Rwanda, though that plan has been stalled by court challenges.

The British government says it is spending about 6 million pounds ($7.6 million) a day on hotel rooms for 51,000 asylum-seekers. The number of people requesting asylum in Britain jumped to more than 167,000 at the end of last year, from about 45,000 in 2018, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

Ultimately the government hopes to house up to 500 adult men on the Bibby Stockholm.

Legionnaires’ disease is a serious respiratory infection caused when people inhale tiny water droplets containing the bacteria. It is not transmitted person-to-person but is found in the cooling systems of large buildings and water lines that aren’t in regular use. While symptoms are similar to the flu, Legionnaires’ disease can be treated with antibiotics.

The finger-pointing surrounding the bacteria is just the latest setback for the plan to move asylum-seekers onto the Bibby Stockholm. Fire officials previously raised concerns about safety precautions on the barge, and migrant rights advocates questioned whether it was appropriate to house people fleeing war and persecution in such cramped conditions.

In a reflection of simmering tensions even among Conservatives, former Home Secretary Priti Patel on Monday accused the government of being “secretive” and ”evasive” in its plans to house asylum-seekers at a former Royal Air Force base in Wethersfield, which is near her constituency in eastern England.

In a letter marked ”Urgent” and addressed to the present Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, Patel laid bare her frustration with the government’s failure to provide details about the plan after the Daily Telegraph reported that the former military bases could be used for three to five years, or even longer. Patel said she had asked a series of parliamentary questions but had received “no definitive answer.”

”They’ve bypassed the usual planning requirements, claimed the site is temporary for emergency use only and now we see they’ve been planning to use the site for five years,” she wrote on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. “This is unacceptable.”
…

The United States announced Monday a new security assistance package valued at $200 million for Ukraine. U.S. officials say it’s the first installment of a $6.2 billion aid package previously authorized under presidential drawdown authority guaranteeing the speedy delivery of existing Pentagon stockpiles to Ukraine.

The aid includes air defense munitions, artillery rounds, anti-armor capabilities, and additional mine-clearing equipment, said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who plays a central role in coordinating drawdowns, said in a statement.

Two U.S. officials told the Reuters news agency last Monday that the U.S. government would commit the $6.2 billion in funds to Ukraine after discovering a Pentagon accounting error that had overvalued billions of dollars of aid.

In May, the Pentagon said it had mistakenly overvalued U.S. weaponry shipped to Kyiv by inputting “replacement value” instead of “depreciated value” to calculate the billions’ worth of ammunition, missiles and other equipment it sent to Ukraine. The accounting error works to Kyiv’s benefit because more equipment can be sent.

Washington is currently working on a supplemental budget request to continue aid to Kyiv, the U.S. officials said.

“Every day, Russia is killing Ukrainian civilians and destroying civil infrastructure, while also weaponizing hunger and contributing to global food insecurity through its destruction of Ukraine’s civilian ports and grain infrastructure,” Blinken said in his statement.

“Russia started this war and could end it at any time by withdrawing its forces from Ukraine and stopping its brutal attacks. Until it does, the United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine, for as long as it takes,” he added.

Ukrainian officials said Monday a Russian aerial attack on the southern port city of Odesa injured at least three people.

The military also said air defenses downed all 15 drones Russia used in the attack, as well as eight sea-based missiles, but that falling debris caused damage on the ground.

Firefighters battled several fires that broke out as a result of the falling rocket fragments, the regional governor, Oleh Kiper, said on Telegram.

Watch related video by Heather Murdock from Odesa:

Russian shelling Sunday killed at least seven people, including a 23-day-old girl, and injured at least 22 others in Ukraine’s Kherson region.

“Her brother, who was only 12 years old, was taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, they could not save him. He died from severe wounds. The children’s mother, her name was Olesia, she was only 39 years old, died. My condolences,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

Black Sea

Black Sea ports are trying to clear a backlog of cargo vessels around the waterway. Dozens of ships dropped anchor in various Black Sea ports after Russia’s navy fired warning shots Sunday at a Palau-flagged cargo vessel headed to the Ukrainian port of Izmail.

There is growing unease among insurers and shipping companies. They fear that war premiums could rise to cover the heightened risk of ships becoming damaged or sinking in the area.

The cost of a Black Sea war risk premium, which is typically renewed every seven days and is in addition to annual insurance expenses, was estimated at tens of thousands of dollars per ship for the voyage.

“The security guarantees given to shipping by both sides under the BSGI (Black Sea Grain Initiative) are no longer in effect, which means that the Ukrainian Black Sea ports are effectively blockaded and out of use for commercial vessels,” Norwegian ship insurer Gard said in an advisory note last week. It added that Ukrainian sea ports in the northwestern area were no longer categorized as “safe” ports contractually.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Monday condemned what it called gross violations of international law by Russia’s navy after the warning shots were fired.

A Ukrainian foreign ministry statement called on the international community to “take decisive action to prevent Russian Federation’s actions that impede the peaceful passage of vessels through the Black Sea.”

Ukraine also urged its partners to “strengthen their efforts to preserve the functioning of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is crucial to ensuring global food security.”

In July, Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain agreement, which had allowed shipments to sail safely across the waterway.

The Russian defense ministry said Sunday the shots were fired because the captain of the Sukru Okan had ignored demands from the warship to stop. After firing the shots, Russian military troops descended from a helicopter onto the cargo ship.

After Russian forces inspected the Sukru Okan, the vessel was allowed to proceed to Izmail, the defense ministry said. Izmail is the main export route for Ukrainian agricultural products.

China-Russia

Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu is visiting Russia and Belarus in a show of support for those nations which the West has sought to isolate over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Li Monday began the six-day trip. He is scheduled to deliver an address at the Moscow Conference on International Security and meet with defense leaders from Russia and other nations, the defense ministry said on its social media account, citing spokesperson Col. Wu Qian.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will deliver remarks on the topic of the “Majority World countries’ search for ways to development outside Western mechanisms, including strengthening multilateral associations of a new type,” Russia’s official TASS news agency reported.

It said representatives from about 100 countries and eight international organizations had been invited to attend.

Some information in this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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