Tag: Russian Invasion of Ukraine (2022)

Blinken Meets With Chinese Official Amid Spy Balloon Furor, U.S. Says

Chin@Strategy

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with China’s top foreign policy official on Saturday night in Munich, a State Department official said, a resumption of diplomacy between Washington and Beijing after a breakdown that followed the Biden administration’s downing of a Chinese spy balloon over U.S. territory. The impromptu meeting, on the margins of a security conference, happened while the two nations were still very much at odds. Hours earlier, the Chinese official, Wang Yi, had doubled down on China’s claim that the balloon was a “civilian” research craft…

Chinese Official Calls U.S. Response to Balloon ‘Absurd and Hysterical’

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China’s top foreign policy official on Saturday mocked America’s response to a recent Chinese spy balloon overflight, calling the U.S. actions “absurd and hysterical” and an effort “to divert attention from its domestic problems.” The official, Wang Yi, the Chinese Communist Party’s senior member for foreign affairs, repeated his government’s claim that the balloon, which flew over several U.S. states this month before President Biden ordered it shot down, was a “civilian” craft blown off course by high winds. He made the remarks in a speech to the Munich Security…

Western Leaders Pledge Support for Ukraine at Munich Security Conference

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MUNICH — Nearly one year into the brutal and costly war in Ukraine, Western leaders pledged to remain steadfast in their support for Kyiv amid worries about whether their unity can survive what France’s president called “a prolonged conflict.” As dozens of leaders convened in Germany, Ukraine’s president opened the annual Munich Security Conference with a warning against “fatigue” and emphasizing that speed is of the essence if his country is to hold off a renewed Russian onslaught. “We need to hurry up,” Mr. Zelensky implored the attendees. He compared…

South Africa and Russia Are Old Friends. A War Isn’t Going to Change That.

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JOHANNESBURG — While the United States and Europe have pressured countries to turn their backs on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, South Africa has bolstered its longtime alliance with Moscow — a friendship that dates to the struggle against apartheid. Russia and South Africa, along with China, are scheduled on Friday to start 11 days of joint military exercises off the east coast of South Africa that will include a Russian warship bearing the letters Z and V — Russia’s patriotic symbols for its war in Ukraine — and…

For a President Who Spends His Days Confronting Russia and China, a Domestic Focus

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WASHINGTON — When President Biden delivered his State of the Union address a year ago, war had broken out in Europe just days before and it appeared inevitable that Vladimir V. Putin would quickly take control of Ukraine. China, the Pentagon kept repeating, was America’s “pacing” challenge, a long-term technological and financial competitor, but not likely not to pose an imminent challenge to Taiwan or the United States. On Tuesday night Mr. Biden faced a changed world. Simultaneously managing an aggressive Russia and a risk-taking China may prove the greatest…

How Russia Is Surviving the Tightening Grip on Its Oil Revenue

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Using customs data from India, Mr. Vakulenko, the Russian oil expert, showed that local importers of Russian crude paid almost the same price as Brent crude. A New York Times analysis of the same data produced similar results. The explanation, Mr. Vakulenko suggested, is that at least part of the large discount on the quoted Urals price had been pocketed by Russian exporters and intermediaries, who then charged a higher price to the buyers in India. This revenue will not accrue directly to the Russian government in taxes, said Tatiana…

Russia Sidesteps Western Punishments, With Help From Friends

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WASHINGTON — A strange thing happened with smartphones in Armenia last summer. Shipments from other parts of the world into the tiny former Soviet republic began to balloon to more than 10 times the value of phone imports in previous months. At the same time, Armenia recorded an explosion in its exports of smartphones to a beleaguered ally: Russia. The trend, which was repeated for washing machines, computer chips and other products in a handful of other Asian countries last year, provides evidence of some of the new lifelines that…

China’s Oil and Gas Use Fell in 2022 for First Time in Decades

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With its economy severely hampered by stringent measures to curb the spread of Covid-19, China’s oil and gas consumption declined in 2022 for the first time in decades, the International Energy Agency said on Friday. But after China’s recent reversal of its lockdown policies, the agency’s executive director, Fatih Birol, said he expected a sharp rebound in demand, which could mean higher energy prices in other markets. The reduction in Chinese energy use last year kept world prices from soaring even higher after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, giving relief to…

South Africa to Hold Naval Drill With Russia and China Amid Ukraine War

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JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s military announced on Thursday that it plans to hold joint training exercises off its coast next month with Russia and China, a move criticized by the United States, which has been trying to rally other countries to isolate Russia over the war in Ukraine. The exercises will coincide with the one-year anniversary of the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24. South Africa was among three dozen countries that abstained last year in a vote in the United Nations to condemn Russia for its…

Netherlands Considers Sending Patriot Missile System to Ukraine

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WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands said on Tuesday that his country was considering sending a Patriot missile system to Ukraine, a move that would bolster Kyiv’s air defenses and help repel Russian strikes. Mr. Rutte, seated next to President Biden in the Oval Office, said that a Russian attack on the city of Dnipro, which killed dozens of people in one residential building, had strengthened “our resolve to stay with Ukraine” amid deepening concerns over the Ukrainians’ ability to withstand another possible offensive by Moscow. “We…