Russia is probably stopping gas supplies to Finland – expert sees “three phases” for a war solution
Created: 05/20/2022Updated: 05/20/2022 13:14
By: Anna-Katharina Ahnefeld
The President of the German Marshall Fund doubts diplomatic successes in the Ukraine war.
Russia is arming itself with military bases against NATO.
Russia announces the construction of new military bases in the west of the country.
More information on the escalated Ukraine conflict can be found under the link.
The food crisis triggered by the Ukraine war is a topic at the EU development ministers' meeting in Brussels.
This news ticker
on the Ukraine-Russia negotiations and on war diplomacy
is constantly updated.
Update from May 20, 1:10 p.m .:
Russia apparently stopped supplying gas to Finland early on Saturday morning.
This was announced by the Finnish energy company Gasum on Friday in Espoo.
Russia expert presents scenarios for Ukraine victory - warning of hunger crisis
Overview:
Moscow - Russia wants to build twelve new military bases in the west of the country - in response to the expansion of NATO.
This was announced by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Friday, according to Russian news agencies.
In the past few weeks, Moscow has responded with threats to its neighbor Finland's NATO plans.
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin said on Monday (May 16) that NATO's northern expansion was "not a direct threat" to Russia.
However, his country would "undoubtedly" react to an "expansion of NATO's military infrastructure" in the two countries.
Turkey is currently blocking the Nordic countries from joining NATO anyway.
Meanwhile, the President of the transatlantic think tank German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington, DC, Heather Conley, offered
a gloomy forecast in an interview with the weekly newspaper
Die Zeit .
In her view, diplomacy will get nowhere in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
"We are facing a decade of dramatic global instability," emphasized the Russia expert.
Russia-Ukraine negotiations: Expert presents possible scenarios for victory in Kyiv
Nonetheless, in your opinion, Ukraine has a chance of winning the war.
"This war has already refuted many premises: that Ukraine would fall within three days, that the Russian military would have overwhelming power, that there would be no European unity." The planned NATO accession of Finland and Sweden is historic.
She outlined a possible scenario for a victory for Ukraine as follows:
Phase 1: Russia withdraws its forces from Ukraine, restoring a pre-February 24 situation.
Phase 2: Withdrawal of Russian troops from Donbass.
Phase 3: Ukraine regains sovereignty over the annexed island of Crimea.
In such a scenario, Ukraine, together with the US and Europe, must create a "fundamental framework for restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty," Conley said.
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Ukraine war: For the G7, Putin is an aggressor against large parts of the world – food crisis
According to State Secretary for Development Jochen Flasbarth (SPD), Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggression is aimed at large parts of the world.
"The food crisis he has caused is leading many people to starvation," he said on Friday before a meeting of EU development ministers in Brussels.
Africa, the Middle East and Asia are particularly affected.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy in conversation with two Ukrainian military officers.
There is no interest in peace negotiations as long as Russian troops do not leave the country.
(Iconic photo) © Ukraine Presidency/Imago
The group of seven leading Western industrial nations (G7) announced on Thursday that they wanted to counteract a serious supply crisis caused by the Ukraine war with an alliance for global food security. The background to the looming food crisis is, among other things, that Russia is blocking ship deliveries of wheat from Ukraine .
Many countries are dependent on wheat exports, which were cheap until before the war.
The G7 initiative aims to provide additional money and coordinate food security measures.
“As a result of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, the global food situation has worsened dramatically.
The worst famine since the Second World War is imminent,” said Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD), who initiated the project together with World Bank President David Malpass.
Flasbarth said on Friday that he would campaign at the meeting for many EU countries to join.
(
aka/dpa/AFP
)
