Since early 2022, amid the war in Ukraine and the wave of sanctions, many assumed Russian tourism in Europe would grind to a halt. However, reality proved otherwise.
How global trade geography is shifting after the start of the war in Ukraine: why the Middle Corridor has become a battleground between Turkey, China, the EU and Russia.
Politicians fear that a hasty agreement would weaken Ukraine, strengthen the Kremlin’s position and undermine NATO unity.
According to Politico, Brussels is urgently working on a “Plan B” in case EU leaders fail to reach an agreement on using frozen Russian state assets in time.
According to The Financial Times, the European Union has reached one of the most consequential financial and political crossroads since the beginning of its support for Kyiv.
The measures were finally agreed upon after Slovakia withdrew its objections.
The joint declaration followed mixed signals from Washington about whether U.S. President Donald Trump was ready to support Moscow’s territorial demands.
The European Union has encountered pushback in its attempt to turn income from frozen Russian central bank assets into a steady funding source for Ukraine.
The continent faces a whole set of constraints — from shortages in air-defense assets and technological inertia to the complexity of intergovernmental coordination and financing.
The report translates these sums into military equivalents: with such revenues, Russia could acquire up to 9.4 million 152 mm artillery shells (roughly three years at today’s 3 million-per-year output), about 270,000 Shahed-type attack drones, or 2,658 tanks.
Brussels is preparing a controversial move: at this week’s summit in Copenhagen, leaders will discuss how to speed up Kyiv’s application and prevent a single veto from stalling the entire process.
Speaking on Friday in Brussels after a series of meetings with European officials, Wright stressed that it is safer and more advantageous for Europe to obtain energy “from friends.”
The initiative came during the U.S. president’s video call into a meeting of senior U.S. and EU officials in Washington, where they discussed ways to raise the cost of the war for Moscow.
