Ukraine, Conflict in Donbass (bbabo.net), - The Luhansk People's Republic should become part of the Russian Federation within a week, Rodion Miroshnik, head of the LPR office in Moscow, said in an interview with RIA Novosti. Earlier, the head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, announced that he had signed a proposal addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the admission of the republic to the Russian Federation as a new subject. According to Miroshnik, the relevant agreement is almost ready. “I think it should happen within a week. The rest of the integration parameters, they will be discussed already within the framework of the laws being adopted and the decisions being made,” said the head of the representative office. He clarified that now in this procedure it is necessary to comply with all the parameters required by the legal system of the Russian Federation.
Animals may have been the cause of the detonation of three landmines near the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant. This was announced on Wednesday by the International Atomic Energy Agency. “Today at six o’clock in the morning local time (coincides with Moscow time) one mine exploded about 50 meters from the ZNPP perimeter fence. It was also confirmed that the two explosions that occurred yesterday morning were most likely caused by animals moving through the mined area outside the fence, ”the regulator said in a statement. On Tuesday, the IAEA reported explosions near the canal that supplies water from the reservoir to the station's cooling system, but their cause was unclear. The station staff did not record any serious damage; as a result of the explosions, windows in the turbine hall of the reactor were broken.
British authorities believe that the Nord Stream incidents could have occurred due to an attack using underwater explosive devices that were remotely activated, Sky News reported, citing a source in the British Ministry of Defense. According to the source, the mines could have been lowered to the seabed on a long chain, thrown overboard from a boat, or placed next to gas pipelines using an underwater drone. The source stated that this could have happened months or years ago. The source also dismissed speculation that a "Russian submarine" might have planted explosives, as the Baltic Sea is not very deep, making it difficult to carry out "such a submarine mission" without detection.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Wednesday offered support to the Danish authorities in investigating the incident on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. This is stated in a statement by the press secretary of the US military, Brigadier General of the Air Force Patrick Ryder. According to the document, Austin and Danish Defense Minister Morten Bedskov had a telephone conversation "to discuss the recent explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipeline off the Danish island of Bornholm." “Minister Austin has offered the full support of Denmark, which has begun investigating the bombings,” Ryder said. According to him, the ministers "agreed to work together as the situation develops." The statement also claims that the US is "committed to security in the Baltic Sea" as well as to Denmark.
It will take years to diversify global energy production away from Russia, World Bank chief David Malpass said. “With current policies, global energy production will take years to diversify (supply) away from Russia,” he said during a speech at a conference at Stanford University. According to the head of the international organization, this will become a factor in "a longer risk of stagflation" (an economic downturn and high unemployment against the backdrop of rising prices).
Turkey may propose the creation of a new bank to work with cards of the Russian payment system "Mir". Alexey Egarmin, director of the Russian-Turkish Business Council, told Izvestia about this. On September 27, Bloomberg, citing a high-ranking Turkish official, reported that three Turkish banks - HalkBank, VakifBank, Ziraat Bank - plan to exit the Russian payment system Mir. “We confirm that a large part of users have serious problems based on the results of consideration of numerous complaints. We can also repeat the previously given recommendation to our citizens when traveling to Turkey to have enough cash with them for everyday spending, ”the Russian Embassy in Ankara emphasized to Izvestia. Director of RTDS Alexei Yegarmin told Izvestia that the Turkish side has already proposed a number of alternatives for financial transactions, and one of them is the creation of a new bank that will not depend on sanctions pressure from the US and the EU. Member of the Turkish Parliament Ozturk Yilmaz, in an interview with Izvestia, noted that Ankara has an interest in an alternative to Mir, therefore, another payment mechanism will be created in the near future.The Finnish government will make a final decision on the introduction of restrictions on the entry of Russian citizens into the republic on Thursday, September 29. This is stated in the statement of the Cabinet, published on its website. “On September 29, the government will make a fundamental decision that will significantly limit the transit of Russian citizens through Finland to the rest of the Schengen countries, as well as their tourist trips to Finland, which will be described in more detail in the decree,” the message says. Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that Russia would proceed from its own interests in developing response measures to Finland's decision to ban Russians from entering for tourist purposes on any Schengen visas. Grushko noted that Russia has "great freedom of choice" on the question of what measures it can take in response, including through people-to-people contacts, but so far Moscow has no such plans.
The United States has notified the five Central Asian republics of exactly what steps are expected from them in terms of complying with US sanctions against Russia. This was announced on Wednesday at a hearing in the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate of the US Congress, the coordinator of the American sanctions policy, James O'Brien. He recalled that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken held a meeting last week with the foreign ministers of five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) on the sidelines of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. “We have provided them with guidance on how to adhere to our sanctions. We have elaborated on specific cases of concern. We will have further conversations with them about what exactly they can do, ”said O’Brien, who works for the State Department. “All these countries will be happy to have alternatives to the relationship they previously had with Moscow. We will continue to work in this direction, ”the US foreign policy official promised.
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