KYIV’S DULL PERSPECTIVES BEFORE THE WINTER PERIOD.
A battle for power is possible in Ukraine. “President Poroshenko will be killed in a matter of months, and a dictator will come to power,” predicts one of the Azov battalion fighters.
Guardian:
Shaun Walker writes about Azov battalion grudge against commanders and prognoses about military coup. For the commanders and the generals in Kiev, who many in Azov and other volunteer battalions see as responsible for the awful losses the Ukrainian army has suffered in recent weeks, especially in the ill-fated retreat from Ilovaysk, there was only contempt. “Generals like those in charge of Ilovaysk should be imprisoned for treason,” said one of the militants. The Ukrainian armed forces are “an army of lions led by a sheep”, said another militant.
Ukraine can’t afford the IMF’s “shock therapy”.
Foreign Policy:
Finally, the West should provide Ukraine with the aid that doesn’t come with the IMF’s harsh conditions. Through a combination of grants and low-interest loans subsidized by the United States and the European Union that could be rolled over as necessary, Western governments directly — rather than the IMF — could assist Ukraine with a recovery program that focuses first and foremost on jump-starting the country’s economy rather than one that further squeezes it, the author concludes.
Russia tightens gas supplies not only to Poland, but also to Germany.
Spiegel:
E.ON, Germany’s biggest utility informs it receives less amount of gas from Russia.
Russia has reduced its gas exports to Poland in an apparent attempt to prevent EU countries from re-exporting Russian gas as a lifeline to Ukraine.
The Financial Times:
The European Commission will carefully study the consequences of possible disruptions in Russian natural gas supplies to Europe. In such a way, the EU will lower the risks of the political blackmail in the future.
Reuters, Deutsche Welle:
Gunther Oettinger underlines EU needs to elaborate a short-term strategy for the period between October 1 and April 1 of the following year, he said, adding the EU also needed a medium-term strategy. Oettinger is sure the West “needs to stand against political blackmailing”.
Do Europeans support Ukrainians in their strive to get freedom, dignity and European integration. After pools’ results from the US think tank, the German Marshall Fund (GMF) we could answer in the affirmative.
Euobserver:
The narrow majority (52 percent) is in favour of Ukraine’s EU accession. The biggest supporters of membership were in Poland (69%), but also in Spain (62%) and Italy (58%). The biggest opponents were in Germany (63% against) and France (52%). Two-thirds of Europeans overall said there should be stronger EU sanctions on Russia. As American website Euobserver informs, the GMF study was carried out in June and published on Wednesday (10 September).
EU ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT
The EU: Despite Russia’s demands there will be no changes in the agreement between EU and Ukraine.
Deutsche Welle:
Trilateral talks on the implementation of the EU-Ukraine association agreement between Russian and Ukraine will be held on Friday, September 12, in Brussels, EU spokesman Peter Stano tells Deutsche Welle.
US AND EU SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA.
The U.S. is close to imposing the toughest round of energy sanctions so far on Russia, measures that would also hit Western companies like Exxon Mobil, BP, and Royal Dutch Shell.
The Wall Street Journal:
Putin oil deals with Exxon, Shell imperiled by sanctions. The U.S. and European Union are poised to halt billions of dollars in oil exploration in Russia by the world’s largest energy companies in sanctions that would cut deeper than previously disclosed.
Bloomberg:
Germany’s Merkel urges quick implementation of sanctions against RussiaThe Wall Street Journal:
Putin: Russia will keep building military power.
The New York Times:
How Putin could be stopped? The West found out it has neither weapons nor willingness to do it. Financial sanctions could corner Putin, but Merkel is putting heavily on brakes, and Obama is afraid of the headlong collision.
La Stampa:
The situation remains open and difficult. Sweden and Poland are equipping themselves. But the U.S. and EU only react on Putin’s actions and do not have a long-term strategy, the author thinks. China looks at this from the sidelines. The country which is afraid of the post-soviet disruption, the country, which has a rival in the Pacific Ocean, the country which cannot endlessly bear the instability which Russia creates from Eastern Europe to the Central Asia. Lots of the Second World War keys remain in Beijing.
