Eastern Europe / Features
A Ukrainian army of 600,000 men is still the second biggest in Europe
One of the proposals in the US 28-point peace plan is that Ukraine reduce its armed forces to 600,000 men. Bankova has already rejected that proposal, but it would still leave Ukraine with the second biggest army in Europe after Russia’s.
India confronts stricter US sanctions as Russian oil imports decline
India’s reliance on discounted Russian crude — a pillar of its energy strategy since 2022 — has come under renewed strain as Washington tightens sanctions and imposes fresh tariffs on Moscow’s energy sector.
LONG READ: How oil price discounts became a barometer of the sanction’s effectiveness
When Russian troops crossed into Ukraine in February 2022, the country’s main crude export blend, Urals, was still trading in line with its traditional discount to Brent of $2. A month later Russia discounted it by $30 to find buyers.
New jet engines compound Russia’s glide bomb headache for Ukraine
The Russian air force is lobbing as many as 5,000 glide bombs at Ukrainian positions every month, including some bombs weighing 3,000 kg that are powerful enough to destroy any defences.
Ukraine's Energoatom scandal escalates as Zelenskiy dithers on implementing a strong response
The Operation Midas scandal involving close associates of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and senior Ukrainian officials in a $100mn kickback scandal continues to expand and threatens to bring the government down.
China’s LNG tanker shadow fleet – reality or fiction?
China appears to be constructing a discreet fleet of LNG tankers capable of moving sanctioned Russian fuel in what is an emerging tactic that would allow Moscow to preserve export revenue while tightening the energy relationship between the two.
Ukraine’s Energoatom corruption stole money to protect Ukraine’s power stations, caused blackouts
A Russian missile barrage has plunged Ukraine into darkness as winter approaches but could have been avoided. Money earmarked to build effective defences against Russia’s sustained missile attacks was stolen, leaving them defenceless.
EXPLAINER: Lukoil scrambles to sell its international operations
Time is running short for Russia’s second-biggest oil producer to divest its vast international business, after it was hit with US sanctions that will soon render its assets outside Russia effectively inoperable.
Bottleneck on the border, truckers baffled by major snarl-up on Kazakhstan-Russia frontier
Tens of thousands of goods vehicles stranded. Yet nobody is quite clear on what is going on.
EU LNG imports set for record high in November as US supply surges
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports into the European Union are on track to hit an all-time monthly high in November, driven by a sharp rise in shipments from the United States.
LGBTQ+ Russians fleeing Georgia say country mirrors Kremlin's playbook
Russian émigrés who once saw Georgia as a safe haven now warn the country is replicating Russia's systematic persecution of LGBTQ+ people, forcing them to flee once more
The EU’s new supply web
Global turbulence has stalled FDI for now, but the potential for future investment around the EU’s periphery — from the Western Balkans to Ukraine to north Africa — remains strong.
Ukraine gets a B grade from EU: good, but more work needed
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected a two-tier solution proposed by Brussels to accelerate Ukraine’s EU accession bid, after the European Commission (EC) released a progress report on November 4.
KSE: Ukraine is facing a $53bn budget shortfall, but economy is stable for now
Ukraine is in urgent need of additional financing from partners as the continuation of the war drives up defence spending and reconstruction needs, jeopardizes budget financing, weighs on the balance of payments, and slows economic growth.
Russia tax service targets Russian accounts in UAE
The Russian Federal Tax Service (FTS) has ramped up its scrutiny of Russian nationals holding accounts in the United Arab Emirates, following the effective implementation of automatic tax information exchange between the two countries.
Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries goes on a mysterious M&A spree
Russian e-commerce giant goes on M&A spree Almost a year after the controversial merger with a leading outdoor advertising firm, Russia’s leading e-commerce site Wildberries is indulging in a fresh bout of eyebrow raising deals.
US expands oil sanctions on Russia
US President Donald Trump imposed his first sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies on October 22, the state-owned Rosneft and the privately-owned Lukoil in the latest flip flop by the US president.
Emerging Europe’s growth holds up but risks loom, says wiiw
Fiscal fragility, weakening industrial demand from Germany, and the prolonged fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine threaten to undermine growth momentum in parts of the region.
Ukraine’s growing energy crisis promises a cold and dark winter
Since the summer, Kyiv has changed tactics. Given the almost complete failure of Western oil sanctions to curb Russian oil exports, it has been targeting Russian oil refineries. The Kremlin has struck back, targeting Ukraine's power system.
Russia, China sign off on Northern Route shipping deal to slash global freight times
Russia and China have signed a landmark agreement to develop and commercialise the Northern Sea Route (NSR), after Beijing tested the route last month, that could slash Europe-Asia cargo transit times and challenge the primacy of the Suez Canal.