UKRAINE WRAP | Russian economy ministry sees Russia's 2022 GDP down 7.8% - Interfax

May 17 2022 – 20:08

Russian economy ministry sees Russia's 2022 GDP down 7.8% - Interfax

Russia expects gross domestic product (GDP) to contract by 7.8% in 2022, Interfax news agency quoted the economy ministry as saying on Tuesday, as the commodity-dependent economy takes a hit from Western sanctions.

The economy ministry currently expects Russia's 2022 inflation at 17.5% and the rouble currency to peak in the second quarter of 2022 before it weakens to 76 roubles per dollar towards the end of 2022, Interfax added, citing the ministry.

Reuters

May 17 2022 – 19:23

Ukraine removes fuel price restrictions to increase supply - economy minister

Ukraine's government has lifted restrictions on fuel prices to enable traders to import more and make up the shortage Ukraine is experiencing after Russian forces destroyed many storage facilities and logistics chains, the economy minister said on Tuesday.

"We ... suspended price regulation in order to enable market operators to saturate the market ... so that they will be able to deliver all the resources available on the European market, and not only from the European market," Yulia Svyrydenko said in an online interview with Ukrainian television.

Reuters

May 17 2022 – 16:52

Russia says it's not planning to block YouTube or cut itself off from internet

Russia is not planning to block Alphabet Inc's YouTube, the minister for digital development said on Tuesday, acknowledging that such a move would likely see Russian users suffer and should therefore be avoided. Russia has blocked other foreign social media platforms, but despite months of fines and threats against YouTube for failing to delete content Moscow deems illegal and for restricting access to some Russian media, it has stopped short of delivering a killer blow to the video-hosting service.

With around 90-million monthly users in Russia, YouTube is extremely popular and plays an important role in the digital economy. Though Russia has domestic versions of other social media, a viable YouTube alternative on that scale is yet to emerge.

"We are not planning to close YouTube," Maksut Shadaev, who is also minister of communications and mass media, told an educational forum. "Above all, when we restrict something, we should clearly understand that our users won't suffer." Competition is the engine of progress and blocking is an extreme measure, he told a vast auditorium of mostly young Russians, some scattered around the room on bean bags.

Alphabet's Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Simmering tensions between Moscow and Big Tech erupted into a full-on information battle after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24. Russia restricted access to Twitter and Meta Platform's Facebook and Instagram in early March. It vowed in April to punish Google for shutting out Russian state-funded media globally on YouTube, accusing it of spreading fakes about what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine. Meta was found guilty of "extremist activity" in March, a ruling the company objected to, but Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday said he would not rule out the return of Instagram, provided Meta complies with Russian laws on content and local offices.

Shadaev also poured cold water on suggestions that Russia may seek to isolate itself further from global internet infrastructure, something it disconnected itself from during tests last summer. "We do not want to close ourselves off from anyone," he said. "On the contrary, we think that Russia should remain a part of the global network."

Reuters

May 17 2022 – 16:47

Russians line up for final Big Mac ahead of McDonald's exit

Russians lined up in a Moscow train station on Tuesday for what may be their last Big Mac from one of the few McDonald's restaurants still open in the country. The world's largest burger chain is rolling down the shutters in Russia after more than 30 years, becoming one of the biggest global brands to leave following Moscow's actions in Ukraine.

McDonald's exit ends a chapter in the US company's history that began when it started serving its burgers in Russia as a symbol of American capitalism. The company had already decided to temporarily close its restaurants in the country in March. They included the iconic Pushkin Square location in central Moscow, which broke global records when opening on January 31 1990, as more than 30,000 people queued around the block for Big Macs costing 3 roubles.

"McDonald's operates in few places now," said 32-year-old Irina, who was queuing at the branch in Moscow's Leningradsky Station, from where trains head north to St Petersburg. "I miss McDonald's, so when I go to St Petersburg, I drop by and treat myself to a Big Mac."

Reuters

May 17 2022 – 14:46

Finland's parliament approves Nato membership application

Finland's parliament on Tuesday approved a proposal to apply for membership in the Nato military alliance with 188 votes in favour and 8 against, the parliament's speaker Matti Vanhanen said. – Reuters

May 17 2022 – 14:44

Azovstal siege ends as hundreds of Ukrainian fighters surrender

More than 250 Ukrainian fighters have surrendered after weeks holed up in the labyrinth of bunkers and tunnels below Mariupol's Azovstal steel works as the most devastating siege of Russia's war in Ukraine draws to a close.

Russian forces pummelled Mariupol, a major port on the Sea of Azov between Russia and Crimea, with artillery for weeks while some of the fiercest urban warfare of the conflict left much of the city a wasteland.

Civilians and hundreds of Ukrainian fighters, many of them from the Azov Regiment, sought refuge in the Azovstal works, a vast Soviet-era plant founded under Josef Stalin and designed with a maze of bunkers and tunnels to withstand nuclear attack.

May 17 2022 – 11:20

Ukraine working on 'further stages' of Azovstal evacuation: deputy PM

Ukraine is working on "further stages" of the evacuation of fighters defending the Azovstal steel plant in the southern city of Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Tuesday. She gave no other details in a post on the Telegram messaging app but wrote: "God willing, everything will be fine."

On Monday, more than 50 wounded troops were taken from Azovstal to a hospital in the Russian-controlled town of Novoazovsk, and more than 210 others were taken to the town of Olenivka in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatists.

Reuters

May 17 2022 – 11:17

Russia says talks with Ukraine are not going on 'in any form': Ifax

Russia and Ukraine are not holding talks "in any form", Interfax news agency cited Russian deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko as saying on Tuesday. "No, negotiations are not going on. Ukraine has practically withdrawn from the negotiation process," Interfax cited Rudenko as saying. – Reuters

May 17 2022 – 11:15

Finland's parliament likely to vote on Nato application on Tuesday

Finland's parliament is likely to vote on Tuesday on a proposal to apply for membership of the Nato military alliance, in a historic policy shift prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

President Sauli Niinisto and the government decided officially on Sunday that Finland would apply for membership but the decision is pending Parliament's approval, which is expected with an overwhelming majority.

Debate in the legislature began on Monday and the first session finished more than 14 hours later, after midnight, after members gave 212 addresses on the topic, the vast majority in favour of joining. Early on Tuesday, the foreign affairs committee decided to join the state leadership in proposing to Parliament that the Nordic country should apply for Nato membership.

"Having heard a very large number of experts and having received the opinions of 10 [parliamentary] committees, the foreign affairs committee agrees with the government that Finland should apply for membership in Nato. This decision is unanimous," its chairperson Jussi Halla-aho told reporters.

Parliament will continue debating the issue in a second plenary session in the afternoon, at the end of which there will be a vote on the matter if one member opposes the proposal. At least one member told media he would make sure there was a vote if no one else did.

Reuters

May 17 2022 – 09:58

Ukrainian troops evacuate from Mariupol, ceding control to Russia

Ukraine's military said on Tuesday it was working to evacuate all remaining troops from their last stronghold in the besieged port of Mariupol, ceding control of the city to Russia after months of bombardment.

The evacuation of hundreds of fighters, many wounded, to Russian-held towns, likely marked the end of the longest and bloodiest battle of the Ukraine war and a significant defeat for Ukraine. Mariupol is now in ruins after a Russian siege that Ukraine says killed tens of thousands of people in the city.

"The 'Mariupol' garrison has fulfilled its combat mission," the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a statement.

May 17 2022 – 09:33

Ukraine eyes higher grain exports after Poland streamlines border curbs

Poland will simplify veterinary controls and add inspectors in an effort to boost the volume of Ukrainian grain exports through its territory, Ukraine's agriculture ministry said, after a pact signed by the neighbours.

With Ukraine's ports blocked off by Russia's invasion, the major grain grower and global exporter is forced to send shipments across its western border, relying on limited railroad capacity and small Danube river ports.

Traders and officials have said customs procedures and sparse Polish officials limit capacity at Ukrainian-Polish border crossings, however.

"The measures envisaged ... will significantly simplify the border crossing of our grain goods and increase export volumes, which is the ministry's priority," Ukraine's agriculture minister, Mykola Solskiy, said in a statement on Monday.

Ukraine's grain exports have more than halved in the first 10 days of May to about 300,000 tonnes, from 667,000 tonnes in the corresponding period last year. It exported up to 6-million tonnes of grain each month before Russia's invasion in February, which Moscow has described as a "special military operation".

Last week, ministry data showed Ukraine has exported 46.17-million tonnes so far in the season from July 2021 to June 2022, against 39.65-million a season earlier.

In April, 3.5-million tonnes of cargo was carried by rail across the western borders, Ukraine's infrastructure ministry said this month.

Railway operators are setting up border terminals to handle general and liquid cargoes, as well as for reloading from wide gauge track to narrow gauge, and vice versa. 

Reuters

May 17 2022 – 09:15

Russia to revive 'legendary' Soviet-era car after Renault exit

A Soviet-era car brand the “Moskvich” could make a surprise comeback in Russia, as Moscow takes over assets belonging to Renault after the French carmaker's exit from the country.

Moscow's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said he would nationalise Renault's car factory in the city, after the Western carmaker said it was selling its local business after the start of the conflict in Ukraine.

The plant, which Sobyanin said had a “long and glorious history”, will be repurposed to produce the Moskvich brand of passenger cars that were last manufactured two decades ago.

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