Total CEO says sanctions against Russia a mistake

Implementation of sanctions against Russia is a mistake, French oil and gas company Total Chief Executive, Christophe de Margerie said in his interview to Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

“We cannot let them persuade us that Russia is our enemy. Our energy supply depends on this country. If Americans, based on the historical reasons and internal political motives, want to escalate the conflict, then it is their choice. But we, Europeans, have to deal with this crisis in a different way, not painting everything in black and white only,” de Margerie said as quoted by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

De Margerie also stated that he does not believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to annex Ukraine.

Over the past few months, the United States and the European Union introduced several rounds of targeted sanctions against the Russian economy, unjustifiably blaming Moscow for meddling in Ukraine’s internal affairs.

As the Ukrainian crisis escalated, the United States persuaded its allies to add Russian individuals and entities to their own blacklists.

Earlier today, US Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said that US President Barack Obama and leaders of several European countries agreed that more sanctions should be imposed on Russia.

Russia has repeatedly referred to the language of sanctions “counterproductive,” saying that such measures “threaten international peace and stability.”

Source: RIA Novosti

Kiev, militia agree on ceasefire

Kiev officials and representatives of the two self-proclaimed republics in southeastern Ukraine have agreed to a ceasefire, as the contact group met behind closed doors in Belarus.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has confirmed the ceasefire agreement on his Twitter account.

The truce agreement comes into force starting 6 pm local time (15:00 GMT).

The president has ordered to cease fire starting at the time stated in the protocol.

“I give the order to the chief of the General staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to cease fire, starting from 18.00 [local time] on September 5,” Poroshenko’s statement says.

Poroshenko then called on both the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and the OSCE to provide international monitoring of compliance with the bilateral ceasefire.

“We must do everything possible and impossible to stop bloodshed and put an end to people’s suffering,” the president said in a statement posted on his official website.

Poroshenko expressed hope that both sides would comply with the ceasefire agreement.

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic earlier confirmed the ceasefire agreement on its official Twitter account.

Both Donetsk and Lugansk have said they are ready to lay down arms starting from 15:00GMT.

Representatives of the rebel forces have said they will obey the ceasefire if Kiev follows suit.

“Most of the points of the protocol correspond with our demands,” Lugansk’s leader Igor Plotnitsky said.

“However, the ceasefire does not mean a shift from our course of breaking away from Ukraine. This is a compulsory measure,” he said.

The OSCE’s Heidi Tagliavini has welcomed the agreement saying “it is good news.”

She has revealed that the protocol consists of 12 points, and “the ceasefire is the chief one.”

The participants in the talks will prepare another document – a memorandum on settling the situation in Ukraine, a Donetsk representative said.

The two sides accompanied by representatives of Russia and the OSCE were meeting in the Belorussian capital, Minsk, in an attempt to end the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine.

In their recent phone call on September 3, the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko, showed a willingness to find an agreement to resolve the months-long conflict in the southeastern Ukraine.

Following the conversation with his counterpart, President Putin laid out a seven-point plan that could help find a solution.

Source: RT

Ukraine to construct ‘Wall’ on Russian border

Ukraine will construct a “Wall” on the border with itself and Russia, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on Wednesday.

“We are beginning the ‘Wall’ project. This is the construction of an actual state border between Ukraine and the Russian Federation,” Yatsenyuk said during a government session.

Earlier the same day, Yatsenyuk said Kiev needed to create a new military doctrine that would reflect that Russia as an “aggressor nation,” threatening the territorial integrity and national security of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s junta meanwhile has embarked on a military ethnic cleansing campaign to oust Russian-speakers from the country.

The statement was made a day after Russian Security Council deputy head Mikhail Popov said Russia would adjust its military doctrine by the end of 2014 to reflect new security threats, including the expansion of NATO, US missile shield plans and the political crisis in Ukraine.

Kiev launched a military operation in Ukraine’s southeastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in mid-April to suppress independence supporters who refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new Ukrainian government after a February coup.

Le Pen – France kowtows to US on Mistral

France’s decision to suspend the delivery of the first of two Mistral helicopter carrier ships to Russia shows Paris’ obedience of American diplomacy, said National Front leader Marine Le Pen. Russia still believes that France will fulfill the contract.

France says it cannot deliver Mistral warship to Russia over Ukraine

“This decision is very serious, firstly because it runs contrary to the interests of the country and shows our obedience of American diplomacy,” Le Pen told France’s RTL radio.

She added that suspension of Mistral warships is also serious “for the reputation of France and the value of its word in trade relations.”

“It will have a huge cost: four months of employment in Saint-Nazaire [where Mistral vessels are under construction], millions of working hours,” Le Pen added, “The delay will cause a fine of 5 to 10 billion euro.”

On Wednesday France suspended delivery of the first of two Mistral helicopter carrier ships to Russia because of events in eastern Ukraine.

“The situation is serious. Russia’s recent actions in the east of Ukraine contravene the fundamental principles of European security,” said a statement from the office of President Francois Hollande.

The majority of the readers of French Le Figaro newspaper believe that French government is wrong to suspend the delivery of the ships to Russia.

The poll asked: “Is the French government right in suspending Mistral ships to Russia?” Seventy-three percent of respondents answered “No.”

According to Maria Zakharova, deputy spokeswoman of Russia’s Foreign Ministry, “the reputation of France as a reliable partner who complies with the contract obligations, is thrown into a fire of American political ambitions.”

Kiev killed photographer that documented MH17 crash site

Photojournalist Andrei Stenin, who went missing in eastern Ukraine in early August, died about a month ago when a car he was travelling in came under fire, Rossiya Segodnya Director General Dmitry Kiselev said Wednesday citing results of an examination by the Russian Investigative Committee (IC).

Russia’s IC has determined that the car had come under fire as a result of a Ukrainian attack. The unit that carried out the attack was also using a tank, according to the investigators.

More than 10 cars containing peaceful civilians had been shot up. The contents of the vehicles, including the civilians’ belongings, had come into Ukrainian posession.

Stenin, 33, a photojournalist contributing to several leading Russian and international news agencies including AP, Reuters, AFP, Rossiya Segodnya (RIA Novosti) and ITAR-TASS, had been covering the conflict in eastern Ukraine before all contact with him was lost on August 5.

He was an experienced war photographer. The work he did in Ukraine included pictures of Ukrainian troops captured by self-defense forces, the horrific results of Ukrainian artillery shelling of militia-held cities and the crash site of the MH17 plane that was downed over the Donetsk region in July.

Ukrainian mediators proposed Rossiya Segodnya to negotiate swapping missing photojournalist Andrei Stenin for someone else, implying that he was still alive, the international news agency’s Director General Dmitry Kiselev said Wednesday.

The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed Wednesday that Stenin died approximately a month ago, when the car he was travelling in came under fire and near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

“Mediators [representing] the Ukrainian side contacted our agency and suggested holding talks on swapping him, implying that Stenin is alive,” the Rossiya Segodnya director general said.

He said that Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, said shortly after Stenin’s disappearance, that the reporter was held by Ukrainian security services. He retracted the statement later, saying he was misunderstood.

Stenin went missing in eastern Ukraine on August 5. Sources said that the journalist was possibly held by the Ukrainian military, but Kiev has never officially confirmed the information.

On August 9, Rossiya Segodnya filed a request with the Ukrainian Interior Ministry to take action in order to locate Stenin, with the ministry undertaking the case on August 11.

On August 12, Herashchenko said in an interview with Baltkom radio that security forces had arrested Stenin on charges of assisting terrorists. However, later Herashchenko claimed he was misinterpreted.

All major international human rights watchdogs – Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Federation of Journalists – have called for an urgent investigation into Stenin’s disappearance.

Lavrov: There will be no military interference in Ukraine

There will be no military interference to Ukraine, and Russia is for peaceful settlement. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, has made this statement on Monday at an annual meeting with students and teachers of Moscow State University of Foreign Affairs.

“There will be no military interference. We are committed exclusively to the peaceful settlement of this deep crisis, this tragedy,” Lavrov stated.

He noted that the demand to the militia to lay down arms was unrealistic.

The minister said that Washington and Brussels should demand that Kiev quit using heavy weaponry against civilians.

“The most important is that Washington and Brussels demand from Kiev the same that they demand in all other conflicts: to stop using heavy weaponry and aviation against civil facilities and civilians,” the minister stressed.

The demand to the militia to lay down arms is unrealistic, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“Let’s sit for talks, but not threaten with sanctions against Russia and insist on quite unrealistic demands for the militia to lay down their arms and allow to kill them,” the minister said.

“Unfortunately, our western partners are blinded with the situation and give their support to any statements and actions of the current Ukrainian authorities,” Lavrov said adding that this position was biased and non-critical.

Moscow hopes that Contact Group at session in Minsk will discuss cessation of fire, Lavrov added.

“I expect that the talks started earlier in the day will be dedicated to a task of fixing, immediately and without preconditions, terms for a ceasefire,” the minister said.

The foreign minister noted that it was possible and necessary to return to pragmatic cooperation in relations of Russia with the United States and the EU.

“We believe that in relations with the European Union and the United States it is possible and necessary to return to pragmatic cooperation based on equality of rights and mutual respect. But for this, it is necessary to give up the absolutely hopeless policy of ultimatums, threats and sanctions,” the minister said.

I believe the Ukraine crisis should show everyone the absolute harmfulness of a stance, which puts particular countries, especially those close to us, like Ukraine, before a choice: ‘either you go to us or you go to Russia and then we’ll build new dividing lines and walls between us,” Lavrov said.

This choice of either with us or against us, which Brussels sometimes demands from Ukraine and other countries of the post-Soviet space, “is prevocational,” the Russian foreign minister said. “I would say this is worse than a crime, this is a big mistake,” Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister said that “you can’t make a stake on a military force, especially in the 21st century.” “I hope that we’ll move away from a dangerous line as far as the Ukraine crisis is concerned,” Lavrov said.

“As far as the WTO is concerned (namely, Russia’s withdrawal in reply to possible new sanctions), we shall not withdraw. On the contrary, we want more actively to master the WTO instruments, including those concerning trade disputes,” Lavrov said. “We have already used those instruments in order to overcome, what we believe, the EU’s discriminatory policy with regard to anti-dumping procedures”.

Investigators must also be returned to the Boeing crash site in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“No facts are given to us. They persuade us to believe their words,” he said.

“The European Council wrote in a document that it demanded immediate access to the site of the Malaysian Boeing crash. Where have they been until now. There was no threat from the militia,” Lavrov said.

“There was a demand of the UN Security Council to ensure ceasefire in the area of the crash. But Kiev stated the same day that they would stop firing after taking control of the area,” the minister said.

Prospects for abrogation of visa formalities between Russia and the European Union countries are not very reassuring, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov stated.

“The prospects are not very reassuring, frankly speaking,” the Minister pointed out. “A not very numerous but pushy group formed in the European Union. That group came out against abrogating visas. They made no bones of speaking about that”.

Source: Itar TASS

‘Russian Invasion’

How long is screaming ‘Wolf!’ having an impact of the Western Populations? – Until Full Spectrum Dominance has been attained?

by Peter Koenig

Interestingly, most of us who are seeking the truth are primarily attempting to undo the lies – lies umpteen times repeated, lies about Russian invasions, first proclaimed by Poroshenko, Ukraine’s oligarch leader (sic), lies of Russia not respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty, demonization against President Putin, Malaysian airliners downed by Russia – and-so-on. The latest accusation is that JP Morgan and four other Wall Street banks have been hacked. And the culprit is…. Of, course Russia, according to the presstitute MSM.

It doesn’t matter whether what Poroshenko said and is repeated the world over was based on a translation error (according to the German Tagesschau, the German mainstream TV news) – or whether it is just a conventional lie continuously repeated until it becomes the truth à la Goebbels – the western bought propaganda machine takes full advantage of this hundreds of years old simple strategy of deception.

The interesting part, however, is that hardly anyone on that very occasion is presenting the counter-weight, so to speak, namely to what extent Kiev is assisted by US paid mercenaries, CIA military and strategic advisers and their equipment, all paid for in one way or another by the State Department, CIA, or NATO. And these are facts. Not inventions for deception.

There is enough proof about who caused the 22 February 2014 coup (Maidan) – Madame Nuland, Kerry’s assistant, bragged about it at the Washington Press club – remember the US$ 5 billion investment in Ukraine’s regime change that cannot be let go down the drain because of the f….ing Europeans. She was caught hot-handed or hot-voiced on the phone with the US Ambassador in Kiev.

Ever since that infamous coup, the US / NATO and the EU have had their dirty hands in Kiev’s Nazi killer junta – otherwise the Kiev thugs would have never had either the courage or the military knowledge to advance to the Donbas area of Ukraine, where they were literally ordered to kill their brothers. Some of them with some conscience defected early on; then they were accompanied under threats of life by CIA ‘advisers’. Eventually they defected by the thousands because of lack of food and ammunition and the resulting low-low morale.

It is actually irrelevant whether Russia has troops and armory in East Ukraine. In fact it would be well justified for Russia to defend her countrymen from savage slaughter, as many Donbas citizens are originally Russians. But – they don’t, as Mr. Putin is too smart to spoil his diplomatic assets on a war that is already lost by Kiev.

Be this as it may, why do we, truth seekers, at a time of Obama’s lie exclamations and countless media repetitions not present more frequently the US / NATO invasion in Ukraine and their assistance to the Kiev murderers, rather than always being on the defensive, undoing lies in defense of Russia?

The truth of what the US-NATO killing machine, its vassal EU states and its paid mercenaries are up to in Ukraine, and that they won’t let go regardless of what Obama mutters to tranquilize the world — the truth is in one way or another Washington is committed to its financial and corporate elite to achieve Full Spectrum Dominance, meaning complete subjugation of the world to Washington’s masters, the military-security industrial complex and the war financing monetary system – FED-Wall Street-IMF, the latter being a mere extension of the US Treasury.

The Endgame means encircling Russia and China with more NATO bases, including in Ukraine and Moldova, as close as possible to Moscow’s doorsteps; and, foreseen by 2015, with 60% of the US naval fleet in the South China Sea.

We should not be detracted by the day-to-day details and lies, by the fires that flare up here and there, though all horrible, killing thousands of people; we should not be confused by ‘who is doing what?’ – But rather focus on the Big Picture, the intentions behind the US / NATO killing machine, not so much by denying the obvious lies, but rather by describing actual facts and the long-term strategy behind them.

Obama screamed again ‘wolf’ today, literally shouting – ‘Russia has invaded Ukraine, Russia’s military and equipment are in Ukraine, Russia is funding the separatists’ — then adds, ‘but it’s not in the cards for America to intervene now.’

Don’t be fooled. Obama and his masters won’t go away. He says the same about American intervention in Syria – it’s not the right time, while arming and bombing (as a disguise) at the same time ISIS, created and funded in 2007 by Washington under successively different names to further confuse the public at large. At that time they came out of Turkey as Syrian Freedom Fighters, later they converted into the Al’Nusra Front of rebels, and now they are the ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also called the Islamic State of the Levant.

This will do until the public needs to be again confused with a new group of Islamic terrorists to justify continuous wars on terror – to feed continuously the fat profit accounts of the eternal war lords. But only, if we the people let them confuse and deceive and divide us.

At the same time, Washington’s warmonger-in-chief, encourages his EU puppets to intervene and sending their troops into Ukraine, and imposing still more ‘sanctions’ on Russia. Let Europe take the hit if there is war. Not for nothing are NATO bases spiked throughout Europe, convenient targets for Russian missiles. – One could wonder – are the Europeans blind or just don’t care – or their leaders (sic) bought to the point where they hope to just disappear to America’s paradise when Russian rockets hit their countries’ NATO bases – and let their people smolder under nuclear dust?

We the 99.99% have all the powers to stop these US instigated murderous aggressions, by rejecting the continuously lying and deceiving propaganda machine, by rejecting and refusing to listen to the corporate presstitute media.

A few weeks ago there was hope that German Chancellor Merkel would see the light, would abandon the bandwagon of the ‘sanctioners’, because not only did she get a lot of pressure from German industrialists, but also the German people are worried about their energy supply – especially this coming winter. Germany depends by up to 40% on Russia for their energy supplies.

Unfortunately we were wrong. Madame Merkel bent over backwards to please Obama. The naked emperor convinced her not to leave his sinking ship. – What does he have up his imaginary sleeve? Anything he may have discovered by eavesdropping on her cellphone conversations? – So strong to sway her away from reason to the detriment of all of Europe? – These latest sanctions are backlashing on the EU, especially the farmers, a multiple times harder than they hit Russia. European agriculture and mostly small farmers, are losing billions of euros worth on stalled exports to Russia of meat, vegetables, fruit and other food stuff, because Russia retaliated by blocking imports from the EU. Russia is now establishing new trade routes with Latin America.

On 18 September Obama will meet at the White House with Poroshenko, to be sure he stays in line and doesn’t sway Putin’s way, because corrupt oligarchs tend to be not very reliable. Obama may promise him premature entry to NATO and all the fake fiat dollars that come with it.

It would not be a surprise if Obama were also to receive Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the ‘new’ ISIS caliphate, to assure him of America’s continuous support, if he lets him bomb them, the ISIS troops that is, ever so often, just for show and to confuse the public mind – and, of course, as a disguise to bomb Syria to eventually topple Baschar al-Assad for – regime change.

Obama may also promise the ISIS a key role in the new Syrian government – provided he succeeds in regime change (for now unlikely) – similar as he did to the ‘rebels’ and other Islamic fractions of Libya. What Obama needs are not well-organized new regimes, but civil wars, fighting sections of societies to keep populations dying, and those still alive on their toes, fighting for their daily survival and fleeing across borders into refugee camps of other lands, thereby swallowing up neighboring countries resources and creating anger in the local population – the old divide to rein tactic.

The Big Picture is important. The people need to see it, the End Game – what is expecting them, if they – we, the 99.99% – are not taking actions to prevent Full Spectrum Dominance from succeeding.

Peter Koenig is an economist and former World Bank staff. He worked extensively around the world in the fields of environment and water resources. He writes regularly for Global Research, ICH, the Voice of Russia and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe.

Putin: Kiev should consider federal system

Russia will not interfere in the choice of a model for state development by Ukraine, president Vladimir Putin said, adding that he could not understand why the authorities in Kiev were opposing federalization of their country. “For some unclear reason, our Ukrainian partners feel so apprehensive of a federation but it’s their choice anyway and we won’t meddle with it by any means,” Putin said at a youth forum in central Russia.

On the face of it, he said he was confident of the importance of consolidating federalism in Russia. “It’s a very important and meaningful element of our state system because it enables us to take a much better account of our citizens’ interests, as well as ethnic, historical, religious, and cultural specificity regardless of where they live,” Putin said.

There is a big enough number of countries that have a federated state structure – Russia, the US, Brazil, Germany, and some others, he indicated.

According to the president, it is necessary to discuss what kind of rights Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics will have and the south-east of the Ukraine on the whole and after that to register everything in the form of laws.

“This is not happening and it is important to realize it and to force the Ukrainian authorities to start thorough negotiations, not only on technical issues, which are certainly of extreme importance, but on substantive (issues) as well,” Putin said.

“This is what must be discussed,” Putin said. “It is important to agree on the essence, but they refuse to agree on the essence and this is the problem.”

The West needs to realize that the Ukrainian authorities are unable to establish order in their country and to force Kiev to start substantial negotiations with the embattled south-eastern regions, Putin said on Friday.

Putin urges ‘humanitarian corridor’ for besieged Kiev troops

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on self-defence forces in Ukraine to open a “humanitarian corridor” to allow besieged Ukrainian troops to retreat.

“I call on the self-defence forces to open a humanitarian corridor for the Ukrainian troops who are surrounded, so as to avoid unnecessary casualties and to give them the opportunity to withdraw from the zone of operations,” Putin said in a statement issued after midnight Thursday.

Encircled Ukrainian fighters have been engaged in a desperate fight for survival in the town Ilovaysk for over a week as self-defence forces, which had been on the retreat, staged a swift counter-offensive.

Putin praised defenders of “Novorossiya”, or New Russia, for achieving considerable successes in cutting off Kiev’s military operation which posed a deadly threat to the population of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine where most of the fighting has occurred.

The defenders seized swathes of territory from Ukrainian government forces in a lightning counter-offensive, dramatically turning the tide in the four-month conflict.

Putin called on Kiev to “immediately halt military action, cease fire, sit down at the negotiating table and speak with representatives of the Donbass, and solve all of the problems which have built up exclusively by peaceful means”.

The Russian president called on the self-defence forces to provide wounded Ukrainian soldiers with medical help and said Russia is “ready and will provide humanitarian aid to the people of the Donbass who are suffering from this humanitarian catastrophe”.

Russia last week sent into eastern Ukraine a convoy of more than 200 lorries which it said was carrying over 1,800 tonnes of aid without the permission of Kiev and without Red Cross monitors.

Hungary seeks EU alliance with closer ties to Russia

Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday said he would seek to form a political alliance to stop the European Union pulling away from Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.

“The EU gets further away from Russia every day. That’s not only bad for Hungary, but for the entire EU,” Orban told Hungarian ambassadors in Budapest.

“We will have to seek the company of those EU member states who are interested in slowing and stopping this separation process,” he added, without naming any specific countries.

Ties between the West and Russia have hit a post-Cold War low over the crisis in Ukraine, with the European Union and Washington slapping massive sanctions on Moscow over its perceived support for separatists.

Russia hit back with sanctions of its own, banning nearly all food imports from the EU and United States.

Orban, who has been criticised for steering Hungary away from Europe and towards Russia, insisted Monday that the country’s Western alliances were “not in doubt”. But he again warned that isolating Russia could hurt Europe’s competitiveness.

Putin, Merkel urge de-escalation in Ukraine

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have emphasized the importance of international efforts of the contact group on Ukraine, which is expected to resume its work in the soonest time.

The Kremlin press service reported this on Wednesday.

In a telephone conversation, the Russian president notified Merkel “about the intention of the Russian side to provide further supplies of humanitarian aid to the population of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions”. The two leaders also spoke for the soonest possible termination of bloodshed and rectification of humanitarian situation in Ukraine’s southeast, as well as for the need to take the path of political settlement of the conflict.

During the conversation initiated by the German side, Putin informed the German chancellor “about the main results of the meeting between leaders of the Customs Union’s member states with the Ukrainian president and representatives of the European Union in Minsk, at which they exchanged views on issues related to the consequences of Ukraine’s signing of the association agreement with the EU”.

The Kremlin press service reported that “Merkel backed the reached agreement about holding intensive talks on the matter between experts from Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission”. “In addition, the relevance of contacts in the issue of natural gas transit to Europe through Ukraine has been noted,” the statement says.

The two leaders have agreed to continue exchanging opinions on the whole complex of discussed issues on a regular basis.

Swiss share Russian concern over nuclear in Ukraine

Swiss President and Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE Didier Burkhalter shared Russia’s concern over nuclear security due to US intention to supply nuclear fuel to Ukraine and urged Moscow to address the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“We share your opinion regarding the nuclear security problem. Nuclear security represents a key problem for the Swiss nuclear policy,” Burkhalter wrote in a letter to Vladimir Gutenev, first deputy chairman of Russia’s State Duma committee on industry.

In June, Gutenev sent Burkhalter a letter, warning him about the potential threat to the security of European countries in the case of man-made disasters at Ukraine’s nuclear power plants in light of the intention of the current Kiev authorities to sign an agreement on fuel supply from the United States.

The IAEA plans a diplomatic conference at the beginning of next year. The Swiss president reminded that his country had proposed to introduce changes to The Convention on Nuclear Safety and said he would welcome Russia’s help in the preparation of the conference of the IAEA, the keeper of the Convention.

He said, however, the specific issue of US supplies to Ukraine needed to be addressed by the Ukraine’s national security first.

Burkhalter added that the nuclear security was out of the authority of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, but could be reviewed by the IAEA board.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow must be informed of every attempt by Ukraine to use Western nuclear fuel in Soviet- and Russian-made reactors, referring to US company Westinghouse seeking to seize more contracts in Europe, including Ukraine.

Zuma attends G20 in St Petersburg

G20russiaPresident Jacob Zuma has arrived in St Petersburg, Russian Federation for the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

A meeting of BRICS Leaders was scheduled, giving leaders an opportunity to reflect on the progress made with regards to the implementation of the eThekwini Declaration, notably receiving progress reports in respect of the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement.

President Zuma is accompanied by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Pravin Gordhan, and the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms. Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.

The primary objectives of the G20 are to facilitate policy coordination in order to achieve global economic stability and promote long-term sustainable growth.

South Africa’s participation in the G20 is guided by national interests and the primacy of the African Agenda. South Africa therefore seeks to use its participation in multilateral fora such as the G20 to promote and strengthen the interests of the African continent and those of the Southern hemisphere. In this regard, the G20 presents meaningful opportunities for advancing much-needed global governance reforms and orienting the international development agenda.

G20 countries account for 85 percent of global economic output, 80 percent of global trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population.

It is envisaged that the G20 Summit will focus on a set of measures aimed at boosting sustainable, inclusive and balanced global growth, including the creation of decent jobs. During its tenure as G20 President, Russia has focused its work on the interconnected issues on the G20 agenda around three priorities, which are intended to promote:

* Growth through quality jobs and investment;

* Growth through trust and transparency; and

* Growth through effective regulation.

Unemployment and ongoing problems and vulnerabilities in the global economy were discussed by Brics leaders on the margins of the G20 summit in Russia on Thursday, the presidency said.

“[We] believe that major economies, including the G20, could do more to boost global demand and market confidence,” said President Jacob Zuma, who chairs Brics — which consists of the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa group of emerging economies.

The leaders reiterated the concerns they expressed at the Durban Brics summit in March about the unintended negative spill-overs of the unconventional monetary policies of certain developed economies.

“[We] recalled the urgent need to implement the 2010 International Monetary Fund quota and governance reform, as well as to complete the next general quota review by January 2014, as agreed at the G20 Seoul summit in order to ensure the fund’s credibility, legitimacy, and effectiveness,” said Zuma.

Brics looked forward to the ninth World Trade Organisation ministerial conference, to be held in December.

“[We] expect that it will be a stepping stone to the successful and balanced conclusion of the Doha Development Round,” Zuma said.

The leaders also congratulated Russia on successfully hosting the G20 summit, which started on Thursday and runs until Friday. – Sapa