Traders and buyers of Asia are becoming increasingly wary of being caught up in possible trade restrictions should Russia be sanctioned because of the war in Ukraine.

According to Bloomberg, oil traders are starting to reconsider procurement plans for April in favor of oil from UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The market is solid overall, but oil traders clearly assess the risk of war as very significant.

Joe Biden is holding a press-conference in the White House right now. The President says that he is convinced Putin has made a decision to invade Ukraine, but it's still not too late for diplomacy.

Joe Biden and Anthony Blinken both noted, that the idea of “Ukranian aggression” against LDNR defies basic logic.

According to Kremlin’s narrative, Kyiv waited until Russia arrayed about 150 000 troops on its border to escalate the conflict. This is a joke that won’t fool even a child.

The same is with Putin’s unfounded claims about “genocide”. Nobody will buy it.

Russia has to understand that the information war around Ukraine is lost long time ago. Moscow doesn’t have resources and competence to play against the West here.

There won’t be second Tagliavini report. Georgia was indeed an aggressor in 2008 and assaulted South Ossetia.

Now it’s not the case. Which makes possible recognition of LDNR by Russia an illegal act which will actually benefit Ukraine.

That's what we are talking about. Vladimir Putin, savior of NATO. A good piece of writing.

Just finished watching a show - Russia’s Security Council’s extraordinary meeting about the recognition of LDNR.

Our condolences to the people of Russia. You and your families are in danger because the country is governed by brain-dead, pathetic oldmen with no regard to basic logic.

Not a single one of them said anything about the costs for economy or how much lives will Russian invasion take.

Russian troops are positioned to attack. Jake Sullivan said today that it will be a major violent invasion. Kremlin will try to annex at least Lugansk and Donetsk Oblasts.

We have informed our readers three days ago that, according to our sources, Monday will be a crucial day.

Surely looks like it now, doesn’t it?

Listening to Putin’s paranoid speech yesterday, we thought that it will all end up with something like “we are invading Ukraine from Donetsk to Lvov”.

None of the “problems” Putin talked about can be solved with recognition of these two territories.

Looks like something has changed at the very last moment.

If Putin stops with LDNR in its current borders, we don’t even see any need for severe sanctions.

Kremlin has sanctioned Russians with this decision. First, billions of dollars are needed to restore the infrastructure of these territories, they will be spent by Russia.

Second, it is Moscow that torn up the international Minsk accords. Third, there is no visible support of LDNR among Russians. No ''Crimean consensus'' whatsoever.

By the way, we have a question to our Russian colleagues - is Medvedev finally back? Yesterday he looked head and shoulders above all others.

A raft of new American sanctions against Russia would cut off its government from Western financing, affect VEB, PSB, a couple of Putin’s cronies and Russian sovereign debt.

The Nord Stream 2 has been previously halted by Germany.

Washington has left a lot of room for further actions that could instantly turn Russia into the likes of Iran and North Korea if half-hearted Putin finally takes the decision of the full-scale invasion.

This package actually means that Biden and his team are totally satisfied with the current situation and do not want any drastic changes.

Poor Russians.

Putin’s historic exercises about Ukraine have obvious analogies.

Hitler assumed that Austria is not a nation but an integral part of Reich. Hussein claimed Kuwait is not a nation but a historic part of Iraq.

Putin’s views on Ukraine are just the same. Hopefully his end will be more positive.

First of all, we want to congratulate our Russian colleagues and media with their hysterical denial of possible Russian aggression against Ukraine.

We hope, that you will be quite now and stop talking nonsense about American intelligence.

Second, we are sending our sincere condolences to the people of Russia.

The end will be not only painful, it will last for years. The downfall of economy will last for years, poverty will last for years.

Any war is always won by those who don’t take part in it. This one is already lost by Russia, you’ll come to understand it soon enough.

Perhaps Putin went all-in to stay in power after 2024 and unite Russian elites.

The Security Council clearly showed that, in spite of their words, these people were not enthusiastic about LDNR.

Putin’s obsession will have tremendous costs for the country and its future generations.

It could reshape European gas and oil markets in favor of America.

The worst measure will be technological embargo though. This would slowly dismantle Russian industry.

We really hope that Russians one day will surprise us in a positive way, but there is little hope, in all honesty. Russia will more likely be slowly asphyxiated and “iranized”.

It is the time of strategic patience, there is no need to hurry things up.

American intelligence hasn’t done anything special. That’s what happens when you do not have the likes of Naryshkin running secret services.

Poor guy almost died trying to guess what Putin wants.

Putin is ready to send his representatives to negotiations with the Ukrainian delegation in Minsk.

Looks like number of Russians killed in combat exceeds zero, and Xi Jinping should’ve called him earlier.

So, its safe to say that Putin asked for permission to start the war in Beijing and got it, but only after the Olympics. Now he got a permission to finish it.

Meanwhile two of China’s largest state-owned banks are restricting financing for purchases of Russian commodities, complying with American sanctions.

The Empire.

America couldn’t urge Germany to increase its military spending for years. Putin did it instantly.

The decision to raise defense spending above 2% of GDP means that in the coming decades the military budget of Germany will significantly exceed Russian.

Which makes the future of the continent very interesting.

Is everything ok? Stay safe, Russia is passing through extraordinary times. With best wishes!

https://news.1rj.ru/str/EbuldinSkySpez/8194

Bank of Russia hiked key rate to 20% from 9.5% and ordered companies to sell 80% of their foreign currency revenues.

Saving the national currency is not an easy task.

Mortgages and loans in Russia are indeed temporarily dead. Extraordinary things going on, folks.

Michael Kofman, Director of Russia Studies at CNA on the flaws of Russian combat tactics:

“Russian units are not fighting as BTGs. They’re not doing combined arms warfare. They’re driving down roads in small detachments, pushing recon and VDV units forward. Tanks without infantry. It’s not going well for them because this isn’t how they organize and fight (more later)”.

Dan Hoffman, former CIA station chief in Moscow, told Fox News that Russian assault of Ukraine is an "extraordinary intelligence failure".

For whatever reason Putin thought that Ukranian government and army will collapse in a day or two. The strategic failure is obvious now.

In terms of consequences Putin’s decision is already worse than Brezhnev’s move in Afghanistan.

Sen. Marco Rubio, member of Senate Intelligence Committee: ’’I wish I could share more, but for now I can say it’s pretty obvious to many that something is off with Putin“.

House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy: “Putin is unstable. At this moment in time, no country in the world should stand with“.

People in American agencies we have talked to these days do not say it directly, but the general assumption is that Vladimir Putin has serious mental problems and is unpredictable.

The decision to start war and especially the televised Security Council meeting and speech of the President also give some evidence that the 70-year old citizen of USSR is dispatched from reality.

Finnish political parties will gather today to discuss Finland’s potential NATO membership.

A survey by the Finnish broadcasting company Yle found that 53% of Finns support their country joining NATO.

In the previous poll in 2017, only 19% of Finns supported NATO membership.

Is it another great success of grandmaster Putin or what?

Mental state of Vladimir Putin is publicly questioned by a growing number of American officials who know him personally.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: "I met with him many times, and this is a different Putin. He seems erratic”.

Former Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper: "I personally think he’s unhinged. I worry about his acuity and balance".

Senior intelligence officials who have known Putin for decades told media that he has been isolated in a bunker for months interacting exclusively with a small group of advisers.

In all honesty, this looks like a bad dream. This war should be stopped as soon as possible in the interest of Russian people and Russian economy.

Do not support it. It will get worse for Russia day by day.