⚡️⚡️ Key updates on Russia and #UkraineCrisis as on December 19

🇶🇦🇪🇺Gas wars
With the EU desperate to ditch Russian gas, the European Parliament corruption scandal emerged earlier this month shows findin alternative and sustainable source of energy won’t be an easy task, Politico writes. 

The Gulf state is at the center of cash-for-influence allegations that have shaken EU democracy to its core, the outlet notes. For Germany in particular, desperate to find alternative suppliers to Russia, the furore highlights how, in the world of energy geopolitics, there are rarely any easy options. 

Over the weekend, Qatar warned the European Parliament’s “discriminatory”move to ban its representatives at the institution could harm broader EU-Qatari cooperation where the bloc is dependent on Doha, including with energy.

🎮Soft power game
Russian government is mulling over a set of measures to support the Russian video game industry until 2030. In particular, it could create a state-controlled game developer, the funding of which, under the most ambitious scenario, will require up to $50 billion, Kommersant has learnt. The government also wants to launch a domestic rating agency as well as increase the number of studios developing games by 14 times.

The plan is to release 25 new video games by 2030, costing country budget 6.5 billion rubles each, and 40 less expensive ones, so that they compete with popular global projects and become a "soft power tool" abroad. But taking into account the fact that most of the specialized specialists have left the country, it will be impossible to realize the goals, experts say.

🔥Russian infra on fire
A unit at an oil and gas condensate Markovskoye (Markovsky) field in Russia's Irkutsk region in Siberia caught fire over an area of about 1,000 square metres on Sunday, but the blaze was quickly brought under control, according to region authorities and EMERCON services.

The Irkutsk incident emerges as yet another one is a series of mysterious fires that took place at infrastructure sites or large commercial facilities in several past weeks. While there are no official statements on any link between them all, many commenters warn of Ukraine’s successful guerrilla war within Russian territory.

🇷🇺🇧🇾Minsk visit
Russian President Vladimir Putin will on Monday visit Minsk for the first time since 2019. He and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko are “expected to discuss “the whole palette of our bilateral relations, trade and economic cooperation, this is an integration issue," according to Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

“There is no denying the symbolic and political significance of Putin's first trip to Belarus in three years: this is a rare type of visit when the President of Russia comes to visit friends and obvious allies”, Nikolay Mezhevich, head of the Center for Belarusian Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Vedomosti.

⚔Peace formula
The former secretary of state Henry Kissinger proposed his vision for peace talks in an article published on Saturday by The Spectator. He argues for a ceasefire line along the borders existing where the war started on 24 February. While territories it has controlled before (including Crimea) “could be the subject of a negotiation after a ceasefire”.

Meanwhile Ukraine which “has acquired one of the largest and most effective land armies in Europe, equipped by America and its allies” should official ties with NATO.

He then added that while he has repeatedly expressed his support for the “allied military effort” to counter Russia’s aggression, “the time is approaching to build on the strategic changes which have already been accomplished and to integrate them into a new structure towards achieving peace through negotiation”.


👉Follow t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics, and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.

The armed forces of Ukraine have dug trenches and fortifications in residential areas of Bakhmut

This suggests that the enemy is preparing for battles in the city.

"The ruined city is blazing, it already resembles Mariupol," war photographer Konstantin Liberov reports.

💥 Source: ANNA-NEWS
💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Ukrainian armed forces began using Panzermörser self-propelled mortars

A video of Panzermörser being operated was published by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on social networks.

According to official data, 10 such self-propelled mortars and two vehicles with fire control systems had been handed over by Lithuania earlier.

"Panzermörser" is based on the M-113 armoured personnel carrier. Its main armament is a 120 mm mortar which has a range of fire of 450 to 6350 meters.

The mortar unit is housed in the rear of the M-113 armoured personnel carrier, which also contains space inside to transport ammunition, up to 60 shells.

💥 Source: ANNA-NEWS
💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇬🇧Great Britain is training 🇺🇦AFU soldiers in snowy Northern England, preparing them for frontline combat.

Well, who would have thought that their rear would be that far away?

💥 Source: https://news.1rj.ru/str/dmitrynikotin/7098
💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

⚡️ The deadliest places for journalists in 2022

Mexico traditionally leads the ranking with 11 journalists killed, but Ukraine comes next.

💥 Source: https://news.1rj.ru/str/csrc_agency/8361
💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

The construction of a "dome" over the Zaporizhzhya NPP spent nuclear waste storage facility has begun. It is intended to protect the facility from shrapnel during Ukrainian shelling.

From what shrapnel this dome can protect, is a rhetorical question, but the nuclear specialists know best, all possible safety measures must be taken.

Most likely this "dome" is being built for protection from small UAVs, because organizing various sabotage activities at Zaporizhzhya NPP is an "idée fixe" for NATO countries.

Apparently, there was some information about NATO terrorists planning to drop something from UAVs on the nuclear waste storage facility.

💥 Source: https://news.1rj.ru/str/VasiletsDmitriy/6240
💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

⚡️⚡️ Key updates on Russia and #UkraineCrisis as on December 20

🇷🇺🇧🇾Minsk deals
Presidents of Russia and Belarus Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko held talks in Minsk. They discussed setting up a common defense space and agreed on pricing parameters in the energy sector.

Lukashenko said that Belarus has put the Iskander and S-400 complexes transferred to the Russian Federation on duty. In addition, according to him, Belarus has had planes capable of carrying "specific ammunition" since Soviet times, now pilots are being trained to control them with the participation of Russia. He did not specify what kind of ammunition it was. Mr. Putin said that he considers it possible to train Belarusian crews of combat aircraft capable of using ammunition with a special warhead.

Leaders also agreed on the main parameters of pricing in the energy sector. Lukashenko said his country was satisfied with the pricing of gas for the next three years.

🔵Gas price cap
EU countries finally struck a gas price cap deal on Monday after months of fraught divisions over a key aspect of the bloc’s response to the energy crisis — but the final settlement may end up pleasing no one, Politico notes.

Under the plan, which is set to come into force on February 15 and last for one year, trades on Europe’s gas exchanges will be capped at €180 per megawatt-hour, if that price level is reached for three working days and European wholesale gas prices are, for the same length of time, €35 above the global price of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

In a sign of how divisive the discussion still remains, a senior diplomat from one pro-cap country said the measure “is not enough and only a temporary emergency measure” saying wholesale gas prices are still four times higher than normal and a broader market reform was necessary.

🔴Russia to tweak Labour Code
Russia’s ruling party United Russia unveiled some of the key amendments to the Labor Code it is working on, before the text of the amendments is published for discussions, Vedomosto report.

The lawmakers are trying to prohibit Russians from continuing to work for Russian companies while residing abroad. The new law would affect thousands of Russians who fled the country after February 24 and then after announcement of mobilization but keep being employed by Russian companies and hence work remotely.

Andrey Isaev, deputy head of the United Russia faction, told reporters Isaev that the amendments will concern specialists who work in the defense sector, ensuring the security system, the financial sector and other industries (but that’s not the full list).
Isaev emphasizes that this is "no discriminatory law."

"We are talking about the safety of our citizens. For example, a person works in the banking sector has access to corporate mail and a database. We would not like such information to fall into the hands of scammers located abroad," Isayev said.

🩸Sanctions impact
The Russian rouble weakened further, continuing the trend started in the beginning of December. The dollar is trading above 66 rubles on Monday — for the first time since May 30.

Alexander Potavin, an analyst at Finam, suggests that a significant decline in the price of Russian Urals export oil is already beginning to affect. Earlier, the Ministry of Finance published the calculation of export duties for January which is based on the average price of Urals at $57.5 per barrel. In November, the average Urals price was at $66.47 per barrel against $70.62 per barrel in October. This was due to high discounts on Russian oil after the European embargo on the import of Russian oil, the analyst explains. Together, this leads to a drop in export revenues and, as a result, decrease of foreign available in the market.

👉Follow t.me/russiawire for daily updates, analytics, and ground reportage from Russia, Donbass, and the neighbourhood.

⚡🇪🇺 The More Russophobic you are, the more your economy suffers.

Real value of wages has fallen all across the EU and other states.