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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked a major market crisis, sending oil and gas prices to multi-decade highs and causing the Euro to crash below parity with the dollar. Today, energy prices have fallen back to pre-war levels, driven lower by fears of a global recession and weak oil demand in China due to Covid outbreaks. Analysts remain divided regarding oil prices in 2023 however, with some analysts believing the return of China and the lack of Russian energy will send prices soaring.

Chinese telecommunications and smartphone giant Huawei Technologies Co is closing down its enterprise business unit in Russia in a further retreat that affects 2,000 jobs... Huawei’s Enterprise Business Group division in Russia, responsible for selling data storage systems and telecommunications equipment to corporate clients, will be disbanded on January 1... The move has been made to avoid the risk of secondary sanctions on the telecoms giant, which is already subject to US trade sanctions, as the systems and equipment could be used by the state, according to the report... ...Several Chinese firms have been caught in the crossfire created by...

Update from Ukraine | Ruzzia Attacks again | Ukraine gets more military support from USA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KqtNcB3Dz4 Follow on Instagram up to date uploads. https://www.instagram.com/denys_pilot/ SUMMARY & MAPS Military Maps & Comment here: The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the last 48 hours, as of 16th December 2022 – 22:00 (Kyiv time). https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-296-summary/

Russian crude-oil exports have taken a serious hit since new sanctions and a price cap came into force earlier in the week, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that figures from two data providers on Russian crude both show a big fall, though their magnitudes differ. According to one commodity-analytics firm Kpler, Russia’s seaborne exports fell by nearly 500,000 barrels per day on Tuesday, a 16% decline from the November average of 3.08 million bpd. Meanwhile, TankerTrackers.com, which tracks sea vessels using signals and satellite images, has reported that Russia's crude exports fell by nearly 50%. With shipments from the...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

Russia's leading war hawks rallied behind the humiliating decision for Moscow's forces to retreat from the Ukrainian city of Kherson this month, but the commander who argued in favour of the move is now under growing pressure to prove it was worth it. Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed "General Armageddon" by the Russian media for his reputed ruthlessness, on Nov. 9 recommended Moscow's forces quit Kherson and the west bank of the River Dnipro where they were dangerously exposed. Surovikin, a 56-year-old veteran of wars in Chechnya and Syria who has been decorated by President Vladimir Putin, argued the withdrawal, completed two...

Putin sacks ANOTHER top general, Western officials say Russia is in advanced stages of planning retreat from Kherson, officials believe 'Reinforcements' are actually conscripts designed to cover the retreat, they said If retreat happens, Russia will try to play it off as 'evacuation' to protect civilians Meanwhile Russian General Lapin has 'probably' been sacked, officials added Russia is planning to retreat from the city of Kherson and play it off as a civilian evacuation, Western officials said today. Putin's troops are in the advanced stages of preparing for the retreat, the officials said, having moved conscripts into the city to...

German gas storage facilities have already exceeded the fill level target of 95 per cent for 1 November. ...According to data from the transparency platform AGSI+, the storage facilities were 98.91 per cent full (as of 31 October).

Russia’s finance ministry has slashed its forecast for taxable oil production for next year, a draft budget seen by Reuters showed on Friday. The draft budget covers the next three years and forecasts a decline in crude oil production and refining as Western sanctions bite... The finance ministry sees Russian oil and gas condensate production... a 7% - 8% decline from... (what) the ministry anticipated this year (after having already adjusted this year's estimate downward)... Expected oil refining volumes were cut by nearly 20%... The refusal of some countries to work with Russia in the oil markets and having to...

Belarus said on Wednesday it was unable to repay its foreign currency-denominated debt due to sanctions imposed on it by the European Union and the United States. The World Bank said on Monday it had placed all loans made by its main lending arm to Belarus into "nonperforming" status effective immediately.

On Monday, Europe’s natural gas prices fell to the lowest level in three months thanks to mild weather and a high level of LNG imports... hitting an intra-day low of $140 per megawatt-hour (down from $350 on August 26th, the lowest since July 1st). Gas storage in the EU is now at more than 90% and the bloc has managed to reduce its gas consumption by 10%.

into humiliating retreat: and liberate dozens of occupied towns - as NATO 'warns Kremlin will test NUKES on the border to save face' Russia's frontline has collapsed in the south of Ukraine with dozens of towns liberated in a matter of hours Kyiv said its troops are 'confidently advancing to the sea' as city of Davydiv Brid is now under their control Pro-Russian military bloggers said their forces had retreated around 10 miles down the Dnipro River It comes just days after Putin declared the Kherson region - along with three others - to be part of Russia Russia's frontline...

The European Union is preparing the eighth round of sanctions against Russia as Moscow escalated its war in Ukraine by holding illegal referendums in four Ukrainian regions... On Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the Commission’s proposals for the eighth package of sanctions in response to Russia’s escalation of the war in Ukraine. “Today, in this package, here, we are laying the legal basis for this oil price cap,” von der Leyen said, commenting on the G7-led idea of banning Russian crude oil from imports by sea unless the oil is sold at or below a certain...

Slovakia's parliament on Tuesday ratified the entry of Finland and Sweden to NATO, becoming one of the last countries to back the military alliance's expansion... NATO's 30 members have been ratifying their entry since accession protocols were signed in July. With Slovakia's vote, only Hungary and Turkey remain to approve the expansion... Hungary's parliament has the motion on Finland and Sweden's NATO membership on its agenda, but no date is set as lawmakers return after a summer recess.

In September, Indian refiners are not expected to buy any ESPO crude from Russia because of the higher shipping rates. African and Middle East crude becomes more attractive as shipping rates on long voyages have jumped... However, with a recent surge in freight rates, Russian oil doesn't look so cheap. Moreover, the travel time from Russia's Far East, where the ESPO grade is loading for exports, is a month to India, compared to a week necessary for a Middle Eastern cargo to reach India... "On net back basis after factoring in the freight, the landed cost of ESPO is turning...

Moscow’s already-eroding influence in Central Asia is set to decline even more rapidly. Vladimir Putin’s stature shrank in Samarkand. At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan last week, Russia’s beleaguered leader essentially apologized to his Chinese counterpart, faced verbal reprimands from India’s Prime Minister, and waited uncomfortably for the Kyrgyz President to arrive late to a bilateral meeting. The SCO summit provided visual, real-time evidence of Russia’s diminished standing in Central Asia, which has faded due to the Kremlin’s foolish and poorly executed invasion of Ukraine. While Moscow’s already-eroding influence in Central Asia is set to decline even...

Municipal deputies for the Smolninskoye District in St. Petersburg plan to submit a petition to the State Duma (the Russian parliament) to charge Russian president Vladimir Putin with high treason for unleashing the war in Ukraine. Deputy Dmitry Palyuga announced the intention on Twitter. According to Palyuga, “the majority of deputies in attendance supported the decision.” In conversation with The Insider, he specified that seven out of ten voted in favor of the initiative. According to its sponsors, Putin’s actions since the beginning of the “special military operation” fall under Article 93 of the Russian Constitution, which stipulates for the...

Europe is currently importing over one million barrels per day of Russian oil, attempting to fill up before the EU-wide embargo on Russian crude imports comes into effect (5 December). Oil prices have fallen as demand concerns grow and China struggles with Covid lockdowns, and Europe is attempting to take advantage of those lower prices to stock up on oil. Alternative sources of crude oil are abundant for Europe

Mansur was 13 when Russian soldiers destroyed his village of Samashki during Chechnya's first war for independence against Russia. Wielding flamethrowers, the Russians burned Mansur's neighbors alive in their homes, threw grenades into basements and executed men. Four years later, a truce disintegrated, and Mansur was back at war. He says he was never the same after. "Russia ruined everything I had. I grew up with war, and the war shaped me in all respects," Mansur, 40, says matter-of-factly. Mansur is one of more than 200,000 Chechens who fled to Turkey and Europe throughout the 2000s during a second war...

The Biden administration is arming Ukraine with weapons that can do serious damage to Russian forces, and, unlike early in the war, U.S. officials don’t appear worried about Moscow’s reaction. In the past several months, Washington has detailed tranches of new drones, harder-hitting missiles and deadly rocket systems as part of billions of dollars pledged to the former Soviet country. The clear support is a far cry from the early days of the war, when the U.S. government seemed hesitant to list exactly what was being sent into Ukraine so as not to tip off or draw the ire of...