Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told US lawmakers that the Biden administration’s proposed international aid spending in Ukraine and elsewhere is critical to strengthening Washington’s leadership abroad and advancing US security interests.
(Bloomberg) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told US lawmakers that the Biden administration’s proposed international aid spending in Ukraine and elsewhere is critical to strengthening Washington’s leadership abroad and advancing US security interests.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testified at a US House hearing Wednesday that China appears to be helping Russia evade sanctions but there’s no evidence it is supplying weapons. The US, a State Department official said, is weighing how it might support a special tribunal considering war crimes against Russia.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he wants Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit and is still waiting to talk to him. Xi traveled to Moscow this month.
Key Developments
- Ukraine Gets $1.25B in Grants From US for Social Spending
- Putin’s War Is Intensifying Labor Shortages in Russia’s Economy
- Yellen Says International Aid Programs Crucial to US Leadership
- DOJ Backs EU Push to Freeze Russian Bank Assets Over Ukraine
- Turkey Set to Approve Finland’s NATO Membership on Thursday
(All times CET)
US Weighs Financial, Legal Support for Russia War Crimes Tribunal (8:06 p.m.)
The US may provide financial and other support for a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine, a senior State Department official told reporters on Wednesday.
The US is considering whether to send lawyers from the departments of Justice and Defense and even whether to declassify intelligence that implicates suspects, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Representatives from several nations studying how to try Russian officials over the conflict could use an upcoming meeting in May to make a decision on the tribunal and decide its format, the official said.
China Said to Be Helping Russia Evade Sanctions (7:55 p.m.)
China is likely helping Russia evade sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine and wants to keep the US and its allies occupied so they don’t focus on the Indo-Pacific region, Austin told a US House hearing on Wednesday.
President Xi Jinping doesn’t want to see Russia fail “in a catastrophic way,” but the US has no evidence China is providing Russia with weapons, Austin told the House Armed Services Committee.
IAEA Drops Push for Security Zone at Nuclear Plant (7:19 p.m.)
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi told reporters that he’s focused on improving physical security around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
“There is a significant increase in the number of troops in the region and there is open talk about offensives and counter offensives,” Grossi said in video taped remarks made Wednesday at the plant.
The agency had earlier proposed that a security zone be erected around the reactors but Ukraine said Russian troops would have to first withdraw from the plant.
Grossi said he was instead working with Ukraine and Russian officials to focus “more on the protection itself and the things that should be avoided to protect the plant, rather than the territorial aspects, which pose certain problems.”
Ukraine’s US Ambassador to Throw Ceremonial Opening Day Pitch (7:05 p.m.)
Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch on opening day of the Washington Nationals baseball team.
“We deeply admire Ambassador Markarova’s leadership and courage, and the strength of all Ukrainian people, during this most difficult time,” Mark Lerner, principal owner of the team, said in a statement.
The game is scheduled to begin at 1:05 p.m. Thursday.
US Urges EU to Sanction Chinese Satellite Firm Over Russia Aid (6 p.m.)
The US is urging the European Union and other allies to sanction a Chinese satellite company for allegedly supporting Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter.
Spacety China was hit with US sanctions in January over claims it provided satellite images of locations in Ukraine that enabled the combat operations of Wagner Group mercenaries, led by a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The imagery was sent to Russian technology firm Terra Tech before being transferred to the mercenary group, according to the US filing.
While the EU has aligned in coordination many of its Russia-related sanctions with the US, two months later it has yet to sanction the Chinese satellite firm.
Read more: US Urges EU to Sanction Chinese Satellite Firm Over Russia Aid
Glencore-Backed Viterra Plans to Exit Russian Grain Trade (4 p.m.)
Major crops trader Viterra is planning to exit the Russian market, according to people familiar with the matter.
Russia is the world’s biggest wheat exporter, and Viterra’s exit adds to uncertainty over the future of Black Sea crop shipments. Wheat prices rose on the news. Russia said on Wednesday that top agricultural commodities trader Cargill Inc. will stop exporting its grain.
Read more: Russia Says Crop Titan Cargill Will Stop Exporting Its Grain
Germany to Raise Military Support for Ukraine by €12 Billion (2 p.m.)
The German government plans to increase its financial support for Kyiv by as much as €12 billion ($13 billion) to help arm Ukraine in its fight against Russia, people familiar with the matter said.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius will get the green light from parliament’s budget committee on Wednesday to more than double the pot for this year to €5.4 billion, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.
A further €8.8 billion will be made available if needed in coming years, they said, for an overall increase of €12 billion to €14.2 billion.
EU Aims to Boost Russia Sanctions Enforcement (1:20 p.m.)
The European Union is planning to launch a project with nine member states to identify gaps in the sanctions regime against Russia and to improve coordination between national authorities when enforcing penalties, EU officials said.
The partnership between the European Commission and the national governments, which are currently responsible for the implementation of sanctions, could be a precursor to a new EU body to coordinate sanctions oversight, the officials added.
Yellen Says Aid Crucial to US Leadership (12:45 a.m.)
Yellen said the Biden administration’s proposed spending on international aid and investment programs, exemplified by assistance for Ukraine, will advance US security interests.
“There is perhaps no place where our impact is felt more acutely than in Kyiv,” Yellen said according to prepared remarks she’s due to deliver Wednesday to a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. “In my trip to Ukraine last month, I heard personally about how our coalition’s work has enabled Ukraine to defend itself against a brutal and illegal assault by Russia,” she said.
Russian Hackers Target Slovakia, Report Says (12:30 p.m.)
The Anonymous RU hacker group temporarily disabled the websites of the Slovak central bank, parliament, justice ministry and two local lenders on Tuesday, according to a report in newspaper Dennik N.
The hackers wrote on their Telegram account that the action was a warning to Slovakia for supporting the government in Kyiv and supplying Ukraine’s armed forces with MIG-29 fighter jets. Slovakia approved sending 13 MiG-29s to Ukraine this month in an effort to bolster the country’s defense.
Russia Says Cargill Will Stop Exporting Its Grain (12:15 p.m.)
Russia said top agricultural commodities trader Cargill Inc. will stop exporting its grain, the strongest move yet by a major Western crop merchant to pull back from the country.
As the biggest wheat exporter, Russian shipments are vital to global crop trade and food supplies. A bumper harvest there last year helped wheat futures drop more than 40% from a record reached just after the invasion of Ukraine. While Cargill is a big exporter of Russian wheat, the government said the firm’s decision shouldn’t affect overall shipments out of the country.
IAEA Officials Head to Zaporizhzhia (11:30 a.m.)
International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors are expected to cross the battle line separating Ukrainian and Russian forces Wednesday, with Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi leading a mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The facility, Europe’s biggest atomic-power generator, was taken by Russia in the first week of the war and frequent shelling of electric cables needed to keep the plant’s six reactors safe has fueled fears about a nuclear accident. The IAEA has repeatedly called on Russia and Ukraine to erect a security zone around the reactors, while Ukraine has said that without a complete withdrawal of Russian troops, the IAEA’s proposal is “doomed to fail.”
Sweden Summons Russian Ambassador (11 a.m.)
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom summoned Russia’s ambassador in Stockholm after a posting on the embassy’s website said Sweden would be a “legitimate target” if it joins NATO, calling it “an obvious attempt at influence.”
The ambassador, Viktor Tatarintsev, stated in the posting Tuesday that “new members of the hostile bloc will be a legitimate target for Russia’s retaliatory measures, including military ones.”
Ukraine Sees Wind Replacing Coal Faster (10:45 a.m.)
Ukraine plans to exceed its renewables target after thermal power plants and coal mines were damaged in missile and drone strikes, according to Energy Minister German Galushchenko.
“Renewables is one of our strategies and now we speed this up,” the minister said in an interview. “Due to the destruction of thermal generation and lots of mines destroyed, the process of phasing out coal speeds up dramatically.”
Premiers Urge Big Tech to Fight Disinformation (10 a.m.)
The prime ministers of Ukraine, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Moldova signed a joint letter calling on major technology and social media platforms to combat disinformation which seeks to destabilize their nations and weaken their democracies.
They urged the companies to refrain from accepting payments from sanctioned individuals, deploy algorithms to promote accuracy, make their policies more transparent, improve content moderation and clearly mark AI-generated content and so-called “deepfakes” to identify automated manipulation campaigns.
Putin Won’t Last if He Loses Crimea: Kasparov (9 a.m.)
“I don’t think that Putin or his vertical of power could withstand the liberation of Crimea, because it’s an essential part of the myth,” Garry Kasparov, a Russian opposition activist and chess grandmaster, told the Latvian news site Delfi. “Without which it will not hold together.”
Personalized dictatorships rely on the idea that the leader is invulnerable, Kasparov said, adding that “a Ukrainian victory will shatter this myth” and Russia could then have the opportunity to change. Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula has been under Russian occupation since 2014.
Russia Occupies 65% of Bakhmut: ISW (8:30 a.m.)
Russian forces have advanced into an additional 5% of Bakhmut in the past seven days and they currently occupy roughly 65% of the city, according to the latest assessment by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.
Troops from Russia’s Wagner Group paramilitary organization are likely working to consolidate gains in northern and central Bakhmut to push toward the center and expand their zone of control into western areas of the city, the institute said.
War Intensifying Russian Labor Shortages (8 a.m.)
Putin’s drive to expand Russia’s armed forces is adding to labor shortages as the war draws hundreds of thousands of workers into the military from other sectors of the economy.
Federal Statistics Service data suggest a net increase in the military last year of approximately 400,000 amid already record-low unemployment, Bloomberg Economics estimates, after Putin ordered the call-up of 300,000 reservists in the country’s first partial mobilization since World War II.
Zelenskiy Hasn’t Spoken With Xi Since War Started (7 a.m.)
In his AP interview, Zelenskiy said he hasn’t had any contact with Xi since Kremlin forces invaded Ukraine early last year.
“We are ready to see him here,” he said. “I want to speak with him. I had contact with him before full-scale war. But during all this year, more than one year, I didn’t have.”
He also voiced concerns that shifting political forces in Washington could affect the war. Some politicians in the US have questioned whether Washington should continue to supply Ukraine with military aid.
Belarus Opposition Leader Meets Sullivan (12:40 a.m.)
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who said the two discussed measures to challenge the country’s longtime leader, Alexander Lukashenko, and Putin’s plan to station nuclear weapons there.
During the Monday encounter, Sullivan expressed “the steadfast support of the United States for the Belarusian people’s pursuit of a sovereign and democratic future, including free and fair elections as well as human rights protections,” according to a White House statement. In the 2020 election, Tsikhanouskaya challenged Lukashenko and fled the day after the vote following threats from officials.
(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)
–With assistance from Jonathan Tirone.
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