Posted on 08/30/2024 4:01:03 AM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
"Russians record a video accusing Putin of treason, demanding his resignation" Kanal13 1.66M subscribers 8-30-2024 2:30 a.m. Minutes 6:08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgnjPv8BWww
"Vladimir Vladimirovich, in February 2022, your controlled media said that this operation would be over in 3 days. Excuse me, but it has been going on for three years already!" the Russian says in the video. In addition, he accused Putin of treason and demanded his resignation, since dozens and hundreds of factories in Russia have gone bankrupt and Russians are living worse and worse. "The truth is obvious to everyone, which every Russian sees and understands, but speaking it out loud in Russia is literally life-threatening," people comment on the video on social networks.
Putin likes to project himself as a strongman. But his track record of handling recent crises in Russia reveals a different side of his presidential persona: one of paralysis and indecision. A day and a half after Ukrainian troops stormed a Russian border crossing and continued, almost unimpeded, across the wide green fields of the southern Kursk region, Putin finally made his first public remarks on the matter. He called the incursion a “massive provocation”, accused Ukraine of indiscriminately firing on civilians, and then moved on quickly to other government business, including how to mark Russia’s “Construction Worker’s Day.”
It would take another five days, and the loss of nearly 30 settlements, before he promised a military response. There was no visit to the region to meet the tens of thousands of evacuees, no declaration of martial law. Battlefield accounts have backed up the sense that a motley selection of Russian troops were rushed in, as Moscow grappled with the dilemma of how to balance defending its own soil with keeping up the slow momentum on the eastern front. Ukrainian officials said some troops were redeployed from Kharkiv region and the southern front. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov claimed early on that his special forces unit, the Akhmat brigade, had been deployed. Naval infantry officers from the Black Sea fleet in Crimea are also involved. Experts agree the Kursk incursion has not fundamentally changed Putin’s overarching strategy of attrition – to exhaust Ukraine, and try to outlast its allies. And yet, Ukraine’s surprise move has emboldened those who had previously questioned the West’s policy of limiting certain types of military aid, and their use inside Russia.'
ARTICLE
Exclusive-Russia payment hurdles with China partners intensified in August, sources say
By Thomson Reuters
Aug 30, 2024 | 1:06 AM
https://wsau.com/2024/08/30/exclusive-russia-payment-hurdles-with-china-partners-intensified-in-august-sources-say/
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Some Russian companies are facing growing delays and rising costs on payments with trading partners in China, leaving transactions worth tens of billions of yuan in limbo, Russian sources with direct knowledge of the issue told Reuters.
Russian companies and officials for a few months have pointed to delays in transactions after Chinese banks tightened compliance following Western threats of secondary sanctions for dealing with Russia. The sources said the problem has intensified this month.
Chinese state banks are shutting down transactions with Russia “en masse” and billions of yuan worth of payments are held up, a source close to the government, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
China is Russia’s largest trading partner, accounting for a third of Russia’s foreign trade last year and supplying items such as vital industrial equipment and consumer goods that help Russia weather Western sanctions. It also provides a lucrative market for many Russian exports that China relies on, from oil and gas to agricultural products.
After the U.S. Treasury in June threatened secondary sanctions on banks in China and other countries for dealing with Russia, Chinese banks started to take a very strict stance on transactions, said a source at one of Russia’s leading e-commerce platforms. It sells a wide variety of consumer goods imported from China.
“At that moment, all cross-border payments to China stopped. We found solutions, but it took about three weeks, which is a very long time, trade volumes fell drastically during that time,” said the source.
One working solution was to buy gold, move it to Hong Kong and sell it there, depositing cash in a local bank account, the person said.
Sources told Reuters that some Russian businesses have been using chains of intermediaries in third countries to handle their transactions and get around compliance checks run by Chinese banks. As a result, costs to process transactions have risen to as much as 6% of transaction payments, from close to zero before, they said.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
“For many small companies, this means a complete shutdown,” another source close to the government said.
The Kremlin acknowledged the problem but said that economic cooperation is important for both countries and that solutions will be found.
“With such volumes and in such an unfriendly environment, it is impossible to avoid some problematic situations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement to Reuters.
“However, the truly partnership spirit of our relations allows us to discuss and resolve current issues constructively,” he said.
Transactions with China are not of grave concern to top Russian leadership, however, because payments in priority areas are still proceeding smoothly, and there is political will from both sides, a banking source told Reuters. Bilateral arrangements for large companies, such as Russia’s commodity exporters and China’s exporters of vital technologies, still work well, whereas smaller companies trading in consumer goods experience problems, sources said.
Russian exporters haven’t experienced difficulties in receiving payments for commodities that China imports, such as oil or grain, another source close to the Russian government told Reuters.
Bilateral trade between Russia and China grew by 1.6% to $137 billion in the first half of 2024, according to China’s official customs data, after hitting a record high $240 billion in 2023.
“Normal trade between China and Russia is consistent with WTO rules and market principles, is not directed against third parties and is not subject to interference or coercion by third parties,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman told Reuters.
“We firmly oppose any illegal unilateral sanctions and “long-arm jurisdiction” and will take all necessary measures to safeguard our legitimate rights and interests,” the spokesman added.
Russia’s imports from China fell by more than 1% to $62 billion in January-July 2024 due to payment problems, according to China’s official statistics.
Russia’s central bank forecasts the country’s total imports from around the world will fall by as much as 3% this year.
“Imports will decrease in 2024 due to the strengthening of sanctions barriers related to payments and logistics,” the central bank said, although it predicted that the situation would improve in the medium term, according to draft monetary policy guidelines published on Aug. 29.After Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China in May, some local Chinese banks without a global business stepped in to handle bilateral payments. They would be out of the reach of Western sanctions enforcers.
However, sources pointed out that these banks often had outdated IT systems and lacked staff with the necessary skills.
The banking source said that cross-border couriers were shuttling transfer papers across the Russia-China border to get them physically stamped and signed by Chinese bankers.
“Until issues with payments are resolved at the state level, we cannot expect a dynamic inflow of investments from China,” said Kirill Babaev, head of the China Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Research co-authored by Babaev and released this month highlights the risks posed to Russia’s industrial sector where China has become a leading supplier.
“In today’s situation, payment problems with Chinese banks particularly exacerbate this challenge, as there are no other major suppliers of many types of industrial equipment besides China at present,” the research paper said.
Large companies in China as well as India are heavily dependent on American and European markets, Dmitry Birichevski, head of the economic department at Russia’s foreign ministry, said at a conference in Moscow on Aug. 16.
“And they are being told, ‘Guys, if you continue to work with Russia, we will cut off your access to our market and choke off your oxygen supply’,” he said.
(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow; Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Susan Fenton)
Cool story, bro. Hope that works out.
Let it be so.
Amen
Ukrainians could do the same thing with Zelensky.
ZEEPER FOLLIES PINGLIST!(((PING!)))
One would pray the Russian will finally decide they have had enough with the endless wars...but given their past, they seem to not really GAS unless they start getting hungry.
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'Stop Lying...': Zelensky Aide 'Exposes' Military's F-16 Crash 'Sham'
What Moonfish doink?
Well, look who’s back...Our own Tokyo...
Lawfare and/or assassinations against Putins accusers in: 3, 2, 1
Meanwhile, YouCrayne Air Defense shoots down one of it’s F-16 planes
killing the Ukie Pilot. YouCraynee just as corrupt as Ruzzia.
Here is who is coaching Zelensky. Zeepers are his cheer squad.
https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/andrij-yermak-zustrivsya-z-oleksandrom-sorosom-92865
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Stop with your stupid propaganda. It’s BS, everyone knows it’s BS and you know. Get a fricking life.
You are the propagandist and obviously a dedicated Neo-Stalinist. So quit insulting a Freeper with your KGB-approved lines.
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