EU leaders push to fund Ukraine with proceeds from Russia's frozen assets https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-leaders-push-fund-ukraine-110629507.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall European Union leaders will push senior officials on Thursday to find legal ways to funnel proceeds from billions of dollars of frozen Russian assets into projects helping rebuild Ukraine, papers showed. The bloc has said it froze more than 200 billion euros ($218.2 billion) of Russian central bank assets in reaction to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February last year. Another 30 billion euros of Russian oligarchs' private assets were also immobilised. Leaders of member states meeting in Brussels will ask the EU's executive Commission and other bodies to press on with research into how they can put the Russian money to work for Ukraine, draft conclusions of the summit showed. During months of debate on the issue, lawyers have said there is no legal precedent to simply take the money, and the Kremlin warned in November it would do everything it could to stop the West "plundering" its assets. EU officials say they have been looking at alternatives, for example taking accrued interest or bond coupons or taxing such profits. "The European Council took stock of the work done regarding Russia’s immobilised assets, and invites the Council, the High Representative and the Commission to take work forward, in accordance with EU and international law, and in coordination with partners," the draft conclusion read. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said Russia and its oligarchs had a legitimate claim on the frozen assets, but Ukraine also had a legitimate claim against Russia over the damage it had caused. "It's fundamentally wrong that our taxpayers get to pay for something that we haven't caused. It has to be on Russia, it has to be on their assets," she said. Russia has not made any public Against the background of possible legal challenges, the EU has been working to coordinate closely with the United States, Canada, Britain and Japan - the G7 - to build international consensus. The EU also needs to establish where to keep any proceeds from the Russian assets and how to disburse them. The sums are substantial. Belgium's Euroclear, which settles transactions and safeguards assets, said blocked coupon payments and redemptions boosted its balance sheet by 88 billion euros year-on-year by the end of March to 140 billion euros. European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said last week the EU executive would come up with a proposal before August on how to use the assets for Ukraine . ($1 = 0.9164 euros) (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Andrew Heavens)
Russia's war economy staggers on amid political chaos Less than a week after the Wagner Group's attempted coup, uncertainty reigns in Russia. Opponents of Vladimir Putin are considering other threats to his leadership, including the economy. The oil price is a major hitch. https://www.dw.com/en/vladimir-puti...n-russia-depends-on-the-oil-price/a-66076602?
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Russias-Oil-And-Gas-Revenues-Drop-In-June.html Russia’s Oil And Gas Revenues Drop In June
Russia's economy is much stronger than the US and as they are able to get access to their financial assets abroad like gold for instance, they are only going to get stronger. BRICs as an economic bloc is only getting stronger by the day. Remember, Russia is one of the largest arms manufacturers in the world, outside of the US and China. Could that be the reason, the US is trying so hard to prolong the Ukraine war? This Ukraine war also, showcases the weakness of US and European weapons on the battlefields. The destruction of the NATO tanks and Bradleys is bound to hurt future sales except, for NATO countries. Also, unlike the US, Russia does not have a $33 trillion dollar deficit. Russians will die before they let the US and NATO take over Russia for its natural resources. Sanctions have hurt the US and European NATO countries but, they would not admit it publicly. Does not change the fact that Germany is already struggling financially as France and other European NATO members. Give this Ukraine war another 5 years but, I doubt it will last that long.
Another industry in Russia in free-fall. "Since the outbreak of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the number of sex industry clients has also declined, which many drafted to fight, while others have fled Russia." There is no industry or sector in Russia untouched by Putin's stupidity. Russian Sex Workers — Invisible Victims Of The War In Ukraine With increased aggression from clients, police repression and a sudden decrease in their livelihoods, Russia's invasion of Ukraine is impacting this already-vulnerable group of women. https://worldcrunch.com/culture-society/sex-workers-russia-war
https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/The-High-Cost-Of-Russias-Aerospace-Ambitions.html The High Cost Of Russia's Aerospace Ambitions By The Jamestown Foundation - Jul 08, 2023, 4:00 PM CDT The cost of manufacturing MC-21s, Russia's counterpart to the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320/321, has seen a significant increase, posing challenges to the state-sponsored program. The plan to increase the production of engines like the PD-14s and TV7-117-ST-02 version is unrealistic given the current manufacturing issues and additional costs. The efforts to increase arms production in Russia are likely to encounter similar cost increases and challenges, despite the optimistic statements from Kremlin officials. Russia’s military industry continues to bolster efforts to increase arms production in the face of strangling Western sanctions. The results of these efforts have been doubtful considering the engagement of high-ranking officials in the administration of any single factory, their “manual mode” of management and massive organizational changes without clear reasons, as happened with the Russian artillery industry where reorganization took several months (RBC, April 18; Interfax, June 6; Scrf.gov.ru, June 15; Rostec.ru, June 28; Roscosmos.ru, June 29). However, the lack of open and accurate information regarding production rates in Russia’s defense industry forces analysts to search for more data that will improve assessments of Russian arms manufacturing. In this way, the production statistics for commercial aircraft and engines, for which significant data is available in open sources, may be used as indicators of the aerospace industry as the most advanced part of the Russian military-industrial complex. At the moment, the manufacture of commercial aircraft is facing skyrocketing costs. The price of manufacturing MC-21s, the Russian counterpart of the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320/321, of which first deliveries are scheduled for 2024, has increased from 3.2 billion rubles ($43 million) for delivery in 2024–2026 to somewhere between 4.3 billion and 4.6 billion rubles ($50 million–$54 million) for delivery in 2028–2030. This is actually higher than the price of the American and European aircraft of the same type, which contradicts the recently declared plans. The amount of MC-21s planned to be supplied by 2030 is 270 aircraft, with the largest portion scheduled for 2027–2030 when annual production is set to achieve 72 aircraft (Ixbt.com, April 7; TASS, April 25; Kommersant, June 29). However, the problem here is that the state-sponsored program for MC-21 production projected an average annual production rate of 36 aircraft, with a peak option of 45 planes (Rossiyskaya gazeta, December 15, 2020). Moreover, almost half of these aircraft were meant to receive American-made PW1400G engines, while the other half were planned to receive Russian-made PD-14 engines. The development and production of this particular engine is also state-sponsored, and the originally planned annual production rate was 50 engines. Yet, according to the current plans, annual production of PD-14s must reach 160. Such a massive increase is hardly possible, especially when considering that only 12 engines were going to be produced in 2024 (59.ru, May 30, 2017; TASS, June 22, 2022; Ixbt.com, April 7). The current manufacturing rate of Tu-214 aircraft is also far from reaching Russia’s needs. The annual production rate is planned to be increased from one to ten aircraft in 2025–2026 and to 20 aircraft in 2027–2030. For this purpose, the Russian government and state-owned corporation Rostec need to invest 83 billion rubles (about $1 billion), with the import substitution of this Soviet-era aircraft only being completed by the end of 2024 (Interfax, June 22; Ixbt.com, June 24). The price of Tu-214s was reported as similar to the price of MC-21s at the beginning of 2023, almost 3.2 billion rubles ($43 million); it will likely also surpass the manufacturing price of Boeing 737 and Airbus A320/321 aircraft in the foreseeable future, which will lead to more losses (Expert.ru, January 14). The program to upgrade the TV7-117 engine (TV7-117-ST-02 version), which is focused on helicopters and the new Il-114-300 turboprop cargo aircraft, is another example of the dysfunction in Russian arms manufacturing. The production plan for 2023–2024 aims for six new engines for Il-114-300 aircraft per year, and the projected annual production rate of the TV7-117-ST-02 version is 20 to 50 engines for 2025–2027. However, the total production rate of the whole TV7-117 family of engines is supposed to be 100 per year by 2028–2030 (Aviaport.ru, June 29). Thus, it is hard to say whether Russia will be able to achieve this planned production rate for the new engines if there are problems with manufacturing the previous generation of TV3-117 engines, which are used on many Russian helicopter models, including the combat-ready ones. For example, in 2021, Russia produced about 300 TV3-117s, but production was dependent on smuggling supplies from Ukraine. The plan for 2023 is 500 engines; however, the main operator of Russian-made commercial helicopters has already declared a severe storage in related parts (TASS, March 31, 2022; Interfax, May 18). All this means that the significant increase in production rates within the Russian aircraft industry will inevitably mean enormous cost increases even if production is based on well-known technologies, components and industrial equipment. In addition, the planned switch to new generations of engines, aircraft or other systems will mean a decrease in production rates but additional increases in costs. Consequently, the plan to increase domestic arms production in Russia will likely see similar cost increases and challenges, despite any self-congratulatory statements from Kremlin officials.