European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends the official welcome to the G7 leaders summit at Bavaria's Schloss Elmau castle, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany June 26, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/Pool
Brussels/18.07.22/Reuters: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will arrive travel in Baku on Monday to seek more natural gas from Azerbaijan, an EU official said, as the European Union seeks to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies.
"With Russia continuing to weaponize its energy supplies, diversification of our energy imports is a priority for the EU," the European Commission said in a Twitter post. "President von der Leyen and Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson will arrive in Azerbaijan tomorrow to further strengthen cooperation."
According to a draft document seen by Reuters on July 14, the Commission proposed that EU countries strike a deal with Azerbaijan to raise natural gas imports and support the expansion of the pipeline to that end.
The Commission was not immediately available for comment. EU governments have already agreed to a gradual oil embargo on Russia.
Meanwhile, Russian gas transit through Poland has stopped this year, and gas supplies through Ukraine have been cut because of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Germany, the world's fourth-largest economy, is preparing for all scenarios, including a complete shutdown of Russian gas supplies, even after the usual 10-day maintenance period for the giant Nord Stream 1 pipeline ends later this week.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's Ambassador to international bodies in Vienna, said on Twitter Sunday, "Russia has never refused to continue supplying natural gas to Europe and is in full compliance with its contractual obligations."-0-
Politics
-
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan published a set of proposals on his Facebook page aimed at establishing long-term peace in the region. Among them, he suggested that Azerbaijan should abandon mutual claims against Armenia, including in international courts. Other proposals include: refraining from using belligerent rhetoric, continuing the demarcation of borders, signing a peace agreement that is 90% ready, mutually implementing arms control, creating a joint mechanism to investigate violations of the ceasefire regime, and dissolving the OSCE Minsk Group.
-
The United States announced a new and final military aid package to Ukraine under President Joe Biden’s administration. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stated in Germany that the total amount of assistance will be $500 million.
-
In 2024, 249 employees of the State Service for Mobilization and Military Conscription were held accountable. According to a statement from the agency, internal investigations were conducted regarding officials who violated anti-corruption legislation. Disciplinary and organizational measures were applied to 78 employees in 2023 and 249 employees in 2024. This included the transfer of 13 employees to the reserve for negative reasons, and their labor contracts were terminated.
-
Recently, a member of the Public Chamber of Russia, political scientist Vladimir Kara-Murza, used offensive language towards the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, on his social media page. This occurred after Aliyev blamed Russia for the downed AZAL plane. Kara-Murza considered that Aliyev had no right to address the Russian authorities in such a manner.
Leave a review