Russian President Vladimir Putin said that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine “have actually been put on hold” and that Ukraine is not interested in dialogue. Zelensky has said once again that he is ready to have direct talks with Putin. Kalin, top foreign policy adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Turkey had not closed the door on Sweden and Finland to join NATO, but wanted to negotiate with them to combat what Turkey sees as terrorism.
Finland officially announced its membership in NATO. Sweden is expected to submit an application to join NATO on Tuesday. The Finnish President and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy of the Government approved Finland's application to join NATO. Parliament will meet on the 16th to consider Finland's application for joining NATO. The Finnish foreign minister previously stated that the paper application for joining NATO will be formally submitted to the NATO headquarters in Brussels on the 18th.
According to the Swedish daily, Sweden hopes to submit an application to join NATO on Tuesday. Swedish Prime Minister Andreessen said on Sunday that joining NATO would best meet Sweden's security needs. Karen Donfried, the top U.S. diplomat for European affairs, said the U.S. strongly supports Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
The Russian Electric Power Company suspended power supply to Finland. On the 13th local time, Rao Nordic, a Nordic subsidiary of Russia's Unified Electricity Import and Export Corporation, announced that it would suspend power supply to Finland from May 14 because Finland had unpaid arrears.
The EU is determined to embargo Russian oil and will win the support of Hungary.
The European Union plans to approve a new package of sanctions against Russia and has no intention of delaying the implementation of the oil embargo, senior European sources told media in Brussels. A senior EU official said the bloc was determined to maintain a united front against Moscow and win Hungary's support. In addition, the EU draws up a 195 billion euro energy transition plan to end Russian fossil fuel imports.
Leave a Reply