- Putin warns of retaliation if West interferes
- Ukraine says Europe should stop depending on Russia
- France will host EU energy ministers on May 2nd
- Russia denies energy blackmail
- Canada says Russian attacks are war crimes
WARSAW/SOFIA/Kyiv, April 28 – Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of lightning-fast retaliation if countries interfere in Ukraine, as European leaders accused Russia of “blackmail” over its gas supply cuts.
Russia has urged the United States to stop sending arms to Ukraine, saying large Western arms shipments would fuel the conflict.
Putin told lawmakers in St. Petersburg on Wednesday that the West wants to break up Russia into different parts, accusing him of pushing Ukraine into conflict with Russia.
“If anyone intends to intervene from the outside in current events and create strategic threats to Russia that are unacceptable to us, they should know that our retaliatory strikes will be lightning-fast,” Putin said, according to a video of his speech from Russian media.
“We have all the tools for it, things that no one else can boast of now. And we will not boast, we will use them when necessary. And I want everyone to know that.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, has reduced cities and towns to rubble and forced more than 5 million people to flee abroad. Western countries have responded with sanctions and arms for Ukraine to fight a war that has raised fears in the West of a larger conflict unthought of for decades.
Russia calls its intervention a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West see this as a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by President Vladimir Putin.
As Russia ramps up its military offensive in eastern and southern Ukraine, its economic struggle with the West threatens gas supplies to Europe and battered the Russian economy, which is grappling with its worst crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Ukraine said Europe should stop relying on Russia for trade after it halted gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland because they didn’t pay in rubles.
“The sooner everyone in Europe realizes that they cannot rely on Russia for trade, the sooner it will be possible to ensure stability in European markets,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Wednesday.
Germany, the biggest buyer of Russian energy, hopes to stop importing Russian oil within days but warned that a Russian energy embargo or blockade would plunge Europe’s largest economy into recession. Continue reading
Gazprom (GAZP.MM), Russia’s gas export monopoly, on Wednesday halted gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland for not paying in rubles, as stipulated in a decree by Putin aimed at softening the impact of sanctions.
While the European Commission President said the suspension of Gazprom was “another attempt by Russia to use gas as a blackmail tool,” ambassadors from EU member states asked for clearer guidance on whether sending euros violates sanctions.
France will host a meeting of EU energy ministers on May 2nd.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia remains a reliable energy supplier and denied involvement in blackmail.
He refused to say how many countries had agreed to pay for gas in rubles, but other European customers said gas supplies were going as normal.
Sanctions are taking a heavy toll on Russia, as its economy ministry said in a document the economy could shrink by as much as 12.4% this year. Continue reading
Canadian lawmakers on Wednesday voted unanimously to label the Russian attacks in Ukraine as “genocide,” with MPs saying there was “ample evidence of systemic and massive war crimes against humanity” being committed by Russia.
Canada’s Parliament said in a motion that Russia’s war crimes include mass atrocities, premeditated killings of civilians, desecration of corpses, forcible transfer of children, torture, physical and psychological harm and rape. Continue reading
Russia denies attacks on civilians.
Since the Russian invasion force was pushed back to the outskirts of Kyiv last month, Moscow has focused its operation on eastern Ukraine and launched a new offensive to fully seize two provinces known as the Donbas.
Ukraine said Russian forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a pro-Ukrainian rally in Kherson, the first major city they captured. A series of powerful explosions caused by rockets hit Kherson late on Wednesday, Ria news agency reported. Continue reading
Blasts were heard earlier in three Russian provinces bordering Ukraine, authorities said, and an ammunition depot in Belgorod province caught fire. Continue reading
Kyiv has not acknowledged responsibility for these and other incidents, calling them revenge. “Karma is a cruel thing,” wrote presidential adviser Mikhaylo Podolyak on social media.
An aide to the mayor of the devastated port city of Mariupol said Russian forces had renewed their attacks on the Azovstal steel plant, where militants and some civilians were hiding.
Concerns have also grown over the conflict spreading to neighboring Moldova, where pro-Russian separatists blame Ukraine for this week’s reported attacks in their region, which has been occupied by Russian forces since the 1990s.
Additional coverage by Reuters journalists; writing by Michael Perry; Edited by Robert Birsel