Newsflash – September 30

Annexation. The leaders of the 27 EU member states rejected and condemned Russia’s announcement regarding the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. „We do not and will never recognise the illegal ‘referenda’ that Russia has engineered as a pretext for this further violation of Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, nor their falsified and illegal results. We will never recognise this illegal annexation”, the members of the European Council said in a statement. The United States announced new „severe” sanctions against Russia, condemning the latter’s „fraudulent” claim to have annexed four more Ukrainian territories. Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday declared the four Ukrainian regions partly occupied by Russian troops as Russian. He talked in Moscow at a ceremony attended by hundreds of dignitaries. The annexation comes after referendums organised in these regions which Kyiv and the West describe as a farce. Ukraine said it would continue to fight for liberate these territories and that the annexation has no legitimacy and only reflects Moscow’s reaction to the recent defeats on the battleground. The Russian troops control most of Luhansk and Kherson, but only a few areas in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia. The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu took to Twitter on Friday to call on the international community to fully reject the illegal and illegitimate annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russian following self-styled referenda and illegal aggression. He underlined that Romania condemns this action and the escalation and reiterated his country’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Energy. EU members on Friday reached an agreement on measures to compensate for high electricity prices, announced the Czech presidency of the EU. The agreement refers to the mandatory reduction of electricity consumption, a revenue cap on cheap electricity and a solidarity contribution from fossil fuel producers. According to Reuters, the package includes a levy on fossil fuel companies’ surplus profits, to apply in 2022 and 2023, a levy on excess revenues of low-cost power producers and a 5% cut in electricity use during peak price periods.
Moldova. The European Union will provide support to the Republic of Moldova if Gazprom cuts deliveries of natural gas, beginning 1st October, the EU commissioner for budget and administration Johannes Hahn told a press conference in the Moldovan capital Chişinău. Moldova’s president Maia Sandu said her country is one of the most vulnerable and worst hit by the energy crisis in Europe and hailed the support offered by Brussels. The EU official also said the Union will help Moldova cope with a potentially new wave of refugees in the event of an escalation of the war in Ukraine. President Maia Sandu reaffirmed her country’s commitment to make progress on its path to European integration.