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Russia Suspends Arms Inspections Under Treaty With U.S.

Russia said Monday it was suspending U.S. on-site inspections under a strategic arms reduction treaty with Washington, pointing to Western sanctions and coronavirus infections.

The Russian foreign ministry said facilities that are subject to inspections under the New START treaty will be "temporarily" exempt from such inspections.

The announcement comes as ties between Russia and the United States unravel over Moscow's intervention in Ukraine and debilitating Western sanctions.

New START is the last remaining arms reduction pact between the former Cold War rivals and caps to 1,550 the number of nuclear warheads that can be deployed by Moscow and Washington.

"Russia is now forced to resort to this measure as a result of Washington's persistent desire to implicitly achieve a restart of inspections on conditions that do not take into account existing realities," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Moscow also accused Washington of seeking "to create unilateral advantages" and deprive Russia of "the right to carry out inspections on American soil."

The statement indicated it had become hard for Moscow to carry out inspections on American soil due to Western sanctions including the closure of air space for Russian planes and visa restrictions.

Moscow also pointed to a new spike in coronavirus cases in the United States.

"We believe that in the current circumstances, the parties should abandon patently counterproductive attempts to artificially speed up the resumption of START inspection activities and focus on a thorough study of all existing problems in this area," the foreign ministry said.

Last year, the United States and Russia extended New START by the maximum allowed time of five years.

Moscow's announcement came after U.S. President Joe Biden called on Russia and China to demonstrate their commitment to limiting nuclear arms.

Russia should demonstrate its willingness to renew the nuclear arms reduction pact when it expires in 2026, Biden said.

In an emailed comment, a U.S. State Department spokesman said that Washington is committed to the New START treaty, "but we keep discussions between the parties concerning treaty implementation confidential."

"The principles of reciprocity, mutual predictability, and mutual stability will continue to guide the U.S. approach to implementation of the New START Treaty," the official said.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/russia-suspends-arms-inspections-under-treaty-with-u-s/?feed_id=8445&_unique_id=62f1da4aafd12

Russia Says 'Ready' to Discuss Prisoner Exchange With U.S.

Russia is "ready" to discuss a prisoner swap with Washington at the presidential level, its foreign minister said on Friday, a day after the drug conviction of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner.

"We are ready to discuss this subject, but only within the framework of the [communication] channel established by presidents Putin and Biden," Sergei Lavrov told a press conference on a visit to Cambodia.

"There is a special channel established by the presidents and despite certain public declarations, it is still functional," he said.

"If the Americans again decide to engage in public diplomacy and make thundering declarations... that's their business and their problem," he said, adding that Washington "can't" work "in a professional and calm manner."

Lavrov spoke a day after a Russian court sentenced Griner to nine years in a penal colony on a drug smuggling charge.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/russia-says-ready-to-discuss-prisoner-exchange-with-u-s/?feed_id=6868&_unique_id=62ecc4c875367

U.S. Sanctions Putin 'Girlfriend,' More Oligarchs for 'Complicity' in Ukraine War

The United States blacklisted Russian President Vladimir Putin's purported girlfriend and the tycoon owner of the second-largest estate in London on Tuesday in the latest round of sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

Also hit with U.S. business bans were several other oligarchs believed to be close to Putin, four officials Russia has named to administer occupied territories in Ukraine, and around two dozen high technology institutes and companies, including key state-backed electronics entities.

The U.S. Treasury announced sanctions on Putin associate and billionaire Andrey Grigoryevich Guryev, who owns the Witanhurst estate, the second-largest estate in London after Buckingham Palace.

Guryev is the founder and former deputy chairman of PhosAgro, a major supplier to global fertilizer markets.

He and his son were hit with financial sanctions, which ban U.S. businesses — including banks with U.S. branches — from transactions with them, and freeze their assets under U.S. jurisdictions.

The Treasury also blacklisted Guryev's Caribbean-based 81-meter (267 feet) yacht Alfa Nero, which puts it at risk of seizure.

However, the Treasury said Alfa Nero "has reportedly shut off its location tracking hardware in order to avoid seizure."

The Treasury also imposed sanctions on Alina Kabaeva, a former Olympic gymnast widely described as Putin's girlfriend, and Natalya Popova, the wife of Kirill Dmitriev, the manager of the Russian government's massive sovereign wealth fund.

The Treasury said Popova works for the technology firm Innopraktika, which is run by one of Putin's daughters.

"As innocent people suffer from Russia's illegal war of aggression, Putin's allies have enriched themselves and funded opulent lifestyles," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.

"The Treasury Department will use every tool at our disposal to make sure that Russian elites and the Kremlin's enablers are held accountable for their complicity in a war that has cost countless lives," Yellen said.

Viktor Filippovich Rashnikov, one of Russia's largest taxpayers, and two subsidiaries of his MMK, which is among the world's largest steel producers, also were hit with sanctions.

In a joint action, the State Department imposed sanctions, including visa restrictions, on oligarchs "running massive revenue-generating companies," including Dmitry Aleksandrovich Pumpyanskiy, Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko and Alexander Anatolevich Ponomarenko.

In addition, nearly 900 Russian officials were placed on a U.S. visa ban list, as were 31 unnamed non-Russian officials who have supported Russia's occupation of Crimea, the State Department said.

"Today, the United States is taking additional actions to ensure that the Kremlin and its enablers feel the compounding effects of our response to the Kremlin's unconscionable war of aggression," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/u-s-sanctions-putin-girlfriend-more-oligarchs-for-complicity-in-ukraine-war/?feed_id=5846&_unique_id=62e9d6aecfd15

Resuming Talks With Russia, U.S. Offers 'Substantial' Deal on Prisoners

The United States has made a "substantial proposal" to Russia to free Americans including basketball star Brittney Griner, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday, as he announced he will speak to his Moscow counterpart for the first time since the Ukraine war.

Blinken said he expected a telephone call "in the coming days" with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the offer to free former Marine Paul Whelan as well as Griner — who told a court earlier Wednesday that she had brought in banned drugs unintentionally.

The pair "have been wrongfully detained and must be allowed to come home," Blinken told reporters.

"We put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release. Our governments have communicated repeatedly and directly on that proposal and I'll use the conversation to follow up personally," he said.

Citing the sensitivity, Blinken declined to go into detail or confirm reports that the United States was offering to trade them for Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms smuggler.

The United States and Russia already engaged in one prisoner swap in the heat of the Ukraine war: In April Washington exchanged former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed for convicted drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko.

President Joe Biden has faced growing pressure to free Griner, who faces up to 10 years in prison and whose wife earlier accused the administration of doing too little.

Whelan, a security official at an auto parts company, was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 and in 2020 sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage, which he denies.

Whelan's family in a statement voiced appreciation for the Biden administration's efforts and hoped that Russia "accepts this or some other concession" for his freedom.

No negotiation on Ukraine

The telephone conversation will be the first between Blinken and Lavrov since Feb. 15 when the top U.S. diplomat warned Russia against invading Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin went ahead and attacked nine days later, leading the United States and its allies to impose sweeping sanctions and to seek to isolate Russia on the world stage.

The conversation "will not be a negotiation about Ukraine," Blinken told reporters.

"Any negotiation regarding Ukraine is for its people and people to determine," he said.

Blinken said the United States — which has been pouring billions in military aid into Ukraine — was "under no illusion" that Russia was ready to engage "meaningfully and constructively" to end the war.

"In the meantime, we'll continue to do all that we can to strengthen Ukraine's position on the battlefield," he said.

Blinken said he would urge Russia to fulfill a breakthrough agreement reached last week in Turkey to allow the release of Ukrainian grain after a blockade has sent global food prices soaring.

"Hundreds of millions of people are waiting for these ships to set forth from Ukraine's ports," Blinken said.

He also said he would warn of further consequences if Russia annexes more Ukrainian territory. Moscow in 2014 seized Crimea and declared the peninsula to be part of Russia, a decision not recognized by most of the world.

The White House recently said that Russia was laying the groundwork for "sham referenda" in areas it seized, possibly as early as September.

Blinken pointedly declined to meet Lavrov when they both attended Group of 20 talks earlier this month in Bali, with the United States rallying its allies in criticizing Russia in the closed-door sessions.

Griner says no intention to break law

Griner, a two-time Olympic basketball gold medalist and Women's NBA champion who had played in Russia, was detained just days before Moscow launched its offensive.

She has pleaded guilty to drug charges over possessing vape cartridges with cannabis oil.

Speaking at her trial in Khimki, just outside Moscow, Griner said she still did not know how the cartridges ended up in her bag and had no intention to use them.

"I did not think of or plan to bring banned substances into Russia," said Griner, wearing a Phoenix Mercury T-shirt and black basketball trousers.

"I did not intend to break Russian law," she added, saying that she was in a rush packing and tired after a recovery from Covid.

"I wouldn't do anything that would hurt my team."

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/resuming-talks-with-russia-u-s-offers-substantial-deal-on-prisoners/?feed_id=3078&_unique_id=62e1d1e1b921b