New salvo of sanctions in sight. Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, affirmed on Monday 2 May that“there will be other Russian banks that will exit from Swift”, the American interbank payment system at the heart of global financial exchanges. He also clarified that the EU plans to “limit energy imports from Russia, especially oil”. Follow our live.
The EU refuses to pay for Russian gas in rubles, as Moscow demands. “We must prepare for a suspension of supplies”warned the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, who denounces “a unilateral and unjustified modification of contracts and it is legitimate to reject it”. She has clarified that only two thirds of the 150 billion cubic meters of gas purchased from Russia could be replaced.
The civilians evacuated from the Azovstal factory in Mariupol, still expected in Zaporizhia. The hundred people evacuated this weekend were expected Monday evening in Zaporijia, a town located about 200 km to the northwest and still under Ukrainian control. According to the Russian army, 57 people left for the North, towards territories occupied by the Russians, and 69 towards territories controlled by the Ukrainians. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk recalled that “hundreds of civilians remain stranded” in the factory bombed by Russian forces.
Washington accuses Moscow of wanting to annex pro-Russian Ukrainian territories by referendum. The United States claims to have information “very believable” according to which Russia intends “manufacture from scratch” referendums “mid-may” for “attempt to annex” the “republics” separatists from Donetsk and Luhansk, which are in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin had already used this process to annex Crimea in 2014.