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March 16, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 3
report and giving its opinion on launching acces- sion negotiations. The government of Macedonia, an EU candidate country since 2005, expects to obtain a positive unconditional recommendation for the start of EU accession talks this year.
European Commission spokesperson Maja Kocija- ncic said that the Commission expects the law to be sent to the Venice Commission as announced in the reform programme dubbed “Plan 3-6-9”, news agency MIA reported. Kocijancic said that the implementation of the law should be in ac- cordance with European standards.
MPs threatened
Meanwhile, police have strengthened security measures following the March 14 vote, particular- ly in areas where MPs from the governing Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) party live, due to the threatening messages received by
US expands Russian sanctions as tensions mount
announced possible Russian state asset freezes.
The latest update of the US sanctions is attributed to malicious Russian cyber activity, including at- tempts to meddle in elections, cyber attacks and interventions in critical infrastructure, the head of the US Treasury Steve Mnuchin commented.
However, about a third of the people on the newly expanded sanction list have already been sanc- tioned under the Barack Obama and Donald Trump administrations, so the latest move is un- likely to have any impact on the Russian economy.
Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom placed €750mn worth of eight-years Eurobonds in Lon- don with demand exceeding supply three-fold,
phones and by Internet.
No one knows how much dangerous the threats are, but media wrote that most SDSM MPs are keeping a low profile following the threats.
A car owned by an SDSM lawmaker from the city of Vinica was set on fire, which was the most seri- ous incident reported so far following the adoption of the law.
In Skopje, a group of citizens is also collecting signatures for a petition against the law. New pro- tests cannot be ruled out.
A day earlier, Albanian and Kosovan officials hailed the adoption of the law, which makes Albanian second official language in Macedonia, where ethnic Albanians are estimated to make up a quarter of the population of 2.1mn.
Vedomosti daily reported on March 15 citing the organisers of the issue Gazprombank and VTB Bank.
Following Gazprom’s successful issue, Russia's Ministry of Finance is also moving ahead with plans to place a total of $7bn of new Eurobonds.
The guidance on the yields of the first $3bn of new sovereign bonds maturing in 2029 is a low 4.75%, possible due to anticipated high demand by inves- tors, despite the sharp deterioration in relations with the West, Reuters said on March 15 citing unnamed market sources.
Russia will still have to pay for the deterioration in relations with the west; analysts surveyed by the newswire note that the new $3bn Eurobond issue is priced at a premium to the secondary market, attributed to the difficult geopolitical background. The premium is also attributed by market sources to the goal of helping rich Russians to repatriate their capital amid tightening Western sanctions.