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Eastern Europe
July 28, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 17
US Congress approves tougher Russia sanctions
bne IntelliNews
The lower chamber of the US Congress, the House of Representatives, voted in favour of tougher sanctions on Russia on July 25, with over- whelming bipartisan support of 419 for and to 3 against a raft of new measures.
The beefed up sanctions targeting Russia for its alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential elections in the bill are combined with sanctions against North Korea and Iran. The further move- ment of the bill follows the first meeting of US President Donald Trump and Russian President in Hamburg earlier this month, aimed at normalis- ing current tense relations.
“The bill on new sanctions has been passed. Trump will sign it, confirming he is a hostage of Congress and anti-Russian hysteria,” Alexei Pushkov, the for- mer head of the Russian State Duma international affairs committee, now a senator, said on cause resistance from the EU, with Brussels alarmed that a number of large-scale projects involving Shell, Eni and British Petroleum could be jeopardised.
This would include the Nord Stream 2 pipeline planned by Russian gas major Gazprom together with ENGIE, OMV, Shell, Uniper and Wintershall, British Petroleum operations with Russian Rosneft in which it holds 19.5% stake, CPC pipeline in which BG Overseas Holdings, Shell and Eni are involved, as well as Caspian region and the development of a gasfield off the coast of Egypt.
In addition, the note prepared for the European Commission cited on July 24 by the Financial Times warns “the measures could impact a potentially large number of European companies doing legitimate business under EU measures with Russian entities in the railways, financial, shipping or mining sectors, among others”.
In the latest report on July 26, the FT cited unnamed officials in Brussels claiming that EU is “activating all diplomatic channels” in an effort to soften the bill’s impact on European companies.
Ukraine’s national airline sues ministry to cancel Ryanair deal
Ben Aris in Berlin
National carrier Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) is suing the Ukrainian Infrastructure Min- istry and demanding that it cancel a deal being agreed with Ryanair to open up new routes to the country, as well as asking for compensation for damage to its business.
The airline controlled by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky filed several claims to court including the an- nulment of agreements between budget carrier Ryanair and Lviv International Airport in west- ern Ukraine, Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan said on his Facebook page.