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Eastern Europe
April 20, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
president Joe Bidden in one popular take on what happened, referring to Herbert McMaster, Trump’s national security advisor.
No one is clear on what is going on, but clearly there has been a lot of diplomacy behind the scenes. In the days before the strike both Putin and Trump ran up the tensions in a series of statements that boiled down to “don't fire any missiles or we will shoot them down” and “the missiles are on the way” leading to fears of an imminent start to WWIII.
However, reports out of Moscow say that
the Russian military high command was in “intense” talks with the US high command in the days before the attack. Ultimately the strikes themselves were very limited, with the Russians
Kremlin says nationalising sanctioned aluminium major Rusal on the table
bne IntelliNews
"Temporary nationalisation" of Russian aluminium major Rusal is one of the possible means of supporting the company badly hurt
by the latest round of US sanctions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told the press on April 19.
As Rusal's shares continued their free fall and the company is being cut out of its export markets, the Federation of Independent Unions and Russian Union of Entrepreneurs and
being told days in advance when and where the missiles would land. As a result the strike ended up being largely a symbolic show of strength on the part of the US, together with partners France and the UK, who believe it was necessary to make a strong gesture after Syrian President Bashar al- Assad was accused of using chemical weapons on the urban population of Douma a week before.
Now everyone is trying to walk the tensions back and both Trump and Putin have made peace offerings in an attempt to improve relations.
Trump had already invited Putin to a White House summit in the run up to the missile strikes, to the surprise of many US politicians. Now there are reports that the two men spoke on Monday night and a deal is in the offering.
Temporary nationalisation of Russian aluminium major Rusal is possible, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told the press.
Industrialists suggested that the state could buy out the shares of sanctioned companies.
Last week oil and commodities trader Glencore declared force majeure on some aluminium contracts after the US Treasury sanctions targeted Russia’s Rusal aluminium major.
Glencore is the largest buyer of Rusal’s aluminium and holds a 8.75% stake in Rusal. Previously the stake was planned to be swapped