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summit. Dimitar Glavchev, Bulgaria's interim Prime Minister, has said that Sofia will propose starting peace talks between Ukraine and Russia at the Nato summit in Washington on 9-11 July, reports European Pravda; Novinite, a Bulgarian English-language news provider based in Sofia. The head of government says he sincerely believes that Sofia should stand for peace talks in which Bulgaria will act as a mediator. Quote from Dimitar Glavchev: "What could be better than that? And that is what I will propose; there is no problem."
US President Joe Biden said he was not ready to engage in a direct conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on July 12, adding that he saw no practical reason in doing so at this point. "I have no good reason to talk to Putin right now," he told reporters during the post-Nato summit press conference in Washington. "There is not much that he [Putin] is prepared to do in terms of accommodating any change in his behavior." "There isn’t any world leader that I’m not prepared to deal with, but <...> the point is if Putin is ready to talk. I’m not ready to talk to Putin lest Putin is ready to change his behavior," the US president said. However, he said shortly after that he would be ready to talk with the Russian president, if the latter initiated the phone call.
● Sanctions
The US and EU are pressuring Asia's largest economies to abandon their support of Russia's war effort. The US Treasury has warned that Indian banks will be subject to sanctions and will lose access to the US financial system if they cooperate with the Russian defence and industrial complex. "We know that the Russian military relies on the import of sensitive goods, such as machine tools and microelectronics, and turns to foreign financial institutions to facilitate these transactions," the department said. Therefore, the US calls on Indian banks within 30 days to take measures to inform Indian businesses about possible US sanctions. Simultaneously, the head of the British Foreign Ministry, David Lammy, during a meeting with his Chinese colleague Wang Yi, called on Beijing to abandon its support for the Russian Federation. He emphasized Britain's unwavering commitment to Ukraine and called on China to prevent its companies from supporting Russia's military-industrial complex. Also, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on China to work more intensively for peace in Ukraine. "It means, first of all, no support for the aggressor, no support for the Russian Federation," she emphasized.
The EU does not support Hungary and Slovakia's efforts to restore the transit of Russian Lukoil products through Ukraine it said on July 25. Hungary and Slovakia's attempts to involve the EU in their dispute with Ukraine stemming from the extension of Ukrainian sanctions have failed. The countries asked the EC to start consultations on a trade agreement with Ukraine, but the EC blocked their request to call on Kyiv to lift its sanctions on Lukoil.
The EC has restricted companies and private investors from exchanging assets with Russians. The European Commission has prohibited individuals and legal entities from EU countries from participating in an asset exchange
61 RUSSIA Country Report August 2024 www.intellinews.com