Page 18 - RusRPTJuly18

Putin was given the m ost thorough grilling he has ever received form a journalist b y veteran Austrian reporter Armin Wolf during his trip
to Austria this week, with hardball questions ranging from Crimea annexation, to "troll farms", to Russia's close relationship with EU-sceptic movements. Putin was visibly uncomfortable but the rest of the trip went well and resulted in a new gas deal with Austria. (See part of the interview on Ukraine with English subtitles here )
Russia continued its "pivot to the East" signing billions of dollars worth of investment deals with China and preparing for a massive trade deal at the June 9-10 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Qingdao, China, which poignantly took place at the same time as the controversial G7 summit in Canada .
The G7 leaders said they would step up sanctions against Russia if required , according to the final communique adopted at the end of the two-day G7 summit in La Malbaie, Canada on June 8. "We reiterate our condemnation of the illegal annexation of Crimea and reaffirm our enduring support for Ukrainian sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders," the declaration says. According to the declaration, the Group of Seven leaders are still determined to provide comprehensive help to Ukraine in carrying out reforms.
The US Treasury Department (USTD) retaliated against alleged cyberattacks targeting American energy grid and other key infrastructure by expanding its sanctions against Russian companies and individuals. The USTD designated three individuals and five entities, namely Digital Security, ERPScan, Embedi, Kvant Scientific Research Institute, and Divetechnoservices.
Ukrainian national gas company Naftogaz claimed on June 5 that a Dutch court approved a petition to freeze shares of Russian gas giant Gazprom's in its Dutch subsidiaries , against a payment of $2.6bn that the Russian company has to pay Naftogaz following an award by the Stockholm Arbitrage Court in February 2018. While it is not clear from the statement whether Gazprom's assets have already been seized, the court decision could have far-reaching implications for Russian company and even endanger the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, its top investment priority. Naftogaz noted that "six out of seven of Gazprom's Dutch subsidiaries have refused to cooperate with the bailiffs," which "does not affect the validity of the attachments [of the assets]" approved by court.
Russia will never return occupied Crimea to Ukraine , Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview on the Austrian TV channel ORF, English-language transcript of which was published by the Kremlin on June 6. "There are no such conditions and there can never be," Putin said, answering the question what should happen in order for Russia to return Crimea, illegally occupied by Moscow in 2014, to Ukraine. According to Putin, Russia's military occupation of the peninsula was triggered by "the unconstitutional armed coup took place in Ukraine, and power changed hands by force". "Our army was legally deployed in Crimea – under the agreement on our military base there. The first thing we did was increase our contingent to guard our armed forces, our military facilities, because we immediately saw that they were being threatened. That is where it all began." Putin added that "Crimea gained independence [from Ukraine] through the free will of the Crimeans expressed in an open referendum [on the status of the peninsula], not as a result of an invasion by Russian forces."
RUSSIA Country Report July 2018 www.intellinews.com