Author: Steven Sahiounie

The government has tacitly authorized trade with Moscow in a number of sensitive sectors, news outlet Le Devoir reports Canada has issued more than a dozen special permits allowing companies to circumvent sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine conflict, news outlet Le Devoir reported on Tuesday, citing federal data on international trade. A number of transactions took place in the first seven months of this year “on the sidelines of the Ukrainian counteroffensive,” the outlet claimed. The Canadian Foreign Ministry has confirmed the existence of the permits but refused to specify their exact number, according to Le Devoir. The ministry also…

Crypto hubs in Estonia and Lithuania have been channeling funds for Russians, a group of journalists claim Crypto exchanges in two EU countries, Estonia and Lithuania, have helped Russians circumvent Western sanctions and been instrumental in the laundering of over €1 billion ($1.05 billion) in assets, according to an investigation by a group of international journalists. The report was published on Wednesday on VSquare news outlet’s website, and the investigation was carried out by the VSquare team in collaboration with journalists from Delfi, Siena, Fronstory, Paper Trail Media, Der Spiegel, ZDF, and Der Standard news outlets. According to the report, due to…

The brief trading halts at the London Stock Exchange followed reports of Metro Bank’s urgent attempts to raise capital Shares in the UK’s Metro Bank were briefly suspended from trading twice on Thursday, after the stock plunged nearly 30% over reports of urgent fundraising efforts to shore up the bank’s balance sheet. Metro Bank shares have now fallen more than 60% since September 12, when it revealed that UK regulators had failed to approve a plan that would allow Metro to run its mortgage business at a lower cost. The London Stock Exchange confirmed to CNBC that the brief suspensions…

Measures that were meant to weaken the country are actually propelling its growth, according to the president Russia has withstood Western pressure intended to cripple its economic growth and has only become stronger, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday in Sochi. The Russian leader was addressing the plenary session of the 20th annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, which was attended by experts, politicians, diplomats, and economists from 42 countries. “In general, the situation is stable. We have overcome all the sanctions-related issues, and have started the next stage of [economic] development on a new basis, which is fundamentally…

The Bretton Woods system is not working and has to be changed, according to the Russian president The dollar-based global financial system is not balanced as it does not meet the interests of all countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday at the plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club. According to Putin, the dominance of the American currency has to end, which is already happening, while the US authorities are “shooting themselves in the foot.” “The Bretton Woods system – it was once created on the basis of the dollar, but all this is gradually collapsing. Currency is a…

Output in the euro area has been shrinking for four consecutive months The Eurozone’s economy shrank in the third quarter, with demand falling at the fastest pace in almost three years last month, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing data compiled by S&P Global. HCOB’s final Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the bloc, a measure reflecting overall economic health, rose slightly to 47.2 in September from August’s 33-month low of 46.7. The figure remained below the 50 level which indicates a contraction. Output in the Eurozone has been shrinking for four consecutive months, led by a deepening decline in manufacturing.…

The move is a ho measure aimed at helping the country avoid power shortages this winter Germany will reactivate a number of shut-down coal plants in order to save gas and prevent power supply shortages during the upcoming heating season, the country’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWi) announced in a press-release. According to the ministry, the government on Wednesday issued an order which allows Germany’s largest power producer RWE to relaunch two coal blocks at its Niederaussem plant and another one at its Neurath plant to add extra electricity to the grid. Under the same order, the country’s second-largest…

The two countries’ growing cooperation with the Global South is challenging the Western-dominated economic system, Stefan Huth has told RT A new global order is in the making with a radical change in international politics and economic relations, Stefan Huth, editor-in-chief of German daily Junge Welt, told RT on the sidelines of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi. According to Huth, the process is also identified by the Global South’s growing international cooperation, as African countries aim to redefine their role in the shifting landscape. “In particular, African countries are concerned because they really suffered hundreds of years of colonization,…

Sanctions preclude Moscow and Beijing from using the US currency in transactions, so turning to national alternatives is only natural, Nelson Wong believes Abandoning the US dollar in Russian-Chinese trade and switching to national currencies is a necessary measure in the current circumstances, Nelson Wong, the head of the Shanghai Centre for RimPac Strategic and International Studies, told RT on the sidelines of the Valdai Discussion Club meeting in Sochi on Thursday. According to the analyst, de-dollarization was not a choice made by the two countries, but rather a necessity forced upon them by Ukraine-related Western sanctions against Moscow. These…

Washington is conducting its economic policies at the expense of other markets, a Malaysian economist has said Western sanctions imposed on Russia have sent a message to other nations that if they “misbehave,” they could easily become the next target, Benedict Weerasena, the research director at Malaysian think tank Bait Al Amanah, has warned. In an interview with RT on the sidelines of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, he questioned the effectiveness of the $60-per-barrel price cap imposed on Russian oil by the EU, G7, and allied countries last December, along with an embargo on exports of the country’s seaborne crude.…