Moscow suspends gas pipeline indefinitely
Russian defence minister says Kyiv wants to create ‘illusion’ of capability to Western governments.
- The Nord Stream 1 pipeline that transports Russian gas to Germany will undergo further maintenance, Gazprom has said after scrapping a Saturday deadline to resume flows, deepening Europe’s difficulties in securing fuel.
- The Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers agree to implement a price cap on Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products after Moscow warned it would halt sale to countries imposing the cap.
- The Nord Stream 1 pipeline that transports Russian gas to Germany will undergo further maintenance, Gazprom has said after scrapping a Saturday deadline to resume flows, deepening Europe’s difficulties in securing fuel.
- The Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers agree to implement a price cap on Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products after Moscow warned it would halt sale to countries imposing the cap.
- The counterattack launched by Ukraine in the south of the country has largely failed, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu says.
- The UN nuclear agency chief says the “physical integrity” of a Russian-held Ukrainian nuclear plant had been “violated” following frequent attacks.
- Russia warns Moldova that threatening the security of Russian troops in the breakaway region of Transnistria risks triggering a military confrontation with Moscow.
The live blog is now closed. Thank you for joining us. Here are the updates for September 2.
‘Fallacious pretenses’: EU official slams Russia’s decision to shut Nord Stream
European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer says Gazprom’s complete halt to flows on Nord Stream 1 was made under “fallacious pretenses”.
“It’s also proof of Russia’s cynicism, as it prefers to flare gas instead of honoring contracts,” he wrote on Twitter.
Gazprom’s announcement this afternoon that it is once again shutting down NorthStream1 under fallacious pretenses is another confirmation of its unreliability as a supplier.
It’s also proof of Russia’s cynicism, as it prefers to flare gas instead of honoring contracts.
— Eric Mamer (@MamerEric) September 2, 2022
Gas market tense but supply guaranteed, says Germany after Gazprom cut
Germany says its gas supplies were secure despite a move by Russian energy giant Gazprom to extend a stop to the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, adding to fears of shortages this winter.
“The situation on the gas market is tense, but security of supply is guaranteed,” a spokeswoman for the economy ministry said in a statement.
The spokeswoman did not comment on the “substance” of Gazprom’s announcement earlier on Friday but said Germany had “already seen Russia’s unreliability in the past few weeks”.
IAEA chief says two members to leave Zaporizhzhia plant next week
The International Atomic Energy Agency chief, Rafael Grossi, has said six members of his team remain in the Zaporizhzhia power plant and that two of them will stay next week as part of the mission’s continuous presence at the site in the longer term.
Grossi spoke in Vienna after completing a tour in certain areas of the Russian-occupied power plant. He also said the plant is not fully functioning but not in critical sections. Grossi also described the situation as “extremely complex and challenging”.
Grossi said he was expecting to produce a report on the site early next week and that another crisis centre was set up at the plant. He noted that he was able to inspect everything that his team had requested.
Yellen says Russia has economic incentive to sell oil at G7 price cap
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said Russia will find it advantageous to sell oil at a price capped by Western countries because otherwise it would have to shut down production, and its ability to restart output would suffer permanent damage.
Yellen told MSNBC in an interview that the G7’s price cap plan would reduce funds available for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
“They will do much better economically if they choose to sell into the price cap than if they were to shut in that oil,” she said of Russia.
Russia’s Gazprom: Nord Stream 1 gas flows to remain suspended
Russian gas flows via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany will remain halted beyond Saturday after an oil leak was detected, the state-owned company Gazprom says.
G7 finance chiefs agree on Russian oil price cap
The Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers have agreed to implement a price cap on Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products, they confirmed in a joint statement.
The initial price cap will be based on a range of technical inputs and the price level will be revisited as necessary, said the ministers.
“We aim to align implementation with the timeline of related measures within the EU´s sixth sanctions package,” they added.
The move comes a day after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned that Moscow would halt oil and petroleum products supplies to countries deciding to cap the Russian oil price.
Russia warns on Nord Stream gas supplies
Russia has said gas deliveries via one of the main supply routes to Europe, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, remained at risk because just one turbine was operational, deepening European concerns as it struggles to secure enough fuel for winter.
Nord Stream 1’s flows were halted for three days this week for maintenance, with deliveries due to resume on Saturday at 01:00 GMT.
Sources familiar with Gazprom’s plans said the state-controlled firm was set to resume Nord Stream 1 deliveries on schedule, although European nations remain wary about Russian intentions.
No energy security for EU without Moscow: Russian official
Europe’s energy security is impossible without Russia, the country’s State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin says.
“Sanctions against our country led to an energy crisis in European states,” Volodin said on social media. The EU member states, Volodin added, have two ways out of the current situation: removing sanctions against Russia and launching the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
The Baltic Sea gas pipeline project was halted in February after Russia formally recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.Russian forces shell villages overnight across Mykolaiv: Governor
Vitaliy Kim, the regional governor of the southern region of Mykolaiv, says Russian forces shelled several villages overnight, partially destroying commercial and residential buildings.
No casualties were reported, he added on his Telegram channel.
Disconnected reactor of Zaporizhzhia plant back on Ukraine’s grid
The fifth reactor of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been reconnected to Ukraine’s grid a day after it shut down due to shelling near the site, state nuclear company Energoatom said.
“At present two reactor blocks are working at the station, generating electricity for the needs of Ukraine,” Energoatom said on Telegram, adding the fifth reactor had been reconnected at 1.10pm local time (10:10 GMT).
The plant was occupied by Russian troops in March, but it continues to be operated by Ukrainian engineers despite repeated shelling on its territory, for which Kyiv and Moscow blame each other.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive largely failing, says Russian defence minister
The counterattack launched by Ukraine in the south of the country has largely failed, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has said.
“Ukrainian forces continue to launch attempted attacks between Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih, as well as in other areas, and the enemy is suffering heavy losses,” Shoigu said on the ministry’s Telegram channel on Friday.
Kyiv’s only goal in the offensive is “to create an illusion among Western officials that the Ukrainian army is capable of attacks,” he said.
Kyiv wants to drive Russian troops stationed west of the Dnieper back behind the river in the Kherson region, Shoigu added.
The statements could not be independently verified.
Who controls what in Ukraine?
Here are three maps, which are updated daily by Al Jazeera, charting the war in Ukraine:
World food prices fall for fifth month in a row: UN
World food prices have fallen for a fifth consecutive month, partly thanks to the resumption of exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, a UN agency said on Friday.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food price index, which tracks the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, has been falling steadily since hitting an all-time high in March following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
There was a moderate decline of 1.9 percent in August.
UN experts’ arrival at Ukraine nuclear site ‘very positive’: Kremlin
The Kremlin has said it viewed as “very positive” the arrival of inspectors from the UN atomic agency at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine
“In general, we are very positive about the fact that, despite all the difficulties and problems … the commission arrived and started to work,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday, adding it was “too early” to evaluate the UN team’s work.
Russia’s Medvedev threatens ‘no gas’ for Europe if Brussels adopts price cap
Russian ex-president Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would turn off gas supply to Europe if Brussels pushes ahead with a price cap on Russian gas.
Responding to comments by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about putting a ceiling on the price Europe pays for Russian gas, Medvedev wrote on the Telegram messaging app: “There will simply be no Russian gas in Europe.”
Russia to stop selling oil to countries that impose price caps
The Kremlin says Moscow will stop selling oil to countries that impose price caps on Russia’s energy resources.
Moscow said the caps will lead to significant destabilisation of the global oil market.
“Companies that impose a price cap will not be among the recipients of Russian oil,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a conference call, endorsing comments made on Thursday by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
Russia defence minister accuses Ukraine of ‘nuclear terrorism’
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu says Ukraine is continuing to shell the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, raising the risks of a nuclear catastrophe in Europe.
Shoigu accused Ukraine of “nuclear terrorism” and rejected assertions by Kyiv and the West that Russia had deployed heavy weapons at the nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which has been under Russian control since March.
Both Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of attacking the facility.
Russia automaker says Lada sales up 75 percent in August
Russian automaker AvtoVAZ says the sales of new cars rose sharply in August as the industry continues to grapple with the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Lada manufacturer said it sold 18,087 passenger cars during the month – up 75.2 percent from July. Sales were down 7 percent compared with August 2021. It was the best monthly performance for the car manufacturer since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February.
AvtoVAZ President Maxim Sokolov said sales of two Lada models – the Granta and Niva – had recovered to “pre-crisis levels”, which he said was an “important achievement” on the company’s road to recovery.
“We will successfully overcome the current difficulties and meet demand in the Russian car market,” he said in a statement.
‘A big blow’: Mikhail Gorbachev died shocked by Ukraine war
Pavel Palazhchenko, Mikhail Gorbachev’s interpreter for decades, says the late Soviet leader was traumatised by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Palazhchenko, who worked with the late Soviet president for 37 years and was at his side at numerous US-Soviet summits, spoke to Gorbachev a few weeks ago by phone and said he and others had been struck by how traumatised he was by events in Ukraine.
“It’s not just the (special military) operation that started on February 24, but the entire evolution of relations between Russia and Ukraine over the past years that was really, really a big blow to him. It really crushed him emotionally and psychologically,” Palazhchenko told the Reuters news agency.
“It was very obvious to us in our conversations with him that he was shocked and bewildered by what was happening (after Russian troops entered Ukraine in February) for all kinds of reasons. He believed not just in the closeness of the Russian and Ukrainian people, he believed that those two nations were intermingled.”
Read more here.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says IAEA mission could still make a difference
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant could still be important despite the difficulties caused by the Russian presence at the site,
“We did everything to ensure that IAEA would get access to the Zaporizhzhia plant and I believe that this mission may still have a role to play,” Zelenskiyy said in a video streamed at a forum in Italy.
Ukraine: ‘Difficult’ for IAEA to impartially assess nuclear plant
Ukraine’s state nuclear company, Energoatom, says it will be “difficult” for the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog to make an impartial assessment of the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant due to Russian interference.
Energoatom also said the mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team, which arrived at the power station on Thursday, had not been allowed to enter the plant’s crisis centre, where Ukraine says Russia has stationed troops.
Situation in Ukraine nuclear power plant ‘volatile’
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo reporting from Kyiv said the situation at the Zaporizhzhia power plant is “volatile” as the two sides in the Ukraine conflict trade blame.
“We are hearing that an IAEA [The International Atomic Energy Agency] team has stayed back. We think it is only a few of the total number of 13. They could stay there until Saturday,” Elizondo said.
“We are also hearing that perhaps they want to set up some sort of permanent presence there at the nuclear power plant. We simply don’t know which way it is going to go because it is an unprecedented operation by them. Situation is volatile. This is a situation that is changing not week by week, not day by day, but really hour by hour,” he added.
French industrial gases group Air Liquide pulls out of Russia
French industrial gases producer Air Liquide says it will complete its withdrawal from Russia this month after it signed an agreement to shift its Russian assets to local management.
Air Liquide employs close to 720 people in Russia, which accounts for less than 1 percent of the group’s turnover, the company said.
Russia warns Moldova not to threaten its troops in breakaway region
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moldova risks triggering military confrontation with Moscow if it threatens Russian troops in the breakaway region of Transnistria.
Russia has stationed peacekeeping troops in Transnistria since the early 1990s, when an armed conflict saw pro-Russian separatists wrest most of the region from Moldovan control.
“Everyone should understand that any action that would threaten the security of our troops (in Transnistria) would be considered under international law as an attack on Russia, as was the case in South Ossetia when our peacekeepers were attacked by (former Georgian President Mikheil) Saakashvili,” Lavrov said.
The government in Chisinau, stressing it was committed to peaceful dialogue over the future of the region, said it would summon the acting Russian ambassador to make clear its position.
Norwegian energy firm Equinor exits Russia due to Ukraine war
Norwegian energy firm Equinor says it has completed its exit from Russia in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, delivering on a promise made in February.
This marks the first full, orderly exit from Russia by an international oil and gas firm as pressure mounts on others, such as TotalEnergies and Exxon Mobil, to also leave.
“Equinor can now confirm that the full exit from Kharyaga has also been completed,” Equinor said in a statement.
“Following the exit from Kharyaga, Equinor has no remaining assets or projects in Russia.”