Russian firms rush to open Chinese bank accounts amid sanctions over Ukraine: report

The Moscow branch of a Chinese state bank has seen a surge in enquiries from Russian firms wanting to open new accounts, a person familiar with the matter said, as the country’s businesses struggle with international sanctions after its invasion of Ukraine.

“Over the past few days, 200-300 companies have approached us, wanting to open new accounts,” the person, who works at the Moscow branch of a Chinese state bank and has direct knowledge of its operations, told Reuters.

He declined to be named or have his bank identified as he is not authorized to speak with media.

It was not clear how widespread Russian demand for new accounts at Chinese banks was, but the banker source told Reuters many of the companies seeking new accounts do business with China and that he expected yuan transactions by such firms to increase.

Western governments are shutting off Russia’s economy from the global financial system, pushing international companies to halt sales, cut ties and dump tens of billions of dollars’ worth of investments.

China has repeatedly voiced opposition to the sanctions, calling them ineffective and insisting it will maintain normal economic and trade exchanges with Russia.

A handful of Chinese state banks operate in Moscow, including Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank.

China Construction Bank declined to comment. The other three Chinese state banks did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

1:34 Russia grows more isolated as Western allies unite against Putin

A Chinese businessman with long-term ties with Russia, who also did not want to be identified, said several Russian companies he works with are now planning to open yuan accounts.

“It’s pretty simple logic. If you cannot use U.S. dollars, or euros, and U.S. and Europe stop selling you many products, you have no other options but to turn to China. The trend is inevitable,” the source told Reuters.

As a growing number of Western companies abandon Russia, the willingness of emerging market giants such as China to sustain business relations with Moscow highlights a deep rift over Europe’s biggest crisis since the World War Two. That trend could threaten to chip away the dominance of the U.S. dollar in global trade.

FESCO Transportation Group, a major Russian transport and logistics company, said this week it will accept Chinese yuan from customers, after some Russian banks were kicked out of the global financial messaging system SWIFT.

“It’s natural for Russian companies to be willing to accept yuan,” said Shen Muhui, head of a trade body that promotes links between Russia and China.

But small Chinese exporters are suffering from a tumble in the rouble and many are suspending deliveries to avoid potential losses, he said.

1:08 EU’s foreign minister says he asked China to ‘use its influence’ on Russia amid invasion

The Russian currency dived to a record low of more than 17 rouble to the yuan on Wednesday, having lost nearly 40 per cent of its value against the Chinese unit over the past week.

“Companies will be switching to yuan-rouble business but in any case things will become two, three or four times more expensive for Russians because the exchange rate between the yuan and rouble is also changing,” said Konstantin Popov, a Russian entrepreneur in Shanghai.

Shen said Russian demand for Chinese goods will nevertheless grow in the long term. “The key is to solve trade settlement issues” in the face of sanctions, he said.

(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Andrew Galbraith Editing by Vidya Ranganathan and Sam Holmes)

Canada prepared to welcome an 'unlimited number' of Ukrainians fleeing war, minister says

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser says Canada is waiving most typical visa requirements

Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser speaks during a press conference in Ottawa on Feb. 28. On Thursday, he announced new programs that will allow more Ukrainians who are fleeing war to come to Canada. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced Thursday the federal government has created two new pathways for Ukrainians fleeing their war-torn country to come to Canada — part of a plan to accept an "unlimited number" of people who want to leave.

To start, Fraser said his department has created a new visa category that will allow a limitless number of Ukrainians to come to Canada to live, work or study here for up to two years.

People accepted under the Canada Ukraine Authorization For Emergency Travel program will have an open work or study permit and employers will be free to hire as many Ukrainians as they want.

Fraser said the federal government is waiving most of the typical visa requirements but applicants will still need to supply biometrics and undergo a background screening process before leaving for Canada. The application process will open in two weeks' time.

Fraser said the department is prepared for a possible influx of Ukrainians and there are biometric kits and personnel ready to assist would-be applicants at diplomatic posts in Warsaw, Vienna and Bucharest and at 30 other locations throughout Europe. Canada is also waiving application fees for all Ukrainians who want to avail themselves of this program.

NDP wants Canada to drop visa requirement

Fraser also announced the government is introducing an "expedited path" to permanent residency for Ukrainians with family in Canada. The minister said a "wider circle of family members" will be able to sponsor Ukrainians who want to come to Canada on a more permanent basis.

Some critics, including NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, have called on the government to drop the visa requirement altogether to allow all Ukrainians to travel to Canada unencumbered.

Asked about the possibility of visa-free travel for Ukrainians, Fraser said that sort of change would require 12 to 14 weeks of work to implement because the department's IT systems would need "certain renovations" and airlines would have to change their normal processes. He said the situation is urgent and there's no time for a three-month delay.

WATCH | Fraser speaks to CBC's Power & Politics about plans to waive most visa requirements

Feds waive most typical visa requirements for Ukrainians, but stop short of waiving visas completely

Fraser also said it's prudent to conduct background checks on all applicants to weed out any Russian collaborators. He said a blanket visa waiver would mean some people could "slip through the cracks," including people aligned with Russia who have attacked Ukrainian forces in the breakaway regions of the Donbas.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress said the new pathways will help some of the nearly one million people who've already fled the country.

"Canada, together with all civilized nations, is mobilizing in support of efforts to help these innocent people. Our community is grateful," the group's president, Alexandra Chyczij, said in a media statement.

"Russia is trying to destroy Ukrainian cities and towns from the air. These are crimes against humanity that are causing a humanitarian catastrophe not seen in Europe since World War II."

Canada slaps massive tariff on all Russian imports

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland also announced Thursday more measures to tighten the screws on the Russian economy.

As punishment for what Freeland called a "barbaric" invasion of Ukraine, Canada is slapping a steep 35 per cent tariff on all exports from both Russia and Belarus — a country that has been used as a staging ground by Russian troops. The change could effectively halt all trade between Canada and these former Soviet bloc countries.

Canada is also levying sanctions on two major Russian oil and gas producers, Rosneft and Gazprom. The move follows an earlier decision to halt all petroleum imports from Russia.

With the addition of these two major oil companies, Canada has now sanctioned more than 1,000 Russian individuals and entities.

WATCH | UN planning for up to four million refugees

UN Refugee Agency plans for up to 4 million Ukrainians to leave the country

Freeland said Canada and its G7 partners already have imposed the strongest sanctions ever inflicted on a major economy. She said "more will follow in the days to come" as Russian forces continue to bombard Ukrainian cities with rockets and missiles.

"We will do everything in our power to make sure President Putin and his accomplices pay the price of this grave historical mistake," Freeland said. "We cannot allow him to succeed and we will not."

Freeland said Western actions have crippled the Russian economy.

The country's central bank has hiked the benchmark interest rate to 20 per cent — a move that will obliterate Russian savings and push up the price of everything. The country's stock exchange has been shuttered for four days.

Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, left, and Minister of National Defence Anita Anand hold a press conference in Ottawa on Thursday, March 3, 2022. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Two major credit rating agencies, Moody's and Fitch, have downgraded Russian government debt to junk status, which will make it increasingly difficult for Putin and his regime to borrow any money to fund its war machine. The country's currency, the ruble, has been on a precipitous decline since the invasion and the resulting sanctions, dropping in value by some 30 per cent against the U.S. dollar.

"The economic costs of the Kremlin's barbaric war machine are already high and they will continue to rise," Freeland said. "I do want the Russian leadership to understand that we're going to keep going. There is a tremendous willingness among the world's democracies to just continue ratcheting up the pressure."

Government promises to address tariff fallout

At a separate announcement on support for small businesses, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government is prepared to help any companies that experience disruption as a result of Canada's aggressive economic actions against Russia.

While Canadian companies have relatively little exposure to the Russian economy — two-way trade plummeted after Putin's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 — there could be some fallout for some importers now faced with a maze of red tape and eye-popping sanctions on the goods they bring in from the region.

With oil out of the picture, Canada's largest import from Russia is platinum.

WATCH: Trudeau says Canada's response to Ukrainian refugees is built off the Syrian refugee crisis

In this Sept. 13, 2021 file photo, military vehicles and tanks of Poland, Italy, Canada and United States roll during the NATO military exercises ''Namejs 2021'' at a training ground in Kadaga, Latvia. NATO responded to Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula by beefing up alliance forces and conducting drills on the territories of its easternmost members. (Roman Koksarov/AP Photo)

John Paul Tasker

Parliamentary Bureau

J.P. Tasker is a senior writer in the CBC's parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. He can be reached at john.tasker@cbc.ca.

Who cares if Russia now decide to purchase cheap junk from China? I don't. Too bad for the Russian people, they should be working on tossing out their criminal leader.

This is just the beginning of a major conflict between the US and Russia that will go on for decades.   We will see new developments that we could never dream about.  It's a difficult world we are living in.

@Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

This is just the beginning of a major conflict between the US and Russia that will go on for decades.   We will see new developments that we could never dream about.  It's a difficult world we are living in.

Are you a soothsayer?  Ah, wait and see. 

Billyboy, you have a crystal boll? 

@Former Member posted:

Billyboy, you have a crystal ball? 

He knows how to read "Pattra".

this is why Putin invaded Ukraine:

https://www.businesstoday.in/l...on-323894-2022-02-25

I've always considered the readings of Pattra to be superior to that of the Crystal Ball.

My Pattra tells me that this war will last for a long time since it is obvious that the big boss of NATO would like to see a military victory over Russia. What this means is that the use of Stingers and Javelins will be utilized to the highest extent possible to create stalemate and ultimately victory.  My Pattra cannot at this time predict so far ahead but I do sensed that in the minds of the politicians on both sides of the new divide want nothing less than victory rather than a political compromise. Zelensky is caught between a rock and a hard place. He speaks everything we want to hear except to give into Putin's demand of never to allow NATO on Ukrainian soil.  NATO says they're out to stop Russia's push westward. Russia says they're out to stop NATO from pushing further East.  This is big debate and the war won't stop until we have compromise or one is victorious of the other militarily.

My orbuculum tells me something could very well hit a NATO country..might not kill anyone but will be a reason to get everyone into the action. This will be blamed on Russia, Russia will say it is America and the allies who carried out the attack. We will never know the truth.

CNN and other media must have a deal with the Ukraine forces not to show them in action, all they show us is the destruction done by Russian forces. Ukraine ground fighters and their air force have done quite a bit of damage , Russia jets are brought down by ground to air missiles but it is never shown.

@Former Member posted:

AKA prefers to stir Guyanese racial strife, then sit back and enjoy them mauling each other

Ali Khan has always supported equality of all people. What he does not like is when people use their status as racially oppressed people to racially oppress another group of racially oppressed people.

@Ali Khan Azad posted:

Ali Khan has always supported equality of all people. What he does not like is when people use their status as racially oppressed people to racially oppress another group of racially oppressed people.

Your only exception are the Arabs or was it their Goats?

Ali Khan does not follow organized religion. Nevertheless, Ali Khan has visited many mosques in Guyana. Ali Khan has spoken to several Guyana Imams. No one ever told Ali Khan that he cannot come into the mosque. I was told by a Palestinian Jordanian in Canada that I must not be allowed into the Arab Mosque because I don't believe in organized religion.

Hey Totaram, what are your thoughts about people who speak in the 3rd person, e.g. Ali Khan? 

@Former Member posted:

Hey Totaram, what are your thoughts about people who speak in the 3rd person, e.g. Ali Khan? 

It's called "illeism" or is it "narcissism"?

@Former Member posted:

Hey Totaram, what are your thoughts about people who speak in the 3rd person, e.g. Ali Khan? 

This is funny.  You mean its like they are two people in one--like the father and son.  I would get really worried if they become like three people --father, son and holy ghost.  That's a concept even some Catholics struggle to understand. 

Ali Khan is following the way how Bob Dole spoke.

@Ali Khan Azad, what do you think about dem Ukrainians attacking Russians logistics and fuel supplies to the Russian Army?

The West is supplying arms and special forces contractors to Ukraine. Russia should just declare victory and head back over the border or else they will be tied down in a long drawn out war.

Those poor Russian youth will end up as worm food if not now it will be later should they get into the main city.

Yall US people, tell Biden Cain said this is one time he gives permission to bomb the rass out of Putin's lair. Find out where he is hiding out..probably seated at that long ass table scared one of his own will try to take him out. Send in a drone and BADDAM...story done.

His people will rejoice..so will most of his soldiers.

How Vlad became Tsar of Russia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHOq8sSuPBg

How about Guyana accepting some Ukrainian refugees??

@Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

How about Guyana accepting some Ukrainian refugees??

Countries accept refugees in order to help them lead a good, decent, safe life so how the heck can Guyana do so when they can't even take care of their own?

@Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

How about Guyana accepting some Ukrainian refugees??

Why did the GOG deported less than a hundred of Haitian refugees?

March 9, 202210:35 AM MST -- Last Updated 6 min ago -- Source -- https://www.reuters.com/world/...prisoner-2022-03-09/

March 9 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry acknowledged on Wednesday that some conscripts were taking part in the conflict with Ukraine after President Vladimir Putin denied this on various occasions, saying only professional soldiers and officers had been sent in.

The ministry said that some of them, serving in supply units, had been taken prisoner by the Ukrainian army since the fighting began on Feb. 24.

Citing Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the RIA news agency said Putin had ordered military prosecutors to investigate and punish the officials responsible for disobeying his instructions to exclude conscripts from the operation.

Some associations of soldiers' mothers in Russia had raised concerns about a number of conscripts going incommunicado at the start of what Kremlin calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine, suggesting they could have been sent to fight despite a lack of adequate training.

The Kremlin and military authorities had denied it until now. Last week, Russia's parliament passed a law imposing a prison term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally "fake" news about the military.

"Unfortunately, we have discovered several facts of the presence of conscripts in units taking part in the special military operation in Ukraine. Practically all such soldiers have been pulled out to Russia," the defence ministry said, promising to prevent such situations in the future.

One mother of a conscript, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said her 19-year-old son's military unit was sent south to the Russian city of Kursk soon after he started his military service and was then moved to Belgorod, a town closer to the Ukrainian border, for training.

She says that judging by the few phone calls she had received, he had not yet been deployed into Ukraine and had not signed a contract to do so. "I am not sure what will happen tomorrow," she told Reuters by telephone.

China is for China.  Never trust them.  Just ask Nehru.

China is also for BJ. He trusts them. Just ask Vice News.

I noticed that the Canadian army's number one sniper Michael Wali is now in Ukraine.  That guy has had multiple kills in the past.

China’s potential long game: First dominate Russia, then on to the Arctic

Charles Burton is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa, and non-resident senior fellow of the European Values Center for Security Policy in Prague. He is a former Professor of Political Science at Brock University, and served as a diplomat at Canada’s embassy in Beijing.

More than 50 years ago, in a letter to his wife about the destructive chaos of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution that he had unleashed, Chairman Mao wrote that “there is great disorder under heaven and the situation is most excellent.” Mao intended that Chinese “great order under heaven” would ultimately prevail, with “Red China” displacing Soviet Russia as the leader of Marxist world revolution. But the West won the Cold War, and the Soviet Union collapsed.

Today’s crisis between Russia and the West, engendered by President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, is seen by Beijing as furthering Mao’s vision of a China-dominated global order – renamed by the current strongman, General Secretary Xi Jinping, as “the community of the common destiny of mankind.”

Whatever the outcome of the suffering in Ukraine, Russia will remain shunned by the West, blocked from financial transactions and trade with lucrative European markets. This risks ushering Russia into the arms of Beijing, which will be only too happy to facilitate the dependence of its “strategic partner” on Chinese economic support, under the guise of helping it weather cataclysmic sanctions. It will come at a humiliating cost to Mr. Putin, but make no mistake: Beijing will exploit Russia’s weakness to bring it into subordination to China’s overall geopolitical agenda.

Even decoding China’s state-scripted TV news gives hints of Beijing’s long game. Broadcasters recite that this “military action” is justified because Western subversion of Ukraine threatens Russia’s security; the act has not been described as an “invasion,” though Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi did refer to it as “war” on Thursday. For domestic viewers, there have been no laments for Ukrainian suffering; those sentiments are for external propaganda only.

For China, the more exhaustive the conflict becomes, the better – so long as China is not touched by any sanctions that could harm its own revenues or ability to obtain Western technology.

The West’s hesitant, conditional response to Russian aggression against an allied nation is being seen by Beijing as an affirmation that the Washington-dominated global order is in decline. The subtleties of NATO’s Article 5 are lost on the Standing Committee of China’s Politburo. What they see is Mr. Putin threatening to use nuclear weapons, the West backing away from Ukrainian pleas for meaningful military support beyond a token promise of a few outdated armaments, and no commitment to clear Ukrainian air space of the Russian bombers that devastate the nation below.

If Russia does become beholden to Beijing, it would be coerced to support China militarily if the U.S. ever sought to confront a Chinese military action to install a new regime in Taiwan. The expectation is that, as with Ukraine, the U.S.’s ambiguous commitment to defend Taiwan militarily will collapse once China and Russia make their move.

China’s leadership believes its own propaganda – that the people of Taiwan yearn to “return to the embrace of the Motherland” and will abandon their Taiwanese identity, democracy and citizens’ rights. To the contrary, what China will likely find is a ferocity of Taiwanese resistance on par with Ukrainian-style courage and resolve. But if the West responds to potential action against Taiwan with the same half-measures we are showing the Russians now, then South Korea and Japan – major Western allies that neighbour both China and Russia – may feel very wary of their own American security commitments, and begin drifting into Beijing’s influence.

This potential global realignment would have massive implications to Canada, too. Mr. Putin has claimed that resources under Canada’s Arctic waters belong by rights to Russia, and this is something we must now prepare to be acted on. It is very likely that China’s ridiculous description of itself as a “near-Arctic state,” combined with the potential of Moscow becoming beholden to Beijing, will lead to China and Russia jointly challenging Canada’s Arctic sovereignty and security.

In that case, Canada’s pathetic incapacity to defend our North, because governments past and present have neglected to establish a meaningful military and naval presence there, will come back to haunt us. And it would prove, in real substance, that Canadian government ministers’ chants of “Glory to Ukraine,” and denunciations of Vladimir Putin and his billionaire cronies, are about as effective and meaningful as lighting up the Peace Tower with the colours of Ukraine’s flag.

World court orders Russia to cease military operations in Ukraine

March 16 ,2022

Source

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Russia on Wednesday to stop the military actions it started in Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Apparently, since this attack by Russia started, they have lost more soldiers in combat (500+) than the US has in the last twenty years. Stupid deaths caused by a criminal.

I have a feeling he doesn't have much longer in power and possibly in this world. The fool now has to get himself a desk half a mile in length so no one sits too close just in case...

Zalensky should put out a hit on him for a couple million US..see how long he will be around.

The United Nations is like a dog without teeth. All bark and no bite.