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President Joe Biden has invited congressional leaders to the White House for a meeting Wednesday to discuss ongoing negotiations over a national security spending bill to aid Ukraine and other priorities, according to three people familiar with the request.
Biden Asks Congressional Leaders To White House - Live Updates - POLITICO
Turkish banks have begun refusing to work with Russian banks, reports Kommersant, citing sources working in the financial market and foreign trade.
According to Kommersant, Turkish banks have terminated correspondent banking relationships with almost all Russian credit institutions and have also suspended payment processing without formally terminating contracts. One source noted that Turkish banks have made an exception for foreign subsidiary banks in Russia.
Sources told Kommersant that the situation became more complicated in the summer of 2023 and then significantly worsened after December 22, when U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order imposing secondary sanctions against foreign companies assisting Russia in the war. The order allows U.S. authorities to disconnect foreign banks from the U.S. financial system for violating sanctions against Russia.
Banks in Turkey Reportedly Begin Cutting Ties With Russian Banks — Meduza
A top Nato military officer said the war in Ukraine could "determine the fate of the world" and western armies and political leaders must drastically change the way they help Kyiv fend off invading Russian forces, reports Associated Press.
At a meeting of Nato's senior officers at its headquarters in Brussels, the chair of the Nato military committee, Adm Rob Bauer also said that behind Putin's rationale for the war is a fear of democracy.
"This war has never been about any real security threat to Russia coming from either Ukraine or Nato," Bauer added. "This war is about Russia fearing something much more powerful than any physical weapon on earth — democracy. If people in Ukraine can have democratic rights, then people in Russia will soon crave them too."
The Slovak parliament backed an amendment Tuesday that would empower the defense ministry to approve arms exports, paving the way for public and private weapons companies to continue arming Ukraine — and completing a volte-face from Prime Minister Robert Fico's pre-election vow "not to send another bullet" to Kyiv.
But critics of the apparent reversal — the veto on arms exports has until now belonged to the foreign ministry and the SIS intelligence service — said Fico's anti-weapons posture on Ukraine had been aimed at attracting votes to his Smer party in last year's election, and that the profits to be made from arming Kyiv ensured that exports would continue.
Slovakia Enables Arms Exports to Ukraine as Fico Completes Backflip – POLITICO
Russia's government has tapped almost half of the national wealth fund's available reserves to shield the economy against the fallout from its almost two-year war in Ukraine, leaving it vulnerable to future shocks.
"If oil prices continue to ignore the risks of supply disruption from the Israel-Hamas war, the remaining stock of the NWF's liquid assets will continue to dwindle, making Russia increasingly vulnerable to shocks. It will last only another one to two years if Russia's oil export price declines below $50."
War in Ukraine Drains Nearly Half of Russia’s Liquid Assets - Bloomberg
China's decision not to meet with Ukrainians appeared intentional and not the result of a scheduling problem. One senior U.S. official said Beijing rejected Kyiv's request for a meeting at some point during their mutual Swiss visits. Another senior U.S. official said China has refused any gatherings after Russia urged it to cease diplomatic encounters with Ukraine. Both officials, like others referred to in this story, were granted anonymity to detail a sensitive dynamic.
China Snubs Zelenskyy in Switzerland – POLITICO
