MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed participants of the World Atomic Week, Donald Trump proposed a plan to end the war in Ga...
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed participants of the World Atomic Week, Donald Trump proposed a plan to end the war in Gaza, and ex-French president received a sentence. These stories topped Friday's headlines across Russia.
Izvestia: World Atomic Week kicks off in Moscow
By 2030, Russia will launch the first-ever closed-loop nuclear energy system. This technology will address the issue of accumulating radioactive waste, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, speaking before participants of the World Atomic Week on September 25. The event in Moscow is attended by delegates from more than 100 countries. Belarus, Armenia, Myanmar and Ethiopia are represented at the highest level. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi has also visited the forum and emphasized the need to cooperate with the BRICS Bank to finance the construction of new nuclear power plants.
Russia, like no other, recognizes the importance of advancing nuclear energy. For instance, in the coming decade, energy use by data centers will rise more than three-fold, Putin noted at the forum’s plenary session. Russia is already working on modular data processing systems at its nuclear power plants as they provide the most reliable continuous power supply.
"Undoubtedly, Russia is significantly strengthening its positions in the nuclear sector, creating new technologies and broadening relevant international collaboration on a global scale. The president rightly pointed out that Moscow is assisting and will continue to assist its partners to achieve a breakthrough in progress. We are on the verge of innovative changes in this sphere and are prepared to enter this new stage as one of the indisputable leaders," Diplomatic Academy Vice Principal Oleg Karpovich told Izvestia.
The West obstructs this activity, seeking to undermine Russia’s cooperation with the countries of the Global South and the Global East through sanctions pressure. However, such measures only create a counterproductive effect, reinforcing Russia’s positions and speeding up the realization of joint projects with the nations of the global majority, which are losing confidence in Europe and the US, the expert said.
Vedomosti: Donald Trump unveils another proposal to halt Gaza war
A strategy on ending the conflict in the Gaza Strip, prepared by US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, has been endorsed by seven heads of Arab and Islamic states (Qatar, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia). In a joint declaration published on September 24 on Egypt’s Foreign Ministry’s website after a summit with the US, they voiced readiness to cooperate with Trump to settle the Gaza confrontation and stressed the significance of his initiative. A separate announcement was issued by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The New York Times, citing insiders, reported that Trump assured the leaders that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank's occupied territories. He made this remark amid mounting calls by far-right representatives from Netanyahu’s cabinet to annex the West Bank.
Annexing even a portion of Palestinian lands is a highly risky step which, among other things, could undermine the 2020 Abraham Accords, and Netanyahu is unlikely to proceed despite pressure from his far-right allies, said research fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations Lyudmila Samarskaya. According to the analyst, in this context, Trump’s backing of the Arab countries’ position gives Netanyahu the chance to use precisely this reasoning in coalition talks.
Overall, Samarskaya thinks that Israel is ready to endorse any initiative put forward by Trump, at least rhetorically, as it regards him as its main ally. Furthermore, Israel’s interests seem to be considered to a significant degree.
It is premature to speak of any prospects for the plan, noted Ivan Bocharov, program manager at the Russian International Affairs Council, since there are no conditions that both Israelis and Arabs are prepared to accept. The Palestinians reject other countries’ involvement in Gaza’s governance, while Hamas remains a separate challenge. However, the alternatives are very limited.
Available reports about Trump’s proposal so far suggest that it is unlikely to materialize, the expert added. According to him, the set of conditions is still forming and the parties will have to look for common ground. "So far, everything appears unfinished and unlikely to be implemented," Bocharov concluded.
Izvestia: Sarkozy’s sentence deepens political crisis in France
The ruling against former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will heighten distrust in political institutions and worsen the political crisis in the country, experts polled by Izvestia believe. On September 25, a Paris court sentenced the former head of state to five years in prison in the case of his campaign financing by former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The verdict is a compromise to some extent: Sarkozy was found guilty of participating in a criminal network, but acquitted of corruption charges. The defense calls the trial a "political massacre," while the prosecution insists on the rule of law.
The primary evidence of guilt was former Libyan Finance Minister Ali Dabaiba’s testimony, as well as numerous financial documents confirming the flow of funds through offshore companies. According to the charges, Sarkozy's team obtained up to 50 million euros from Libya through a chain of intermediaries between 2005 and 2007. This breached French election law and eroded the principles of democratic elections, research fellow at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics Maria Frolova noted.
"The case is particularly striking because France, under Sarkozy, became the main initiator of the military intervention in the Libyan civil war in 2011, which led to the overthrow and murder of Gaddafi," Frolova said. "Today's court verdict creates an unprecedented situation for the French political system because for the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, a former president was convicted of crimes tied to corruption schemes at the highest level of government," the expert added.
"Corrupt links with the Gaddafi regime not only undermine France's moral authority in the struggle for democratic values, but also raise serious questions about the role of Western countries in backing authoritarian regimes for political gain. The revelation of the facts that corruption schemes enabled the Libyan dictator to acquire French surveillance technologies to persecute dissidents and activists was especially damaging for the French reputation," Frolova believes.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta: EU, G7 to consider new 'reparations' scheme on October 1
Vladimir Zelensky has once more urged the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine at a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. Recently, the latter opposed their unlawful retrieval. However, according to experts, the plan to issue reparation loans for military assistance to the Kiev regime backed by Russia’s gold currency reserves also seems illegal. Still, such a scheme is already slated to be discussed at an informal summit of EU leaders and G7 consultations next Wednesday.
It seems that they will continue to spin the story with unidentified flying objects observed in Europe recently, political scientist Alexander Malkevich, a member of Russia’s Presidential Council for Human Rights, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Which means that Zelensky will carry on touring the world, pushing the programmed agenda and openly urging Western allies to pay Kiev, the expert stated.
In a conversation with the newspaper, Pavel Seleznyov, head of the Department of International Economic Relations at the Financial University under the Russian Government, explained that the authors of this scheme believe that the use of Russian assets as security for the so-called reparation loan is not unlawful as the funds remain frozen in the accounts. Yet they are deceiving themselves. Because, according to their design, if Kiev is unable to settle the loan, then claims will be made on Russian assets. While even now Ukraine has no means to repay its debts and is doing so by taking on new loans.
"It is clear that such manipulations with the sovereign assets of a sovereign state cannot be recognized as legitimate and discredit the European financial system," the expert added. "Yet, apparently, Western leaders really do not want to return Russia its money so they keep inventing new mechanisms crossing further red lines. And it appears that they will endorse a ‘reparation plan’ at future summits after all," he concluded.
Kommersant: Gasoline, diesel fuel export to be restricted until yearend
Exports of gasoline and diesel fuel from Russia will be limited until the end of 2025. The Russian government made a ruling on the matter based on rising market prices and fuel shortages in some Russian regions. Experts believe that such measures primarily aim to stabilize and calm the market.
Pavel Bazhenov, president of the Independent Fuel Union, believes that the introduction of a complete ban is rather a "verbal intervention" to reassure market players. According to him, the peak of tension is at the end of summer, while in October demand will decline and supplies will return to normal. Alexander Frolov, deputy director general of the Institute for National Energy, also believes that the measure is rather introduced to stabilize the expectations of market players, providing a guarantee that the domestic market is supplied with fuel.
In the opinion of Sergey Frolov, a managing partner at NEFT Research, extending restrictions will reduce market prices on diesel fuel by redirecting volumes to the domestic market. Kirill Bakhtin, senior analyst at BCS, told the newspaper that banning the exports of diesel fuel, including for manufacturers, as is done with gasoline, would have produced a more noticeable effect. He added that the ban on gasoline exports in effect since late July has already curbed the quotations’ growth.
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