What has happened in the last hours
On the 132nd day of the war initiated by Russia against Ukraine, these are the key data at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 5:
Sweden and Finland sign their accession to NATO, but will need ratification. Sweden and Finland have taken another step this Tuesday in their entry into NATO with the signing of their accession process, with which the ratification mechanism by the Member States of the Alliance begins, which in many cases involves voting in the Parliaments. “It is a good day for Finland and Sweden and for NATO, a historic day. With 32 countries around the table we will be even stronger”, said the secretary general of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg.
Moscow sells Ukrainian grain to its Middle Eastern allies. Russia takes the grain from the Ukraine and sends it to its partners in the Middle East. The head of the Russian military administration for the Zaporizhia region, Yevgeni Balitski, has acknowledged in an interview with the TASS news agency that the first ship with 7,000 tons of cargo has already set sail for “friendly countries” such as Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. However, its ally Tehran expects much larger deliveries, as they have signed a contract for up to 150,000 tons.
The Russian Parliament passes two laws that put Russia on the path to a war economy. The Russian Duma (Lower House of Parliament) has approved this Tuesday two laws that imply a further step towards the war economy in the country. The rules authorize the government to force companies supplying goods to the Army and its employees to work longer hours in support of the invasion of Ukraine, which began more than four months ago.
Natural gas consumption in Europe falls four times more with the war than with the pandemic. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has dealt a major blow to the European natural gas market that will last for years. In the midst of the battle to disengage from its main global supplier, Russia, the demand for this fuel in the Old Continent will drop this year by 55 billion cubic meters (bcm, the main unit of measurement of this energy source), 9% drop compared to the 604 bcm consumed in 2021, which leaves this figure at clearly pre-covid levels. In the pandemic, with the economy in tatters and industry —along with households, the main vector of consumption— at half strength, the drop was only 13 bcm, four times less. On a global scale —although to a much lesser extent than in Europe—, the demand for gas will also fall in 2022, according to the latest forecasts by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Belarus freezes shares held by foreigners in 190 companies. Belarus, Moscow’s main ally in the war against Ukraine, announced on Tuesday that it will freeze the shares of 190 Belarusian companies held by foreigners. It is a response to the sanctions that have been imposed by Western countries for its support for the Russian invasion, one of whose fronts left Belarusian soil.
In the picture, of Scott Olson for Getty Images, several people in the rubble of a shopping center, destroyed by a Russian missile, on Sunday in Sloviansk, in eastern Ukraine.
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