 |
Finance ministers of the Group of Seven most developed nations will meet Tuesday to discuss urgent aid for Ukraine, World Bank president David Malpass announced Sunday.
In an interview with CBS he called the recent Russian invasion a "tragedy" not just for Ukraine and its neighbors but also for Russia, where per capita income has fallen below that of China.
And he said the prospect of spiking oil and food prices caused by the conflict was a "big concern."
Malpass said the financial sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia -- notably excluding some Russian banks from the SWIFT interbank platform that facilitates trade with other countries -- "hits the banks in Russia but apparently not the oil and gas industry."
But Malpass added that "if they're able to stop the central bank of Russia from operating, that would really have an effect on Russia and (its) people."
He played down concerns that Russia could bypass SWIFT through a "mirror system" created by China, saying, "I'm not sure this will go very far."
A former US under secretary of the Treasury for international affairs, Malpass said he did not see China as a natural partner for Russia.
"The arc of history is for Russia to be closer to Europe," he said.
Malpass said the World Bank was "in a good position" to support the Ukrainian government as soon as "the next few days," and could also expedite additional aid to countries like Romania and Moldova as they deal with an influx of refugees.
The G7 ministers, Malpass added, could play a decisive role in securing aid for Ukraine.
"They're in the central banks of the G7," he said, "and they can decide a lot of how much aid goes into Ukraine."
But vulnerable global economies could be badly rattled by spiking food and oil prices, Malpass said.
"It was already at a point of fragility, because inflation really hits the poor, and this is going to drive up energy and food."
Russia is a major exporter of energy products, but Malpass said there are alternatives in the marketplace.
"The US can supply a lot more if it puts its mind to it," he told CBS.
Ukrainian brewery switches from beer to Molotov cocktails
Lviv, Ukraine (AFP) Feb 27, 2022 -
In an industrial part of western Ukraine's main city Lviv, employees at the Pravda brewery have responded to the Russian invasion by switching from producing beer to Molotov cocktails.
Lviv -- a bastion of Ukrainian identity -- lies near the Polish border and fears Russian tanks will at some point roll into the historic city.
"You have to wait for the cloth to be well soaked. When it is, that means the Molotov cocktail is ready," said one smiling employee.
With a cap on his head, he pushed the cloth deep into a beer bottle filled with a mixture of oil and petrol.
Two other barmen next to him, all in good humour, do the same.
They have a few dozen Molotov cocktails ready for use already, placed neatly on tables so as to protect them from the light snowfall.
While these Molotov cocktails might seem ridiculous in the face of tanks and rockets, the switch could not be more serious for Yuriy Zastavny, the owner of the brewery.
"We do this because someone has to. We have the skills, we went through a street revolution in 2014," said Zastavny, referring to Kyiv's pro-Western uprising that ousted a Kremlin-backed regime.
"We had to make and use Molotov cocktails then," he said.
He said the idea came from one of his employees, many of whom took part in the 2014 revolution.
It is not the first time that Pravda became a kind of institution in Lviv.
One of their favourite beers is called "Putin khuylo" -- an insult directed at Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The brewery began producing the cocktails for the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces on Saturday -- made up of reservists who responded to President Volodymyr Zelensky's call to take up arms.
At checkpoints erected on the outskirts of the city of 720,000, police and soldiers who control each vehicle are already equipped with them.
Pravda owner Zastavny vowed to do "everything we can to help win this war."
Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes
|
|
Tweet |
|
|
|
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Google
