Russian invasion

Negotiations
Stubb: Peace talks on Ukraine may be over

The negotiations for peace in Ukraine may be over, says Finnish President Alexander Stubb in an interview with Norwegian VG.

After three rounds of talks, no new meetings are planned and one reason for that could be the Iran war, says Stubb, who has close contact with both Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyj.

– But there could also be a halt in the negotiations because they have reached an end of the negotiation path and are not moving forward, he tells the newspaper.

The question of whether Russia should be allowed to take Ukrainian territory has been one of the difficult points, but the biggest problem Stubb says is that he does not believe Russia wants peace.

Sources: Zelenskyj to sign agreement with Saudi Arabia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj landed in Saudi Arabia this afternoon, which came as a surprise to several media outlets.

A source told AFP that Zelensky is there to sign a security cooperation agreement related to air defense.

“Arrived in Saudi Arabia. Important meetings are on the schedule,” Zelensky wrote in a post on X.

Sanctions
The government has refused to intervene against the suspected Russian company

The crackdown on the Russian-owned Sundsvall company Kubal due to suspicions of serious sanctions violations puts the government in a sensitive position. This is according to Ekot’s economic commentator Knut Kainz Rognerud.

The company’s Russian owner is said to have forwarded profits of one billion kronor in the past year to a suspected shell company in Cyprus and from there on to Qatar – where the trail ends.

Ukraine has previously criticized Sweden for allowing the company to operate in the country. One of its owners, Oleg Deripaska, who according to Ekot is one of Putin’s “favorite oligarchs,” is subject to personal sanctions in addition to the general sanctions against Russia.

– We assume that the regulations and sanctions that exist are followed, said Foreign Trade Minister Benjamin Dousa (M) to Sundsvalls tidning in October, after demands from the opposition to take action against the company.

The former Minister of Trade and Industry Mikael Damberg (S) managed to get Kubal removed from the US sanctions list in 2019 to save jobs in Sundsvall, according to ST.