2024-11-19 10:31

Putin approves new nuclear doctrine Kremlin says this is a signal to the West Russia lowers nuclear threshold Russia says US ATACMS fired into Russia Safe haven assets rally after Russian move MOSCOW, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of conventional attacks, and Moscow said Ukraine had struck deep inside Russia with U.S.-made ATACMS missiles. Putin approved the change days after two U.S. officials and a source familiar with the decision said on Sunday that U.S. President Joe Biden's administration allowed Ukraine to use U.S.-made weapons to strike deep into Russia. Russia had been warning the West for months that if Washington allowed Ukraine to fire U.S., British and French missiles deep into Russia, Moscow would consider those NATO members to be directly involved in the war in Ukraine. The updated Russian nuclear doctrine, establishing a framework for conditions under which Putin could order a strike from the world's biggest nuclear arsenal, was approved by him on Tuesday, according to a published decree. Analysts said the biggest change was that Russia could consider a nuclear strike in response to a conventional attack on Russia or its ally Belarus that "created a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) their territorial integrity". "The big picture is that Russia is lowering the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a possible conventional attack," said Alexander Graef, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg. The previous doctrine, contained in a 2020 decree, said Russia may use nuclear weapons in case of a nuclear attack by an enemy or a conventional attack that threatened the existence of the state. The U.S. National Security Council said it had not seen any reason to adjust the U.S. nuclear posture. Together, Russia and the U.S. control 88% of the world's nuclear warheads. Putin is the primary decision-maker on the use of Russia's nuclear arsenal. LOWER THRESHOLD The doctrine said any attack by a non-nuclear power supported by a nuclear power would be considered a joint attack, and that any attack by one member of a military bloc would be considered an attack by the entire alliance, it said. Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine had struck Russia's Bryansk region with six missiles , opens new tab, and that air defence systems intercepted five and damaged one. "We will be taking this as a qualitatively new phase of the Western war against Russia and we will react accordingly," Putin's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said in English, adding that U.S. personnel and data must have been used in the ATACMS attack on Russia. Lavrov said Russia would do everything to avoid nuclear war, and pointed out that it was the U.S. which used nuclear weapons against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. On the 1,000th day of the Ukraine war, Russia also included a broader definition of the data that could be used to indicate Russia was under mass attack from aircraft, cruise missiles and unpiloted aircraft. The war is entering what some Russian and Western officials say could be its final and most dangerous phase as Moscow's forces advance at their fastest pace since the early weeks of the conflict and the West ponders how the war will end. Government bonds and the Japanese yen rallied, while stocks and the euro fell, as investors bought safe-haven assets after the publication of Russia's doctrine. The Russian rouble fell past 100 per U.S. dollar for the first time since October 2023. WAR Russian diplomats say the crisis is comparable to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the two Cold War superpowers came closest to intentional nuclear war, and that the West is making a mistake if it thinks Russia will back down over Ukraine. The Kremlin said Russia considered nuclear weapons a means of deterrence and that the updated text was intended to make clear to potential enemies the inevitability of retaliation should they attack Russia. "Now the danger of a direct armed clash between nuclear powers cannot be underestimated, what is happening has no analogues in the past, we are moving through unexplored military and political territory," said Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister overseeing arms control and U.S. relations. The main changes to the nuclear doctrine were flagged by Putin in September. Asked whether publication of the decree was linked to Washington's decision on allowing Ukraine to fire U.S. missiles deep into Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the doctrine had been published in a "timely manner". "Nuclear deterrence is aimed at ensuring that a potential adversary understands the inevitability of retaliation in the event of aggression against the Russian Federation and/or its allies," Peskov said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-issues-warning-us-with-new-nuclear-doctrine-2024-11-19/

2024-11-19 10:19

Oilfield outage caused by power failure Power failure caused by overheating at converter station No suspicion of a deliberate act, Equinor says OSLO, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Equinor (EQNR.OL) , opens new tab has resumed production at the Johan Sverdrup oilfield in the North Sea following a power outage, reaching two-thirds of capacity by mid-morning on Tuesday, a company spokesperson said. Output was halted on Monday at western Europe's largest oilfield due to an onshore power outage that disrupted electricity supply to the platforms, boosting global oil prices. Repair work on the converter station is ongoing and Equinor was working to resume full output, the spokesperson said. Oil prices slipped on Tuesday following news of the Norwegian restart. The power outage was caused by overheating in an electrical converter station at Kaarstoe in south-west Norway, the spokesperson added. Equinor did not think that the incident was caused deliberately, the spokesperson said in response to a question from Reuters. Equinor last month said the field was producing at peak capacity of around 755,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), although this was expected to gradually decline from early next year. Equinor is the operator and owns 42.63% of the Sverdrup licence while Aker BP (AKRBP.OL) , opens new tab holds 31.57%, Norwegian state-owned oil firm Petoro 17.36%, and France's TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) , opens new tab the remaining 8.44%. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/norways-sverdrup-oilfield-partially-resumes-output-2024-11-19/

2024-11-19 07:45

NAIROBI, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling was unchanged on Tuesday as dollar inflows from exports matched demand from the manufacturing sector, one trader said. The shilling traded at 128.75/129.75 at 07:00 GMT, according to LSEG data, the same as Monday's closing rate. The East African currency depreciated slightly in the last week, after holding steady since early August, but should stay stable towards the end of the month as companies convert dollars into local currencies to make statutory payments, the trader said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/kenyan-shilling-steady-dollar-supply-meets-manufacturing-demand-2024-11-19/

2024-11-19 07:41

KAMPALA, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The Ugandan shilling was firmer on Tuesday, strengthened by foreign currency inflows from remittances and exports of commodities like coffee, traders said. At 0719 GMT commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,667/3,677, compared to Monday's close of 3,674/3,684. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/ugandan-shilling-stronger-remittance-commodity-fx-inflows-2024-11-19/

2024-11-19 07:36

Nominations to Austria up 5% Gazprom halted flow to Austria' OMV on Saturday Daily volumes via Ukraine has been stable MOSCOW/PRAGUE, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Russian gas producer Gazprom (GAZP.MM) , opens new tab said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday, the same volume as on Monday, while nominations for gas flows to Austria from Slovakia edged up. The European energy markets have been on edge over a contractual row between Gazprom and Austria's OMV (OMVV.VI) , opens new tab, which led to the Kremlin-controlled firm halting supply to the Vienna-based company on Saturday. The flows to OMV were stopped after it threatened to impound some of Gazprom's gas as compensation for an arbitration it had won over the contractual dispute. Daily flows to Europe via Ukraine have remained around normal levels, however, and gas has continued to flow into Austria. Nominations, or requests from customers, for flows to Austria from Slovakia were up 6% on Tuesday versus Monday but remained about 12% below levels seen before Gazprom halted supply to OMV. It was not clear who was buying gas previously intended for OMV. Nominations to the Czech Republic from Slovakia were roughly in line with levels seen in previous days this month. Nominations for flows into Slovakia from Ukraine were also little changed while nominations for flows leaving Slovakia were mostly stable, data from transmission system operator Eustream showed. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russian-gas-flow-eu-via-ukraine-stable-nominations-austria-up-2024-11-19/

2024-11-19 07:21

MADRID, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Spanish power utility Endesa (ELE.MC) , opens new tab said on Tuesday that it will invest a record 9.6 billion euros ($10.16 billion) in the next three years, with a growing focus on power networks. The planned investments represent an increase of 8% over the 2024-2026 plan. The grids business will get roughly 4 billion euros, 45% more than in its previous plan, while the company is reducing investments in renewables, where it will focus on hydro and wind power, it said in a strategic update released a day after its parent Enel (ENEI.MI) , opens new tab presented its own plan. ($1 = 0.9446 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/spains-endesa-invest-10-bln-by-2027-2024-11-19/