Europe

31 August 2023; MEMO: The European Commission is looking “very closely” at whether the terms of a controversial gas deal between Bulgaria and Turkiye breach the EU’s competition rules, Energy Intelligence reports.

According to the report, Bulgaria wants to book capacity of about one bcm of gas per year at Turkish LNG terminals and seal import deals with European and United States LNG producers.

31 August 2023; MEMO: Russia sees no sign that it will receive the guarantees that will allow it to resume a deal permitting Ukraine, one of the world’s main exporters, to ship grain through the Black Sea, Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

01 September 2023; MEMO: Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said on Friday that “the practical work” on supply of Russian grain to six African countries has already begun, Anadolu Agency reports.

Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Mali, Somalia and Zimbabwe will each get 50,000 tons of grain free of charge in the coming months, he said at an event in Moscow.

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov offered his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan to discuss issues that will be reviewed at the upcoming meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Considering that presidents Putin and Erdogan prepare for their next meeting, I believe that we can review issues that will be up for their discussion in detail," the Russian Foreign Minister said during the talks with Fidan.

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/: Russia has agreed with OPEC+ countries on a new deal to reduce supplies of its oil to foreign markets, which will be published next week. Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexander Novak said this at a meeting held by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Yes, we have reached an agreement. But we will publicly announce the main terms next week," he said, answering Putin's question whether the government managed to agree with OPEC partners on reducing Russian oil supplies to foreign markets.

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/: Russia has made it clear to the Turkish side what the West needs to do in order for the grain deal to be resurrected, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference following talks with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan.

"Of course, we talked about the problem that arose after the termination of the Black Sea Initiative for the export grain from Ukrainian ports on July 18. We conveyed to our Turkish partners our vision for what needs to be done in the West, first of all, to restore the viability of this initiative," he said.

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/: The deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, believes that the world may see the emergence of new viruses "of not only natural but also of artificial origin." He was speaking at the opening of a meeting of the presidium of the Presidential Council on Science and Education.

KYIV, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Ukraine told critics of the pace of its three-month-old counteroffensive to "shut up" on Thursday, the sharpest signal yet of Kyiv's frustration at leaks from Western officials that say its forces are advancing too slowly.

Nearly three months since launching a much vaunted counteroffensive using hundreds of billions of dollars of Western military equipment, Ukraine has recaptured more than a dozen villages but has yet to penetrate Russia's main defences.

Aug 31 (Reuters) - A newly released video of Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin purports to show him in Africa only days before his death, addressing speculation about his wellbeing and possible threats to his security.

"For those who are discussing whether I'm alive or not, how I'm doing - right now it's the weekend, second half of August 2023, I'm in Africa," Prigozhin says in the short video published by the Grey Zone Telegram channel which is linked to his Wagner Group.

BERLIN, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Germany's labor market continues to weaken as the economy is stagnating. The country's unemployment rate climbed slightly to 5.8 percent in August, the Federal Employment Agency (BA) said on Thursday.

The number of jobless people in Europe's largest economy rose by 79,000 month-on-month to just under 2.7 million in August. The figure was 148,000 higher than a year ago, according to BA.