Europe

15 April 2022; MEMO: Ukraine yesterday accused Russia of blocking four Egypt-bound ships loaded with wheat and corn from leaving Ukrainian ports.

"The Riva Wind ship is ready to bring 27,000 metric tons of corn to Egypt – enough to feed well over a million people for a month," the Ukrainian embassy in Egypt said on Facebook.

The embassy had pointed out that Moscow had mined the "Black Sea floor, preventing the ship from sailing to Egypt from Ukraine's Pivdennyi port."

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Indignant over what it called Ukrainian strikes in Russian territory and following the stunning loss of its Black Sea flagship, Moscow threatened renewed missile attacks on Kyiv, where authorities said the bodies of more than 900 civilians were found outside the capital. Most had been shot dead, police said, and likely “simply executed.”

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/: Moscow views eliminating nationalist battalions in Ukraine as a top priority task, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

"The main task is to liberate [Ukraine] from these nationalist battalions after all. The operation continues and the tasks that have been set are well known. They must and will be accomplished. There must be no doubts about that," the Russian presidential spokesman said.

DONETSK, April 15. /TASS/: The Prosecutor General's Office of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) has opened a criminal case for espionage against several employees of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, who passed state secrets to Ukraine, the press service of the DPR Prosecutor General's Office told TASS on Friday.

ATHENS, April 15. /TASS/: Greece is not going to send any more military equipment to Ukraine, Greek government spokesman Ioannis Oikonomou confirmed at a briefing on Friday. The official did not specify whether Athens had previously sent Stinger man-portable air defense systems to Kiev.

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/: Several buyers of Russian gas have already agreed to convert payments into rubles, the country is waiting for a decision from other importers, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak wrote in his article for the Energy Policy magazine.

"Several buyers have already agreed with the transfer of gas payments into rubles, we are waiting for decisions from other importers," the Deputy Prime Minister wrote, adding that the conditions for buyers remain as comfortable as possible.

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/: Russia is seeking to maintain relations with the European Union, which is one of its largest commercial and economic partners, but might drastically revise these relations, Konstantin Kosachev, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council (the upper house of Russia’s parliament), said on Friday.

BELGRADE, April 15 (Reuters) - North Macedonia's Foreign Ministry on Friday ordered six Russian diplomats to leave the country over violations of diplomatic norms, the second such expulsion in less than a month, a statement said.

A diplomatic note has been handed over to Sergey Bazdnikin, Russia's ambassador to Skopje and the diplomats have five days to leave the country, it said.

"The six Russian diplomats in question were engaging in activities contrary to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," said the statement posted on ministry's website.

SOFIA, April 15 (Reuters) - The war in Ukraine is likely to hit Bulgaria's economic growth, speed up inflation and could pose credit risks, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.

The IMF, which concluded a staff visit to Sofia, sees Bulgaria's growth tentatively near 3% this year, down from an earlier estimate of 4.4%, while inflation was likely to reach double digits in 2022, it said in a statement.

KYIV, April 15 (Reuters) - Around 1.25 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds are still on commercial vessels blocked in Ukrainian seaports due to Russia's invasion and part of the cargo may deteriorate in the near future, Ukraine's farm minister was quoted as saying on Friday.

Ukraine used to export almost all its grain and oilseeds via seaports and now is forced to find new routes as its ports are blocked.