🇪🇺🇺🇦 - Today EU ambassadors will meet to discuss the content of a 14th sanctions package on Russia - here's a quick thread about the main potential measures, their likely impact on Moscow and the way forward 🧵 [1/15]

‘Xi’s decision to visit Serbia & Hungary w make it difficult to convince most other Europeans that he comes in friendship. Serbia sits outside both…EU & Nato…Hungary has undermined both organisations from within’

Xi is probing for cracks in EU & Nato on.ft.com/3JOagHQ

For China's exporters, ransactions related to Russia are receiving heightened scrutiny from Chinese banks

Smaller lenders have halted the processing of deals altogether

scmp.com/economy/china-…

🇵🇱🇱🇹🇸🇮 - Eastern European economies are catching up with southern EU member states
• By 2029 GDP/head of Lithuania, Slovenia, Poland will be similar to that of Italy (& above Spain's)
• Greater economic clout gives governments more influence within EU, eg on defence/economics

Everything you want to know about incoming (and already adopted) European sanctions on Russia by my great colleague Agathe Demarais. Spoiler: tightening the screws on oil and gas, addressing political parties funded by Moscow, and...helium!

Russia’s #oil and #gas is facing a shortage of manpower as the full mobilization of #Russia ’s economy for war exacerbates a longstanding demographic crunch.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Global trade growth should rebound to ~3% in 2024-25 as global inflation eases
• China and east Asia will be biggest contributors to growth in trade volumes this year
• European economies will be major driver of uptick next year as region's economic prospects improve

The hacker group Cyber Army of Russia has sabotaged multiple US water utilities, and has ties to the GRU’s notorious Sandworm unit.

They also talk a lot. So I asked for an interview and spent two weeks chatting with their spokesperson “Julia.”
wired.com/story/cyber-ar…