Ukraine/Russia. Exclusive: cargo ships and sailors hostages of the war
August 2, 2022 update: detailed information on bulk carriers leaving or approaching the ukrainian ports in the context of the international agreement on the freedom of trade in grain and other agri-food products from Ukraine linked https://robindesbois.org/en/ukraine-robin-des-bois-veille-aux-grains/
93 merchant ships are trapped in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Transit would risk exposing them to bombing, torpedoing and underwater mining, therefore they are stuck at berth. 81% of the ships docked between February 17th and 23rd arrived at the ports on the eve of the outbreak of the war.
Russian gas is covering up
Ukraine – Press release n°6
11 a. m.
Some ports such as Zeebrugge and Dunkirk no longer systematically report expected ship arrivals on their websites. The port of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire continues to display reliable schedules.
Despite the tensions, the current flows
Ukraine – press release n°5. March 7, 2022 – 4:00 pm
Nuclear power: Slovakian power plants fill their tanks
On March 1, an Ilyushin-76TD of Volga-Dnepr Airlines specialized in the transport of heavy load flew over Poland with NATO authorization to transport new nuclear fuel to Slovakia. It left Domodedovo Airport in Moscow, flew around Ukraine, over Belarus and through Polish airspace to land in Bratislava. According to IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) rules, only small urgent packages, such as short-lived radiopharmaceuticals, can be transported by air. The potential crash of an airplane carrying nuclear fuel exposes the population and the environment to considerable risks.
Russian gas on the trail
Ukraine – press release n°4. March 4, 2022 – 4:30 p.m. (Updated on March 4 at 5 p.m.)
Following Robin des Bois’ press release “Sanctions against Russia: will they dare?” of February 24, 2022 (1), the day when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the NGO has mapped the current position of the 15 ice-breaking LNG tankers exporting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to European ports from the Yamal gas terminal in Siberia.
Sanctions against Russia: will they dare?
Cancellation of the Franco-Russian contract for the conversion and enrichment of reprocessed uranium (TRU)
Each year, the reprocessing plant of spent fuel at La Hague peninsula in Normandy near Cherbourg produces about 1,000 metric tons of RU (reprocessed uranium) from spent fuel coming from French nuclear power plants. The RU stock is currently about 27,000 tons. The reprocessing of RU to make “new” fuel cannot be done in France. The only plant for converting RU into Enriched Reprocessed Uranium (ERU) is located in Russia. The circular economy of French nuclear power goes through Tomsk in Siberia.
