MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. Russia launches its latest intermediate-range missile at a Ukrainian defense factory; Outgoing US President Joe Biden plans to cancel part of Ukraine’s debt. Meanwhile, the US Treasury imposes sanctions on dozens of Russian financial institutions. These stories made headlines in Russian newspapers on Friday.

The Ukrainian conflict has expanded globally following the launches of Western-made long-range missiles against Russia, President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address to the nation on November 21. Even though Moscow has always chosen to resolve the situation through peaceful means, it will do so. be ready to “respond decisively to an aggressive, tit-for-tat escalation,” the Russian leader said. Russia struck a Ukrainian aerospace factory in Dnepropetrovsk with the Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile carrying a conventional warhead in retaliation for Western-supplied missile launches targeting Russian military installations in the Kursk and Bryansk border regions on November 19 and 21, Putin explained. According to experts, this is the first combat use of an intermediate-range ballistic missile in Russian history. There is also no information about Russian work on the Oreshnik missile before. The president reiterated that enemy attacks using Western-supplied missiles cannot change the course of the special military operation, with Russian forces advancing along the entire line of engagement.

Russia informed the United States 30 minutes before the planned launch, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. In a separate statement, he clarified that the Russian notification was not made through the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Launch Notification System because the Oreshnik is not that type of missile.

Such a secret Russian project as the Oreshnik missile may have been built on the basis of the Iskander ballistic missile using a new generation solid fuel engine, said the editor-in-chief of the Military Russia website, Dmitry Kornev. According to him, “we have witnessed the first combat use of an intermediate-range (ballistic) missile in Russia.” “Russia is unrivaled globally in the development of such missiles and the creation of such hypersonic weapons,” the military expert recalled.

And the Oreshnik can bypass any existing missile defense system, another military expert, Vladislav Shurygin, told Izvestia. It can destroy well-protected deep bunkers without using nuclear warheads, he added.

The United States has violated every international agreement and crossed every red line. So Russia will certainly react to this, said military expert Viktor Litovkin in an interview with Izvestia. The Oreshnik missile was launched at Yuzhmash, a Ukrainian factory that produces the world’s largest strategic missiles – Satan and Voevoda, he explained. “This is a demonstrative launch that will lead the West to reconsider its direct involvement in the Ukrainian conflict. And the next attack could target them,” warned the expert.

US President Joe Biden is considering canceling part of Ukraine’s debt, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing a State Department letter to Congress. According to the letter, canceling $4.65 billion in Ukraine’s debt would help kyiv assert itself, which is in the interests of the United States and its partners in the EU, G7+ and the NATO. According to Bloomberg, the document was written on November 18, when the media was intensively discussing Biden’s decision to allow kyiv to use ATACMS missiles for strikes inside Russia.

The Biden administration must “exhaust” the remaining tranches of aid to Ukraine, because it will be difficult to disburse several billion dollars before Donald Trump takes office and it will be easier to authorize transfers of money, says political scientist Malek Dudakov. . According to the expert, neither the US Congress nor Trump has the ability to prevent Biden from doing this.

According to the American Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), since February 2022, U.S. lawmakers have approved five bills funneling a total of $175 billion to Ukraine. Of this amount, kyiv received more than $100 billion in direct aid, including $33.3 billion to strengthen its budget and $69.8 billion for weapons and other equipment. Biden seeks to accelerate military aid programs, Dudakov continued. “But accelerating this rather than distributing funds is much more difficult. Therefore, Trump might as well cancel them as soon as he is inaugurated,” the American studies expert said. Trump will try to shift the burden of supporting Ukraine to the Europeans, he argued.

The decision to cancel part of the debt is not part of a strategy to improve kyiv’s negotiating position, but rather an attempt by the Biden administration to protect its partners who could contribute to the diversion of funds allocated, said a corresponding member of the Academy of Military Sciences. » underlined Sergei Sudakov. Billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, candidates presented by Trump to oversee the work of the federal government, could lead an investigation into this, the expert speculated. “But this will hardly be followed by any sanctions, because the written off funds are not considered wasted,” the expert concluded.

Media: US imposes major sanctions on Russian financial infrastructure

The United States imposed the largest sanctions program on record against 100 financial institutions, including Russian lenders, Gazprombank being the largest, and foreign banks with Russian participation. The latest SDN list also targets senior Bank of Russia executives who are in one way or another affiliated with the payments infrastructure.

The US Treasury Department says the latest sanctions “will prevent Russia from abusing the international financial system to pay for technology and equipment.”

The measure again targets the Financial Message Transfer System (SPFS), an instrument created by the CBR in 2014 as an alternative to SWIFT to maintain international financial links. OFAC clearly stated that it viewed joining the SPFS “as a wake-up call and was prepared to more aggressively target foreign financial institutions.”

According to Anna Zabrotskaya, partner at Nordic Star Law Offices, the latest restrictions “will seriously complicate operations with foreign counterparties, especially in export and import settlements, and they will negatively affect the liquidity of these banks.” Nikita Yershov, senior lawyer at the Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov and Partners law firm, called the new U.S. sanctions “large-scale but not catastrophic.” However, Gazprombank is the main payment operator of European countries for Russian natural gas and, from now on, European counterparties will be able to pay for Russian gas without risk “only through still unauthorized and increasingly rare banks” . Zabrotskaya said Kommersant.

Experts interviewed by Izvestia Gazprombank, which has avoided sanctions for almost three years, will hardly be affected in the short term. As this institution has anticipated the restrictions for years, it has prepared for them, said independent expert Andrei Barkhota. The bank minimized correspondent account balances abroad to ensure that as little money as possible was subject to freezing. In addition, Russian exports have been largely reoriented to the East, where a completely different, non-Western payment infrastructure is used for payments.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed at least between 8 October 2023 and May 20, 2024, the ICC announced. its website.

The Israeli prime minister’s office called the decision “anti-Semitic.” The ICC “is a biased and discriminatory political body,” Israel said. The Jewish state has called the war it has been waging against Hamas in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, justifiable. Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the move scandalous in a statement on X.

The arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant come as Donald Trump won the US presidential election and Trump has traditionally favored right-wing Israeli politicians, Middle East Institute senior expert Sergei told Vedomosti Balmasov. The ICC decision can be seen as a retaliatory measure by Democrats in the United States and affiliated political forces in Europe aimed at making things more difficult for the Republican White House administration in its dealings with Israel in the future, said the expert. “The ICC verdict will one way or another hamper Trump’s political maneuvers in the Middle East. However, it is unlikely to have major consequences for relations between the United States and Israel, and Washington will continue to provide political and military support to the Jewish State.” explains the expert.

Furthermore, this decision constitutes a kind of gift for Netanyahu, Balmasov continued. According to him, Israel has long ignored international resolutions and the ICC decision will allow the Israeli Prime Minister to use it for propaganda purposes, presenting himself as a social martyr who suffered while protecting his country’s interests. “Trump’s victory inspired the Israeli government and gave it carte blanche to intensify the conflict not only in Gaza and Lebanon, but also throughout the region,” he concluded.

In the first 10 months of 2024, Russia’s gold reserves reached $207 billion, according to Central Bank data reported by Izvestia. Since the start of 2024, volume has increased by 33%, the largest increase ever recorded.

The CBR data reflects an increase in the cost of monetary gold, Finam analyst Nikolay Dudchenko noted. In early November, the price of the precious metal rose 4% month-over-month to $2,744 per troy ounce, and Russia’s monetary gold reserves saw a similar increase over the same period. period.

Russia’s gold reserves look impressive compared to those of other countries: in the second quarter of this year, Russia was ranked fifth in the world, behind the United States, Germany, Italy and the France, according to the World Gold Council.

Gold has become a favored reserve asset amid growing sanctions pressure, explained independent expert Andrey Barkhota. Gold prices do not fluctuate as quickly as currencies, and the asset’s resilience to sanctions is significantly higher overall. Additionally, Russia is a major gold producer and is self-sufficient in gold, he said.

Gold prices have risen recently amid geopolitical tensions, said Ilya Fyodorov, senior economist at BCS World of Investments. Among other central banks, regulators in China, India and Turkey are actively buying it, added Alfa-Capital analyst Dmitry Skryabin. In addition, tensions in the Middle East further fueled this increase, he added. According to his predictions, by 2025, gold could reach a new record of $3,000 per ounce.

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