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Bill Browder was once Russia’s biggest foreign investor, but in 2005 Vladimir Putin declared him a "threat to national security." Christopher Katsarov/Tausi Insider Canada stands with Ukraine, but Ottawa’s inability to fight financial crime is enabling Russia’s war machine. That stark assessment comes from Bill Browder, a man who has risked his life to expose how Russian President Vladimir Putin has enriched himself through corruption, money laundering and flagrant violations of human rights. The U.S.-born British citizen, who co-founded hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management, was once Russia’s biggest foreign investor. But these days, he’s considered an enemy of the Russian state. Not familiar with his story? Let me catch you up so it’s clear why the Canadian government must heed his call. Mr. Browder made his fortune in Moscow during the 1990s and the early aughts by investing in newly privatized Russian companies. But his time in the “Wild East” came to an end in 2005 w...

Belgian Minister of Energy Tinne Van der Straeten attends an EU energy ministers meeting, in Brussels, on Nov. 24. JOHANNA GERON/Reuters On winter’s doorstep, European Union nations again failed to bridge bitter disagreements over a natural gas price cap Thursday as they struggle to effectively shield 450 million citizens from massive increases in their utility bills. An emergency meeting of energy ministers only showed how the energy crisis tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine has divided the 27-nation bloc into almost irreconcilable blocs. “The discussion was quite heated, and you all know that there are very divergent views,” said Czech Industry Minister Jozef Sikela, who chaired the meeting where ministers could not agree on when and how a price cap on gas purchases should kick in. A massive August spike in natural gas prices stunned all but the wealthiest in Europe, forcing the bloc to look for a cap to contain volatile prices that are fuelling inflation. But the EU is deadlocked bet...

The Reid family bale their hay crop, which will be compressed and exported to Japan, near Cremona, Alta., July 29. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press Sean O’Connor and Kyle Scott are the managing directors of Conexus Venture Capital and Emmertech. Despite the bleak year in the capital markets, the Canadian agricultural innovation sector, or “agtech,” is on pace for a record year with $121-million of venture capital raised. The largest source of that recent momentum has come from macroeconomic trends: how, during the pandemic, our entire food supply chain was turned on its head, and the uncertainty as to whether the global market could access Ukrainian grain amid a war with Russia. As those challenges subside, Canada is trying to expand its role as a global food supplier. And the innovation required to do so thrives through periods of uncertainty. Domestically, despite much governmental support for agtech, Canada is facing disruption, particularly with respect to how government policy i...

Czech Energy Minister Jozef Sikela speaks with the press prior to presiding a meeting of EU energy ministers at an extraordinary energy council in Brussels, on Nov. 24. Olivier Matthys/The Associated Press The European Union and the United States are treading precariously close to a major trans-Atlantic trade dispute at a time when the two Western giants want to show unity in the face of challenges from Russia and China. EU trade ministers on Friday insisted they would be forced to respond if Washington stuck to all the terms of its Inflation Reduction Act, which is favourable to local companies through subsidies and, according to the EU, will unfairly discriminate against its firms that want to compete for contracts. “Nobody wants to get into a tit-for-tat or subsidy race. But what the U.S. has done really isn’t consistent with the principles of free trade and fair competition,” Irish Trade Minister Leo Varadkar said. Even though the allies have stood shoulder to shoulder by imposin...

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne shake hands after delivering a joint press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin on Nov. 25, 2022. JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images Germany and France pledged Friday to provide each other mutual support in preventing a possible energy crisis after supplies from Russia dried up amid the war in Ukraine. As part of a joint agreement signed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, Germany will provide France with electricity while getting much-needed natural gas in return. “Friends help each other in need,” Scholz said after the signing ceremony in Berlin. Borne echoed that sentiment, saying the friendship between the two European heavyweight was crucial. “It has already proved it can withstand tests and master many challenges,” she said. Before Russia launched its war in Ukraine nine months ago, Germany was heavily reliant on Russian gas supplies. Since then, Germany has scr...

Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank listens during a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on July 21. Michael Probst/The Associated Press The head of the European Central Bank said Monday she does not believe inflation has peaked after reaching the highest levels on record. ECB President Christine Lagarde also told European lawmakers that the bank isn’t through raising interest rates to combat those price spikes. There is too much uncertainty to know whether inflation, which hit 10.6% in October, would come down soon in the 19 countries that use the euro currency, Lagarde said. When looking at what is driving inflation, “whether it is food and commodities at large, or whether it is energy, we do not see the components or the direction that would lead me to believe that we have reached peak inflation and that it is going to decline in short order,” she said. That means the central bank will “continue to tame inflation with all the tools that we have,” primarily...

Switzerland has frozen financial assets worth 7.5 billion Swiss francs ($7.94-billion) as of Nov. 25 under sanctions against Russians to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said on Thursday. SECO, the agency overseeing sanctions, also said that 15 properties in six cantons are also “blocked”. It did not name the cantons. Up until June 3, SECO had been notified of existing deposits held by Russian nationals, and individuals and legal entities in Russia, amounting to 46.1 billion francs, it said. This was far below the 150 billion to 200 billion Swiss francs of Russian wealth that the Swiss Bankers Association has estimated Swiss banks hold. SECO officials said the discrepancy could reflect the fact that Russians who are also Swiss or EU citizens, or have residence there, are not covered by the measures. Only bank deposits of at least 100,000 francs – and not securities portfolios – are subject to reporting, they added. Officials...

Pebble Beach on the shore of Lake Superior in the town of Marathon, Ont. Toronto-based Generation Mining Ltd. has received provincial and federal approval to proceed with its Marathon palladium and copper project in northwestern Ontario. David Jackson/Tausi Insider The federal government is giving the go-ahead to the construction of a new Ontario critical minerals mine that should help Canada establish a bigger foothold in a key automotive metal largely controlled by Russia. Toronto-based Generation Mining Ltd. has received provincial and federal approval to proceed with its Marathon palladium and copper project in northwestern Ontario. The company hopes to start building the mine next year, and once in production, it will operate for 13 years, and feed metals to the North American and European automotive industries. Ottawa’s approval of the new critical minerals mine comes after two significant setbacks at the federal level for large resource projects. Last month, Northern Affairs M...

The Group of Seven nations and Australia joined the European Union on Friday in adopting a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil, a key step as Western sanctions aim to reorder the global oil market to prevent price spikes and starve President Vladimir Putin of funding for his war in Ukraine. Europe needed to set the discounted price that other nations will pay by Monday, when an EU embargo on Russian oil shipped by sea and a ban on insurance for those supplies take effect. The price cap, which was led by the G-7 wealthy democracies, aims to prevent a sudden loss of Russian oil to the world that could lead to a new surge in energy prices and further fuel inflation. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement that the agreement will help restrict Putin’s “primary source of revenue for his illegal war in Ukraine while simultaneously preserving the stability of global energy supplies.” The agreement comes after a last-minute flurry of negotiations. Poland long held up an ...

Western governments are aiming to cap the price of Russia’s oil exports in an attempt to limit the fossil fuel earnings that support Moscow’s budget, its military and the invasion of Ukraine. The cap is set to take effect Monday, the same day the European Union will impose a boycott on most Russian oil – its crude that is shipped by sea. The EU tentatively agreed to a $60-per-barrel threshold Friday. The twin measures could have an uncertain effect on the price of oil as worries over lost supply through the boycott compete with fears about lower demand from a slowing global economy. Here is what to know about the price cap, the EU embargo and what they could mean for consumers and the global economy: What is the price cap and how would it work? U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has proposed the cap with other Group of 7 allies as a way to limit Russia’s earnings while keeping Russian oil flowing to the global economy. The aim: hurt Moscow’s finances while avoiding a sharp oil pric...

The Vladimir Arsenyev tanker at the crude oil terminal Kozmino in Russia, on Aug. 12. TATIANA MEEL/Reuters The Kremlin’s ability to pay for its war in Ukraine depends largely on the sale of hydrocarbons. Oil and natural gas represent 20 per cent of Russia’s GDP and haul in almost half of its budget income. Cut that Volga-River-sized flow of cash into the Russian money vaults and President Vladimir Putin will be forced to sue for peace. Or so the theory goes. Since the start of the war in February, the West, especially the European Union, has imposed wave after wave of sanctions, embargoes and trade measures against Russia, ranging from ejecting Russian banks from the Swift global financial messaging system to virtually eliminating Russian coal from the European electricity-generation mix. The Western assault has pushed Russia into recession (though not one as deep as expected). But oil exports, the lifeblood of its economy, continues to prop up Mr. Putin’s war machine. In the first h...

Russian authorities rejected a price cap on the country’s oil set by Ukraine’s Western supporters and threatened Saturday to stop supplying the nations that endorsed it. Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, the United States and the 27-nation European Union agreed Friday to cap what they would pay for Russian oil at $60-per-barrel. The limit is set to take effect Monday, along with an EU embargo on Russian oil shipped by sea. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia needed to analyze the situation before deciding on a specific response but that it would not accept the price ceiling. Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, warned that the cap’s European backers would come to rue their decision. “From this year, Europe will live without Russian oil,” Ulyanov tweeted. “Moscow has already made it clear that it will not supply oil to those countries that support anti-market price caps. Wait, very soon the EU will accuse Russia of using...

The logo of the Organization of the Petroleoum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is seen outside of OPEC's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on March 3. Lisa Leutner /The Associated Press OPEC+ agreed to stick to its oil output targets at a meeting on Sunday as the oil markets struggle to assess the impact of a slowing Chinese economy on demand and a G7 price cap on Russian oil on supply. The decision comes two days after the Group of Seven (G7) nations agreed a price cap on Russian oil. OPEC+, which comprises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, angered the United States and other Western nations in October when it agreed to cut output by 2 million barrels per day (bpd), about 2% of world demand, from November until the end of 2023. Washington accused the group and one of its leaders, Saudi Arabia, of siding with Russia despite Moscow’s war in Ukraine. OPEC+ argued it had cut output because of a weaker economic outlook. Oil prices hav...

The Group of Seven price cap on Russian seaborne oil came into force on Monday as the West tries to limit Moscow’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine, but Russia has said it will not abide by the measure even if it has to cut production. The price cap, to be enforced by the G7, the European Union and Australia, comes on top of the EU’s embargo on imports of Russian crude by sea and similar pledges by the United States, Canada, Japan and Britain. It allows Russian oil to be shipped to third-party countries using G7 and EU tankers, insurance companies and credit institutions, only if the cargo is bought at or below the price cap. Because the world’s key shipping and insurance firms are based in G7 countries, the cap could make it difficult for Moscow to sell its oil for a higher price. Russia, the world’s second-largest oil exporter, said on Sunday it would not accept the cap and would not sell oil that is subject to it, even if it has to cut production. The new price cap on Russian...

Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter, will not sell oil that is subject to a Western price cap even if it has to cut production, President Vladimir Putin's point man on energy said. https://www.tausiinsider.com/russia-will-not-export-oil-subject-to-western-cap/?feed_id=330746&_unique_id=644e28396bf30

Major Western measures to limit Russia’s oil profits over the war in Ukraine took effect Monday, bringing with them uncertainty about how much crude could be lost to the world and whether they will unleash the hoped-for hit to a Russian economy that has held up better than many expected under sanctions. In the most far-reaching efforts so far to target one of Moscow’s main sources of income, the European Union is banning most Russian oil and the Group of Seven democracies has imposed a price cap of US$60 per barrel on Russian exports to other countries. The impact of both measures, however, may be blunted because the world’s No. 2 oil producer has so far been able reroute much of its European seaborne shipments to China, India and Turkey, although at steep discounts, and the price cap is near what Russian oil already cost. As it stands, Russia will likely have enough money to not only fund its military but support key industries and social programs, said Chris Weafer, chief executive...