Belarus threatens to choke off EU gas supply over border dispute

Published

3 years ago

November 13, 2021

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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia September 9, 2021.

Mikhail Voskresensky | Kremlin Sputnik | via Reuters

Belarus has threatened to cut off its transit of gas supply to Europe if the EU imposes sanctions over a migrant crisis at its western border.

The bloc has accused Russian-backed President Alexander Lukashenko of weaponizing the thousands of people currently gathered in freezing camps at the border with Poland to undermine EU security and distract from domestic political pressures, an allegation Belarus denies.

With the EU reportedly preparing a fresh round of sanctions, Lukashenko said in an emergency cabinet meeting on Thursday that the country could cut off deliveries along the Yamal-Europe pipeline from Russia, mounting further pressure on European leaders as the continent remains afflicted by the international energy crisis.

“We heat Europe, and they are still threatening us that they’ll shut the borders,” the strongman leader, who has been in power since 1994, reportedly told cabinet ministers.

“And what if we cut off [the transit of] natural gas to them? So I would recommend that the leadership of Poland, Lithuanian and other brainless people to think before they speak.”

Natural gas prices spiked by almost 7% on Thursday following Lukashenko’s comments.

The majority of the migrants are from Syria, the Yemen and Iraq, and Belarusian state airline Belavia on Friday said it would stop allowing citizens from all three countries to board flights from Turkey to Belarus, at the request of the Turkish authorities.

Reports suggest that Belavia could be in line for EU sanctions, and questions have also been raised as to whether they could broaden to hit Russia’s Aeroflot or Turkish Airlines.

In a joint statement, the EU members of the U.N. Security Council along with the U.S., U.K. and Albania, condemned the “orchestrated instrumentalisation of human beings whose lives and wellbeing have been put in danger for political purposes by Belarus, with the objective of destabilizing neighbouring countries and the European Union’s external border and diverting attention away from its own increasing human rights violations.”

Brinkmanship or genuine escalation?

Experts are divided on whether Minsk’s defiant tone will translate into drastic policy action, with much hinging on the strategic priorities of Lukashenko’s long-time ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Timothy Ash, senior emerging market sovereign strategist at Bluebay Asset Management, said the situation “looks set to escalate further.”

“Putin would be quite happy to see energy transit through Belarus disrupted, as he could blame it on Lukashenko, while further piling the pressure on Europe,” Ash said in an email Thursday.

“It would also give him a pretext to formally intervene in Belarus itself — Russian planes already seem to be patrolling now to secure Belarus borders with NATO.”

BELARUS, Nov. 12 – Thousands of irregular migrants are facing desperate conditions as they continue waiting at the Polish-Belarusian border, hoping to cross onto EU soil.

Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Ash added that the current direction of travel “feels a bit like slow motion action to an actual conflict in Europe.”

Two Russian strategic bomber jets also flew over Belarus on a training mission on Thursday, the Belarusian defense ministry said.

“Let them scream and squeak. Yes, those are nuclear-capable bombers, but we have no other choice,” Lukashenko reportedly said Thursday.

He noted that the Belarusian Defense Ministry and border troops, along with its state security, have been deployed “to ensure control over the movement of troops of NATO and Poland.”

“You can already see 15,000 troops, tanks, armored vehicles, helicopters and planes brought to our border without any warning,” the president said, according to a Belarusian government readout.

However, Emre Peker, director of the Europe team at political consultancy Eurasia Group, said Lukashenko is “extremely unlikely” to follow through on the threat to disrupt gas flows to Europe, due to revenue constraints and likely Russian opposition.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reportedly told journalists on a conference call Friday that Moscow had not been consulted ahead of Lukashenko’s threats to cut gas supply to Europe.

“Russia relies on transit through Belarus to meet European contracts. Shutting down the pipeline would damage Gazprom’s long-term market position, reinforcing Russian gas-supply stability concerns,” Peker said.

“Halting gas flows would also cost Lukashenko some $300 million a year in transit revenues that Belarus can ill afford.”

Peker noted that this figure is comparable to the economic hit from EU sanctions in June on Belarus’s oil and potash exports, and would “greatly exceed the likely impact of fresh EU sanctions.”

He also suggested that diplomatic, commercial, and legal challenges would prevent the EU from targeting sanctions at Aeroflot and Turkish Airlines, but Brussels will likely hit Belavia to inflict quick punishment on Belarus.

Environment

Drive Electric Earth Month, continues this weekend, get your EV Qs answered

Published

3 hours ago

April 25, 2025

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Drive Electric Earth Month, continues this weekend, get your EV Qs answered

It’s that time of year again, time for events across the country to show off electric vehicles at Drive Electric Earth Month.

Drive Electric Earth Month is an offshoot of Drive Electric Week, a long-running annual tradition hosting meetups mostly in the US, but also occasionally in other countries. It started as Drive Electric Earth Day, but since not every event can happen on the same day, they went ahead and extended it to encompass “Earth Month” events that happen across the month of April. It’s all organized by Plug In America, the Sierra Club, the Electric Vehicle Association, EV Hybrid Noire, and Drive Electric USA.

Events consist of general Earth Day-style community celebrations, EV Ride & Drives where you can test drive several EVs in one place, and opportunities to talk to EV owners and ask them questions about what it’s like to live with an EV, away from the pressure of a dealership.

This month, there are 158 events registered across the US and 1 in Mexico (including one online webinar about things to consider when purchasing an EV).

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Events have been happening all month, but the biggest weekend is this upcoming one, APril 26-27.

One really neat event was the Asheville event, which showcased the resiliency of EVs in an area devastated by Hurricane Helene, which was made more severe by climate change. That event was attended by the Rivian R1T which famously got dragged 100 feet submerged in mud and came out running fine.

But the bulk of the events happened on the weekends surrounding Earth Day, April 22, so there were several last weekend and will be even more this upcoming weekend.

There are plenty of events in the big cities where you’d expect, but Plug In America wanted to highlight a few of the events in smaller places around the country. Here’s a sampling of upcoming events:

Big Island EV – Cruise and Picnic in Waimea, HI on April 26, 10am-1pm – EV drivers will congregate in various places around the Big Island (Kona, Waimea, Waikoloa and Hilo), then drive up Saddle Road to the Gil Kahele Recreation Area on Mauna Kea for a potluck and a chance to talk about the experience of owning EVs on the Big Island.
Santa Barbara Earth Day 2025 and Green Car Show in Santa Barbara, CA on April 26-27, 11am-8pm – This is part of Santa Barbara’s Earth Day celebration, which routinely attracts 30,000 participants and is one of the longest-running Earth Day celebrations on the planet. The Green Car Show includes ride & drives and an “Owners Corner” where owners can showcase their EVs and attendees can check them out and ask questions.
Earth Day’25 – EV’s role in a sustainable future in Queretaro City, Mexico on April 26, 9am-4pm – The sole Mexican event, this is a combined in-person/online seminar at the Querétaro Institute of Technology.
Norman Earth Day Festival in Norman, OK on April 27, 12-5pm – Another municipal Earth Day festival, with hands-on activities for kids to learn about the environment. A portion of the parking lot reserved for an EV car show for EV owners who pre-register to show off their vehicles.
Oregon Electric Vehicle Association Test Drive & Information Expo in Portland, OR on April 27, 10am-4pm – This one is at Daimler Truck’s North American HQ, and will have several EVs for test drives, owner displays (including DIY gas-to-EV conversions), and keynote presentations by EV experts. They’ll even have a 1914 Detroit Electric EV available for test rides!
And, we at Electrek want to give a shoutout to Rove’s EV Drive Days in Santa Ana 10am-3pm April 28 – ROVE is the company behind the “full-service” EV charging concept that we’ve talked about several times here on Electrek, and we like what they’re doing for EV charging. They’ve hosted a few community events, and this is their contribution to Earth Month.

Each event has a different assortment of activities (e.g. test drives won’t be available at every event, generally just the larger ones attended by local dealerships), so be sure to check the events page to see what the plan is for your local event.

These events have offered a great way to connect with owners and see the newest electric vehicle tech, and even get a chance to do test rides and drives in person. Attendees got to hear unfiltered information from actual owners about the benefits and trials of owning EVs, allowing for longer and more genuine (and often more knowledgeable) conversations than one might normally encounter at a dealership.

And if you’re an owner – you can show off your car and answer those questions for interested onlookers.

To view all the events and see what’s happening in your area, you can check out the list of events or the events map. You can also sign up to volunteer at your local events, and if you plan to show off your electric car, you can RSVP on each event page and list the vehicle that you plan to show (or see what other vehicles have already registered).

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Environment

Trump meme coin insiders have to wait additional 90 days before they can sell

Published

4 hours ago

April 25, 2025

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Trump meme coin insiders have to wait additional 90 days before they can sell

A cartoon image of US President-elect Donald Trump holding a Bitcoin token to mark the cryptocurrency reaching over $100,000 displayed at a Coinhero store in Hong Kong, China, on in Hong Kong, China, on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024.

Justin Chin | Bloomberg | Getty Images

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will have to wait another three months before he can start selling his meme coin.

The $TRUMP token, which debuted in January just ahead of the president’s inauguration, was scheduled to begin unlocking a major tranche of insider-held tokens this month. But Trump token’s official X account said this week that all major unlocks, including the initial cliff and the next three months of daily vesting, would be delayed by an additional 90 days.

Only 20% of the supply of $TRUMP is available to trade. The remaining 80%, held by insiders, is locked under a three-year schedule, with tokens getting released in increments.

Lockups are meant to prevent a rug pull, the industry term for a scheme that allows insiders to quickly get rich while other investors lose from a slumping price. Vesting schedules are designed to reassure retail investors that early backers won’t dump their coins and immediately flood the market.

Podcast: Electrek at Shanghai Auto Show, Tesla earnings, Slate cheap EV pickup unveiled, and more

Published

4 hours ago

April 25, 2025

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Podcast: Electrek at Shanghai Auto Show, Tesla earnings, Slate cheap EV pickup unveiled, and more

In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Electrek seeing a ton of cool EVs at the Shanghai Auto Show, Tesla’s disastrous earnings, Slate’s cheap EV pickup being unveiled, and more.

Today’s episode is brought to you by retrospec—makers of sleek, powerful e-bikes and outdoor gear built for everyday adventure. Electrek listeners can get 10% off their next ride until May 8th with the exclusive code ELECTREK10 only at retrospec.com.

The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.

As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.

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After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:

We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.

Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:

Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET):

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