15:41
US finalizing plans to divert gas to Europe if Russia cuts off supply
The US has helped prepare for the diversion of natural gas supplies from around the world to Europe in the event that the flow from Russia is cut, in a bid to blunt Vladmir Putin’s most powerful economic weapon.
As fears of an invasion of Ukraine have grown, US officials said on Tuesday that they have been negotiating with global suppliers, and they are now confident that Europe would not suffer from a sudden loss of energy for heating in the middle of winter.
Russia has already restricted the flow of natural gas through the pipeline running through Ukraine from about about 100 million cubic metres a day to 50 MCM, US officials said. Washington now estimates that almost all of that can be replaced quickly if the pipeline is cut deliberately or as a result of conflict.
“To ensure Europe is able to make it through the winter and spring we expect to be prepared to ensure alternative supplies covering a significant majority of the potential shortfall,” a senior official said.
Read the Guardian’s full report:
15:24
15:10
The manager of an exclusive New York City restaurant insisted it was focused on the safety of its guests, after the former Alaska governor and Republican vice-presidential pick Sarah Palin dined there despite not being vaccinated against Covid-19.
New York City laws require proof of vaccination for indoor dining.
The city government said Palin should “follow the rules just like everyone else”.
Palin tested positive repeatedly on Monday, delaying the start of her defamation trial against the New York Times in Manhattan federal court.
Palin, who also tested positive in March last year, has said she will not get vaccinated.
In December, she told a conservative audience in Phoenix: “It’ll be over my dead body that I’ll have to get a shot. I will not do that. I won’t do it, and they better not touch my kids either.”
In a statement, Luca Guaitolini, manager of Elio’s, the restaurant on the Upper East Side, responded to the news Palin was seen eating there on Saturday.
“We are taking this isolated incident – and unfortunate oversight – very seriously,” Guaitolini said. “Elio’s adheres to and believes in the vaccine mandate, and all it is doing to protect our staff, regulars and the dining public.”
Guaitolini said he was not working on Saturday. He told the Times first-time diners were checked but Palin dined with an unidentified “regular”.
“She probably just walked in and strolled over” to the table, Guaitolini said. “We are trying to get to the bottom of this.”
14:53
14:27
Russia’s aggressive buildup near Ukraine energised Nato into sending more forces to eastern Europe on Monday and led to a plunge on Russian markets, raising the stakes on the Kremlin’s bet that it could cajole, extort or force Ukraine into submission.
For Moscow it has become more difficult to pull back from its aggressive stance after US and Nato announcements that more troops would be deployed to the military alliance’s eastern flank.
A unilateral drawdown now would leave the Kremlin a clear loser in the standoff, having provoked a strengthening of the very Nato presence that it had sought to banish from eastern Europe.
Moscow has blamed the west for rising tensions and the chaos on Russian financial markets. “We are observing statements published by the North Atlantic Alliance about an enlargement of the contingent and the deployment of forces and hardware to the eastern flank. All that leads to the further escalation of tensions,” claimed Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, on Monday.
Vladimir Putin does still have the option to turn back. An about-face would be embarrassing and make the west less likely to listen to his warnings in the future. But he would face little domestic blowback from ordering a drawdown and could claim he had taken the first step to avoid a devastating conflict.
14:27
14:27