LIVE UPDATES: Putin Backs Idea of ​​External Management of Assets of Foreign Firms Leaving Russia

The United Nations has received the letter sent by Russia concerning a hospital attack in Mauripol, Ukraine, and is circulating it, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday.

The Western Union payment system will stop making money transfers in Russia and Belarus from March 24, thus giving its customers two weeks to prepare for the termination of the service, the company's spokesperson told RIA Novosti.

"Non-Banking Credit Organization Western Union MT East LLC, as a payment system operator in Russia, applied to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation with a request to exclude Non-Banking Credit Organization Western Union MT East LLC from the register of payment system operators from March 24, 2022. We are working with our partners 24/7, and our partners and customers will be able to prepare for a service stop within two weeks," the spokesperson said.

Money transfers that will be sent to Russia and not paid to the recipient before March 24, 2022 will be returned to the sender, she added.

"The Russia-Ukraine war will have a material impact on global economic activity and inflation through higher energy and commodity prices, the disruption of the international commerce and weaker confidence. The extent of these effects will depend on how the conflict evolves and the impact of current sanctions and on possible further measures," Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), said during a briefing.

The ECB cut its eurozone GDP growth forecast to 3.7% for 2022 and to 2.8% for 2023, compared to the previous forecast in December that assumed real GDP growth of 4.2% and 2.9%, respectively, Lagarde noted.

"The baseline for inflation in the new staff projections has been revised upwards significantly, with annual inflation at 5.1 percent in 2022, 2.1 percent in 2023 and 1.9 percent in 2024," Lagarde added.

Russia sees good opportunities to increase the export of oil and oil products to India, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.

On Thursday, Novak had a phone conversation with Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri. The focus was on cooperation between countries in the fuel and energy sector and education.

"Russian exports of oil and oil products to India has approached $1 billion, there are good opportunities to increase this figure," Novak said.

The United States believes that the situation around Chernobyl is of concern, but does not see signs of a "complete crisis," Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Thursday.

The United States does not believe that Ukraine is pursuing biological or nuclear weapons, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said on Thursday.

Ukraine operates "about a little over" a dozen biolabs involved in biodefense and public health for which the American government provided biosafety assistance, US Director of National intelligence Avril Haines said Thursday.

Inflation in the United States has reached new 40-year highs largely because of Russian President Vladimir Putin's military operation in Ukraine, US President Joe Biden said Thursday.

"Today’s inflation report is a reminder that Americans' budgets are being stretched by price increases and families are starting to feel the impacts of Putin’s price hike," Biden said in a White House statement after the 12-month reading for the US Consumer Price Index showed an increase of 7.9% for February, the highest since January 1982.

The annual reading for the so-called CPI had been trending at 40-year highs even before the outbreak of the Ukraine war on February 24.

Biden, however, said the Russian president had aggravated the pain of Americans, with US food prices registering the largest monthly increase since April 2020 and energy costs rising almost 26% on the year.

"A large contributor to inflation this month was an increase in gas and energy prices as markets reacted to Putin’s aggressive actions," Biden said in his statement. "As I have said from the start, there will be costs at home as we impose crippling sanctions in response to Putin’s unprovoked war, but Americans can know this: the costs we are imposing on Putin and his cronies are far more devastating than the costs we are facing."

Global crude oil prices rose above $130 a barrel while pump prices for US gasoline crossed $4 a gallon this week, both reaching 14-year highs, as Russian energy exporters found difficulty in getting their products to the world market due to a raft of sanctions leveled by the United States and other Western countries against Moscow.

"We ourselves are not going to close ourselves from anyone, we are open to work with all our partners, foreign partners who themselves want this. The rights of those foreign investors and colleagues who remain in Russia and work in Russia must be reliably protected. And I ask the government not to lose sight of this. With regard to those who are going to close their production facilities — we need to act decisively here. Then, as the chairman of the government suggested, it is necessary to introduce external management and then transfer these enterprises to those who want to work," Putin said at the meeting with the government.