March 10, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Goldman Sachs is exiting Russia, becoming the first major Wall Street bank to announce plans to do so after the invasion of Ukraine.

“Goldman Sachs is winding down its business in Russia in compliance with regulatory and licensing requirements,” a Goldman Sachs spokesperson told CNN on Thursday. 

The decision by Wall Street’s most influential firm to get out of Russia deals another financial blow to Moscow. News of Goldman’s exit from Russia was previously reported by Bloomberg News.

It’s not immediately clear how many people Goldman Sachs employs in Russia nor how much money the firm makes there. 

Citigroup confirmed on Wednesday that it is continuing its previously announced efforts to exit its consumer business in Russia. Citi said it is operating that consumer business “on a more limited basis given current circumstances and obligations.”

Citi said it is supporting corporate clients in Russia, including many American and European multinational corporations, as they suspend or unwind their business there.

Following economic sanctions by the West, the Russian government has set a list of goods and equipment previously imported into Russia from abroad that are prohibited from being transferred out of the country until the end of the year, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers announced on Thursday.

According to the official statement published on the government’s website, the list includes over 200 items, including “technological, telecommunications, medical equipment, vehicles, agricultural machinery, electrical equipment” as well as “railway cars and locomotives, containers, turbines, metal and stone processing machines, monitors, projectors, consoles and panels.” 

"The export of these goods is temporarily limited to all foreign countries, with the exception of the states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Abkhazia, and South Ossetia,” the statement said.

This decision comes after a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

It follows a mass exodus from Russia by Western companies.

In addition, the Russian government temporarily restricted the export of certain types of timber from Russia in states that have committed unfriendly actions, according to the issued list.

The restrictions will remain in effect until the end of 2022. "This measure is necessary to ensure stability in the Russian market," the message read.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the government in Kyiv was open to creative thinking about the future security status of the country.

Speaking after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Turkey on Thursday, Kuleba said: "It's written in our constitution to eventually join NATO as a full member and enjoy security guarantees. But we understand this is not going to happen in the blink of an eye or the foreseeable future."

He added that Ukraine is aware NATO is not ready to act collectively to stop the war and to protect civilians in Ukraine from Russian attacks

Kuleba added: "If we could reach an agreement where a similar system of guarantees as envisaged by the North Atlantic Charter could be granted to Ukraine by the permanent members of UN Security Council, including Russia," as well as by Ukraine's neighbors, "this is something we are ready to discuss. Ukraine exists in a security vacuum and we have to think creatively on how to address this issue."

Kuleba's meeting with Lavrov on Thursday ended without an agreement between the two sides on evacuation corridors out of besieged areas, nor on a ceasefire in Ukraine.

After the meeting, Kuleba said Russia was not prepared to negotiate on his top goals of arranging an evacuation route away from the city of Mariupol, which has endured deadly airstrikes this week.

According to Kuleba, a “broad narrative Lavrov conveyed today was they [Russia] will continue their aggression until we surrender.” He said he hopes Lavrov will follow up on the humanitarian issues in Ukraine by “reaching out to his colleagues in charge who can make decisions.”

Estonia will not be issuing tourist visas for Russian citizens looking to enter the country for the duration of the Ukrainian invasion, the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Eva-Maria Liimets said Thursday in Tallinn. 

“Estonia is no longer issuing new C and D category (tourist) visas to Russian citizens. The ban will last for as long as Russian continues waging war against Ukraine,” she said. “We are actively working to ensure that our deterrence measures in this region are stronger than they have been so far, because the situation in Europe and in security has changed dramatically and will probably never return to Feb. 23.”

Exceptions will be made for people with family in Estonia and for humanitarian or medical reasons, she added. 

There has been a higher number of Russian citizens than usual entering Estonia since the invasion. According to the Estonian Foreign Ministry and Border Guard, more than 12,000 Russian citizens have crossed the land border with Estonia in the past two weeks, which is 2,200 people more than the average over that period before the Russian invasion of Ukraine two weeks ago. 

These images show the extent of the damage to homes and stores across the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

The UK has moved its visa application system for Ukrainian refugees online after receiving criticism for reported delays at application centers.

British Home Secretary Priti Patel told lawmakers in the House of Commons Thursday that Ukrainians with passports no longer need to go to a visa processing center before traveling to the UK, from next week. 

The UK system drew criticism after some refugees managed to reach the French port city of Calais before being told to travel to appointments in Paris or Brussels as part of the administrative procedures. 

"Ukrainians with passports will be able to get permission to come here fully online from wherever they are and will be able to give their biometrics once in Britain," Patel said. 

Security checks on Ukrainians entering the UK will also continue, Patel said. She added that has received "assurances" which enabled the changes, saying that previous Russian poisonings of dissents in Britain, had made clear, "what Putin is willing to do on our soil."  

The home secretary added that she had two key objectives when dealing with this issue: "first to keep the British people safe, second to do all we can to help Ukrainians."

In a video message Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his government was "securing humanitarian corridors again for our cities."

"Buses have already left, cargo vehicles are en route carrying food, water and medications," Zelensky said.

He mentioned corridors for the port city of Mariupol, the besieged city of Volnovaha in the east and the northeastern cities of Izyum and Sumy.

It's unclear whether these corridors have allowed safe passage for civilians and aid on Thursday. As of 3:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. ET), there was no sign that a relief column had reached Mariupol, which saw further bombing Thursday morning.

Zelensky claimed that Russia wants "to humiliate our people so they take bread and water on their knees from the occupants, so they can save lives only by going to the occupied territories or Russia. "

"That's why they are blocking Mariupol, Valnovaha, and other cities," he said.

A ceasefire to the hostilities in Ukraine was never going to be agreed on Thursday during trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. 

Speaking in a news conference in Antalya after the talks, Lavrov said he had warned his Turkish and Ukrainian counterparts that Russia did not want to create a "parallel track" to talks already taking place alongside the Belarusian border. 

"It is there that all practical issues are discussed, it is there that it was explained in the most detailed way what needs to be done in order to end this crisis. This includes demilitarization and denazification and ensuring the neutral status of Ukraine,” Lavrov said, echoing rhetoric that Russian President Vladimir Putin has invoked to justify his invasion of Ukraine.

During the last round of Belarus talks, Russia presented Belarus with a draft legal document detailing "extremely specific considerations" with the Ukrainian side assuring that they would give answers, he said.  

Russia wants to "have a serious conversation on the Belarusian site," Lavrov said, stressing the country's belief that the issue "should be resolved in the context of a comprehensive settlement of the Ukrainian crisis."

The foreign minister added that he "wasn't surprised" that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said it wasn't possible to reach a ceasefire during Thursdays talks. 

"No one was going to agree on a ceasefire [at this meeting], these proposals and the sequence of steps outlined in these proposals are well known to the Ukrainian side," the Russian foreign minister continued. 

The parties "mainly talked about humanitarian issues at the initiative of our Turkish friends," Lavrov added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned Russian propagandists they “will be held responsible for complicity with war crimes” in a video message Thursday.

It comes after Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova on Wednesday called for a “new model” of investigative efforts to tackle alleged war crimes in Ukraine.  

The prosecutor general said her office also “took action against those who incited war and provoked further atrocities in Ukrainian territory.”  

A warning was reportedly issued to a number of people she called Russian “propagandists,” including several Russian celebrities who Venediktova described as Putin supporters.