Russia

Submitted by Rakesh Upadhyay via OilPrice.com,

Russia has played a master stroke in the current oil crisis by taking the lead in forming a new cartel, but it’s a move that could spell geopolitical disaster.

The meeting between Russia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela on 16 February 2016 was the first step. During the next meeting in mid-March, which is with a larger group of participants, if Russia manages to build a consensus—however small—it will further strengthen its leadership position.

Increasing its threat against Russia, Turkey is setting up a terrorist training camp in Ukraine. The deputy prime minister of Russia’s Republic of Crimea said on Saturday that Turkish military instructors, whose objective is to train mercenaries, have gathered in Ukraine’s southern region of Kherson, bordering Crimea. Sputnik news reports: “We have reliable information that a plenty of military instructors from Turkey have gathered in the Kherson Region of Ukraine.

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee is calling for an international tribunal on Syria having passed a resolution accusing the Syrian government, Russia and Iran of war crimes in Syria. The move on Wednesday comes despite a breakthrough agreement between the US and Russia on a Syrian ceasefire.

President Vladimir Putin has warned the internal security of the Russian state to be on the lookout for “foreign foes” who present a “direct threat to Russia’s sovereignty.” Putin has urged the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB- the organisation that came after the KGB) not to allow foreign influence in the upcoming September parliamentary elections in Russia.

The key (recurring) catalyst for today's early spike in oil, was the latest desperate attempt by an imploding OPEC member, this time Nigeria to push oil higher when overnight its petroleum minister Emmanuel Kachikwu said that key members of OPEC intend to meet with other producers in Russia on March 20 to renew talks on an agreement to cap oil output, Nigeria’s petroleum minister said.

The headlines in question: