Russia and China conduct preparations to joint naval exercises Joint Sea-2017. The first phase of the drills is to start in the Baltic Sea in late June before they continue in the middle of September in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk. Source Pravda
Two large global wealth managers have imposed restrictions on staff travel to China after a UBS Group AG employee was detained, underlining the challenges of capturing business in a country where fortunes are growing the fastest on the planet. Source Bloomberg
Sanctions are forcing Russia to find alternative settlement currencies to the US dollar to ensure the security of the country’s economy, according to President Vladimir Putin.“We are moving to the de-dollarization of the economy. We are doing so not because we want to undermine the dollar, but because we want to ensure our security. We are constantly facing sanctions, they do not give us the opportunity to work in dollars,” Putin said on Thursday at the Valdai Discussion Club meeting in Sochi. Source RT
Leaders from Russia, Turkey, Germany and France will meet in Istanbul next week in an effort to shore up a truce preventing further violence in Syria’s last rebel-held region and bolster the political process toward ending the seven-year civil war. Source: Bloomberg
