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Geopolitics

(UPDATED) Operation To Free French FARC Hostage Successful

EL TIEMPO (Colombia)

FLORENCIA - UPDATE: The operation was carried out successfuly, with a smiling Roméo Langlois freed in the remote village of San Isidro. See the first video images of the released reporter:


Earlier in the day, reports circulated that operations were currently underway in Colombia to free Langlois, a French journalist who was taken hostage more than a month ago by FARC rebels, El Tiempo reports.

The humanitarian team handling the operation left at 5 a.m. from the city of Florencia in the southern department of Caquetá. María Cristina Rivera, spokesperson for the International Red Cross, said the team was traveling by land. Contrary to some press reports, they did not request a helicopter to assist in the effort.

The 35-year-old journalist was seized by FARC operatives on April 29 in Unión Peneya, also in Caquetá. Once handed over, Langlois was to be seen by a French doctor and quickly flown back to France.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

How Russia's Wartime Manipulation Of Energy Prices Could Doom Its Economy

A complex compensation mechanism for fuel companies, currency devaluation, increased demand due to the war, logistics disruptions, and stuttering production growth have combined to trigger price rises and deepening shortages in the Russian energy market.

Photograph of Novatek's gravity-based structure platform for production of liquefied natural gas, floating on a body of water.

Russia, Murmansk Region - July 21, 2023: A view of Novatek's gravity-based structure platform for production of liquefied natural gas.

TASS/ZUMA
Ekaterina Mereminskaya

In Russia, reports of gasoline and diesel shortages have been making headlines in the country for several months, raising concerns about energy supply. The situation escalated in September when a major diesel shortage hit annexed Crimea. Even before that, farmers in the southern regions of Russia had raised concerns regarding fuel shortages for their combines.

“We’ll have to stop the harvest! It will be a total catastrophe!” agriculture minister Dmitry Patrushev had warned at the time. “We should temporarily halt the export of petroleum products now until we have stabilized the situation on the domestic market.”

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As the crisis deepens, experts are highlighting the unintended consequences of government intervention in fuel pricing and distribution.

The Russian government has long sought to control the prices of essential commodities, including gasoline and diesel. These commodities are considered "signalling products", according to Sergei Vakulenko, an oil and gas expert and fellow at the Carnegie Endowment. Entrepreneurs often interpret rising gasoline prices as a signal to adjust their pricing strategies, reasoning that if even gasoline, a staple, is becoming more expensive, they too should raise their prices.

The specter of the 2018 fuel crisis, where gasoline prices in Russia surged at twice the rate of other commodities, haunts the authorities. As a result, they implemented a mechanism to control these prices and ensure a steady supply. Known as the "fuel damper," this mechanism seeks to balance the profitability of selling fuel in both domestic and foreign markets.

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