Liveblog: + transfer of nuclear weapons to Belarus “negative” +

US President Biden says he reacted “extremely negatively” to the news that Russia was transferring nuclear weapons to Belarus. Moscow governors report a rocket attack on Mariupol. All developments in the live blog.

According to US experts, Russia is once again putting pressure on the West to urge Ukraine to negotiate. Accordingly, the West should influence the Ukrainian leadership to accept Russia’s conditions for such talks, according to an analysis by the Institute for War Studies ISW in Washington.

The experts referred to information from the Kremlin on Friday, according to which Russian President Vladimir Putin was open to dialogue. As in the past, Russia’s only aim is to demotivate the West in its aid to Ukraine by pretending to be willing to negotiate.

Russia accuses Ukraine and the West of blocking negotiations. At the same time, Moscow is rejecting a peace plan by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that envisages a Russian troop withdrawal. Ukraine and also Germany are against freezing the war with the territories occupied by Russia.

An explosion has occurred in the Russian region of Pskov near the border with Belarus, according to Governor Mikhail Vedernikov. An administration building of an oil pipeline was damaged, Wedernikow said on the short message service Telegram. There are no injuries, emergency services are on site. There were no further details at first.

According to a report, the member states of the European Union (EU) have frozen a total of 200 billion euros from the Russian central bank. This was announced by the EU Commission to the “Welt am Sonntag”. According to the report, the total number of fixed foreign assets of the central bank in the G7 and EU countries is around 300 billion euros. According to the report, the assets of Russian oligarchs in the EU amounted to 24.1 billion euros. Thus 1473 oligarchs and 205 companies were sanctioned.

According to the report, the EU is no closer to the goal of making Russia pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine. A Commission spokesman said Brussels was not allowed to confiscate the Russian money. It must be returned as soon as the sanctions are lifted. Discussions about an alternative plan to invest the funds in the capital market and transfer the proceeds to Kiev “are still ongoing”. A decision is expected at the next European Council summit at the end of June at the earliest.

According to a media report, hundreds of German civil servants have to leave Russia. As the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reports, diplomats are affected to a certain extent, but above all cultural mediators such as teachers at the German school in Moscow and a large number of employees of the Goethe Institute. Overall, we are talking about a low to medium three-digit number.

According to the newspaper, the Federal Foreign Office referred to a decision by the Russian Foreign Ministry made public in April in connection with the reduction of the presence of Russian intelligence services in Germany. This envisages introducing an upper limit for the number of staff in the foreign missions and the German intermediary organizations in Russia.

The chairwoman of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, Annette Kurschus, is pushing for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. In an interview with “Welt am Sonntag” she emphasized that Ukraine’s right to “military self-defence” was “out of the question” and that “I consider arms deliveries to be responsible”. But at the same time there must be talks against in order to achieve a ceasefire. “The longer this war lasts, the more urgent the question becomes for me: How many lives should and may it cost?” said Kurschus. However, negotiations should not mean that Ukraine has to submit to “forced coercion”.

US President Joe Biden has commented on the stationing of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. He reacted “extremely negatively” to reports that Russia was moving nuclear weapons to Belarus.

The EU had previously condemned the Russian-Belarusian agreement to station nuclear weapons in Belarus. This step will lead to a further, extremely dangerous escalation, explains EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Moscow governors in the Russian-controlled and illegally annexed part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region have reported rocket attacks on the city of Mariupol. Months of fierce defense made it a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion, but it was ultimately occupied by Russia. According to the information, two rockets hit the city on Friday evening.

The Russian state news agency Tass quoted an official as saying that the missiles involved were “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles. Great Britain had supplied missiles of this type to Ukraine.

During his visit to Estonia, Chancellor Scholz reaffirmed his commitment to defending the Baltic NATO partners in the event of an attack. Brazil’s President Lula rejects an invitation from Putin to St. Petersburg. The live blog to read.