Croatian President Follows Turkey's Example in Blocking Nordic Countries' NATO Bid

LOCAL NEWS

• Croatian president wants to follow Turkey’s example by trying to block Sweden & Fnland’s entry to NATO. President Mlanovic wants a change in Bosnia’s electoral law that would make it easier for Bosnian Croats to get their representatives elected to leadership positions before approving the NATO bid.
• Nordic NATO accession in focus today with a number of meetings on the schedule. Biden will meet Finnish & Swedish leaders (time TBC); at 0700BST: NATO’s military committee will meet in Brussels; Blinken will also meet with UNSG Guterres (time TBC) and at 1600BST a global food security meeting will be chaired by Blinken.
• Overnight, Zelensky said that Russian occupied cities like Kherson, Melitpol, Bedyansk, Energoda & Mariupol were only temporarily occupied and would be returned to Ukraine. Said “we must drive out the occupiers and guarantee Ukraine real security - RTRS
• Economy Ministry’s conservative forecast calculated on the basis of a significant reduction in oil and gas exports from Russia sees oil exports falling by about 10% a year in 2022-2023; gas exports fall even more sharply - Kommersant
• World Bank says it will make $30bn available to ease food security risks related to the Ukraine crisis. Funding includes $12bn in new projects & $18bn from existing projects that have not yet been disbursed, according to the US Treasury – Sky