The Kurils are part of Russia and a legitimate base for its military, the former president has said Moscow is not against signing a peace treaty with Japan, but Tokyo must understand that the Kuril Islands are and will remain part of Russia, former president Dmitry Medvedev has said.

People in Russia will not have their foreign currency accounts frozen, the Central Bank governor says Russia’s Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina confirmed on Thursday that there will be no national ban on buying or selling foreign currencies. She also gave assurances that foreign currency deposits held by the population will not be frozen.

EU energy ministers on Friday approved their first package of emergency measures in response to the deepening energy crisis in the bloc driven by skyrocketing prices. The package, negotiated in less than a month, includes mandatory power savings, a cap on excess market revenues and a levy to capture surplus corporate profits.