UK warns Russian invasion of Ukraine has ‘already begun in effect'

Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has “already begun in effect” with a series of false flag operations, Downing Street’s chief spokesman has said.

Moscow was now following its classic pre-assault “playbook” of creating a staged pretext for invasion by claiming its military and civilians have been attacked by Ukraine, the British prime minister’s official spokesman told a media briefing.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also warned on Monday that an invasion was “highly likely” despite the US and Russian presidents agreeing tentatively to hold a crisis summit.

A Cabinet meeting was delayed to allow the British prime minister to receive an updated security briefing from intelligence officials.

“The intelligence that we are seeing suggests Russia intends to launch an invasion and that President Putin’s plan has already begun, in effect,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman told the press.

“We’re seeing elements of the Russian playbook that we would expect to see in those certain situations, starting to play out in real time,” he said.

“We have been working with Nato allies to map that out when we see it. The intelligence we have suggests that they still intend to launch an invasion and we stand ready to act as needed.”

A woman walks from Russia-backed separatists territory into Ukraine as a senior British official warns that the invasion has "already begun in effect" with false flag operations. AP

The urgency of the situation is reflected in the government’s willingness to make high-level intelligence public.

However, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said western governments still believed there was “a window for diplomacy” and warned the sanctions being proposed for an invasion would be a deterrent for “people stepping foot into Ukraine”.

Moments after the media briefing, reports from Reuters claimed that Russian troops had prevented “Ukrainian saboteurs” from breaching their shared border in the Rostov region with five deaths and Ukrainian armoured vehicles destroyed.

Ukraine’s defence ministry refuted the claims. But they follow a series of alleged incidents being reported by Russia that could cumulatively lead to an invasion. Moscow has already claimed that a border post was destroyed by a Ukraine shell, although no casualties were reported. It has also helped 60,000 people to evacuate the Donbas region “to protect them from the growing violence”.

On Monday afternoon, the leader of a breakaway region in eastern Ukraine appealed to Moscow for financial and military support before an emergency meeting of Mr Putin’s security council.

British security officials are understood to have concluded that these are all prearranged steps designed to give the Kremlin a justified cause to invade.

Hopes of a summit between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin diminished on Monday when Andrei Kelin, the Russian ambassador to Britain, stated it was too soon to say it would go ahead.

“As far as I understand, the summit should be well prepared, preparations should be made by ministers,” he said.

Fears of an invasion were echoed by Ms Truss, before an EU meeting on Brexit, in which she said the price of aggression would be “intolerably high” for Russia.

“Diplomacy must be pursued but a Russian invasion of Ukraine looks highly likely,” she tweeted. “The UK and allies are stepping up preparations for the worst-case scenario. We must make the cost for Russia intolerably high.”

From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases

A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.

One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.

In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.

The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.

And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.

Zombieland: Double Tap

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Stars: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone

Four out of five stars

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SHOW COURTS ORDER OF PLAY

Wimbledon order of play on Tuesday, July 11
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)

Centre Court

Adrian Mannarino v Novak Djokovic (2)

Venus Williams (10) v Jelena Ostapenko (13)

Johanna Konta (6) v Simona Halep (2)

Court 1

Garbine Muguruza (14) v

Svetlana Kuznetsova (7)

Magdalena Rybarikova v Coco Vandeweghe (24)

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Walls

Louis Tomlinson

3 out of 5 stars

(Syco Music/Arista Records)

SPECS

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How the bonus system works

The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.

The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.

There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).

All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Results

6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes (PA) Group 3 Dh175,000 (Dirt) 1,900m

Winner: Aatebat Al Khalediah, Fernando Jara (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihe (trainer).

7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m

Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.

7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m

Winner: Dubai Avenue, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.

8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,200m

Winner: My Catch, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.

8.50pm: Dubai Creek Mile (TB) Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,600m

Winner: Secret Ambition, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.

9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,600m

Winner: Golden Goal, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.

Emirates exiles

Will Wilson is not the first player to have attained high-class representative honours after first learning to play rugby on the playing fields of UAE.

Jonny Macdonald
Abu Dhabi-born and raised, the current Jebel Ali Dragons assistant coach was selected to play for Scotland at the Hong Kong Sevens in 2011.

Jordan Onojaife
Having started rugby by chance when the Jumeirah College team were short of players, he later won the World Under 20 Championship with England.

Devante Onojaife
Followed older brother Jordan into England age-group rugby, as well as the pro game at Northampton Saints, but recently switched allegiance to Scotland.