April 1, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, on the anniversary of the liberation of the city of Bucha from the russian occupiers, said that russia will not win the war with Ukraine, and the crimes should not go unpunished. He was supported in a statement by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić: “There can be no lasting peace without ensuring responsibility for these and other crimes”. President of Moldova Maia Sandu and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen stand in solidarity with their colleagues.

Europol analyzed 7 thousand photos and video clips and managed to identify 150 suspects in war crimes during the war in Ukraine unleashed by russia. This was announced by Executive Director of Europol Catherine de Bolle during the United for Justice conference in Bucha, dedicated to the anniversary of the liberation of the city from russian invaders.

Germany’s government has updated the list of military assistance to Ukraine, in particular, the following were added: 2 armored repair and evacuation vehicles for armored vehicles Bergepanzer 3 (based on the Leopard 2 tank); two demining tanks WISENT 1 (based on the Leopard 2 tank); 24 Zetros trucks; 40 thousand first-aid kits; 103 thousand turnstiles.

“This week, 65 Ukrainian servicemen of the Air Defence Forces have completed training on Patriot systems in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and have now returned to Europe. They are integrating with other Ukrainian air defense forces, as well as with Patriot air defense systems provided by the United States, Germany and the Netherlands”, Press Secretary of the Pentagon Patrick Ryder said.

Germany is considering joint projects with Ukraine to modernize the Ukrainian GTS for transportation of hydrogen.

The Government of North Macedonia has officially decided to transfer combat helicopters to Ukraine.

In the spring, Ukraine and Poland can restore a power line that will connect the Ukrainian and European energy systems.

The Senate of Poland unanimously passed a resolution condemning the mass deportation of children from the territories temporarily occupied by russia.

The Parliament of Austria supported the introduction of a procedure for simplified employment of refugees from Ukraine.

The government of Japan has expanded sanctions against russia by banning the supply of steel and its products; aluminum and its products; construction machines (hydraulic excavators, bulldozers, etc.); engines for aviation; electrical equipment and its components; radio equipment for navigation; generators; aircrafts and spacecrafts, spare parts for them, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles; optical, photographic, measuring equipment and parts for it; all toys with wheels, as well as prefabricated models and layouts, jigsaws and puzzles. The sanctions will come into force on April 7. At the same time, Japan has imposed restrictions on the export of 23 types of equipment for the production of semiconductors.

A bipartisan group of US Senators – from the Republican and Democratic Parties – introduced a bill on security in the Black Sea region in 2023. The document provides for a more active and decisive US foreign policy towards the region, in particular, strengthening coordination between the USA, NATO and the EU, as well as strengthening economic ties between the United States and the countries of the Black Sea region (noted support for the “Three Seas Initiative”).

For the first time in the modern history of russia, a foreign journalist was arrested: a correspondent of the moscow bureau of the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, a citizen of the USA Evan Hershkovich was charged with espionage. The US government considers the FSB’s accusations to be groundless. The White House Press Secretary Karin Jean-Pierre called it a “familiar tactic”. According to her, the russians detained a US citizen in order to have additional leverage for negotiations. At the same time, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on American citizens staying in russia to leave the country immediately.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell condemned russia's detention of The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Hershkovich.

US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby has said russia is seeking to obtain ammunition stockpiles from North Korea, most likely, in exchange for food.

The Parliament of Moldova has extended the state of emergency for another 60 days over russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili has criticized the current government of the country, noting that it speaks the same language with moscow when it comes to “opening” the so-called “second front” against russia.

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The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has revoked the license of the russian mts bank. It is officially announced that mts bank should curtail its activities within six months and close all branches in the UAE. During this period, the bank is prohibited from opening new accounts and conducting operations, except for repayment of previously undertaken obligations.

The French association Darwin Climax Coalition, together with the Ukrainian organization Razom We Stand, for the second time filed a complaint with the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office of Paris to investigate the activities of TotalEnergies, which supplied fuel used by russian aircrafts during flights for missile strikes on Ukraine.

The American company Kraft Heinz is selling in russia two enterprises for the production of baby food (brands “razumnitsa” and “sami s usami”), as well as the rights to the Heinz Baby brand.

The American agro-industrial corporation Archer Daniels Midland has begun work on curtailing activities in russia.

Toyota has sold its plant in the village of shushary near st. petersburg.

The American chemical company 3M, which is one of the largest manufacturers of respirators in the world, is selling its business in the rf. The decision was made despite the fact that, by decision of the russian authorities, that, leaving russia, investors from “unfriendly” countries must provide at least 50 % discount.

In Cyprus, they will block russians’ accounts exceeding € 100 thousand.

Georgia has more than tripled the export of passenger cars to russia and several times to the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union. Local analysts believe that most of these cars then end up in the rf, and Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are used only to import cars subject to international sanctions. Deliveries to russia in January-February 2023 amounted to 978 cars compared to 209 cars a year earlier, to Kazakhstan – 2.6 thousand cars (935), to Armenia – 2.8 thousand cars (365), to Kyrgyzstan – 1.3 thousand (423). Georgia itself does not produce cars, it imports them.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the income of the russian network of hypermarkets metro decreased by 14.1 %, to 56.9 billion rubles. The metro has said that this is due to a decrease in the purchasing power of russians after the start of the russian war against Ukraine, as well as a cyber-attack on its IT system in Germany. At the same time, according to state reporting, the ten largest russian networks for the sale of consumer goods for the second quarter in a row have a decrease in profitability and an increase in costs.

The Federal Tax Service of the rf is creating its own civil defense organization to “protect workers, as well as material and cultural values at the disposal of the service and tax authorities, from the dangers arising during military conflicts or as a result of these conflicts”. An “evacuation commission” will be created to evacuate employees.

russia has abandoned its participation in the international Proliferation Security Initiative, launched in 2003.

The general prosecutor's office of the rf banned the activities of the Free University, saying that the educational institution “imposes an ultraliberal model of European democracy”.

The russian portal, “gosuslugi” has removed the option to delete an account, technical support has reported that you can delete an account only “through a personal appeal”. This is associated with the decision of the ministry of defense of the rf to send summonses to conscripts through the portal. deputy chairman of the state duma committee on defense shvitkin has said that electronic summonses will be equated with personal delivery. According to him, this is done in order to reduce the number of evaders. Lawyers have pointed out that now the legislation provides for only one form of receiving a summons – personally under the signature.

The accounts of the German Goethe-Institut have been blocked in russia, according to Andrea Sasse, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the FRG.

During his annual address to the people and parliament, the self-proclaimed president of belarus lukashenko said that he is ready to deploy strategic missiles with nuclear warheads on the territory of belarus. According to him, he ordered to restore the sites intended for the launch of mobile strategic missile systems “Topol-M”, which were withdrawn from belarus in the nineties.

According to lukashenko, digitalization in belarus is still slipping, and the profits from the work of the high-tech park, which was given preferences to create a product for the needs of its own economy, are yet to be seen.

According to the national bank, the debt of belarusians on loans at the beginning of March increased to 17 billion 122.4 million rubles. This is a record figure. belarusians' total debt on bank loans is growing for the ninth month in a row. This amount takes into account consumer loans, loans for real estate, cars, as well as installment cards. At this, debt on real estate loans and consumer loans have also set records. As for legal entities, compared to February last year, the volume of loans issued to them has decreased by 5.6 %, or by half a billion rubles. In two months, legal entities took almost 14.5 billion rubles of loans, which is by 6 % less than a year ago. The volume of long-term loans issued was 1.89 billion rubles, which is by 4.3 % less than a year ago. The debt of legal entities to banks on loans as of March 1 amounted to 45.3 billion rubles, and their overdue debt is 135.5 million rubles. Compared to March 2022, overdue debts have increased by 38.3 %.

The CSTO in 2023 will conduct five exercises in belarus: joint operational-strategic exercise “combat brotherhood- 2023”, special training with intelligence forces and means “poisk-2023”, joint training with the rapid response forces of the CSTO “vzaimodeystvie-2023”, with means of logistics of the CSTO troops “echelon-2023”, special training with joint formation of radiation, chemical and biological protection and medical support “barrier-2023”, as well as special training of units of the ministry of emergencies allocated to the formations of the special task forces of the collective response forces of the CSTO “skala-2023”.