April 2, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The State Budget of Ukraine has received a USD 118 million grant from the Government of Japan as part of the World Bank’s Health Enhancement And Lifesaving (HEAL Ukraine) and Housing Repair for People’s Empowerment (HOPE) projects.

“I can think of nothing more urgent than addressing the consequences of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has caused terrible human suffering and destruction”, said the new Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty.

“We expect China to send very clear signals to russia. China obviously plays a key role in ensuring Ukraine's independence and respect for international law, including its sovereignty”, said Minister of Foreign Affairs of France Stéphane Séjourné at a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

As part of the Flight Gear Ukraine Initiative, retired American pilots are collecting protective gear for Ukrainian fighter and helicopter crews: fireproof flight overalls, helmets and gloves.

Minister of Defence of Estonia Hanno Pevkur believes that there is a possibility of sending European troops to Ukraine to speed up the training of Ukrainian colleagues.

The ambassadors of the Baltic countries to the United Kingdom have called on NATO to be more decisive in responding to the challenges posed by russia and called for a clear path for Ukrainian membership in NATO.

Former Commander of the US Army in Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges believes that the rf’s ability to use the advantage in artillery shells is limited because “the russians have lost a lot of experienced officers and sergeants”. “Ukrainians are defending their Motherland, they know the area better than anybody else, while the russians are occupiers and invaders. I don't think there will even be enough russians who want to be there (on the front lines) to fill one school bus”, the General added.

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During the two years of russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the European Union has introduced personal sanctions against 2,177 russians.

“Practically all the largest banks reject transfers to russia for russian products”, said anton berlin, the vice president of russia's largest mining and metallurgical holding “nornikel”. Service providers, warehouses, ports, ship owners also refuse to cooperate. According to the results of last year, “nornikel” reported a two-fold drop in net profit, to $2.87 billion, as well as a reduction in the production of key metals: nickel – by 5%, to 209 thousand tons, and palladium – by 4%, to 2.692 million ounces.

The central bank of the rf has announced the rf’s dependence on the Chinese yuan. In its annual report, the financial regulator pointed out that the Chinese currency plays a key role in the formation of russia's reserves, and warned of limited opportunities for asset diversification. The central bank has recognized that the use of the yuan carries certain risks for the russian economy due to its (yuan’s) market instability.

In fear of secondary sanctions from the USA, trading in the Turkish lira at the moscow exchange decreased by 17% in March compared to February.

For the first time, Moldova has bought the US liquefied natural gas instead of the russian one.

According to S&P Global analysts, in March the civil industry of the rf did not fulfill the production plan for the first time in the last five months. Manufacturers announced an increase in their costs for raw materials and wages for employees.

rosstat, the center of macroeconomic analysis and short-term forecasting and the higher school of economics, which independently assess the dynamics of the rf industrial production, have diagnosed the stagnation of the russian economy from mid-2023.

Loads on the railways of the rf decreased by 4% in the first quarter. The main losses are caused by the transportation of coal for export and construction cargo within the country. Out of 9.7 million tons of total losses, 8.7 million were underloads on the southern direction. According to analysts, it is not worth expecting an improvement in the situation in the second quarter: coal prices on the world markets do not show an upward trend yet, while the export duty makes the export of coal on southern and northwestern directions uncompetitive. According to the forecast, the export of coal will decrease by another 5–8%, of ferrous metals – by 1-2%.

Due to a series of accidents and other technical problems, the production process at the oil refineries of the ufa, samara groups and at those in saratov region has been significantly reduced.

In the first quarter of 2024, the founder of the russian metallurgical company usm holdings, alisher usmanov, who is under international sanctions, suffered losses of $2.8 billion and had to sell 10% of the company's shares.

In the rf, there are big problems in the digital transformation of small and medium-sized businesses, according to a joint study by the “dinamika” marketing agency, mtpp and faves communications. In the survey, 42% of entrepreneurs pointed to poor quality, heterogeneity or lack of data as a key obstacle to digitization. Another 44% complained about the difficulties in synchronizing different programs, and 57% mentioned the lack of necessary funding.

In 2023, the number of russians who had to take out loans due to lack of money increased by 35.7%.

From April 3, the russian bank vtb will stop providing mortgage lending on preferential terms for IT specialists due to “exhaustion of state support limits under this program”.

This year, the moscow airport “vnukovo” has increased the basic tariffs for servicing russian airlines by 8%. The take-off and landing fee has increased to 300 rubles per ton of the maximum take-off weight (MTW) of the aircraft, for aviation safety – to 284 rubles per ton of MTW. The fee for providing an air terminal on russian domestic airlines has increased to 100 rubles per passenger, on international lines – to 140 rubles. The tariff for passenger service on domestic flights rose to 107 rubles per person, on international flights – to 120 rubles.

After the raising of duties on wine imports from unfriendly countries, the supply of still and sparkling wines from the European Union to the rf decreased by almost 40% and reached the lowest figures in six years.

Production of chicken eggs in russia has been declining for the sixth month in a row. According to the results of January-February of the current year, the volume of production decreased by 1.8% compared to the previous year. According to “rosptitsesoyuz”, in February of 2024 alone, the production of chicken eggs decreased by 1.5% compared to the previous year and by 7.5% compared to the previous month. The volume of egg production has remained lower than last year since September 2023, while prices for this product are rising, as shown by rosstat data. Average consumer prices for eggs for the period from January to December 2023 increased 1.6 times and reached 132.45 rubles for ten pieces.

The profitability of agricultural production in russia has decreased to 18% in 2023, – deputy minister of agriculture elena fastova reported.

The loss of “pochta rossii” (“russia’s post”- Transl.) in 2023 was 7.1 billion rubles, the income from trade activity decreased by 6.7%.

In russia, there is a shortage of the American oncology medicine uromitexan, it is not available in pharmacies in moscow, moscow region, st. petersburg, leningrad region, novosibirsk, izhevsk, saratov, samara, volgograd and other cities. The latest supplies of the medicine were in April 2023.

At least 280 billion rubles a year are needed to completely eliminate the income deficit of large families in the rf, scientists of the russian academy of sciences said. That much is needed to bring the average per capita income in families with three or more children to the poverty line (an average of 14.3 thousand rubles per person). At the same time, putin's election fund spent 317.8 million rubles on the election campaign.

One of the largest Chinese companies, the Vanke Group, has given up the previously started restoration of the former imperial educational institution in the zaryadye park in the center of moscow, allegedly because of the geopolitical crisis around the rf.

The ministry of internal affairs of the rf has prepared a draft law on strengthening migration control: the law will oblige foreigners to submit biometric data and will reduce their stay in the rf to 90 days a year.

From April 1, tariffs for charging electric cars have increased in the rb.

Even more belarusians will be included in the “parasite” list – from April 1, the database will be updated not every three months, but every month. The list of those who will be in the base now includes also women who do not live in the rb, who are raising a child younger than seven years of age or three or more minor children.

According to the data of the all-republican job bank, as of April 1, a total of almost 141,000 specialists and workers are needed in the rf. As of February 26 of this year, employers needed 137,200 workers.

In the first quarter of this year, the belarusian ruble depreciated by 2.28% against the dollar. Earlier, both experts and the national bank stated that there was a real risk of devaluation of the national currency.

From April 1, the relevant measures of the rb against Lithuania regarding the ban on the import of certain goods came into force. The list of prohibited goods includes condensed milk and cream, fruits and nuts, coffee, fruit juices, vinegar, pantyhose, stockings, socks, long socks and other hosiery products, as well as some construction products, refrigerators and freezers. In addition, the authorities of the rb have banned the import of beer, wine, vermouth, ethyl alcohol, vinegar and a number of other products. This ban will last until October 1, 2024.

On April 1, in baranovichi, there began a trial of 17 people at once, who are being tried under the so-called “people's” article 342 of the criminal code – “organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them”.