April 22, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The United States will begin training Ukrainian troops on Abrams tanks in the coming weeks.

More than 16,000 troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already been trained in the countries of the European Union.

Canada has provided Ukraine with another package of military assistance worth 39 million Canadian dollars (28.9 million US dollars): 40 sniper rifles, 16 radio stations and a contribution (34.6 million Canadian dollars) to the NATO fund to help Kyiv.

Estonia will provide Ukraine with 155-mm ammunition as its contribution to the European Union's initiative to supply Ukraine with one million ammunition for artillery.

Slovenia will join the EU joint purchase of ammunition for Ukraine.

In May, Israel intends to test in Kyiv its civilian early warning system developed specifically for Ukraine.

The National Intelligence Center of the Ministry of Defense of Spain is conducting the largest reorganization in the last 20 years to counter the hostile hybrid strategy of the russian federation, which concerns Spain. It is planned to create so-called mission centers that will specialize in combating russia’s espionage, hostile propaganda and disinformation. Also, those centers should counter cyberattacks and attempts to circumvent EU sanctions imposed on the export of military goods to russia.

Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said that the operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of russia are quite acceptable.

Since April 21, eight mobile offices of the passport service of SE “Document” for Ukrainians have started their work in the German city of Cologne.

Germany has initiated another reduction of the number of russian diplomats in the FRG.

The General Assembly of the Forum of Civil Societies “petersberg dialogue”, which was founded in 2001 to deepen mutual understanding between Germany and russia, decided to liquidate the organization.

The EU is allocating an additional €55 million for humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Ukraine has officially joined the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provides a loan of EUR 10.6 million to Elektrotrans in the city of Khmelnytskyi for the purchase of new trolleybuses and equipment.

In Kharkiv, 75-year-old Japanese volunteer Fuminori Tsuchiko opened a free café.

Romania will not unilaterally ban the import of Ukrainian grain.

Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have called on the EU to disconnect gazprombank from SWIFT, or freeze its assets, as well as to completely ban gas and aluminum imports from russia, and expand the criteria for including russians in the sanctions list. gazprombank is the third largest bank in russia, through which all international payments for russian gas are made.

The Seimas of Lithuania overcame President Gitanas Nausėda's veto on the law on restrictive measures against citizens of russia and belarus. The adopted version of the law limits the ability of russians and belarusians to obtain visas in Lithuania, import and export Ukrainian hryvnia from Lithuania until May 2024. Also, russians will be temporarily deprived of the right to buy real estate, and their applications for temporary residence permits will not be accepted for some time.

A group of MEPs called on the European Commission to respond to Hungary’s constant abuse of its veto.

The special representative of the Dutch government for Ukraine Ron van Dartel resigned because of pro-russian statements in an interview.

Austria has blocked russian assets worth almost 2 billion euros.

Albania has cancelled the visa-free regime for russians, which was valid from May 1 to September 30.

Italian law enforcement agencies are studying the possibility of freezing the assets belonging to artem uss, the son of the governor of russia's krasnoyarsk territory, who fled Italian justice.

“At the next Olympic Games in Paris in 2024, if the war continues, if the russians still attack you, it will mean that they are attacking us and our values. And, in my opinion, russian athletes cannot be received in Paris if the war continues”, ' said Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo.

The United Kingdom has imposed sanctions against russians involved in the poisoning and arrest of opposition leader Kara-Murza.

rf

The German company Continental Global Holding Netherlands B.V, which owns a plant in kaluga and distributor of tires in the rf, has finally agreed on the controversial issues and signed an agreement to sell the business in russia.

German chemical-industrial concern Henkel has said it is leaving russia.

The American company producing batteries and accumulators Duracell has completed all formalities for closing business in russia and announced that it has left the rf.

Georgian TBC Bank has warned customers that it could close their accounts in case of detection of transactions that violate sanctions against russia.

The prosecutor - general's office has declared undesirable in russia the activities of the Japanese non-governmental organization “Union of Inhabitants of Tishima and Habomai Islands” because it “poses a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and security of the rf”.

In March, 89 % of russian companies surveyed said they had no increase in sales of their products, although at the beginning of the year 32 % of them expected profit. 47 % of companies reported sales reduction.

8 % of businesses have reduced investments in the development of their business.

In March, the average speed of delivery of goods by rail in the rf decreased to 4 % compared to February, in the forced downtime was 6.6 % of the park of wagons, the number of which compared to March 2022 increased by 14.3 %.

Participation of aircrafts of the rf air force in the parade of victory in novosibirsk has been cancelled.

In moscow, for the first time in the recent history of the rf, volunteers campaign in the streets persuading young people to take up military service under contract.

In 2022, the first belarusian NPP unit produced 4.4 billion kWh of electricity. At this, production took place only 45.4 % of the time. A year earlier, the station produced electricity 58.8 % of time and produced 5.4 billion kWh. The use of the installed power from the moment of starting the first unit is 50.2 %. That is, it was not working half a time. According to experts, this is one of the worst indicators in the world.

On April 21, the decree of self-proclaimed president of belarus lukashenko came into force, which obliges the providers of telecommunication and owners of Internet resources to interact with the bodies that carry out operational search activities. From this date, the kgb and the operational-analytical center under the president of belarus will be able to have real time access to all databases and automated systems containing users’ information. The service provider will be obliged to connect to the system within the deadline and bring databases of users, automated systems, equipment and software in line with the technical requirements from the oac and kgb.

According to the statement of the head of the main directorate of organizational work, control and external relations of the state control committee of the rb oksana belovets, more than 30 % of lukashenko’s orders are not executed by officials. But this is an average of the country, while in regional executive committees, this figure is even worse – 56 %, and in vitebsk and grodno regions – 57 %.