April 23, 2022 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The EU intends to impose a sixth package of sanctions against russia early next week. It may include a partial ban on russian oil imports, as well as more russian banks’ disconnection from SWIFT.

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has said eight countries have joined the EU's anti-russian sanctions. In particular, the candidates for accession to the European Union are Northern Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania, a potential candidate – Bosnia and Herzegovina, members of the European Free Trade Area – Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, as well as Ukraine.

Australia has imposed sanctions on 147 russian citizens, including the daughter of russian foreign minister lavrov, katerina vinokurova, putin's daughters maria vorontsova and katerina tikhonova, and 144 members of the federation council.

They are not allowed to enter australia, their assets are frozen and financial transactions are prohibited.

The World Bank has allocated $ 4.8 billion to rebuild Ukraine, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on April 22. During the ministerial round table, the President addressed the World Bank. And the Organization decided to allocate $ 4.8 billion to Ukraine. “Thanks to our being heard and supported. With this help, we will be able to quickly rebuild the country”, the President of Ukraine added.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) intends to open a regional office in Kyiv. This was announced by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal following a meeting with OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann. “Ukrainians are fighting for freedom and civilization future in the European Union. Therefore, it is important for us to use the best practices of the OECD and implement them in Ukraine in the near future”, said the Prime Minister. According to him, Matthias Cormann “expressed strong support for Ukrainians in the fight for their democratic future and pointed out that the OECD wants to help restore and rebuild Ukraine”.

Most of the financial support to Ukraine to cover the $ 5 billion budget deficit is planned to be provided as grants, said Alfred Kammer, Director of the IMF European Department, on April 22. Among the instruments to support Ukraine, he named the IMF's special account, the World Bank's Multi-Donor Trust Fund, and the EU Solidarity Trust Fund. “The next broad donor support will be crucial for Ukraine's medium-term economic prospects, as the need for post-war reconstruction is likely to be very high”, the IMF stressed.

France supplies Ukraine with anti-tank missiles Milan and self-propelled howitzers Caesar. This was stated by French President Emmanuel Macron. “We still supply a significant amount of equipment, from Milan to Caesar, including several types of weapons. I think we should continue to follow this path”, he said. The French Caesar is an off-road truck equipped with a 155-mm gun capable of hitting a target with high accuracy at a distance of 40 km. It is manufactured by Nexter and exported to seven countries. Since 2008, 77 units have been delivered to French artillery units.

12 Caesar guns for Ukraine will be withdrawn from the army reserve. Earlier, France handed over to Ukraine a convoy of firefighting equipment.

The UK’s Embassy will resume work in Kyiv. This was announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom Liz Truss. “We are reopening the British Embassy in Kyiv with our Ambassador Melinda Simmons, who will soon return to the city. We are with Ukraine”, Truss said.

For the first time since 2003, Japan has identified the South Kuril Islands as illegally occupied by russia.

russia has been deprived of observer status in the Organization of American States.

The Netherlands’ government has said it intends to phase out russian gas by the end of the year.

From April 24, Finland will reduce by a third imports of electricity from russia.

The Dutch “daughter” of the russian “alpha bank” Amsterdam Trade Bank has been declared bankrupt. The bank has about 23 thousand customers.

After Visa and Mastercard had left the russian market, russia began to switch en masse to cards of the Chinese payment system UnionPay, but this did not help the russians. UnionPay has stopped cooperating with banks subject to international sanctions, so “sberbank”, “alfa-bank”, “vtb” and many other ussian banks will not be able to issue a joint card of the two payment systems “Mir” – UnionPay. The UnionPay international payment system operates in 180 countries, including the United States and the European Union.

The American company Guardian Industries, which has two glass factories in russia, has said it is suspending production in russia.

Condé Nast Publishing House has suspended the franchise agreement with its russian division and closed all publishing activities in the russian market. Earlier, Condé Nast closed its business activities in russia, including the popular magazines “Vogue Russia”, “GQ Russia”, Tatler, Glamor, AD, and CNX. The Condé Nast Store does not accept new orders either.

Belgian brewer AB InBev has announced the sale of its stake in a russian joint venture.

Swedish bearing manufacturer SKF stops production in russia and sells its russian companies.

The international content subscription service OnlyFans has stopped payments to users from russia.

Hungarian airline WizzAir resumes selling tickets from Ukraine. Reservations have been open for a number of European destinations since July 2022. So far, the carrier's booking system has only two departure points from Ukraine – Kyiv and Odesa. The nearest dates are from July 4.

The cost of a flight from Ukraine to one of the European cities is from 300 hryvnias. One piece of hand luggage is included in the price. Meals and extras are not included.

The Vatican had to postpone a meeting with the patriarch of the russian orthodox church, kirill, which was scheduled for June. This was announced by Pope Francis.

The Opera Festival in St. Gallen, Switzerland, excluded Tchaikovsky's opera “The Virgin of Orleans” because of russia's aggression against Ukraine. It was symbolically replaced by “Jeanne d'Arc” by Giuseppe Verdi.

Hollywood director and producer Doug Lyman, best known for “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and “The Bourne Identification”, has arrived in Ukraine to make a film about the war. “I make films about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, and there are 40 million such stories here”, said the director.

British singer Ed Sheeran has released a music video for the song 2step, which he shot in Kyiv in November 2021. The video appeared on his YouTube channel. The singer described his impressions from the trip to Kyiv, noting the hospitality and attention of locals who participated in the creation of the video. The frame shows the yard of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. The track was recorded with American rapper Lil Baby. Before the video, the musician added a frame with a statement about the transfer of copyright fees from DEC reviews to help Ukraine.

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On April 22, putin discussed with permanent members of the russian security council “the issue of cooperation in the post-soviet space”.

peskov said the kremlin would not comment on its military intentions in Ukraine, including its targets in the South of Ukraine.

rosaviatsia recommends that air carriers prepare for the possible disconnection of the GPS navigation system. An official letter signed by the deputy head of rosaviatsia yadrov was sent to the director general of the state corporation for air traffic management moiseenko, as well as to the heads of interregional territorial departments of the agency. Earlier, the head of “roscosmos” rogozin said that there is no need to worry if russia is disconnected from the GPS, because “every smartphone is connected to the russian glonass system, which will continue to work”. At the same time, the head of the department for the use of the glonass system of the “roscosmos” department of navigation space systems, ivan revnivykh, said that the first satellite of the high-orbit system glonass will be launched in 2028.

state duma deputy matveychev addressed the head of the ministry of industry and trade manturov with a proposal to limit the work of grocery hypermarkets on Sunday. “In order to support small businesses in the agricultural sector, I ask you to consider the feasibility of introducing a draft law to limit the mode of operation of grocery hypermarkets on weekends (Sunday)”, the letter reads.

“sovkombank”, which is under international sanctions and has technical problems with payments on dollar Eurobonds, plans to offer owners to exchange them for a new issue of local subordinated bonds, hoping that this will allow investors to receive payments, bypassing the international payment infrastructure. According to the moscow stock echange, the russian stock market closed down 1.71% on April 22 and 8% last week.

“severstal” has been unable to pay interests on dollar Eurobonds due to a ban by regulators in the United States, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and Ireland. The main owner of the company –mordashov – has been under EU sanctions since February.

russians continue to evade international sanctions in every possible way: the senior vice-president of “vtb” snesar has resigned from the board of directors of “channel one” and “rusgidro”.

The global hygiene and health company Essity, which owns the brands Zewa, Libresse and Libero, has ceased operations in russia. russians will no longer have high-quality toilet paper, only the izvestia newspaper.

russia's ministry of emergencies has reduced fire safety inspections by 80% amid international sanctions for russia's aggression against Ukraine. Independent analysts say that “against the background of the burning of the central research institute of air and space defense forces, this is a very “right” decision”.

Olympic champion, swimmer yevgeny rylov was suspended for 9 months from competitions under the auspices of FINA for his behavior at a concert-meeting in “luzhniki” in support of putin's attempt to occupy Ukraine. “The FINA Bureau took into consideration the decision of the FINA Disciplinary Commission to exclude yevgeny rylov from participation in all competitions and events organized or authorized by FINA, including any international competition included in the FINA World Water Calendar, for a period of nine months – over mr. rylov's presence and behavior at the event, which took place at the “luzhniki” stadium in moscow on March 8, 2022”, reads the statement published on the website of the International Swimming Federation.