April 3, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

In March, Ukraine exported 11.8 million tons of goods worth 3.2 billion US dollars.

Germany will contribute EUR 576 million to the Czech Initiative to buy 180,000 artillery shells for Ukraine.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jan Lipavský has assured that the Czech Republic and partner countries are working to provide Ukraine with ammunition as soon as possible.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided Ukraine with 109 generators, 19 thermal energy cogeneration units and 13 units of equipment for emergency services.

“...We believe that the Speaker should introduce a bill with additional funding for national security needs, which obviously includes support for Ukraine... – we believe, and it's a fact, that it will be supported by the majority of representatives of both parties”, said White House Press Secretary Karin Jean-Pierre regarding the situation with the vote for the US package of aid to Ukraine.

A bipartisan draft law on the use of the rf’s blocked assets to aid Ukraine will be submitted by US Congress for consideration by the country's President Joe Biden.

According to Spokesperson for the US Department of State Matthew Miller, the United States has made it very clear that it is against China taking any steps that would help support russia's aggression in Ukraine.

Representatives of 57 countries took part in the conference “Restoring Justice for Ukraine” in the Hague.

Ambassador of Italy to Ukraine Pier Francesco Zazo has said that he sees concrete opportunities for the development of bilateral economic relations between the countries in many sectors, in particular agro-industry, renewable energy, transport and logistics. According to him, the Italian Republic would like to play a key role in the restoration of Ukraine.

Italy has accepted more than 180,000 Ukrainian refugees since the beginning of the rf’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The administration of the President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, pointed out that roads and railways on the territory of Moldova can facilitate communication between Ukraine, Romania and the rest of the European Union, stimulating regional trade. Also, Chisinau is ready to host companies “participating in the reconstruction of Ukraine in order to facilitate their access and further investments in the neighboring country”.

European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders has said that the mass murders of civilians by russian troops two years ago in Bucha (Kyiv region) became “a symbol of the devastating consequences of russia's aggressive war against Ukraine – an illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war that continues to this day”.

“This shows the nature of this aggression. This is also putin's answer to all those who still think that peace with him is possible. This is a model of how he responds to any peace efforts, to any peace discussions in various international platforms – simply by increasing the brutality with which he terrorizes the civilian population”, said EU Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano regarding the increase in the brutality of the russian strikes on Ukraine, in particular strikes on dams and power plants.

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South Korea has imposed sanctions on two individuals and two legal entities from the rf for cooperation with the dprk – the companies “intellect” and “sodieistvie”, as well as their representatives sergey kozlov and aleksandr pamfilov. These companies are involved in the “financing of nuclear and missile development” of pyongyang by attracting north korean specialists to work in russia. Also, two russian vessels, which were transporting military cargo between the rf and north korea – lady r and angara – have also been sanctioned.

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh emphasized that the partnership between the rf and north korea continues to “prosper” – the dprk supplies the rf with various types of weapons.

In the port of Rostok, a cargo ship that arrived from the rf under the flag of the Marshall Islands was detained by German customs on suspicion of violating the sanctions regime.

Authorities of Türkiye will require russians wishing to renew their residence permits to provide a UETS (national electronic notification system) address, which may complicate the process of their stay in the country. In 2023, more than 54,000 russians with residence permits left Türkiye. The total number of russians with such a document has decreased by 34%, but there are still up to 100,000 russians there. In February, one of the largest Turkish banks, Denizbank, began to check russian clients and demand that they urgently provide documents confirming the right to live in the country.

Luxury international brands, which stopped their activities in the rf after the beginning of russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, are increasingly curtailing their presence in russia, getting rid of their shops. In particular, the Swiss watch manufacturer Swatch Group (brands Breguet, Harry Winston, Omega, Rado) has halved the number of shops. In 2023, lease contracts for 15 shops in moscow, st. petersburg and other cities were terminated (13 sales points remained). The Italian Prada closed three moscow shops, including a boutique in “gum” (six points of sale remained). The Italian fashion house Fendi gave up renting three premises in moscow, the contract for renting a boutique in “tsum” will be terminated from August 1. Also, the French company Chanel began to cancel lease agreements for premises.

Estonia has terminated the agreement with the rf on legal assistance and legal relations in civil, family and criminal cases.

Estonia intends to close for nights the checkpoint in Narva on the border with the rf.

The developer of the “moyofis” software package “new cloud technologies” suffered losses at the end of 2023, according to the company's financial statements. The revenue of “new cloud technologies” decreased by 43.8% compared to 2022 and is about 1.9 billion rubles. Installation of russian software decreased by 18.1% in 2023. The net loss of “moyofis” – 5.2 billion rubles – is associated with a general decrease in the pace of import substitution of office programs, lack of money for the purchase of software packages from state and near-state clients.

The largest decrease in russian industry was shown by the water supply and drainage sector – it decreased by 6.1%. The main driver of this reduction was the industry of waste disposal and processing of secondary raw materials, the output of which fell by 13.9%, as reported by rosstat. The ministry of natural resources of the rf explains that due to the sanctions, this industry faced a change in the usual logistics schemes for the purchase and supply of equipment, components and spare parts.

The state duma committee on ecology has announced the low rate of creation of facilities for the disposal of municipal solid waste – instead of the planned 7.4 million tons in 2024, the indicator was reduced to 6.1 million tons.

The net profit of the russian fertilizer producer “evrokhim” in 2023 decreased by 37%, to 111.9 billion rubles, and that of the “akron” and “uralkalii” companies decreased several times.

According to the rf central bank’s assessments, the production capacity of the rf in 2023 was 40% worn out and continues to be overburdened in the conditions of the russian crisis.

The federal tax service of the rf will collect tax debts directly from the managers, if the bankruptcy of these companies does not make it possible to repay them.

In the first quarter of 2024, by 40% fewer new catering companies were registered in russia compared to the same period in 2023 (by 30% fewer than in 2022). Experts attribute this to a general shortage of workers and available space, high lending rates and operating costs.

The rf central bank has reported that in 2023, the share of short-term payday loans that russians took out was 34%. At the same time, the regulator pointed out that a total of 443 billion rubles of microloans were granted, which is by 22% more than in 2022.

Over the period of 2022–2023, the illegal turnover of tobacco products in the rf increased from 11% to 13%, budget losses amounted to 150 billion rubles.

More than 60% of the population in the rf complain about problems with housing and communal services, lack of positive changes in their house or deterioration of its condition over the past year. 25% of survey participants had problems with water supply, 23% – with heating, 41% of respondents stated that the building was in poor condition, 18% complained about “significant deterioration”, only 10% of respondents reported improvement. 8% of russians are in debt for housing and communal services, explaining this by a decrease in income against the background of rising costs of goods and services, and difficult life situations. Out of all housing and communal services, the branch of multi-apartment building management is the most complicated, neglected and critical, – said deputy chairman of the state duma committee on construction and housing, razvorotnyova.

On the eve of the holiday season, makhachkala is drowning in rubbish – after the Tajiks have left the capital of dagestan, there is no one to clean the city.

governor of belgorod region gladkov has said that the agricultural producers of the region have suffered losses of 1.2 billion rubles.

A draft law has been submitted to the state duma, which forbids citizens entered in the register of “foreign agents” to participate in elections. The draft law proposes that russian citizens recognized as “foreign agents” should be deprived of the right to be elected to federal and regional authorities, as well as to local self-government bodies. In addition, the deputies want to prohibit “foreign agents” from holding positions in state and municipal bodies and from being members of election commissions.

The ministry of foreign affairs of the rf will oblige foreign citizens entering the rf to sign an agreement “on loyalty” to the demands of the authorities and a warning about forced deportation.

According to experts, the rb is increasingly driving itself into a trap due to its increasing economic dependence on russia. In 2023, the volume of investments from the rf in the economy of the rb amounted to 5.1 billion dollars. This is by $1.2 billion more than in 2022. There are already 2,312 different companies with russian capital operating in the country. Foreign investments in the real sector of the russian economy of the rb account to 66.7% of all such investments received in 2023. For comparison: second by this indicator is Cyprus with 14.7%.

minselkhozprod of the rb has changed the minimum prices for some goods supplied for export – this time for dairy products for the russian market. From April 2, the minimum export prices for milk and heavy cream increased from 335 to 340 russian rubles per kilogram, butter with a milk fat content of 72 to 80% increased in price from 560 to 580 rubles per kilogram. These prices are not raised for other countries.

The gomel regional executive committee has approved the procedure for stopping the work of retail outlets, cafes and online stores: sellers will be punished not only for prices, but also for lack of goods.

belstat will conduct a large-scale survey of households from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025. The national statistical committee wants to know how belarusians manage their time. Six thousand households from all regions and minsk are expected to participate in the survey.

According to the association of former belarusian law enforcement officers BELPOL, “maz” hires labor from abroad amid staffing problems. ojsc “maz” concluded an agreement with the Agency for Foreign Labor Migration under the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the organized hiring of Uzbek citizens to the enterprise. Within the framework of this agreement, more than a hundred citizens of Uzbekistan have already been employed at “maz”.