April 4, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

44 states in the Hague supported the declaration condemning russia's aggression against Ukraine as a flagrant violation of the international legal order. The signatories confirm their intention to work on the creation of a special tribunal to bring russia to justice for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, which would contribute to the punishment of the top military and political leadership of the rf, and assure that the rf’s sovereign assets under their jurisdiction will remain frozen until russia ceases its aggression against Ukraine and pays for the damages caused. They also welcome discussions on the possibility of using the assets and the income from them for the benefit of Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has proposed to create a fund for Ukraine, into which member countries will contribute a total of $100 billion over five years. According to him, the members of the Alliance should provide reliable support to Ukraine in the long term, and this, according to Stoltenberg, should incline russia to peace negotiations.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Krišjānis Kariņš supported NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's proposal to create a support fund for Ukraine.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Sikorski has said that his country fully supports NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's efforts to support Ukraine and create a five-year military fund.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium Hadja Lahbib supports the allocation of EUR 100 billion to Ukraine at the initiative of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, but believes that such a decision requires additional discussions.

Finland has announced the allocation of a new package of military aid to Ukraine in the amount of EUR 188 million, which will include, in particular, air defense systems and large-caliber artillery ammunition.

Ukraine and Finland have signed an agreement on security cooperation and long-term support.

Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen has stated that her country allocates about 0.25% of its GDP to help Ukraine and is discussing the parameters of its long-term support for the Ukrainian people. Since the beginning of the rf’s full-scale invasion, Finland has provided military aid to Ukraine in the amount of EUR 2 billion and humanitarian aid in the amount of EUR 700,000.

“The future of Ukraine is one of the priorities of our security policy. To be honest, our membership in NATO would not have been possible without the rf’s aggressive attack on Ukraine”, said President of Finland Alexander Stubb.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron will ask NATO members to join the led by the UK “initiatives to buy standard NATO missiles and munitions for the Armed Forces of Ukraine”. “It is absolutely necessary that the United Kingdom and other countries of this Alliance provide Ukraine with the weapons, ammunition and support it needs. It is vital for us that Ukraine wins  and putin loses.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the FRG Annalena Baerbock has said that Germany is doing its best to provide assistance to Ukraine – with weapons, ammunition, finances, and in the humanitarian aspect.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jan Lipavský has called on all NATO members to “engage” in the Czech Initiative regarding the purchase of shells for Ukraine.

Estonia has expressed interest in participating in the Czech Initiative to buy shells for Ukraine.

The Netherlands allocates EUR 10 million to Ukraine for the investigation of russian war crimes.

Austria allocates EUR 2 million to finance the work of Austrian humanitarian organizations in Ukraine.

Over the next five years, Ukraine will receive $2.1 billion in soft loans from the Republic of Korea through the Economic Development and Cooperation Fund (EDCF). The money will be used for state reconstruction projects.

President of the European Council Charles Michel has said that supporting Ukraine and opening accession negotiations with it is one of the key priorities for the European Union in the near future.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg once again called on the US Congress to approve additional military aid to Ukraine, stressing that the delay in this decision has “real consequences” on the battlefield.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has said that now is an “extremely important moment” in russia's war against Ukraine, so Congress should unblock US aid to Kyiv. At the same time, he emphasized the importance of preparing a road map for Ukraine's accession to NATO on the eve of the July summit in Washington.

White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby has assured that the administration of US President Joe Biden will continue to seek ways to provide emergency aid to Ukraine, similar to the one that was given to Kyiv in March.

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US President Joe Biden, in a telephone conversation with leader of the PRC Xi Jinping, expressed concern about China's support for russia's defense industrial base and its impact on European and transatlantic security.

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Poland and France have stated that NATO's European allies should take greater responsibility for the defense of the continent.

Daniel Tapp, a spokesperson for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, has said that the party's leadership plans to interview two of its MPs (Maximilian Kra and Petr Bystron) regarding their alleged ties to the pro-russian influence network that was exposed last week in Europe.

In Latvia, former member of Latvia’s Saeima from the Union of New Latvians Glorija Grevtsova, who was supposed to run for the European Parliament, is on the wanted list for supporting russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

South Korea has detained an unflagged cargo ship suspected of violating UN sanctions against North Korea. The 3,000-ton cargo ship DEYI was on its way to russia from North Korea via China.

International traders Viterra, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus have confirmed the decision not to transport grain from russia, the supply of which was stopped in the summer of 2023.

Payment systems of countries “friendly” to the rf are massively rejecting russian “mir” cards. This week, the Kyrgyz payment system Elkart has announced that it will stop accepting “mir” due to sanctions against the russian national payment card system. At the end of March, a similar decision of the Armenian ArCa entered into force. Due to the risks of secondary sanctions, the national payment systems of Tajikistan and the rb are also evaluating their readiness to disconnect the “mir”.

The company “novatek” has stopped the production of liquefied natural gas at its project “arctic lng 2” due to sanctions and lack of tankers. In February 2024, gas production at the project dropped sharply after foreign shareholders froze their participation.

According to the international rating agency S&P Global, in russia in the first quarter the number of new export orders in the service sector decreased the most since February 2023.

The far eastern railway has reported a decrease in freight traffic in the first quarter by 1.9% (in March – by 5.6%). At the same time, the load of iron and manganese ore decreased significantly – by 16.2%, to 629.5 thousand tons; transportation of construction cargo – by 6.8%, to 620,000 tons; container loading decreased by 6.7%, to 589,000 tons.

According to putin's instructions, the government of the rf must write off more than 1 trillion rubles of the debts of the subjects of the rf because they cannot repay loans in the conditions of the russian crisis.

The central bank of the rf will reduce  almost 12 times the foreign currency infusions to support the ruble in the domestic market: the volume of direct sales of currency in April will be equal to the equivalent of 600 million rubles, against 7 billion rubles in March.

From April 1, the prices of new cars imported from EAEU member states will rise again in the rf, by the end of the year – by an average of 20-25%.

In russia, new research and development are insignificant, and the innovative products created are generally characterized by an insufficient level of novelty, – the Institute of statistical research and economic knowledge pointed out. Innovations in the production of medical instruments and equipment decreased from 64.5% to 26.8%, of medicines and materials – from 52% to 25.3%, of printing and copying equipment – from 79.1% to 11.4%. Newly created products were generally imperfect: 67.5% of the total amount of funding accounted for newly introduced goods, works, and services, which then required significant technological changes, and only 22.4% – for the development of new products for the market (of which for the world market– 2%), 32.5% – for the improved ones.

Imported vaccines for cats and dogs have completely disappeared from russian veterinary clinics. The remaining russian vaccines are not advised to be used by doctors and experts due to their poor quality. The lack of licensed supplies of vaccines in russia has led to a large number of counterfeits. Without internationally recognized vaccines, russians cannot take animals abroad, participate in international exhibitions, and breed purebred animals.

According to the Lithuanian Migration Department, almost 63,000 citizens of the rb live in the country. The number of belarusians who received a residence permit there, increased by almost 29% over the year.

Minister of Internal Affairs of Poland Marcin Kierwiński has stated that the daily number of attempts to cross the border is more than 200 violators. “This artificial wave of migration, organized by belarusian and russian services, is growing with each time. We have more and more attempts to violate the Polish border and illegally enter  the territory of Poland”.

belarusian universities plan to recruit 1,250 cadets for military specialties in the new academic year. 116 cadets will be sent to study at russian military educational institutions.

belarusian doctors work an average of 55 hours at a rate of 43 working hours per week, long hours are not included in working time and are not paid for. Less than half of belarusian doctors work on one shift, while 70% of belarusian doctors work more than a day without a break. Every fifth person had to work during their vacation. According to estimates of the medical solidarity fund, there is a shortage of at least 10,000 doctors in the rb

In the schools of the rf for forms 2-3, an optional “alphabet of morals” is introduced, where students will study national symbols, the names of belarusian heroes of the great patriotic war and memorial places of the rb connected with it, as well as how to behave during the performance of the national anthem of the rb.

The court in baranovichi sentenced six people under the so-called people’s article to two years in prison, another two – to one and three years of imprisonment. One of the women, sentenced to one year in the colony, was given a reprieve until her child is three years old.