April 6, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

“Four MiG-29 from our warehouses have been placed at the disposal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in recent months. Four MiGs have been transferred additionally recently – eight in total”, President of Poland Andrzej Duda said. According to him, relatively quickly Poland will be able to transfer to Ukraine six more fighters, which are currently undergoing the necessary technical preparation.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Kyiv and Warsaw are working on a new cooperation agreement between the countries. At the same time, Duda hopes that at the NATO summit in Vilnius in the summer Ukraine will be provided with additional security guarantees.

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance have officially supported the development of a multi-year program to support Ukraine, which will help it get closer to NATO.

The Czech Republic intends to provide military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of almost $ 33 million, said Czech Defense Minister Jana Černochová.

The eleventh meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting will take place at Ramstein Air Base, Germany in April.

Germany’s government will allocate one million euros for green recovery projects in Ukraine. The corresponding project was announced by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck.

Prime Minister of Portugal António Costa has said that Ukraine remains in the joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup together with Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

Brussels is planning a new round of discussions between the European Commission and EU ambassadors on the 11th package of anti-Russian sanctions after Easter on April 9. Earlier, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that this package of sanctions will be aimed at countering attempts to circumvent previously imposed bans.

The Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria in its report identified the rf’s military aggression as the most immediate threat to global peace and stated that the russian army is committing systematic war crimes in Ukraine.

This week in Estonia, for the first time Spanish anti-aircraft missile systems NASAMS will be put on combat duty.

The United Kingdom has blocked a speech by russian commissioner for children's rights maria lvova–belova at an informal meeting of the UN Security Council on the forced transportation of Ukrainian children to russia. “If maria lvova–belova wants to talk about her actions, she can do it in The Hague”, – this is how the UK's mission to the UN outlined its position.

Japan has rejected accusations that sanctions imposed on russian private bank sovcombank are illegal and said russia's aggression against Ukraine should cost russia a high price.

Vice Chancellor of Germany Robert Habeck has said he supports sanctions on russian uranium imports into the EU.

Minister of Economy of Slovakia Karel Girman has said his country will survive next winter, even if russia completely stops gas imports.

The Lithuanian government has approved the initiative of the Ministry of Justice of the country to bring the belarusian authorities to justice for the illegal import of migrants, since, according to Vilnius, this is done on minsk’s instructions. “Dictators are not immune from international law. After putin, it is the turn of the lukashenko regime to take responsibility”, Minister of Justice Ewelina Dobrowolska said. The purpose of the claim is to compensate the Lithuanian side for losses incurred due to the migration crisis.

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In Spain, two people were detained on suspicion of involvement in the smuggling of defense materials for russia.

Polish state oil and gas company PKN Orlen has terminated the last oil contract with russian tatneft.

The Department of Consumer Protection and Technical Supervision (TTJA) of Estonia has closed access to 53 domains through which it was possible to watch russian TV channels banned in the European Union.

Finnish investment fund SATOhomes, which was engaged in the delivery of 25 thousand flats for rent, decided to sell the business in the rf.

In the first quarter, cement production and consumption in russia decreased by 5-8%. The reason is that the construction industry of the rf is in a state of stagnation due to an increasing decline in the solvency of the population and the freezing of the construction of many facilities.

According to the forecast of the “soyuztsement”, which unites large holdings of the industry, the rf’s purchases of cement in 2023 will be reduced by 10-20%. Since the beginning of the year, russia has built half as many new facilities as a year ago. According to rosstat, in February the average cost of cement without delivery services to the rf increased by 17%. Compared to last year, exports of russian cement in January decreased by 16% – to 0.07 million tons.

The budget of the rf for 2023–2025 for public procurement of unmanned aerial vehicles for “civilian needs” provides for 18.8 billion rubles for the purchase of 250 thousand units (90% of the volume will be light and medium devices up to 30 kg). However, the group of companies “unmanned systems” believe that the development of the industry can be hampered by the lack of qualified personnel in the field of development and IT, the lack of new technologies, difficulties with the supply of foreign-made components and electronics.

According to the forecast of the Ministry of Finance, in April the budget of the rf will receive less than 113.6 billion rubles from the sale of oil and gas.

At the end of 2022, the income of the hkf-bank decreased five times compared to 2021. The bank's assets decreased by 9.1%, liabilities – by 8.3%. Deposits of individuals (in particular individual entrepreneurs) decreased by 24.5 billion rubles.

Restrictions on the withdrawal of cash currency in the rf will continue until it begins to flow into the country, – said tulin, first deputy head of the central bank.

In March, the volume of transactions with foreign securities at the russian st. petersburg exchange amounted to $ 2.65 billion, which is by 43.48 % less than in February ($ 4.69 billion), and by 55.13 % lower than in March 2022 ($ 5.9 billion).

Due to the shortage of auto parts in the rf, the central bank allowed the use of used parts for car repair under the program of compulsory insurance of civil liability of car owners.

Having not survived the current crisis, russia’s largest parcel delivery company rickroint is suspending its work. The self-pickup network has 6 thousand post machines and 4.5 thousand points for dispatch of orders in 657 settlements of russia.

According to the forecast of vice-president of the russian union of tourism industry gorin, in 2023 there will be by 90 % fewer foreign tourists visiting russia than in pre-crisis 2019: there are bans on air traffic with most countries, foreign bank cards are not serviced in the russian federation, visa-free group tourist exchange with China has not yet begun.

According to the last survey, 60 %of russians declared their desire to leave the country (in 2018 the figure was 46 %, in 2020 – 47 %). Linguistics experts and journalists (37 %), representatives of engineering and design specialties (34 %) and lawyers (33 %) are most eager to leave the rf.

The state duma has approved in the first reading the amendments to the labor code, simplifying the procedure of employment of minors from the age of 14. The explanatory note states: “In the conditions of economic sanction pressure of “unfriendly” countries, Russian a job, and therefore, the income of a teenager is also the financial support of the family”.

The ministry of defense of the rf did not publish information on how many people received a pension in 2022 due to the disability or loss of the breadwinner. These data were supposed to appear on April 2 on the site of federal statistics emiss. Information about the pensioners of the defense ministry could show the extent of losses of the russian army during the year of the war.

In lipetsk, one of the pipe manufacturing plant “svobodny sokol” (“free falcon”- Transl.) was converted to the production of ammunition. They work tirelessly 24/7 to complete a plan of 40 thousand shells per month, with 30 % of the produced being a defect.

The International Federation of Equestrian Sports continued to remove the russians from competitions.

Due to the participation of belarusians and russians, 12 countries boycott the Men's Boxing Championship of 2023, which starts on May 1 in Tashkent. Boxers from the United States, Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Canada, Ukraine, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom have already refused to participate in the competitions. At the end of March, the International Olympic Committee recommended that belarusians and russians be admitted to international competitions in a neutral status.

The Polish Fencing Association has cancelled the women’s a stage of World Cup after the international fencing federation (fif) decided to readmit russian and belarusian athletes.

From 2024 in belarus will increase the minimum insurance experience required to obtain a work pension. This length of service is only a time when a person worked and the employer has paid for him insurance premiums to the social security fund. Currently, the minimum length of service is 19 years. From January 1, 2024 it will increase by six months –to 19 years and six months, the social service reported. In 2025, the minimum length of service will be increased to 20 years.

belstat has changed the rules for the dissemination of official statistical information. According to the new instruction, it may restrict the spread and submission of official statistical information to users if its disclosure “may cause damage to the national security of the republic of belarus, public order, morality, rights and legitimate interests of legal entities and individuals”. In 2022, belstat concealed data on foreign trade in the rb.

The kgb of belarus at baranovichi state university detained first-year students for the comments they left on September 1 during a live broadcast of the open lesson “historical memory – the road to the future!”

As the dean of the faculty of chemistry of the belarusian state university was appointed 30-year-old son of the former commander of the anti-terrorist special forces “almaz” (“diamond” – Transl.) viktor zuraev. The previous dean of the faculty was dmitry sviridov, doctor of chemical sciences, professor, corresponding member of the nas of belarus. The father of the newly – appointed scientific supervisor holds the position of deputy director of safety at the republican center for olympic training.