December 14, 2022 Ukraine and the World – Against russian’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna said that at the international donor conference in Paris “Solidarity with the Ukrainian People”, it was announced about allocation of almost one billion euros in aid. She clarified that 415 million euros will be allocated to the energy sector of Ukraine, 25 million euros – for water supply, 38 million euros – for food, 17 million euros – for health care and 22 million euros – for transport, the rest of the funds have not yet been distributed. In total, 46 countries and 24 international organizations promised to provide financial assistance.

President of France Emmanuel Macron said that his country would attract additional exceptional humanitarian assistance for Ukraine in the field of electricity and energy supply in the amount of 76.5 million euros.

Ukraine has received a EUR 100 million loan on preferential terms from the French Development Agency. The money has been directed to the general fund of the state budget to finance priority expenditures, in particular social and humanitarian ones.

Spain is transferring to Ukraine more than 160 pieces of equipment to restore the power grid after russian missile strikes.

President of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis has announced a new financial assistance package to Ukraine in the amount of 100 million Swiss francs.

The United States has sent the first batch of energy equipment to Ukraine worth $13 million.

Canada will transfer 50 lighting towers to Ukraine, which will make it easier for power engineers to repair the power grid at night.

The Czech Republic provides Ukraine with financial assistance and equipment for the cold period in the amount of approximately EUR 8.5 million.

The Norwegian government has initiated the approval in Parliament of a long-term program to support Ukraine.

The European Commission will finance the purchase of 30 million LED lamps for Ukraine.

The Netherlands is ready to deploy a new UN-backed tribunal to hear the case of russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The EU Council proposed to the European Commission to prepare a step-by-step plan to facilitate Ukraine's access to the European single market.

Minister of Defence of Italy Guido Crosetto has assured that Italy will supply weapons to Ukraine until peace talks with russia began. The Senate (upper house of Parliament) of Italy by an overwhelming majority of votes approved a government resolution on the extension of military assistance to Ukraine until the end of 2023.

The Biden administration is finalizing plans to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine.

The European Commission will provide Estonia with EUR 10.1 million to cover the costs associated with providing assistance to Ukrainian refugees.

Ukraine has received EUR 200 million in grant assistance from Germany. These funds were provided by the German government within the framework of the Program to Support the Resilience of Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine.

The Chinese government has banned supplying Loongson processors on own LoongArch architecture to russia because the technology is strategically important and is used in China's military-industrial complex.

rf

According to the forecast of the ministry of finance of the rf, in December the state budget will lack almost 2.9 trillion rubles. During the year, the russian government repeatedly had been taking from the so-called national welfare fund hundreds of billions of rubles to save the socio-economic situation in the conditions of the russian crisis and international isolation.

The Ggovernment of the rf has almost ten times reduced the budget for paying bonuses to doctors for cases of oncology identified in the early stages: in 2021, the ministry of health care received more than 500 million rubles for this (it was planned twice as much), in 2023 – only 53.9 million rubles are planned.

The federal state unitary enterprise sveko (belongs to the structures of the fso), which supplied IT services within the framework of state contracts, began bankruptcy proceedings. The total debt of the contractor to state institutions is more than 1.5 billion rubles.

From January 2023, tariffs for the transportation of goods by russian railways will increase by 30% compared to the beginning of 2022, and for coal transported for export – by more than 75%.

On the eve of winter, car tyre sales in russia decreased by 14% compared to last year's season. After the shutdown of enterprises of world brands in the rf, the share of russian-made tyres exceeded 68%, but due to the low quality, they are not popular with car owners.

russia has stopped the construction of previously planned tourist mega-projects in the Far East: the hotel complex “oriental resort” on the island of Iturup, worth 21.5 billion rubles, and reduced the planned building in the territory of the resort “three volcanoes” in Kamchatka by one and a half times. Construction costs in the Far East are twice as high as in the European part of the country, and there are few russians who want to go there. Previously, investors hoped that up to 50% of the rooms would be filled by foreign tourists, but hopes for their arrival in the coming years were in vain.

In 2022, the export of apples from Moldova to the rf decreased by more than 50%.

In russia, civil aviation flights are not allowed to 11 airports of the central and southern part of the rf, the ban is in force till December 21.

The United Kingdom has imposed sanctions against 12 representatives of the supreme command of the armed forces of the rf.

Analysts of the Eurasian Development Bank forecast the decrease in GDP of the belarusian economy in 2022 by 4.6%. Among other countries of the Eurasian community, a decline in economy is observed only in russia.

The ministry of health care of belarus is working on the issue of limiting the possibilities of free treatment for people who are unemployed in the economy (“idlers”) as well as citizens of belarus who reside abroad. They want to make them pay for many services, planned operations included.

In minsk, they plan to close the office of the South Korean company SK Hynix, which is part of the top 3 of worldwide manufacturers of semiconductors and top 5 manufacturers of RAM. Due to the sanctions from the USA and South Korea, the necessary communications, as well as access to resources and servers located not in minsk, have disappeared. The office team will probably move to Poland.

The Ministry of Economy and Communications of Estonia has proposed to the management of the state railway company Operail to evaluate the ethics of commercial relations of the company with russia and belarus and from January 1, 2023 to abandon them, replacing with new business areas.

The Lithuanian Seimas made the final decision to continue the state of emergency at the border with belarus and russia, as well as in international border points within the country.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielus Landsbergis called the transportation of grain from Ukraine through the territory of belarus “commercially possible”, but stressed that there would be no political negotiations on this issue.