December 17, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Norway is allocating another NOK 2.7 billion (about $242.38 million) to strengthen Ukraine's maritime defense.

The government of Italy has approved the 10th package of military aid to Ukraine.

“First, there has to be peace in order to send peacekeepers. And russia does not want peace... that is very clear”, said European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas regarding the talks about a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine. At the same time, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Kaspar Veldkamp has said that it is too early to speculate on a potential peacekeeping mission to Ukraine. At the same time, his colleague, Minister of Defence of the Netherlands Ruben Brekelmans, believes that the EU’s peacekeeping mission can be sent to Ukraine without a unanimous decision of all countries if a ceasefire agreement is reached.

Chancellor of the FRG Olaf Scholz has said that putin's victory in the war would jeopardize the security of the whole of Europe, so Germany and its partners should help Ukraine, but without allowing themselves to be drawn into the war.

On December 20, the IMF Board of Directors is scheduled to consider a decision to disburse a $1.1 billion tranche to Ukraine.

The Czech Republic has not recorded a surge in refugees from Ukraine amid the rf’s shelling and the winter.

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The Council of the European Union has adopted the 15th package of sanctions “to further restrict russia's ability to wage an illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine”. The “black” list includes 54 individuals and 30 organizations from the rf, China and the dprk. Sanctions have also been introduced against the rf’s military, involved in the attack on “Okhmatdyt”, management of companies in the energy sector, persons responsible for the deportation of children, propaganda and circumvention of sanctions. For the first time, full sanctions (travel ban, freezing of assets, embargo on supplying economic resources) have been imposed on Chinese entities supplying drone components and microelectronics to support russia. The list of ships subject to the ban on access to ports and the ban on providing services related to maritime transport has been expanded – the sanctions are aimed at tankers (52 vessels) from non-EU countries that are part of putin's “shadow fleet”. 32 new subjects have been added to the list of those who support russia's military-industrial complex – they will be subject to stronger export restrictions on dual-use goods and technologies, as well as goods and technologies that can contribute to the technological improvement of russia’s defense and security sector.

The russian airline “utair” has found itself in the 15th package of the European Union’s sanctions against the rf for supporting actions that threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. A private carrier LLC leading charter technologies – for circumventing European sanctions.

The EU's Council of Foreign Ministers has agreed on the first list of individuals – subject to their sanctions for hybrid attacks and subversive activities against European countries – restrictive measures against 16 individuals and three institutions responsible for russia's destabilizing actions abroad.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Kęstutis Budrys has called on the Ministers of the EU member states to jointly address the European Commission with a call to adopt a strategy for countering russia's hybrid actions.

Every year, about 30,000 russians of working age die from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

chairman of the state duma committee on the financial market aksakov has supported the idea of returning food coupons as in the ussr. Earlier, such measures were announced by the governor of kaliningrad region bezprozvannykh. According to aksakov, “the initiative has a sound basis” and should be extended to the whole of russia: this way, “people in need” will “know that under any circumstances they are provided with the appropriate minimum of food and goods necessary for life”.

Every second company in russia (54%) has faced a shortage of personnel in the IT and technology sectors. The majority of companies say that the problem with personnel for the IT sector is the most acute. At this, the shortage of qualified specialists is recorded not only in the IT sector, but also in engineering, medicine, chemistry, ecology, science, etc.

In November and early December, russian banks began to drastically reduce credit card limits for their clients. Some banks went beyond the usual halving of the limit and reduced it nine or even twenty times.

The rf’s government has supported a draft law introducing criminal liability for concealing information about the preparation or execution of a sabotage. Amendments are made to the article on failure to report a crime.

russians are denied Schengen visas more often: while in the past the number of visa denials averaged about 1.5%, by the end of 2024 the figure will reach 10% on some directions.

The volume of retail sales of alcoholic beverages in russia from January to November 2024 amounted to 201.7 million decaliters (dal). This is by 0.2% more than a year earlier and by 20% more than in the same period in 2017.

Amid a shortage of saline in russian pharmacies, its price on marketplaces has increased 10-fold to RUB 300-400. The shortage of large packages used for intravenous drips is especially acute.

The shortage of teachers in the rf has reached 500 thousand people.

Most of the vacancies for migrants in russia provide for a salary of less than 60 thousand rubles, while quotas have been introduced to attract 235 thousand foreign professionals who will be able to count on a salary of up to 380 thousand rubles.

In November, rents for one-bedroom apartments rose significantly in 49 cities across the rf. On average, rents in all cities increased by 4.9% to RUB 2,7091 per month. They increased the most in naberezhnye chelny (+18.2%), oryol (+18.1%), kirov (+15.3%), belgorod (+13%) and arkhangelsk (+12.3%). In moscow, one-bedroom apartments became more expensive by 3.3%, to 59,279 rubles a month, and in moscow region – by 6.3%, to 36,217 rubles a month. “The price of one-bedroom apartments went up in 44 cities. On average, in the country, the price of such housing rose by 4.1% to RUB 33,632 per month. The biggest price increases were in oryol (+14%), omsk (+13.2%), kursk (+12.5%), ivanovo (+9.5%) and arkhangelsk (+9.3%). Three-bedroom apartments became more expensive in 51 cities, with prices rising by 6.5% on average in November, to RUB 42,444 per month. orel (+23.1%), kirov (+20%), kazan (+16.8%), yakutsk (+16.4%) and vladivostok (+15.7%) are the leaders in this indicator. In moscow, the increase in rates was 4.7%, to 85,477 rubles per month, and in moscow region – 9%, to 55,066 rubles per month.

russians may have to pay an additional tax for taxi rides and courier deliveries from shops. This proposal was made by professor anureev from the department of public finance at the financial university.

For the New Year, live Christmas trees for russians will rise in price by 15-20%.

The rf’s government has extended until the end of 2025 the increased duty on the supply of flowers from “unfriendly” countries – 20 percent, but not less than EUR 1.3 for a kilogram.

russia has restricted access to the Viber messenger due to violations of the country's legislation requirements for organizers of information dissemination, roskomnadzor reported: “compliance (with the requirements) is needed to prevent threats of using the messenger for terrorist and extremist purposes, recruiting citizens to commit them, selling drugs, and posting illegal information”.

On December 16, the EU Council added new individuals and companies from the rb to the sanctions lists. The sanctions include the logistics operator “vlate logistic” llc, which owns the “bruzgi” and “berestovitsa” transport and logistics centers, and the company “ruzekspeditsiya”, which “benefits from the regime and facilitates the circumvention of EU sanctions by participating in the supply of cars whose sale from the EU to the rb is prohibited”. Judges responsible for “fabricating politically motivated verdicts and persons responsible for torture in detention and inhumane treatment of illegally detained persons” have also been added to the sanctions list. The motivation for the new sanctions is “due to the situation in the rb and its participation in russia’s aggression against Ukraine”.

October and November set new anti-records on the labor market in the rb: 3,562 and 3,113 active vacancies. The November historical bottom was by 14.7% deeper than last year's December bottom.