December 18, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The leaders of the countries of the United Kingdom, Estonia, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland (Joint Expeditionary Force) have agreed on the position that their aid to Ukraine in 2025 will exceed EUR 12 billion. At the same time, at the JEF summit in Tallinn, the heads of the participating states signed a joint statement in which they support the main principles of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Victory Plan and express commitment to cooperation in its implementation.

“Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that the United Kingdom has allocated £35 million in emergency aid to Ukraine to restore its energy system and support the most vulnerable strata of the population during the third winter of war”, the country's government said in a press release. At the same time, the Prime Minister emphasized that his country strives to ensure the strongest possible position for Ukraine in 2025.

Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre has emphasized the importance of maintaining unity among allies in the context of supporting Ukraine.

“The division of responsibilities should be such that both the United States and the European Union help Ukraine achieve a better negotiating position for any potential future talks, to which the aggressor, not the victim, must be encouraged and pressured”, said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radosław Sikorski.

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South Korea has imposed sanctions against 11 individuals and 15 legal entities due to their connection with pyongyang's nuclear missile program or “illegal military cooperation” between the dprk and the rf. In particular, the generals of the korean people's army, a number of russian businessmen and the companies headed by them fell under the restrictions. They are alleged to have been involved in the arms and military equipment trade, including the supply of key missile materials and technology to north korea. “timer bank”, international settlement bank (south ossetia), tsmrbank and rfk-bank were also included in the list of sanctions – now Seoul's permission will be required to conduct financial or currency transactions with them.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer has announced new sanctions against 20 tankers that illegally transported russian oil.

12 countries that are part of the Nordic-Baltic Eight Plus(NB8+) format have agreed to strengthen monitoring of vessels that may be part of russia's so-called shadow fleet. It concerns the decision of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Poland, Finland and Sweden to require proof of insurance from suspicious vessels passing through the English Channel, the Denmark Strait, the strait between Denmark and Sweden and the Gulf of Finland.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has called the prevention of evasion of the sanctions introduced by the EU against russia one of the priorities in relations between the EU and Turkey.

The European Union has introduced the first sanctions against a European for violating the requirements to limit the price of oil exported from russia. Oil trader Nils Trost, a citizen of the Netherlands who lives in Switzerland, has been sentenced. Swiss authorities are also investigating his company.

The European Union is already starting work on the 16th package of anti-russian sanctions, said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The removal of russian military bases may become one of the conditions for the start of a dialogue between the European Union and the new government in Syria, said EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas. At the same time, the new Syrian government has confirmed plans to “revise” the rf’s military presence in the country.

The rf’s economy is set to experience a new wave of inflation in 2025 due to the problems of road freight carriers, who have faced rising costs, reduced tariffs and found themselves on the verge of massive bankruptcies. Since the beginning of 2024, the costs of russian carrier companies have increased by approximately 30%. At the same time, tariffs for cargo transportation decreased by 13%.

Prices in the rf will rise on a broad front before the New Year: confectionery will increase in price by 20%, tangerines – by 20-30%, Christmas trees – by 20%, red caviar – by more than 30%, and trips within the country be by 20-25 % more expensive than a year ago. In moscow, Christmas trees have risen in price by 14% over the past year, while the price increase since the start of the rf’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has averaged 76%.

Large russian fish processing companies have announced a 25% price increase for canned food and preserves from December 16-18.

russians will see vodka prices rise for the second time in a year. From January 1, 2025, in the rf, the minimum retail prices for strong alcoholic beverages will rise. Vodka will become more expensive by fifty rubles (349 rubles against 299), or by 17%, for 0.5 liter. The minimum price of cognac will rise by 95 rubles, reaching 651 rubles for half a liter. Brandy and similar drinks based on distillates (wine, fruit, rum and others) will cost at least 472 rubles per 0.5 liter against the current 403 rubles. The initial retail price of other alcoholic beverages, the strength of which exceeds 28%, except for vodka, will be 277 to 504 rubles, depending on the strength (instead of 237-431 rubles).

According to the results of 2024, couriers are among the top 15 most in-demand professions in russia. They rose immediately by three positions within a year and took 13th place, bypassing design engineers, locksmiths and programmers.

The state duma has adopted in the second and third, final readings, the law which provides for the possibility of excluding the Taliban movement from the list of organizations banned in russia.

The state duma has accused russians of parasitizing payments for the birth of children. a deputy of the lower house of the russian parliament, aleksandr iIltyakov, has said that the demographic crisis in the rf cannot be resolved with money, and state payments for the birth of children lead to “parasitic tendencies”. He believes that the authorities will not be able to improve the situation with the birth rate with the help of payments to families, and “only education and respect for each other” will help improve the situation.

member of the state duma andrei svintsov (ldpr) has proposed to introduce fines for russians who donate alcohol. Citizens are proposed to be fined 5 thousand rubles, officials – 35 to 50 thousand rubles, legal entities – 100 thousand rubles.

head of the russian aviation dmitriy yadrov has called the superjet a “good machine” after six breakdowns in a month.

In November, the rb’s GDP growth continued to slow down. For eleven months of this year, the indicator increased by 3.9%. By the results of 7 months, it was 5.5%.

Compared to December-November 2024, belarusians began to pay by 16.4% more in shops, cafes and restaurants. Since the beginning of the year, a one-day retail turnover per capita has amounted to 26.3 billion rubles against 22.6 billion rubles for the same period of 2023. In January–November 2024, retail turnover amounted to 80.8 billion belarusian rubles, having increased compared to the same period last year by 111.8% (in comparable prices).

Temporary restrictions on cash withdrawals from bank cards of foreign issuers will be introduced in the rb from December 20, 2024 and will be in effect until February 1, 2025. During the month, it will be possible to withdraw from foreign cards no more than 25 base amounts, i.e. no more than 1,000 belarusian rubles. From January 1, 2025, this amount will be slightly more than 1,050 rubles.

Despite the ever-increasing number of vacancies in the rb, minister of education ivanets has said that belarusian universities are training too many IT students.

A new wave of repression against the relatives of political prisoners began in the rb. According to human rights defenders, people are interrogated, equipment and bank cards are taken away. This is associated with their receiving help.

Liliya Kachan, a surgeon with 17 years of experience, will be tried on December 27, 2024 in the minsk city court for “participation in protests” and “calls for sanctions or other measures aimed at harming the rb”. She faces up to twelve years in prison.

Security forces in the rb have changed their approach to abuse of detainees. “Repentant” videos on police channels have been replaced with “repentant” audio. Police videos have become part of repressive practices after 2020.

The state information agency of the rb “belta” began to write “Zionist” instead of “Israeli”, rebroadcasting iranian propaganda.

Border guards of Lithuania did not allow a Belarusian to enter their country, because his car had a sticker with the sign “ussr” and the image of a hammer and sickle.

In December, the ideologues of the rb were given a new task – to persuade citizens that they live in a “land of peace and harmony”. For this purpose, lukashenko's administration prepared another manual “Belarus – a Country of Peace and Harmony”. It manipulates the facts of history, the myth of an ethno-confessional world, imaginary pluralism, elections without a choice, the absence of co-aggression, etc.