February 13, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The US Senate voted to overcome the last procedural obstacle and approached the final vote of the Law on Assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

The USA’s Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink expressed her condolences to Kharkiv, where an entire family was killed during one of the latest shellings, and reminded that this is one of the proofs why allies should continue to support Ukraine

Work is set to begin on a new Rheinmetall facility in Germany that will increase the FRG's ability to produce artillery shells, for Ukraine included.

“The EU and NATO member states should double their financial and military support for Ukraine”, the authors of the Munich Security Conference’s annual report state.

Japan has handed over 320 gabions to Ukraine to protect critical infrastructure.

The team of specialists of the International Monetary Fund will hold meetings in Ukraine with representatives of the authorities and other partners on priorities for strengthening the capabilities of our country.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has increased the forecast for export of wheat from Ukraine by 1 million tons (to 15 million tons) and of corn – by 2 million tons (to 23 million tons) in the 2023/2024 marketing year.

Bulgaria will give Ukraine a list of companies that violate the conditions of licensing of Ukrainian grain. At the same time, Minister of Agriculture and Food of Bulgaria Kiril Vatev has emphasized that his country maximally contributes to the transit of Ukrainian products, while the licensing regime works very well and should not be changed.

The European Commission has called on Ukraine and Poland to negotiate further grain exports.

rf

Finland’s newly elected President Alexander Stubb has said his country will not have any relations with russia until the latter ends the war against Ukraine.

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has stated that his country is not an ally of the rf in the war against Ukraine. At the same time, Pashinyan said that his country could reconsider its membership in the collective security treaty organization (csto).

On February 14, permanent representatives of the EU countries will begin to reconcile the 13th package of sanctions against russia.

Austria considers the possibility of termination of a long -term contract between the Austrian energy company OMV and russian gazprom for gas supply. Also, the OMV and Slovak company TransPetrol have stopped working on a pipeline project, which was planned to transport russian oil from “druzhba” oil pipeline through Slovakia to the oil refinery Schwechat near Vienna.

The russian structure of Siemens AG – company “sistems” – plans to launch a voluntary liquidation procedure in February 2024. The company recognizes the inability to continue working with imports of goods to russia.

After Turkish banks stopped financial transactions with russian companies, in January, compared to December last year, the volume of trade between Turkey and the rf decreased four times, to 13.9 billion rubles. The situation continues to deteriorate, and under such conditions the number of Turkish lyre at russian stock exchanges decreases.

From March 2022 to June 2023, 59 aircrafts and helicopters, including IL-76 and Mi-8, were removed from the russian jurisdiction.

The ministry of economy of the rf has published a draft decision of the government, which does not allow the official publication of normative acts on decisions of the customs tariff commission on economic development and integration, in particular issues of customs tariff and non-tariff regulation of foreign trade and “special economic measures”.

Construction contractors and banks have asked russian authorities to reduce the lending rates for construction from 18.5 % to 5.5 % per annum at the expense of the state subsidies, otherwise, they say, the development of russian infrastructure will continue to decline.

In 2023, sales of beer in plastic containers in the rf decreased to 35.4 % compared to 37.7 % a year earlier.

In 2023, the kremlin’s program on “volunteer resettlement of compatriots to russia” showed the worst result in the last ten years: 63.6 thousand people applied for participation, but 45.1 thousand actually moved (in 2021 113.1 thousand applied, 78.5 thousand moved). Most of all (more than 30 % of all “displaced persons”) russians moved back to the rf from Kazakhstan (9.4 thousand) and Armenia (7.5 thousand) In 2022, 410 russians returned to russia from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, in 2023 – 640.

The ministry of foreign affairs of the rf is developing “recommendations” for tussians who want to visit the countries that condemn russia’s aggression against Ukraine, with “taking into consideration high risks of certain negative consequences”.

In order to stimulate the population’s participation in the election of the president of the rf, the authorities have launched lotteries and quizzes in which apartments, cars, medicines and tours to the temporarily occupied Crimea can be won. In Crimea itself, nothing of the kind dedicated to “putin's elections” is planned.

In 2023, 87.6 thousand Ukrainians left the territories of Ukraine temporarily captured by russia.

In the state duma of the rf, it was proposed to celebrate the “day of the beginning of the special military operation (russia’s full -scale armed aggression against Ukraine) in schools “all over russia”.

russia is increasingly militarizing its higher education – in February 2024, a new institute of the world military economics and strategy was created at the moscow higher school of economics.

The annual report of the Munich Security Conference states that the kremlin will increase the production of the defense industry massively and in 2024 will spend more than 7 % of its GDP, or 29 % of all government expenditures on defence. “The russian public supports or at least silently agrees with this strategy, as many believe in putin's statement that russia is drawn into a wider fight against the West, and Ukraine is just the initial battlefield. Thus, the war became the “organizing principle of russian life” and “the meaning of the existence of the whole machine of putinism”, - the report reads.

The authors of the report also called lukashenko russia’s “co –aggressor”, because belarus, which is the rf’s only ally in Eastern Europe, played a central role in russia's attack on Ukraine. “russia's plans for the creation of the Eurasian counterweight of the EU fail, and only the autocratic neighbor - belarus is clearly in its camp”, the report said.

At the meeting of the board of the ministry of justice of the rb, minister oleg kot stated that on the basis of claims of the ministry of justice sent to courts, 11 political parties, 107 public associations and 2 foundations were liquidated in 2023. Written warnings were sent to 410 non -profit organizations.

According to the Lawtrend Legal Transformation Center, at least 969 non -profit organizations were in the process of forced liquidation as of the end of January 2024. In total, the public sector of the rb, since 2020, has lost 1,533 non -profit organizations.

In belarus, the “case of the department of financial investigations” is unfolding, in which the kgb has arrested two dozen officers from the central apparatus and directorate from minsk and minsk region. lukashenko appointed a kgb officer sambuk as the new chief of the department.

The economic court in belarus decided to start the bankruptcy procedure of the borisov plant of polymer containers “poilimiz”. The enterprise was founded in 1968, and in the 2010s was seriously modernized. Now it owes creditors about 14 million rubles while having almost three times smaller assets.

At the electronic auction “belyurobespechenie”, a real estate of the participant of the election company of the president of belarus in 2020 Valery Tsepkalo – a three-room apartment with a parking place in minsk was put on bidding. At the end of the summer of 2020, fearing persecution, Valery Tsepkalo and his family left for Latvia. In belarus, he was sentenced to 17 years in the colony of the enhanced regime.