February 27, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

“On the 10th anniversary of this illegal act of russia’s, the United States is unwavering – we have not and will never recognize russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea. Crimea is Ukraine”, said the US Ambassador in Ukraine Bridget Brink on the Day of Crimean Resistance to russian Occupation.

US President Joe Biden will meet Congress leaders, including in order to unblock the aid to Ukraine.

US National-Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is convinced that Ukraine can win the war with sufficient support from partners. Sullivan also admitted “the USA’s concern” about russia's possible interference in the 2024 presidential election.

The Senate Majority Leader, “Democrat” Chuck Schumer emphasized the need to provide more assistance to Ukraine and promised not to “abandon” the European ally.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radosław Sikorski has called on the United States to support Ukraine, saying that “at stake” is trust to the United States.

Prime Minister of Bulgaria Nikolai Denkov has assured that his country will continue to provide Ukraine with military assistance within the framework of the joint efforts of the EU and NATO. He also promised to consult with Ukraine on the Security Guarantee Agreement and make an appropriate decision. At the same time, Denkov called on world politicians to speed up the creation of a military tribunal over russia for military crimes in Ukraine.

President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel has granted permission for 20 Czech citizens to join the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom David Cameron believes that the West has not done enough to support Ukraine.

Boris Johnson considers the return of Crimea quite real.

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrel has announced plans to propose to EU member states the creation of an assistance fund for Ukraine focused on the development of drones and artificial intelligence.

“Lithuanian farmers did not block, are not blocking and do not intend to block Ukrainian grain.... We see the problem, but we understand the situation of Ukrainian farmers”, - said President of the Lithuanian Grain Growers Association Aušrys Macijauskas.

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The United States has extended sanction pressure on rosatom's subsidiaries – this is already the sixth package of restrictions on the atomic energy state corporation. Sanctions have been imposed on the following subsidiaries of rosatom: ao “rosatom arctic”; “innokhab” llc; “aleksandrov scientific research technological institute”– the key enterprise of a nuclear weapons complex involving designing, testing and maintainance of nuclear energy and naval reactors, including for russian submarines.

The United States is studying the ways to use the $ 300 billion from russian state assets frozen at the beginning of the rf’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, said US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo.

The United States has announced the creation of a global coalition of democracies to fight misinformation of foreign governments, – said the Special Envoy on Non-State Propaganda and Misinformation of the Center for Global Interaction (GEC) of the Department of State James Rubin. Information from the governments of China, russia and iran should be labeled for people to understand who is behind it. The United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have already signed the official framework agreement, and Washington hopes that more countries will join it.

One of putin's intentions was to destabilize the global grain market, so a new strategy is needed to rebuild the Ukrainian segment, said Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty of France Marc Fesneau before the meeting of 27 profile ministers in Brussels.

Latvia urges to impose sanctions against russian exports of grain to the European Union at the all-European level, proposing to replace it with Ukrainian grain.

South Korea intends to strengthen export control over sanctioned goods banned from being supplied to russia and belarus.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has sent a letter to UK Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities with a proposal to confiscate sanctioned russian businessmen’s property worth $ 1.4 billion, then sell it, and send the proceeds for construction of 4 thousand houses, including for refugees from Ukraine.

The russian customs checks the importers and retroactively “adds up” duties: from August 2023 to January 2024, more than 4 billion rubles had been collected from them. Suppliers of goods to russia have warned that this practice will lead to the goods becoming 1.5 times more expansive.

In 2023, the average price of smartphones, tablets and laptops in russia increased by 10-18 %, of smartphones manufactured by Apple, which are not officially supplied to the rf - by 37 %.

The arbitration court of sverdlovsk region of the rf has ruled to nationalize the plants of the industrial group of the chelyabinsk electrometallurgic plant.

russians’ tourist trips to Turkiye in February-April rose in price by 61.5 %.

The population of russia began to fall ill with cardiovascular disease more often, which led to an increase in medical products for measuring blood pressure in 2023 by almost 30 % (2.2 million tonometers were purchased on the Internet compared to 890 thousand in 2022, in pharmacies and shops - 3.9 million units against 3.8 million a year before).

russia is introducing a system of “hybrid” prisons that combine detention centers and correctional colonies. The first such prison for 3,000 places will be built in kaluga region, then, according to the plan, similar prisons will be built in ulan-ude, chita and on temporarily occupied by the rf territories of Ukraine.

Gubernator (governor – Transl.) of belgorod region gladkov has stated that russian businesses refuse to help restore the destroyed infrastructure of the region, so budget funds will have to be used.

The EU Council has extended restrictive measures against the regime in belarus till February 28, 2025.

Berlin does not consider parliamentary and local elections in belarus fair. “In our opinion, yesterday’s elections, like the presidential election of August 2020, were just fake elections. They were neither free nor fair, they did not meet any democratic, at least minimal standards at all”, said Deputy Spokesperson for the Federal Government of the FRG Christiane Hoffmann, adding that it is difficult for her to use the very word “elections” here.

“The elections were held in an atmosphere of fear where no electoral processes can be called democratic”, the US Department of State said about the parliamentary and local elections in belarus on February 25.

In January, production volumes in construction in belarus fell by 7.7 %, which was one of the main reasons for the sharp slowdown in economic growth in early 2024. Inflation has been growing faster, despite all the efforts of the authorities to regulate prices.

In March, the aid for funeral in belarus will decrease – to 1991.28 rubles. This is by 279.8 rubles less than in February. The decrease in the aid will be due to the fall of the average wage in the country. In belarus, the aid for funeral depends on the average wage in the country and changes on a monthly basis.