January 1, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

In December, exports through the Ukrainian corridor in the Black Sea almost doubled. Since August 2023, about 13 million tons of products have been exported through Ukrainian ports to 24 countries.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Tobias Billström has pointed out that Ukraine is helping those who are currently suffering from hunger caused by russia in some regions of the world. He stressed that russia “should not win in any aspect of this war, but we will help Ukraine win in every aspect”.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis has called on the West not to wait for history to repeat itself, but to fight putin's aggression against Ukraine.

“russia's massive attacks on Ukraine, unfortunately, have further innocent victims. We must not become numb because of inhumane behavior. And above all, we must not weaken our support for Ukraine”, said President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel.

“We refuse to be summoned anywhere by russia. Czechia will not serve the lie-poisoned propaganda of the aggressor. When russia wants to discuss the withdrawal of its occupying troops at the Security Council, we will be happy to come”, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský explained his refusal to attend the UN meeting that was called by russia.

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John Kelly, Minister Counselor of the US Mission to the United Nations, stressed that the cost of war for the russians is not only the hundreds of thousands of lives lost on the battlefield, the families torn apart, and the many people forced to flee abroad from putin’s regime, “it is also the bleaker economic future for those who stayed”.

Having lost the largest foreign market, which before the war provided 80% of gazprom's exports and two-thirds of revenues, the russian gas monopoly rolled back almost four decades. At the end of 2023, gazprom exported about 69 billion cubic meters of gas – the lowest volume since 1985. Compared to 2022 (100.9 billion cubic meters), which has already become the worst for the company in its history, the volume of gas pumped abroad decreased by another third. Compared to the pre-war 185 billion cubic meters in 2021, gazprom's exports have decreased threefold. Supplies to Europe fell to 28 billion cubic meters – the level of the second half of the 1970s.

German and Italian suppliers of equipment for poultry farms have stopped deliveries to russia, Polish ones have increased the cost by 25%.

According to the updated data of the ministry of finance of the rf, the expenditures of the state budget of the rf on “national defense” have been reduced by 397 billion rubles – to 10.38 trillion rubles. Expenditures on “national security and law enforcement” decreased by 103 billion rubles to 3.29 trillion rubles. Almost 1.2 trillion rubles, which were previously in its closed part, were transferred to the “open” part of the budget; the share of “closed” expenses for 2024 decreased from 30% to 26.8%.

russians massively complain that Olivier salad for a family of four has risen in price by an average of 18.4% – to 460.4 rubles.

The ministry of energy of the rf will increase electricity transmission tariffs for mining centers fivefold, most of all in irkutsk region, where electricity regulators are already unable to connect new consumers to the power grid.

In vologda, yelets, lipetsk, tambov, kursk and voronezh regions of the rf, all mass events on the occasion of the New Year and Christmas have been canceled. In petropavlovsk-kamchatsky, vilyuchinsk, blagoveshchensk, vladivostok, magadan, palana, festive fireworks have been canceled. The governor of kursk region has urged residents to stay at home for the holidays.

In 2024, the government of belarus will increase the single tax for individual entrepreneurs and individuals who work without registration as individual entrepreneurs. More taxes will be paid for the development of websites, setting up computers and installing software, for music and entertainment services for weddings, anniversaries, and tutoring. Taxes will be increased for hairdressing and cosmetic services, manicure and pedicure services, cleaning of residential premises, plastering, painting, glassing and other construction jobs.

The debts of belarusians to banks at the beginning of December exceeded a record mark of 20 billion rubles, the national bank reported. The total debt of the population on loans has been growing for the eighteenth month in a row.