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

“I am in Ukraine to deliver a simple message. Our support cannot and will not falter. To all Ukrainians, Britain is with you – for as long as it takes”, said Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak.

The United Kingdom will provide Ukraine with 2.5 billion pounds (more than $3 billion) of military support over the next fiscal year, which will be spent on long-range missiles, air defense equipment and artillery shells, and about 200 million pounds – on UAVs, including reconnaissance, strike and long-range naval drones. Also, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak announced the allocation of £18 million for humanitarian aid and assistance in strengthening Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

Ukraine and the United Kingdom have signed the Agreement on Security Cooperation between Ukraine and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which is valid for 10 years with the possibility of extension.

Latvia has prepared another package of military aid to Ukraine, which will include self-propelled howitzers, ammunition for artillery systems, anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems and ammunition for them, off-road vehicles, drones, communications equipment, generators, winter uniform and more. Latvia also plans to conduct training for three thousand Ukrainian servicemen in 2024 and continue rehabilitation projects for our military and border guards.

Ukraine and Latvia have signed an agreement on technical and financial cooperation, as well as a memorandum on cooperation in defense and security.

President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs has said that Latvia “leads the “drone coalition” within the Ramstein format” and that drones are one of the areas of cooperation in accordance with the memorandum on military cooperation with Ukraine.

The President of Latvia also announced the preparation of a plan to transfer funds earned from the sale of the so-called “moscow house” in Riga and other russian assets to help Ukraine.

John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the US National Security Council, believes that in the winter months, further need for assistance to Ukraine is especially acute.

Pentagon Spokesperson Patrick Ryder has pointed out that there is currently “no credible evidence of illicit diversion of US-provided, advanced conventional weapons from Ukraine”.

US Special Representative for Ukraine's Economic Recovery Penny Pritzker has arrived in Kyiv for meetings focused on accelerating US business investment in Ukraine to restore its economy.

As of the beginning of 2024, 309 NATO standards have been introduced in the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other components of the security and defense sector of Ukraine.

The European Commission, under the Solidarity Lanes plan, will allocate €126 million to support ports in Romania through which products are exported from Ukraine.

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The United States has imposed sanctions on three russian entities and one individual complicit in the transfer to russia and its use of ballistic missiles produced in the DPRK. In particular, against the vladimirovka and ashuluk missile ranges in astrakhan region, the 224th Flight Unit State Airlines and its director- general vladimir mikheichik. The sanctions list also includes four aircrafts that were used to transport missiles and related cargo.

IMF experts believe that decisions regarding the confiscation of russian assets should be made by the countries where the rf’s funds are located.

Deputy Prime Minister of Spain Teresa Ribera has called on gas importers not to sign new contracts for the supply of fuel from russia.

The Swiss bank Cramer is closing its representative office in russia.

In 2023, Germany deported almost 1.5 thousand russian citizens who wanted to obtain the right to permanent residence in the country (most of all in Europe), France is in second place with 260 people, Poland is third (135 people), and Lithuania is fourth (120 applicants).

Former Prime Minister of Finland Alexander Stubb, who is currently leading in the presidential rating, has said that he will not maintain any relations with the rf until the kremlin stops the war against Ukraine.

Preliminary data on individual indicators of the russian budget in 2023 are as follows: budget deficit – 1.9% of GDP, or 3.2 trillion rubles; 2.9 trillion rubles financed the deficit of the russian budget at the expense of the savings of the national wealth fund (without taking into account the income from the sale by the rf ministry of finance of Chinese yuan and gold from russia's reserves).

The expenditure part of the federal budget in 2023 was 32,364 trillion rubles – this is by 11%, or 3.3 trillion rubles, higher than the plan defined by the budget law, and by 4% more than the level of 2022, in which spending has increased unprecedentedly – almost by 1/3 of the plan.

Items of federal expenditure (including military) since May 2022 in russia are classified. However, they were abnormally high at the beginning of 2023, but they dried up quite quickly: at the end of the first quarter, expenses were by 34% higher than in 2022, by 19.5% in the first half of the year, by 9.7% higher in three quarters, and by 4% higher by the results of 4 quarters.

The revenue side of the russian budget in 2023 amounted to 29.123 trillion rubles, of which the oil and gas share was 20.301 trillion rubles. Due to international sanctions, russia's oil and gas revenues were by 23.9% lower than in 2022.

Due to the decrease in oil and gas revenues and the rf budget deficit in 2024, the ministry of finance has announced the sale of currency and gold from the reserves of the national wealth fund: from January 15 to February 6, 69.1 billion rubles will be allocated for this – 4.1 billion rubles daily.

One of the main creators of the scandalous sputnik v coronavirus vaccine, russian scientist boris naroditsky, died of pneumonia.

russia's belgorod is increasingly reminiscent of a front-line city, with bus stops surrounded by concrete blocks and sandbags.

Strengthening of sanctions against belarus and russia was one of the topics of the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and Poland, Gabrielius Landsbergis and Radoslaw Sikorski. The Ministers discussed the changing security situation in Europe, defence cooperation, support for Ukraine and strengthening sanctions against russia and belarus. The parties agreed on a long-term policy of deterring russia with the help of NATO instruments.

The annual report of the international non-governmental human rights organization Human Rights Watch, dedicated to the human rights situation in belarus, states that the situation with freedom of opinion has deteriorated in the country, in schools included. Children who disagree, face insults and threats of expulsion, and their parents are threatened with being fired or deprived of parental rights. The report also points out that throughout 2023, political prisoners continued to be subjected to torture and unacceptable treatment during detention, while serving administrative arrest, as well as in pre-trial detention centers and colonies.

According to independent economists, the problem of the labor market is becoming chronic for the belarusian economy, limiting not only its growth potential, but even the possibility of maintaining the current state that is not brilliant. One of the main reasons is first of all the demographic one: the population is aging, and a small generation born in the 1990s and early noughties is entering the labor market. The second reason is social. More and more professionals are finding work abroad, while the country continues to fire employees on the lists. The third reason is economic. Most of the neighboring markets offer earnings significantly higher than local ones, while the potential for higher wages in the belarusian economy is close to exhaustion.

According to the Viasna Human Rights Center, in 2023, at least 6,386 people faced various types of repression in belarus, of which almost 4,500 were convicted in administrative cases. Of these, 1,776 are women and 4,566 are men. Most of the detentions were recorded in minsk and minsk region – 1,535 people. The next in terms of the number of detainees are gomel and grodno regions – 1,345 and 1,023 people respectively. Across the country, there were at least 4,466 trials under “political” articles. belarusian courts imposed at least 1,822 fines totaling 1,524,492 rubles (almost $466,000). Judges also ordered at least 2,005 arrests. In total, belarusians have spent at least 22,988 days in isolation (almost 64 years).