July 13, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

At the NATO summit in Vilnius, the G7 countries agreed on a framework document on security guarantees for Ukraine, and specific bilateral agreements will be signed later. “Today we are launching the G7’s Declaration, which guarantees security to Ukraine in the future”, US President Joe Biden said. “(The Declaration) is open to be signed by any country”, he added and thanked President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy for “Ukraine’s  protecting the world”.

“We, the leaders of the Great Seven (G7), reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the strategic objective of a free, independent, democratic, and sovereign Ukraine, within its internationally recognized borders, capable of defending itself and deterring future aggression”, reads a Joint Declaration on the Framework Agreement on Security Guarantees for Ukraine between the G7 countries and Ukraine. The document states that from today “negotiations begin” between Ukraine and each of the states of the G7 “to formalize support for Ukraine through bilateral security commitments and agreements agreed with this multilateral framework agreement, in accordance with the relevant legal and constitutional requirements” of the signatory countries. The document outlines the commitment of the member states of G7 to continue providing “security assistance and modern military equipment, across land, air, and sea domains – prioritizing air defense, artillery and long-range fires, armored vehicles, and other key capabilities, such as combat aircrafts, and by promoting increased interoperability with Euro-Atlantic partners”. In case of russia’s future armed attack, G7 members promise to provide Ukraine with “swift and sustained security assistance, modern military equipment on land, sea and air, as well as economic assistance”, and also “immediately consult with Ukraine to determine appropriate next steps”. “We reaffirm that, consistent with our respective legal systems, russia’s sovereign assets in our jurisdictions will remain immobilized until russia pays for the damage it has caused to Ukraine”, the statement reads.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the Alliance had made its strongest decision regarding Ukraine on the path to its membership with the full awareness that moscow would protest.

“This is one of the steps (creation of the NATO-Ukraine Council) that should bring Ukraine closer to NATO. Today we meet as equals, I expect that we will meet as allies”, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Allies have endorsed “the most comprehensive defense plans since the end of the Cold War, addressing two key threats we face: russia and terrorism”. Under the new plans, NATO aims to deploy 300,000 troops at high readiness.

Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom have agreed to begin training Ukrainians for F-16s. The member states of the “fighter- jet coalition” have agreed that training of Ukrainian pilots to fly Western F-16 fighter jets will begin in Denmark in August.

Minister of National Defense of Poland Mariusz Błaszczak has said that within the framework of the “fighter-jet coalition” the Polish side will provide infrastructure for training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s.

Australia will transfer another 30 Bushmaster armored personnel carriers to Ukraine.

Norway will provide Ukraine with an additional 1,000 Black Hornet drones for reconnaissance.

“The government has decided to transfer the NASAMS support package to Ukraine, which includes two additional fire control centers, two launchers and spare parts”, the Ministry of Defense of Norway said in a statement.

On the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Ukraine and Sweden signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of defense procurement.

The United Kingdom will provide Ukraine with the aid in the amount of $ 65 million to repair equipment and create a military rehabilitation center.

France has already provided training for more than 5,000 Ukrainian troops, and by the end of the year – for about 7,000.

“Every ally I spoke to, said they understand why we're doing this and when we're doing this”, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said of providing Ukraine with cluster munitions.

National Security Council Senior Director for Europe Amanda Sloat, said that NATO leaders agreed to provide a “significant” new package of aid to Ukraine.

“.... We have made it clear that Ukraine will become a member of NATO”, said Spokesperson for the US Department of State Matthew Miller.

Former US Vice President Michael Pence agrees with the opinion that Ukraine will be able to become a member of NATO after winning the war with russia.

“Part of this process is having a healthy, vibrant democracy and healthy, viable, sustainable democratic institutions. And Ukraine still has work to do in this regard”, said John Kirby,  the White House National Security Council’s Coordinator for Strategic Communications.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak agrees that the agreements on security guarantees for Ukraine, which individual Allies plan to provide to Ukraine, will not replace its membership in NATO.

“... The Vilnius summit is not the last stop. The next stop is Washington. And we have a year to do everything to make Washington more historic than Vilnius”, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Ukraine's accession to NATO.

“In my opinion, this is absolutely not enough. I hope that in a few years Ukraine will be a full member of our Alliance”, President of Poland Andrzej Duda said on the decision of the NATO summit on Ukraine.

President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs said Latvia “will not give up”, adding that the country “will work to get Ukraine membership in NATO as soon as possible”.

“.. The machine is moving, and putin understands this very well”, Prime Minister of Latvia Krišjānis Kariņš praised the decision of the NATO summit on Ukraine.

Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas has said she understands the disappointment of the Ukrainian side with the decisions of the Vilnius NATO summit, but at the same time she believes that “this is how much we can offer now”.

Minister of Defence of Germany Boris Pistorius has said he understands frustration with Ukraine's slow process of NATO membership, but insists that certain “conditions have to be met” by Ukraine to join NATO.

“The speed at which Ukraine is advancing in EU membership is amazing. It’s impressive. It is a merit-based process, and we see the enthusiasm and the intensity with which Ukraine is reforming and thus advancing rapidly towards EU membership”, said President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

“They (Western countries) are preparing great and wonderful things for Ukraine, big gifts for the end of the year, at least as far as the EU is concerned”, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić said.

The European Commission, together with the European Investment Bank, has developed a strategy for the integration of the railway systems of Ukraine and Moldova into the European one, in particular, the transition to 1,435 mm European gauge.

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The US Treasury Department has announced sanctions against head of the Security and Information Agency of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, who is suspected of involvement in transnational organized crime and cooperation with moscow.

Bulgaria's Highest Administrative Court found the local newspaper Trud guilty of spreading homophobic hate speech for publishing an article from the russian portal katyusha.

Since July 12, Apple began to cancel russians’ paid subscriptions to audio and video editors Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro for iPad.

The state duma of the rf adopted in the first reading a bill that directly allows continuous logging within the framework of construction projects in the central ecological zone of Lake Baikal. It is proposed to allow the construction of roads, sewage treatment plants, communal facilities, cafes, restaurants and toilets there. Opponents of the decision claim the “funeral of the sacred lake” and “the destruction of natural systems under the pretext of resolving local problems”.

Prices for imported pharmaceutical substances in russia in the first half of the year rose by 40-100 % due to the devaluation of the ruble and the need to purchase substances through intermediaries under international sanctions. Pharmaceutical companies warn that in a few months the cost of medicines will inevitably increase.

80–85 % of russian medicines are made from foreign substances; in 2022, their imports to russia increased by 50%, to 25.3 million kg, in money – by 11%, to $ 2.3 billion. Purchases of components through intermediaries are 1.5-2 times more expensive than the selling price of the manufacturer.

Public procurement in russia is increasingly disrupted due to the discrepancy between supply and demand: in the first half of the year, a sharp increase in the number of failed purchases was recorded – more than 254 thousand (in 2022 – 45.7 thousand). The main reason is that the products of russian suppliers do not meet the needs of customers either in price or in quality. In particular, at the competitive bidding for the supply of medicines, the number of procedures that did not take place increased from 283 to 7.3 thousand, in the supply of electronic and optical equipment – from 427 to 5.2 thousand, of chemical products – from 165 to 2.4 thousand, in construction works – from 258 to 6.8 thousand.

According to open data, purchases of goods and services by state-owned companies of the rf in the first half of the year amounted to 3.8 trillion rubles (in 2021 there were 572.4 thousand purchases for 10.4 trillion rubles, in 2022 – for 4.3 trillion rubles).

The russian ministry of digital development, communications and mass media has predicted a reduction in the book market of the rf by the end of 2023 by 9.07%: books have risen  in price, while  the purchasing power of the population has decreased. At the same time, russians began to use pirated e-book resources more actively: since February, by 20% more visits to such pages have been recorded – more than 100 million per month.

According to the central bank of the rf, the balances of foreign currency funds of russian banks on deposit and correspondent accounts abroad in May in terms of dollars decreased by $ 1.6 billion, to $ 50.8 billion. This was mainly due to the reduction of deposits in Chinese currency. It is believed that russian credit institutions changed risk policy amid pressure on Chinese banks and had to move funds to “alternative instruments”.

According to the latest information from the central bank of the rf, during the mutiny of the international terrorist organization “wagner”, russians took cash from banks for 100 billion rubles.

Prices for warehouses in russia in January–June 2023 increased by an average of 67%, for retail space – by 9%.

After  the latest collapse of the ruble, the cost of rental housing in russia has increased by 10%.

The ministry of justice has refused to register the opposition belarusian social democratic party (Gramada) for allegedly failing to comply with the requirements of the new law on political parties.

Based on the amendments to the law “On Citizenship” that came into force, belarusians may be deprived of citizenship even by birth. Under the threat of loss of citizenship is  almost everyone who left the country.

According to the decision of the KGB of belarus, the correspondent of the Polish news agency PAP Justina Prus was not allowed to enter belarus and was handed a notice of a ban on entering the country for five years.

Servicemen of the internal troops of belarus intend to gain experience by engaging in combat training with mercenaries of the private military company “wagner”, said deputy minister of internal affairs nikolai karpenkov.