July 20, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised that his country will “double” its support for Ukraine.

Ukraine and the United Kingdom have signed an agreement on official loan support for the development of Ukraine's defense capabilities worth two billion pounds.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg once again emphasized that the role of the United States is extremely important in supporting Ukraine.

Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre is confident that no US President will abandon Ukraine.

The World Bank will finance Ukraine's private sector for $1.03 billion over 2024-2027.

The European Union, under the Ukraine Investment Facility (UIF) program, will provide a EUR 100 million grant to NPC “Ukrenergo” for the reconstruction of the electricity transmission system.

The Turkish company Dalgakiran Kompresör has invested UAH 400 million to launch a plant for the production of industrial power equipment in Kyiv region.

The government of Sweden will donate 13 diesel generators to Ukraine.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland Czeslaw Siekerski has said that the Polish presidency of the EU in the first half of next year will have its proposals for changes in trade cooperation between the EU and Ukraine.

Germany’s Ambassador to Ukraine Martin Jaeger has said that Germany's EUR 4 million in emergency aid to Ukraine's healthcare system will be used to buy medicines and medical supplies for “Okhmatdyt”, as well as to help hospitals that have accepted patients from it and to support frontline medical facilities.

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Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the United States Department of State Vedant Patel has said that the United States will continue to monitor the actions of russia, which has once again threatened to deploy nuclear weapons in Europe.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer has said that 44 European countries have approved a plan to combat the “shadow fleet” of russian oil tankers. The joint “call to action” aims to stop the fleet of about 600 vessels, which, according to Western countries, are used by moscow to transport about 1.7 million barrels of oil daily. The government has already imposed sanctions on 11 tankers flying the flags of Panama, Gabon and the Cook Islands, which are linked to the transportation of oil or oil products from the rf to third countries.

“The EU has already responded with sanctions. Now we want to join forces in a global coalition to put an end to this shadow fleet”, Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz said about the plans to step up the measures against russia's oil “shadow fleet”.

In July 2024, the international depository Euroclear will make the first contribution of approximately EUR 1.55 billion to the European fund for Ukraine.

Ministry of Finance of Estonia has developed another plan to tighten the rules for crossing the Estonian-russian border. “The revision of the border crossing points follows from the principle reaffirmed by the Estonian state in April 2022 that economic relations with the rf should be minimized, as well as due to the sanctions policy adopted last year”, explained Minister of Finance Mart Võrklaiev.

Estonia is going to close two more checkpoints on the border with the rf – Koidula and Luhamaa.

russian-speaking residents of Latvia have lost a case in the ECHR over the language of education – exclusively Latvian – in preschools.

Starting in 2025, the central bank of the rf will oblige banks to comply with the so-called mortgage standard. The aim of the tightening of control is to limit the issuance of mortgage loans to the population of the rf.

According to the russian website yandex travel, airfares for July and August in russia have risen by 25% compared to last year. One night's stay in a hotel went up by 20%.

Last year, 19% (the highest figure in the last four years) of russians surveyed said that the conditions of recreation in russia had deteriorated. This year, 81% of respondents admitted that due to the rise in the price of tourist vacations, they had to spend their holidays at home or in the country.

According to rosstat, from May 2023 to May 2024, prices for milk and dairy products in the rf increased by 4.23%. At the same time, rusprodsoyuz has reported that in July 2024, average retail prices for pasteurized milk increased by 6.8% (78.5 rubles per 1 liter), of cheese – by 4.7% (800.4 rubles per 1 kg), and of soft cheese – by 2.4% (418.8 rubles a kilo).

In the rf, dairy production costs are expected to continue to rise due to the high cost of raw materials, higher energy costs and employee salaries, and high interest rates on bank loans. Production is also affected by the suspension of operations in the rf by the Danish company Chr. Hansen, one of the main suppliers of sourdough starter to russia, whose products cannot be replaced due to the lack of experience in this sphere.

Due to rising fuel prices in russia and a growing deficit, the government of the rf is going to ban petrol exports on September 1. On July 19, the wholesale price of AI-95 petrol, which has been steadily increasing since June, became the highest of the year – 73.6 thousand rubles a ton.

The occupation authorities of the rf have restricted electricity consumption for 2-3 hours in the temporarily occupied Simferopol, Sevastopol, Alushta, Bilohirsk, Yevpatoriya, Kerch, Armyansk, Saky, Sudak, Feodosiya, Yalta, and Bakhchysaray, Bilohirsk, Dzhankoy, Kirov, Krasnohvardiysk, Krasnoperekopsk, Leninske, Nyzhnyohirsk, Pervomaisk, Razdolne, Saky, Simferopol, Radyanske and Chornomorske districts of Crimea.

The ministry of internal affairs of the rb has informed foreigners who are going to come to the rb on a visa-free regime that they must register with the citizenship and migration departments or go through electronic registration on the unified portal of electronic services within ten days.

According to belstat, the rb cannot restore the pace of new housing construction. In January-June, organizations of all forms of ownership built real estate by 4.1% less than in the same period in 2023.