July 4, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

On July 3, the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine (ICPA) began its work at Eurojust (the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation)’s premises in the Hague.

“The United States supports an international tribunal based on “Ukrainian law but incorporating concepts of international law”, said US Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Pollitt – Jr.

President of the European Council Charles Michel has said that Ukraine is at the forefront of the struggle for European principles and values, so the EU's duty is to do everything possible to support it for as long as it takes.

Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is calling for speeding up the launch of the Leopard 2 tank service center in Poland. At the same time, Pistorius has said that Germany, together with Denmark will transfer several tens of Leopard 1A5 tanks to Ukraine “in the coming weeks”.

The head of NATO's Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, believes that Ukraine's counteroffensive is complicated because of the minefields and other obstacles, but Ukrainian troops are right to act cautiously.

US President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts at the summit in Vilnius intend to approve changes to the Alliance's planning system. Under the new plans, NATO aims to have up to 300,000 troops ready to redeploy to the eastern flank within 30 days. The plans divide the Alliance’s territory into three zones – the far north and the Atlantic, the zone north of the Alps and another zone in southern Europe. Currently, about 40,000 troops are on standby – from Estonia in the north to Romania near the Black Sea. Every day, about 100 aircrafts rise into the sky over this territory, and 27 warships operate in the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas.

Austria will join the “Sky Shield” European initiative to protect the airspace.

The first group of children from the city of Bucha, Kyiv region, has arrived on vacation in the Lithuanian city of Palanga.

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Since July 3, Lithuania has introduced tougher control over the transit of 57 groups of goods through the rf and belarus.

The European Association of Euroseeds Market Participants (including Bayer, BASF, Corteva, etc.) has warned the russian government about the risks for further work of the organization's member companies in russia due to the new requirements of the authorities to localize production. Euroseeds does not agree with the russian authorities’ groundless demand to create joint ventures with companies of the rf, carry out full-cycle selection in russia and report on the localization to the ministry of agriculture. Today, russian sugar beet seeds make up only 3% of the total needs of the country, potatoes – 9%.

According to S&P Global, the index of business activity (PMI) of manufacturing industries in russia in June decreased and amounted to 52.6 points against 53.5 points in May. At the same time, prices are rising in russia, inflation being caused by rising costs of enterprises, and delays in deliveries.

25 billion rubles must be additionally paid to the budget by russian electricity companies under a new tax on excess profits for past years. Most will have to be paid to rosenergoatom, inter rat and rosset, which may affect plans to modernize old thermal power plants and build power grids for the so-called eastern landfill.

Due to international sanctions, russia in August must reduce oil exports by 500 thousand barrels per day.

The kremlin threatens oil companies to impose quotas on fuel exports due to rising petrol prices inside russia.

russian airlines are in trouble again due to Western sanctions. The restrictions have affected not only the supply of new airliners and spare parts for them, but even of aviation paint, which was manufactured abroad. Now airlines have to wait for paint for 3-4 months.

China has replaced russian AL-31FN engines with its own WS-15 in its latest J-20 B fighters to increase its maneuverability. The thrust of the Chinese engine is 166 kilonewtons, which is 29 kilonewtons more than that of the russian AL-31FN.

russia is selling off property and land of the bankrupt production association “motovilikhinskie zavody”, which was the only manufacturer of combat and transport-charging vehicles such as the MLRS “grad”, “smerch” and their modified versions “tornado-g”, “Tornado-s”. In 2022, part of the company's territories has already been sold for 59.5 million rubles (about $ 100 thousand) for residential development.

The cost of developing software and IT systems based on artificial intelligence in russia has increased by 30-40%, and by the end of 2023 it may increase by 50%. The main reason is the rise in price of foreign equipment, in particular Nvidia graphics processors, as well as the shortage of relevant professionals in russia.

“pochta rossii”(russia’s national postal operator - Transl), which is one of the largest employers in the rf, has reduced salaries for employees, which is why they are being massively dismissed from work. The decision is due to the financial situation of “pochta rossii”, which is deteriorating against the background of the loss of a significant part of cross-border trade.

In June, russian construction companies managed to sign contracts for work for up to 2.7 months, while in February contractors were engaged for an average of 5.1 months in advance – and this was the highest figure for the last year and a half.

The accounting chamber has reported that in 2022, the debt of russian federal bodies to the state budget increased by 53.3% (by 3.26 trillion rubles); The total debts of the departments amount to 9.37 trillion rubles. The largest debtors are the ministry of industry and trade, the ministry of transport, the ministry of construction, the ministry of health care, rosavtodor, the ministry of science and higher education. Information on the debts of the ministry of defense, roscosmos, rosatom, the ministry of internal affairs, the russian guard, and special services is classified.

russian banks have reduced by a quarter the ability of russians to save money in foreign currency. At the beginning of July, only 12 banks out of the 30 largest in russia allow opening accounts in dollars and 11- in EUR. The kremlin has banned sberbank, vtb, gazprombank, mts bank, renaissance credit from opening accounts in dollars and euros.

The bank of russia has said that in 2023 the industry recorded the greatest shortage of workers in the last 25 years.

vtb bank will not pay dividends at the end of 2022 due to lack of profit: amid international sanctions, the bank has reported losses of $ 756.8 billion rubles.

russia's largest children's goods company, detsky mir, which has 1.1 thousand shops in russia, Kazakhstan and belarus, has decided not to pay dividends for 2022.

21% of russians consider food to be too expensive for them.

According to a recent survey, 35% of russians said that since February 2022, quarrels at work have increased significantly, most conflicts are based on personal rather than professional contradictions. It is believed that the aggravation of psychological tension in the workplace is due to putin's war against Ukraine, mobilization, russian economic crisis, transition of companies to an unusual way of activity.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed belarusians on the occasion of the official celebration of independence day in the country. He stressed that for 30 years the United States has been in favor of a democratic, independent and sovereign belarus and remains steadfast in this support.

The deputy minister of foreign affairs of belarus yuri ambrazevich has said that at the current level of relations with the European Union there is a possibility that belarusians may stop getting Schengen visas. He also pointed out that relations with the West and Washington are currently at the lowest level, and mentioned only Hungary and Serbia as the rb’s allies.

Rowers from belarus and russia have been completely banned from participating in the World Championships in Germany. In early summer, the Executive Committee of the International Rowing Federation decided that belarusian and russian rowers in limited numbers would be able to participate in world championships. However, the organizers of the competition in Germany decided otherwise.

On Sunday, Polish border guards registered 159 migrants who tried to violate the border from belarus.