June 11, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Jake Sullivan, US National Security Adviser, has said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine used the permission to strike with American weapons on the territory of the rf near the border, which is why the pace of the operation of russian troops in Kharkiv region has stalled.

“Either we’re going to help Ukraine or we’re not. It’s now time to give them the F-16s, let them fly the planes, long-range artillery to hit targets inside of russia. Go after putin’s assets wherever, all over the world. Go on the offensive. I think the summer Ukraine will regain military momentum”, Senator Lindsey Graham said.

US officials expect the Group of Seven (G7) next week to issue a tough new warning to small Chinese banks to stop helping russia and evading Western sanctions.

The USA and Poland have jointly created the Ukrainian Communication Group (UCG) “to support Ukraine in the fight against russia’s aggression in the information space”.

Ukraine is introducing direct contracting with global arms manufacturers.

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the head of the Defense Committee at the Bundestag, has emphasized that russia is waging a war not only against Ukraine – “it’s a war against our values, our freedom, and our ideas of living together”.

The Center for Restoration of Museum Values ​​of Lithuania will help restore 100 paintings by Ukrainian artist Maria Prymachenko.

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On June 10, in order to reduce dependence on russian energy carriers, Bulgaria's only nuclear power plant Kozloduy for the first time used in one of its reactors the nuclear fuel produced by the American company Westinghouse.

The Institute of Transitional Economies of the Central Bank of Finland (BOFIT) has assessed some risks of the russian economy. It has pointed out that russian corporations’ access to global financial markets is limited by international sanctions. Since 2021, no russian company has announced a significant new bond issue or syndicated loan; until February 2022, such loans played a key role in raising funds by exporters.

The switch to the domestic russian financial market led to a sharp increase in the interest costs of enterprises. As of April 1, 2024, the cost of an average corporate loan with an adjustable (to support “strategically important” companies and industries) interest rate for the rf increased from 9.2% to 16.8% per year. For banks, the financing of large companies carries certain risks due to the fact that the occurrence of problems in only a few of them will be enough to destabilize the entire financial system.

In the first months of 2024, the ruble-yuan pair accounted for almost 50% of trades at the moscow stock exchange. At the same time, the yuan market does not provide the same risk-sharing opportunities as the US dollar or euro markets, so an excess or lack of yuan liquidity becomes a risk in itself, according to BOFIT analysts.

In May, out of 157 large retail funds whose net assets exceed 500 million rubles, 137 were unprofitable, according to data from the investfunds portal. The worst dynamics was demonstrated by units of funds of russian shares, which lost 2.7-8% in price, in particular, the leaders of the fall were funds focused on investing in the shares of commodity companies and companies of small capitalization.

russian companies of medium and small capitalization lost almost 15% of the value of their shares at the moscow stock exchange.

In May, the price of russian urals oil fell by more than 8% to below $70 per barrel.

In May, China's exports to russia decreased by 1.8% to $41.8 billion.

Against the background of the 2024 budget deficit (according to preliminary estimates of the ministry of finance, in January-May it amounted to 983 billion rubles, or 0.5 % of GDP), the russian government intends to take more than 1 trillion rubles from the national welfare fund (in February, it was planned to attract 880 billion rubles). It is stated that 890 billion rubles will be used “to finance self-sustaining infrastructure projects”, while the rest of the information is classified.

The shareholders of the russian bank vtb decided not to pay dividends for 2023.

The russian academy of sciences has estimated the shortage of personnel in the rf to be up to 5 million people and predicts further deterioration of the situation. To fill the jobs, the authorities plan to involve more than 160 thousand convicts. Already, every second janitor and landscaping worker is a convicted prisoner, according to eva merkachevova from the union for human rights under putin. The avtovaz plant uses 200 convicts to assemble lada cars.

The German company Knauf, the largest producer of construction materials for interior and exterior decoration, is selling its business in russia.

Due to the deterioration of business in russia and fears of international sanctions, the owner of the multimedia holding bogdanov is preparing the company for sale (the holding includes the national news service news agency, nashe radio, jazz fm, rock fm, and the jam advertising agency, etc.).

The risks of being detained in the rb are higher for EU citizens than for their own citizens, and authorities of belarus pay special attention to those countries that they consider “hostile,” the Vyasna Human Rights Center said. Two Latvian citizens and three Polish citizens have already been convicted on politically motivated charges, and in June, another closed trial began in minsk – against Lithuanian citizen Elena Romanauskine. EU citizens are prosecuted mainly for “agent activity” and “espionage”. Such cases are usually classified as secret and are heard in closed court.

The Ministry of Energy of Lithuania has announced that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will inform the rf and the rb by August 7 about their refusal to participate in the BRELL agreement and their transition to synchronization with the European power grids, which is scheduled for February 2025. At the moment, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the rf, and the rb are operating in a single BRELL network.

The nationwide problem of labor shortages has not spared the recently commissioned nuclear power plant in the rb. Today, it already has 106 vacancies: NPP personnel training instructors, electricians, shift supervisors, chemical analysis laboratory technicians, professionals for the cyber security center, and a shift supervisor for a nuclear power unit.

More than 600 thousand rubles (about 184 thousand US dollars) will be spent on the independence day in minsk alone. This amount does not include payment for performances by actors and creative groups.