June 15, 2022 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The Ministry of Defense of Lithuania has ordered ammunition for the Bayraktar TB2 drone, which is being transferred from Lithuania to Ukraine. This was announced by Minister of National Defence of Lithuania Arvydas Anusauskas. Apart from the ordered ammunition for the strike drone, the Turkish company provided Lithuania with additional ones. “We have agreed on armaments for Bayraktar Vanagas. The ammunition will be delivered on time. We also thank the company for the additional ones”, said the Minister of Defense of Lithuania. Ammunition for Turkish strike drones is manufactured by ROKETSAN. There are three versions of the Bayraktar TB2 percussion projectile – MAM-C, MAM-L and MAM-T. Arvydas Anusauskas demonstrated the MAM-L ammunition. The MAM-L high-precision small bomb weighs 22 kilograms. The warhead weighing 10 kg can be: tandem cumulative, high-explosive, thermobaric. In fact, the MAM-L is a version of the UMTAS anti-tank missile, from which the engine was removed and the wings increased. The estimated cost of MAM-L is in the range of 60 to 100 thousand dollars. The principle of guidance – a laser beam that allows to destroy targets at a distance of up to 8 km, as well as using satellite navigation at a distance of up to 14 km. Earlier, Lithuania signed a contract with Turkey to receive the Bayraktar TB2 drone free of charge for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Turkish-made strike drone for Lithuania was named “Vanagas”, which means Hawk.

The US government will send additional multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine, as well as provide coordinates for strikes. This was reported by The Washington Post with reference to US Undersecretary of Defense Colin Kahl. He noted that the four M142 or HIMARS highly mobile artillery missile systems received by Ukraine were just the beginning. Therefore, additional MLRS will be sent to Kyiv in the near future. “We are going to provide the Ukrainians what they need to prosecute targets inside Ukrainian territory”, Kahl said. He also said the Pentagon would provide Ukraine with intelligence to strike MLRS. According to the US Undersecretary of Defense, the president of the aggressor country is unlikely to intend to capture only the eastern part of Ukraine, especially after russian troops failed to force Ukraine to surrender this spring. In particular, Kahl stressed that the main narrative spread by russian propaganda media is that russians are succeeding in eastern Ukraine, and said that “to some extent this is true”. However, such success is achieved by great losses on both sides.

The United States and NATO must do everything possible to ensure that Ukraine retains its sovereignty and pushes the russians to its borders. This was emphasized by Republican Congressman Michael McCaul. The politician called the situation on the front of the russian-Ukrainian war critical and stressed the need to supply weapons to Ukraine as soon as possible. “We have to give Ukrainians longer range artillery so that they not only can meet the Russians with dignity, but hopefully surpass them. The longer it takes to hand over these latest weapons to Ukraine, the longer this conflict can last. This worries me. But I assure you that the Americans and our NATO allies will be with Ukraine as long as it takes to win”, McCaul said. He considers the resolution of the conflict at the negotiating table a dubious prospect. “Many people are talking about the possibility of negotiations. But this is difficult because of war crimes, atrocities that we saw in Bucha and see in Mariupol. The hands of the clock are difficult to turn back. Would you start negotiations with Hitler to give him Czechoslovakia and Poland in exchange for peace? I think that putin has crossed the lines with his war crimes so much that it will make negotiations very difficult”, the congressman stressed. Michael McCaul is a member of the Republican Party of the United States. Since 2005, he has represented Texas. In 2017, McCaul visited Ukraine, the Donbas included.

The Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd Austin, said that efforts would soon be intensified to provide Ukraine with as much assistance as possible. During his visit to Thailand, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin began discussing the next meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine's Defense, which will strengthen joint efforts to meet Ukraine's requirements for the defense of its territory. “We will hear directly from Ukrainian leaders, led by Oleksiy Reznikov, and work to intensify our joint efforts to meet Ukraine's priority requirements for the defense of its own territory”, said Lloyd Austin. He also stressed that work will continue to ensure that Ukraine receives more aid as soon as possible.

The United States is trying to prevent other countries from buying Ukrainian grain stolen by russia. White House Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre has said they are working with other countries to prevent the sale of grain that was most likely stolen in Ukraine. The United States’ diplomats have already warned 14 countries, most of them in Africa, that the kremlin is trying to make money by selling stolen Ukrainian grain.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine and the US Department of Agriculture have signed a memorandum of cooperation in the field of agriculture. The document was signed by video conference between Ukrainian Minister Mykola Solskyi and his American counterpart Thomas James Wilsek.

The Italian government will continue to support Ukraine in its quest to become part of Europe. This was announced by the Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi.“Italy supports and will continue to support Ukraine and its desire to be part of Europe”, he said. According to him, the Italian authorities will continue to work “on a ceasefire as soon as possible and peace talks on terms that Ukraine considers acceptable”.

Minister of Defence of Germany Christine Lambrecht has assured that the promised self-propelled howitzers Panzerhaubitze 2000 will still be delivered to Ukraine in the near future. The official noted that the training of Ukrainian soldiers in servicing these weapons, which is taking place in Germany, will end soon, and then the artillery will be handed over to Kyiv. When exactly the howitzers will be delivered to the site and by which route is not disclosed.

The National Bank of Ukraine has signed an agreement with the Central Bank of the Netherlands on the exchange of cash hryvnia for the euro for Ukrainians in the Netherlands. By the end of June, adult Ukrainians who have received a temporary residence permit in the Netherlands will be able to exchange their hryvnias in cash for euros. The limit under the agreement is up to UAH 10,000 per person. Earlier, agreements on exchanging cash hryvnia for local currency were reached with the central banks of Germany, Poland, Belgium, Italy and Sweden.

American actor, businessman, statesman and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger has accused Europe of letting russia finance its attack on Ukraine by using the billions Europe spends on russian oil. Schwarzenegger pointed out that russia has launched 1,300 missiles at Ukraine, and the war against Ukraine in the first two months cost the kremlin 7.7 billion euros.

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The European Court of Human Rights has ordered russia to pay compensation to russian NGOs recognized as “foreign agents”. The ECtHR's decision was based on complaints from 73 applicants in the case of “Ecoprotection and Others v. Russia”. This was reported by the Center for the Protection of Media Rights, which also appealed to the court because of the NGO’s having been recognized as a “foreign agent”. The ECtHR ruled that the russian authorities had violated Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to freedom of assembly and association. The Center for the Protection of Media Rights was ruled to be paid 17,290 euros in compensation. On June 7, the russian state duma passed a draft law that would allow not to comply with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)’s decisions, which passed after March 15, due to the expulsion of the country from the Council of Europe after the invasion of Ukraine. On June 11, the new law was signed by president putin. The law on foreign agents was adopted in russia in 2012. It allows the government to recognize as a “foreign agent” any non-profit organization that has received money from abroad and conducts, from the point of view of the government, political activity. The law does not specify the criteria for such activities, which allows the authorities to prosecute, in particular, the independent media. The law has been strengthened several times, extending its effect to both organizations and individuals.

After four russian officials took positions in the partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions, two of whom were graduates of the governor's school overseen by the pussian presidential administration, russian experts say the occupation of Ukraine is open and the occupied territories begin to join russia. These are the “positions” of the so-called prime minister of the dpr and his deputy, the first deputy head of the administration of the head of the dpr and the first deputy head of the government of the lpr. Political scientist suzdaltsev believes that only “very competent people” will be able to resolve the economic problems of the pseudo-formations of the dpr and lpr, whom the so-called republics themselves are unable to prepare. At the same time, lyakhovenko, a senior researcher at the faculty of political science, has said that in the temporarily occupied territories, financial control over cash flows and economic activity is very important, which “is most convenient for the kremlin to provide through its staff”.

Shortage of cardboard for food packaging due to EU sanctions is forcing large food producers to look for options to stabilize supply or reduce production. In particular, soyuzmoloko offers regulators to distribute packaging centrally. But this measure does not resolve the problem. Dairy producers claim that russian cardboard does not provide a long shelf life.

The largest American investment banks JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have completely stopped operations with russian debt.

In russia, the production of sheet glass, which is mostly used in construction, has decreased by 30%. Sales of flat glass declined due to declining domestic demand, transportation problems, and international sanctions. In particular, the director of the large plant “salavatsteklo” skirtin said that sales at the company in April this year decreased by 25% compared to last year, and in May – by 50%.

The management of the novolipetsk metallurgical plant have stated that in 2022 the decline in exports of metal products will be 21%, and of metal rolling – 40-45%. The company also forecasts a decrease inrRussian domestic steel consumption in construction by 12.9%, in mechanical engineering – by 25.4%.

At the st. petersburg international economic forum, putin will meet with media workers covering russia's aggression against Ukraine. According to peskov, only part of the event will be open, the rest of the meeting will be organized behind closed doors. This year, 90% of officially invited businessmen from leading countries of the world ignored the forum. the governor of st. petersburg beglov is especially proud, in particular, that Egypt will take part.

russia's nord stream will not work because due to the sanctions, the turbine needed for the pipeline did not arrive in Germany on time after having been serviced in Canada.

russia got offended by the publication of information about the actions of its armed forces in Ukraine. The russian foreign ministry has banned the activities of 29 British journalists covering the situation with russian aggression against Ukraine.

russia continues to intensify repression against its citizens. state duma has passed in first reading a draft law providing for 20 years in prison for russians’ participation in hostilities against russia. At the same time, servicemen who surrendered during the “armed conflict” are considered traitors. Criminal liability for cooperation with foreign intelligence services is also envisaged. All the measures are unprecedented for russia for all the years of its wars of aggression in many countries over the past 30 years.

The shutdown of russia's leading manufacturers of lift equipment and the complication of logistics chains has led to an increase in prices for lifts of russian and Asian production by 10-20%, said the director of the procurement department of a large russian housing developer tkachenko. Leading liftmanufacturers Otis (USA), Kone (Finland), Schindler and Thyssen (Germany) have previously announced their closure in russia.

German authorities will rename gazprom germania gmbh to Securing Energy for Europe GmbH.

Until June 21, the Finnish energy company Fortum is collecting offers to sell its russian assets – the general companies Fortum and Unipro, which, according to an official statement, of which it will get rid by July 1. Fortum, Uniper and the Italian Enel are three foreign general companies that worked for russia, but after its aggression against Ukraine, all their russian assets were put up for sale.

Patients of two socially significant diseases in russia – HIV and hepatitis C – appealed to the government to urgently address the problem of drug supply. According to official information, less than 50% of the planned volume of drugs was purchased in 2022, as a result of which almost 10,000 people at risk may be left without vital treatment. About 12% of HIV-positive patients are infected with chronic hepatitis viruses, which is almost 130,000 russians.

The European Fencing Confederation (EFC) has received a proposal from several countries to exclude the russian fencing federation. As early as March 2, the International Fencing Federation (FIE) suspended russians from participating in tournaments under the auspices of the organization, and on May 31, the president of the russian olympic committee pozdnyakov was prematurely deprived of his powers as head of the EFC.