June 8, 2022 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has called on the world powers not to put pressure on President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make him agree to a “bad peace agreement” with russia. The British Prime Minister said that the United Kingdom “will remain at the forefront” of support for Ukraine.

“He said it was important that President Zelenskyy not be pressured to agree to a bad peace, noting that bad peace agreements do not last long. The world must avoid any outcome that would justify putin's groundless aggression”, said Johnson's Spokesperson.

During a government meeting, UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Liz Truss said that London was preparing next anti-russian sanctions. Truss pointed out that the United Kingdom will continue to support Ukraine. This means imposing sanctions on russia and working with allies to help rebuild Ukraine.

Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki has announced the signing of the largest arms purchase contract in 30 years.

“We are now signing one of the largest arms contracts in three decades – the sale of weapons to Ukrainians, to Ukraine. These weapons are well-tested, and today we know that they will be very important weapons on the battlefield”, reports the office of the Prime Minister of Poland.

Minister of State Assets of Poland Jacek Sasin clarified that the contract amount is $ 628 million.

The United States has officially confirmed the supply of high mobility missile systems to Ukraine. The US Department of Defense will also provide our country with ammunition for rocket launcher systems. “The US Department of Defense has officially announced that on June 1, the United States pledged to provide Ukraine with HIMARS high-mobility missile systems and ammunition”. “Ukrainian soldiers who are being trained have completed the theoretical part and started practical exercises on shooting from PzH 2000 howitzers”, the General Staff said on June 7. The General Staff reminded that the self-propelled howitzer PzH 2000 is a 155 mm cannon on a tracked chassis based on the Leopard-2 tank. Germany and the Netherlands agreed to transfer PzH 2000 to Ukraine.

Sweden’s government will hand over a new batch of military aid to Ukraine against the background of russian aggression, said Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Ann Linde. Sweden will send anti-ship missiles, anti-tank weapons, 12.7 mm rifles and ammunition to Ukraine. This fourth support package also includes a financial contribution to the Armed Forces. The total amount is over 95 million euros.

During the russian's speech at the Bonn Climate Conference, delegates from almost all countries expressed solidarity with Ukraine and left the hall in support of Ukraine. The delegation from Ukraine had the opportunity to be the first to speak at the Conference. In addition, the representative of the Australian delegation condemned the unjustified russian invasion of Ukraine, which is a direct violation of international law, including the UN Charter. Words of support for Ukraine on behalf of the European Union were heard from the representatives of France, on behalf of the group for preservation of environmental integrity – from the representatives of Switzerland. Georgia, the United Kingdom and the United States also expressed solidarity with Ukraine.

The Polish seaport of Gdansk has opened a form through which Ukrainian companies will be able to submit requests for the possibility of exporting or importing goods through port terminals.

“Seaports are the driving force of the country's economy. Ports are not only ensuring the supply of products for production in Ukraine, but also the need to meet the current situation related to the blockade of ports and the need to find alternative routes for transporting goods from Ukraine”, the company said. The port of Gdansk is ready to increase the transshipment of oil and coal, as well as exports of many goods that previously passed through Ukrainian ports.

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American technology, which russia has used for many years, is becoming a “vulnerability”. But russia is already short of details, in particular, for satellites, avionics and night vision devices. Global restrictions on the exchange of advanced technology with russia hamper its military capabilities, although the country has used American equipment for years.

The NYT has analyzed the impact of sanctions on russia's defense industry. At the heart of modern weapons and communications systems in russia there are chips made in the West. After the start of a full-scale invasion, the United States and a number of other countries imposed a ban on the sale to russia of technologies that russian defense companies had previously used in their production. On June 2, the Biden administration expanded the list of companies - subject to such restrictions.

Such sanctions have made the bombing of tank factories or shipyards unnecessary – something that countries have resorted to during wars in the past. “The democracies can replicate the effect of well- targeted bombing runs with the right set of sanctions precisely because the russian military is dependent on imported equipment”, said economist Matthew Klein, who tracks the impact of export controls.

According to US officials, tank factories in russia have already faced a shortage of parts and are laying off workers. There is also a lack of parts for satellites, avionics and night vision devices. russia has stopped publishing monthly trade data since the invasion, but customs data from its main trading partners show that supplies of major parts and components have fallen sharply. According to data collected by Matthew Klein, russian imports of industrial goods from the nine major economies for which data are available fell by 51% in April compared to the average from September 2021 to February 2022.

However, the impact of these sanctions is not yet felt to the extent that it would force russia to put an end to the war. Maria Snegova from George Washington University suggests that russian industry will begin to really feel the lack of necessary technology and maintenance in autumn. The question, according to Snegova, is whether russia will find a replacement for these technologies.

The West's sanctions on technology exports to russia work in such a way that even companies in countries that have not joined the sanctions must be careful. The Biden administration has threatened to punish anyone who helps russia circumvent the sanctions. At present, companies in China do not risk violating these rules.

Meanwhile, Damien Splitters, a researcher at Conflict Armament Research, has said that while working in Ukraine, he and colleagues found microchips in radios used by the russian military with carefully erased information about who the manufacturer was. However, they managed to establish that the chip was manufactured by a US-based company. And in Orlan drones, researchers found spare parts made by companies from Switzerland, the United States and Japan.

According to BCS GM analysts, russia's budget losses due to the oil embargo in 2023 could reach $ 30-50 billion.

Japan has imposed new sanctions on rosselkhozbank, moscow credit bank, and the belarusian development and reconstruction bank. As part of the new package, the assets of these institutions and all financial transactions with them have been frozen. A ban on the export of Japanese goods, which help strengthen the production base of the russian federation, has also been introduced.

In the long-running crisis in the russian market is growing overdue receivables – by the end of the year its volume may reach more than 4 trillion rubles.

russia has to pay its citizens, as well as citizens of other countries, almost € 74 million in compensation according to the European Court of Human Rights and another € 1.9 billion to former shareholders of the Yukos oil company. However, the state duma states that russia is not going to implement the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in full – the duma passed a special draft law on June 7.

putin has signed a decree reforming the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which became an urgent need due to an attempt to occupy Ukraine. In particular, the department for security of large international and mass sports events of the ministry is being liquidated and the staff of several more divisions is being reduced. At the same time, they are strengthening the operational management of the ministry of internal affairs – it will be used to suppress people’s resistance in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. To strengthen the “moral motivation” of police officers, they are introducing the position of an additional deputy minister– for work with personnel.

russian lead plants are on the verge of closure due to a complete halt in exports. Europe has closed the market for them due to sanctions, and it is not possible to establish sales in other areas, as the ministry of industry and trade has not issued any export licenses. Domestic demand, which was still lower than supply, also collapsed after an almost complete shutdown of the car industry. Warehouses at russian enterprises are already overcrowded, so production at plants has already decreased by 30%.

military prosecutor of the western military district of russia egiev has said that the investigation proved the participation of 600 conscripts in russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Twelve officers guilty of this have been brought to justice, including dismissal from military service.

The russian association of tour operators has reported that in the first five months of 2022, 70-80% fewer russians visited Antalya, Turkey, compared to the last pre-pandemic year. According to the results of March 2022, there were only 15.8 thousand russians in the resort, which is by 78.7% less than in March 2019, in April –by 81.25%, in May – by 72.1%.

Rising oil prices threaten russian airlines with a significant increase in fuel costs. The cost of aviation kerosene on June 6 increased by almost 5% to 65.5 thousand rubles. per ton, repeating the historical record set in March. The aviation industry fears an increase in the cost of fuel and a simultaneous reduction in compensation for fuel costs under the damping mechanism introduced in russia. In March, due to high oil prices and the devaluation of the ruble, the damper was 56 thousand rubles per ton, in May its value halved.

russian car dealers sell the cars still available in warehouses. Only Chinese cars, uaz and gaz are among the new insignificant supplies. However, the downward trend in new car sales by six times a month will not improve the overall situation – demand for these cars is extremely low.

Private investors continue to sell russian mutual funds. The outflow from retail mutual funds in May amounted to 11.3 billion rubles (almost 23.2 billion rubles in April). Representatives of the management of companies are skeptical about the private investors’ return to the market. “The transition from a state of fear to a constructive perception of the situation and investment opportunities now takes longer than, for example, in 2020”, said the director of the asset management department of “alpha-capital” bark.

Due to the shortage of imported specialized pet food in russia's major cities, new pet stores have stopped opening. The situation has also worsened due to the shortage of working capital, which arose due to the need to make prepayments for producers of goods. Sales of pet products are also declining: in st. petersburg, according to Maris analysts, there is almost no demand among pet stores for street retail facilities.

Employees of the kaliningrad automobile plant “avtotor” continue to pick berries instead of assembling cars. More than a month ago, the plant's management announced that the company was stopping car production and giving the team a corporate holiday to pick berries. So far, the plant has not started working – everybody continues to pick seasonal vitamins.

More than 9,000 companies in russia, have been included into the base of risks of dismissal, – said chief of the federal service for labor and employment ivankov.

minister of agriculture and fisheries of karelia labinov has said that the fisheries of the republic, which supply at least 70% of trout in russia, after the “boycott of Western suppliers” need to replace up to 40% (20 thousand tons) of feed. If they do not find them, there will simply be no fish in russia. However, free money in russia is gradually running out. bank of russia has called on financial market participants to make “patriotic investment”.

the russians have set a record for the number of appeals to the ombudsman and do not want to stop. commissioner for human rights in russia moskalkova has stated about an unprecedented number of complaints from russians in 2021 – almost 60 thousand appeals. At the same time, due to the rf’s war in Ukraine, she predicts even more complaints about the russian authorities, as she told putin.

The English Premier League (App) this week will terminate the agreement on the broadcast of football championship matches on the russian TV channel “match tv”. Earlier, the Premier League refused to broadcast the league on the okko service, which had the right to show in russia since 2019.

The World Bank has downgraded its forecast for russia's GDP in 2022, now expected to decline by 8.9% instead of growing by 2.4%.

The Swedish group IKEA, which was one of the first foreign companies to suspend operations in russia, has announced it is leaving the banking business in russia: Ikano Bank, founded on a parity basis by the Ikano Group (Luxembourg) and Credit Europe Bank N.V. (Netherlands), will be sold soon.

Kazakhstan's Air Astana technical service has suspended contracts with russian customers and suppliers. Having completed its first self-service C-check on Airbus A321 last year, Air Astana's technical service is preparing to conduct eight C-checks in 2022 at its Aviation Technical Center (ATC) at Nur Sultan Airport. The airline has also said that all contracts with russian customers and suppliers have been terminated. Kazakhstan’s flagship independently performs all line and basic maintenance of its fleet, except for a few types of C-check, which it outsources to third-party providers. There will be three such contracts this year, but outsourcing will continue to decline, said Keith Wardle, Air Astana's Vice President Engineering and Maintenance. “At the moment, we can perform the C-check to the first level with the Airbus A320 family, but this year we expect to reach the 2C level. After that, we will increase technical capabilities to other types as needed”, Wardle said.

Finnish actor Ville Haapasalo, who played one of the main roles in the russian film “Peculiarities of the National Hunt”, closed the Davai Davai restaurant in Helsinki, which offered russian dishes, due to a personal protest against putin's aggression against Ukraine.

The Swiss Federal Court has decided to suspend judicial cooperation with russia in the administrative and financial spheres until September 30 over russia's aggression against Ukraine.

basmanny court arrested in absentia the writer Glukhovsky “under the article on discrediting the armed forces of the russian federation”.

The world's largest manufacturer and supplier of hardware and software, as well as IT and consulting services, the American company IBM completely stops operating in russia.

US depositary receipts and shares of the russian oil company lukoil are excluded from the list admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange. At the same time, lukoil mimics and intends to promote the former Shell gas station network in russia under the guise of the “Finnish” brand Teboil.

The Fiji Supreme Court has allowed US officials to take away the amadea yacht, owned by russian senator kerimov, from the Republic's territorial waters.

New Zealand has imposed new sanctions on 44 russian and belarusian companies, including gazprom and belarusian defense companies.

The International Skating Union has continued to remove russian athletes from the competition.

The US Treasury Department has reminded that the country's citizens are prohibited from buying any russian shares and bonds, including on the secondary market – such deals are subject to sanctions.