March 1, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The war in Ukraine will be the central topic of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden’s meeting in Washington.

Ukraine received the first tranche of a $1.25 billion grant from the United States. The United States also confirmed its intention to provide Ukraine with $ 9.9 billion during 2023.

Estonia calls on the EU to increase the purchase of ammunition for Ukraine, which will increase production at the enterprises of the military-industrial complex.

The former head of the United Kingdom's General Staff, General Lord Richard Dannatt, believes that with Western support, Ukraine is able to defeat russia on the battlefield.

The German company Rheinmetall began to supply Ukraine with automated reconnaissance systems SurveilSPIRE.

Rheinmetall defense concern CEO Armin Papperger has said that within a year two Skynex short-range air defense systems will be in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The cost of the equipment is 200 million euros.

The German government is increasing support for Ukraine for climate policy development and biodiversity protection. The total budget of technical assistance projects to be implemented in Ukraine under the International Climate Initiative will amount to EUR 44.5 million. German projects will cover issues of supporting Ukraine in implementing the Paris Agreement and adapting to the effects of climate change in the Black Sea region, creating an emissions trading system, formulating low emission policies, preserving forests in the Carpathians, increasing Ukraine's ability to overcome the consequences of the war and integrate into the EU. As well as Ukraine's joining the climate club, which is currently being formed by the EU countries.

Sweden will contribute $30 million to the Energy Support Fund for Ukraine and allocate funds to support the IAEA mission operating at all Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

The European Commission has launched two programs worth EUR 7.5 million to support Ukrainian entrepreneurs.

British Network Rail has provided Ukraine with eight railway bridges, 30 bridge supports and tunnel repair systems.

“... Now you are at the front lines of a new war that must put an end to russia's genocide against your people and its imperial attempts to seize your territory. And again, democracies – NATO members – support you as they supported us”, writes Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti in his letter to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the occasion of the anniversary of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan has reported that the government has imposed sanctions on 39 individuals, 73 organizations and one bank of the rf, as well as 9 people from the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, who are considered directly involved in the occupation of Ukraine's territories. In particular, the list of sanctioned russians included deputy minister of defense of the rf viktor goremykin and head of the kalashnikov concern alan lushnikov, employees of the general staff of the russian armed forces. The Japanese government also imposed sanctions against the wagner pmc, rosbank, the institutes of the russian academy of sciences and other organizations.

The total volume of assets of russian individuals and legal entities blocked in Belgium within the year since the beginning of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is 58 billion euros - the greatest among all EU countries.

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American brokerage company Freedom Holding Corp. has sold its business in russia.

Next to the largest automobile checkpoint “Imatra” on the Finnish-russian border (from the russian side – “svetogorsk”), the construction of engineering barriers has begun.

Due to the earthquake in Turkey in February, russians rented housing in that country by 60 % less than in January, reorienting to Thailand, Montenegro, Indonesia and the UAE.

In February, inflation in russia increased to 12.2 % (in January it was 11.6 %). “In February, respondents' propensity to save continued to increase. The share of respondents who prefer to save free money rather than spend it on the purchase of expensive goods has increased to 55.9%, this is the maximum since March 2021”, told the central bank of the rf. At the same time, the central bank predicts a further increase in inflation risks associated with the deterioration of foreign trade conditions, the state of the labor market and an increase in budget expenditures.

34 % of russians believe that due to the russian crisis that arose after putin's decision to attack Ukraine, it is better to keep savings in cash.

In December 2022, representatives of small and medium-sized businesses in russia gained loans worth 1.36 trillion rubles, which became an absolute record in the entire modern russian history. The average loan size is 6.3 million rubles and is the maximum since July 2021. The total volume of loans over the past year increased by almost 30%, exceeding 9.6 trillion rubles.

In russia, the circulation of newspapers and magazines is decreasing due to an increase in their cost and a decrease in demand among the population: printing has risen in price by 30%, paper prices – by 20-25%.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, russian parties received 506.5 million rubles to their accounts – four times less than they spent during the same time (costs amount to 2.1 billion rubles). The absolute record holder for raising funds remains putin's “united russia”, which “attracted” 354.7 million rubles, and spent 1.4 billion rubles to support the current regime.

Hackers who resist the russian authorities continue to hack into the servers of russian radio stations and TV channels, in particular in moscow, voronezh, belgorod, leningrad regions, as well as in Crimea, temporarily occupied by russia, information periodically appears and an air alarm is heard.

Authorities want to take away the mandate from Samara mp mikhail abdalkin, who listened to putin's message to the gosduma with noodles on his ears.

The justice of the peace of the court station No. 422 of the tagansky district of moscow fined the owner of Wikipedia 2 million rubles for refusing to delete materials about the russian military’s actions in Ukraine.

The concert of the russian opera singer netrebko, which was to take place on March 5 at the National Concert Hall of Taiwan, has been canceled after mass protests by the public over her support for putin and the war against Ukraine unleashed by him. Last year, a number of states had canceled her concerts because of her support for the kremlin's aggressive policy.

According to belstat, net profit in the transport industry fell by 51.5 % to 491.5 million rubles in 2022. The main reason is the deprivation of belarusian freight carriers of the right to enter the EU. Besides, the volume of energy transit through belarus decreased significantly, for example, gas was practically not transported to Poland by the Yamal – Europe pipeline.

The number of employees in the belarusian economy continues to decline. In January, it was reduced by 16.7 thousand people compared to December, and in three years – by more than 156.5 thousand people.

The russian government is ready to delay the beginning of paying for the construction of BelNPP for a year. The loan's repayment was to begin from April 1, 2023, given that BelNPP would be put into operation in 2022. However, the construction has not yet been completed. The loan amount is $ 10 billion and Belarus will be repay it, taking into account the current economic situation, – in russian rubles.

The ministry of information of belarus has reported on optimization of regional state media. Six media holdings have been created - in brest, pinsk, shklov, bobruisk – one in each, and two in vitebsk. The issue of creation of such mediastructures in all regions of the country has been worked out.

igor lutsky, the deputy head of the lukashenko administration, has stated that people who “do not support state policy” are still in the state media. “We are not just training journalists, we are preparing the information front fighters. All of this should be clearly understood and realized”, he added. By the self-proclaimed president of belarus aleksandr lukashenko’s order, a supervisory board has been created at the faculty of journalism.