March 19, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

“I think this (the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for putin) is justified. putin has clearly committed war crimes”, US President Joe Biden said.

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell welcomed the decision to issue an arrest warrant for russian president putin. “We appreciate and support the work of the ICC. There can be no impunity”, he wrote.

Chancellor of the FRG Olaf Scholz and Prime Minister of Japan Kishida Fumio welcomed the International Criminal Court’s issuing an arrest warrant for russian president putin. “Nobody is above the law. This is a very important principle of international Law... The International Criminal Court is the right institution for investigating war crimes”, the German Chancellor said.

Minister of Justice of Germany Marco Buschmann praised the decision of the ICC to issue an arrest warrant for the president of the russian federation. “Anyone who, like putin, instigated a bloody war should have to answer for it in court... We are all united by the will to react decisively to the terrible crimes in Ukraine”, the Minister said.

The United Kingdom promises to support the International Criminal Court in its investigations to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes in Ukraine. “I think that in the short term it will be very difficult for putin to travel the world, because many countries are members of the ICC and have an obligation to arrest him”, said Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Raab.

“Moldovans have never been and will never be on the side of the killers. We have condemned russia's aggression against Ukraine since the first day of the war”, President of Moldova Maia Sandu said, emphasizing support for Ukraine.

“More Canadian military aid is already on the way to Ukraine”, said Minister of Defence of Canada Anita Anand. Among the vehicles is the Bergepanzer 3 – an armored repair and evacuation vehicle, which is built on the basis of the Leopard 2 battle tank. In its time, it was designed to maintain and repair the Leopard 2 main tank.

On March 20, the EU countries intend to sign an agreement on joint purchases of shells for Ukraine.

According to US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States is going to allocate an additional $ 7.4 billion in aid to Ukraine by September this year.

The Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (NDMA) and the Defense Procurement Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine have signed an agreement of intent describing the support that the Defense Procurement Agency of the Ministry of Defense will receive from the NDMA to create a defence materials procurement organization. The agreement will last three years.

For the first time since the beginning of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States resumed the deportation of russians, in particular those who fled from mobilization. A man who fled mobilization and tried to obtain asylum was expelled from the United States to russia. He came to the United States from Mexico. The migration authorities concluded that the threat of being sent to war was not a sufficient basis for asylum. Similar decisions were made regarding three other fugitives from russia.

The “grain agreement” has been extended for 120 days.

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At the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), it was stated that in 2022 russia ranked 43rd in the world in terms of the use of information and communication technologies (having lost 4 positions within a year), 69th in terms of funding (minus 24 positions), and 54th in terms of industrial potential.

US airlines have appealed to Congress and the White House to impose restrictions on flights through russian airspace for foreign carriers flying to the United States.

Six russian airlines, including iraero, azimut, yakutia, have announced a shortage of spark plugs for SaM146 engines installed on russian sukhoi superjet 100 (SSJ100) aircrafts, which could lead to a partial or complete suspension of flights in the near future.

russians began to save on their own health: in 2022, the number of applications for laboratory tests and diagnostics decreased by 21 %, while the number of visits to doctors has hardly changed. The cost of providing such services increased by 9 %, most of all in moscow – by 19 %. Dental services went up by 25 %.

The cost of short-term rental housing in the rf has increased by 18-25 % compared to last year, while there are cities where this percentage is much higher: in rostov-on-don, daily lease went up by 30 %, in voronezh and kazan – by 26 %, in nizhniy novgorod – by 40 %, in volgograd and st. petersburg – by 29 %.

Despite certain legal and financial restrictions, russians continue to try to buy real estate in Europe. Since the beginning of 2023, the European direction has been 29.6 % of the total number of russians' requests for the purchase of foreign real estate, which by 54 % has exceeded the 2019 level and is only by 5 % less than last year. To carry out such operations, they transfer funds through accounts opened in CIS countries.

In 2022, the debt of the russian social network vkontakte (vk) increased four times – to 82.2 billion rubles, to support the company, the government of the rf provided a significant loan.

In moscow, a metro (underground railway- Transl.) passenger was arrested for 14 days for pictures in his telephone that “discredit the army of the rf”. A complaint about a man was written by another passenger who looked into his phone.

The UN suspects lukashenko's regime of crimes against humanity. The UN report on the situation in belarus refers to the death of people as a result of the use of violence, as well as torture and inhuman attitude to prisoners. According to UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Liz Throssell, there are almost 1,500 political prisoners in belarus, and by February this year, nearly 800 non-profit organizations had been closed there.

According to belstat, in January – February, the decline in retail trade in the country was by 3.3 % compared to the same period last year. At this, belarussians’ average check for purchases in stores, shopping malls and markets has increased significantly.

In January of this year, belarus sold goods to foreign markets for $3.28 billion, while it purchased goods for $ 3.28 billion. As a result, there was a negative balance in the amount of $ 234 million.