March 19, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

At the meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, the final decision was made to allocate an additional EUR 5 billion for military aid to Ukraine under the European Peace Fund. At the same time, Minister of Foreign Affairs of France Stéphane Séjourné pointed out that finding new ways to finance Ukraine's needs is one of the main issues of the Ministerial Council meeting.

President of Romania Klaus Iohannis has informed the Parliament that he has approved the transit of weapons for Ukraine through Romania, as well as training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16s in a training center in Romania.

The People's Republic of China is considering its participation in the inaugural Peace Summit in Switzerland on the Ukrainian peace plan.

Representatives of the world's democracies unanimously believe that the presidential “election” in the rf cannot be considered legitimate, free and fair, as the voting took place in the face of severe repression of the population, which made free democratic choice impossible.

“...putin's legitimate place is to be in the Hague as a war criminal”, said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsakhkna.

“Anyone who has read the latest UN report on russian war crimes in the occupied territories will, in my opinion, not talk again about the fact that perhaps the conflict should be frozen”, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Annalena Baerbock commented on the prospects of negotiations with russia.

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“We have to fully acknowledge that our democratic values and peace in Europe are under threat”, said Minister of Defence of Spain Margarita Robles regarding putin's threats to use nuclear weapons.

EU Foreign Ministers will soon decide on the use of proceeds from EUR 208 billion of frozen russian assets to help Ukraine.

The European Commission intends to reduce purchases of russian liquefied natural gas this year, – said European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson: “In the EU, we are gradually increasing pressure on European players to reduce their purchases of russian LNG”. In 2023, russian LNG supplies to the EU amounted to 15 million tons or almost 46% of total russian LNG exports.

At a meeting of the European Council, the Czech Republic proposed a ban on imports of russian and belarusian grain to the EU.

On March 18, Lithuania tightened control over grain imported into the country. This applies to both grain destined for Lithuania and transit, particularly through the port of Klaipeda. The inspections started with feed grain cargoes. In the future, they will also cover food grain from high-risk countries, which include the rf and the rb. The products will be checked for pesticide residues, mycotoxins, and metals (lead and cadmium). Later, research will begin to find out the origin of the products.

The russian company “sti group”, which assembled tcl, dexp, bbk, bq, erisson, etc. TV sets, has stopped production in kaliningrad and is leaving the region due to the loss of suppliers; earlier, the company “telebalt” had to do the same.

The rise in leasing cost in russia, which has already reached 24% per annum, is forcing road freight carriers to give up trucks and return them to leasing companies. “Given the current level of fixed assets and long-term leases, leasing will be to zero at best, and every year – to a loss”, “ttg” said.

On March 16, rosneft's syzran oil refinery shut down the only working primary oil refining unit (AVT-6), the capacity of which was 8.9 million tons of oil per year.

In yakutia, where oil is produced, the fuel price is by 20-30% higher than in moscow.

Due to the rise in the cost of foreign tours for russians and the cancellation of direct flights to traditional vacation destinations for the May holidays, the cost of renting country cottages in moscow region has increased by 15-20% compared to 2023.

66% of russians consider themselves Orthodox Christians, down 9% from 2017, according to the all-russian public opinion research center.

In russia, they want to send medical students to “practice” in the zone of a “special military operation”– russia's war against Ukraine.

At a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Krišjānis Kariņš stated that the rb is effectively and completely controlled by the rf. And the sanctions applied to russia should be fully applied to the rb.

According to the Warsaw Public Opinion Research Center, 47% of Poles surveyed in 2021 reported a positive attitude to belarusians, while 17% reported a negative attitude. In 2022 (the survey was conducted before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine), the gap narrowed, but the number of Poles with a positive attitude to belarusians still outnumbered those with a negative attitude – 35% to 29%. The 2023 survey showed a dramatic change in the perception of belarusians in Polish society: only 19% of respondents reported a positive attitude to them, while 51% had a negative attitude.

belstat aknowledged a significant decline in GDP in January-February in such sectors as information and communications (-5.4% compared to the same period in 2023), construction (-0.6%), water supply, waste collection, treatment and disposal, and pollution elimination activities (-0.2%).

At a meeting on the organization of the all-belarusian people's assembly, self-proclaimed president of the rb lukashenko instructed to study the experience of organizing and conducting the presidential campaign in the rf with a view to 2025, when the presidential election will be held in the rb.

deputy prime minister of the rb zayats has said that before the sowing season, the agricultural sector needs 2,700 mechanics. They are to be mobilized from industry and forestry.

kharitonchik, the ceo of “atlant”, has said that the company's warehouses have accumulated a lot of unsold products. “atlant”’s products were previously sold domestically and exported to the cis countries. However, the launch of a parallel import mechanism in russia has reduced demand for belarusian household appliances, and sales of refrigerators have dropped by 20%.

In grodno, siloviki have detained a trucker returning from Poland for the protests in 2020.