March 20, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

“The United States will not allow Ukraine to fail. This coalition will not allow Ukraine to fail, and the free world will not allow Ukraine to fail”, said US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, opening the Ramstein meeting.

Germany has prepared a new military aid package for Ukraine worth about EUR 500 million, which will include additional ammunition (10,000 artillery shells), 100 armored infantry vehicles and 100 transport vehicles.

Belgium is preparing a EUR 412 million military aid package for Ukraine, which will include three mine trawlers, armored ambulances, roughly 300 Lynx armored fighting vehicles, artillery ammunition worth EUR 373.1 million, and other equipment.

Finland has allocated EUR 30 million for the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine, and also donated combat boats to Ukraine.

The EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell has said that the EUR 5 billion European Military Aid Fund was created to support Ukraine, “not to develop the European defense industry”, so EU countries can use it both to order ammunition and compensate for their purchase outside the EU. He also proposed to use 90% of the revenues from russian assets frozen in Europe for the purchase of weapons for Ukraine through the European Peace Fund.

The EU has prepared a draft law that will allow the transfer of funds collected from income taxes on frozen russian assets to Ukraine in July. The EU will transfer almost EUR 3 billion annually to Ukraine for the purchase of weapons and development of the country's defense industry.

President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel has said that in the near future, companies in Europe will be able to produce the necessary amount of ammunition to replenish the stockpiles of European countries, as well as to supply Ukraine with ammunition.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radosław Sikorski believes that it is better to spend the profits from russian assets blocked in the EU on the defense of Ukraine than on its reconstruction.

Poland and Germany are going to launch an “armoured vehicles coalition” for Ukraine on March 26.

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President of the European Council Charles Michel has stated that today's russia “poses a serious military threat to the European continent and global security”, and European states and societies must be prepared for any scenario.

In the coming days, the European Commission will impose a EUR 95 per ton duty on grain, oilseeds and processed products from the rf and the rb. This will be the first restriction on russian food products since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Latvia proposes to include into the 14th package of EU sanctions against russia a ban on russian agricultural products as well as exports to the rf and transit of raw materials used in the defense industry – manganese ore and aluminum oxide, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Krišjanis Karinš said at the EU Foreign Affairs Council on March 18, calling to increase sanctions pressure on russia.

Latvia's National Electronic Media Council (NEPLP) has blocked access to nine more websites spreading russian propaganda in the country.

Dubai banks began to wind down their business with russians. In particular, under pressure from the US sanctions, Emirates NBD, the main state-owned bank of Dubai, closed its russian subsidiary and a significant number of russian accounts. In particular, Emirates NBD closed the accounts of fertilizer producer “uralkali” and businessman ivan tavrin, who, after the outbreak of the war, began buying up the business of foreign companies leaving the rf.

Apart from Emirates NBD, the Dubai branch of the Egyptian state bank Banque Misr began to curtail its work with russians.

From March 30, 2024, ATMs and POS terminals of most banks in Armenia will stop servicing cards of the russian payment system “mir”.

CEO of the international energy group Gunvor Group Ltd. Torbjörn Thornqvist has said that as of today, the daily refining capacity of russian refineries of 600 thousand barrels has been put out of commission.

As of March 18, inflation in the rf was 14.5% compared to the same period last year. The weekly price increase was 2%. Fuel for motor vehicles went up by 7% on average, which had a sharp impact on consumer goods.

Among the main socially important foodstuffs, prices for cabbage rose the most over the year (by 209.45% – a threefold jump in prices), sugar went up by 56%, buckwheat prices increased by 37.7%, flour – by 20.61%, noodles – by 21.22%, and cars – by 38.47% for russian-made and by 37.45% – for foreign-made cars. Prices increased for all fruit and vegetable products: onions, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, etc. Beef, lamb, pork and chicken went up by 12-19%.

Production of construction materials in the rf is declining due to reduced investment in machinery and equipment and a shortage of imported components, raw materials, spare parts, consumables, etc.

The airport of the russian city of sochi appealed to the authorities to grant it an “open sky” regime for three years, but the authorities banned it, calling it a “premature initiative”.

Prices for bananas in the rf will increase by 20-30%, said fedyakov, CEO of Infoline, a market research agency that studies the market for goods and services. In the first two months of 2024, russians bought by 20% less bananas than a year ago.

In yekaterinburg, local authorities have authorized the sale of a seven tons batch of infected kiwis from iran.

the state duma in the third and final reading has passed a law establishing a mechanism for releasing a convicted person from criminal punishment if he/she signed a contract for military service during mobilization, martial law and wartime.

The ministry of internal affairs of the rf has prepared a draft government decree to eliminate the need for future drivers to provide certificates from dispensaries on medical conditions not allowing to drive.

russian authorities are unable to ensure the evacuation of all willing russians from belgorod region “due to the difficult operational situation”, said bondarev, the head of the administration of graivoronsky district of the city.

The study shows a noticeable decline in belarusians’ demand for political stability and benefits compared to 2009. While 15 years ago respondents ranked them 6th and 7th in the rating of expected actions from the state, now they are 12th and 13th. About half of the respondents (48%) believe that the country needs reforms, primarily in the economy. One-third or more believe that reforms in education, healthcare, and public administration are needed.

In January-February, housing commissioning in the country decreased. All in all, 417.1 thousand square meters of total area were commissioned, which is by 29.1% less than last year. At the same time, construction with state support fell 2.5 fold.

A resident of grodno was detained for a tattoo depicting the National Emblem of Ukraine and the slogans in Ukrainian “Rabiv do raiu ne puskaiut. Svoboda abo smert” (“Slaves are not allowed to Heaven. Freedom or death”- Transl.).