March 22, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and Norway signed a project agreement on participation in the joint purchase of ammunition to help Ukraine and replenish the national stocks of EU Member States.

American Patriot air defense systems will be redeployed to Ukraine faster than previously planned, the US Department of Defense said. 65 Ukrainian soldiers will complete training on air defense systems in the United States in the coming days. The Ukrainian military will then be sent to Europe for additional training.

The United States wants to speed up the process of supplying Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

“More than a thousand Ukrainian servicemen are being trained at air defense systems, on Leopards and Marders. Marders (German IFVs) are already on its way to Ukraine” said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

Deputy Minister of Defense of the United Kingdom Annabel Goldie has said that her country will provide Ukraine with armor-piercing shells with depleted uranium.

According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, putin wants a different Europe and sees democracy and freedom as a threat, so he seeks to control his neighbors. “putin made a big strategic mistake when he invaded Ukraine. He expected Kyiv would fall within days, and the whole of Ukraine within weeks. But he underestimated the steely resistance of the Ukrainian people. He thought he could break NATO unity. But NATO Allies are standing strong and united, and providing unprecedented support for Ukraine. And he wanted less NATO. But he has got exactly the opposite. More NATO”, Stoltenberg said at a briefing on March 21.

The European Union has paid Ukraine the second tranche of macro-financial assistance in the amount of EUR 1.5 billion from the €18 billion package.

The EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said the EU Council has agreed to consider increasing the European Peace Fund by another 3.5 billion euros.

The European Commission has allocated more than €10 million to the International Criminal Court to investigate russia's war crimes in Ukraine.

At the London War Crimes Conference, Ministers of Justice from more than 40 countries pledged to allocate $4.9 million to support investigations into war crimes in Ukraine by the International Criminal Court.

The government of Norway, at the request of the EU and Ukraine, has extended the agreement with SAS on the transportation of Ukrainian patients to European hospitals from May 1 to August 31.

Deputy Minister-Coordinator of Special Services of Poland Stanisław Żaryn considers additional arrests possible as part of the investigation into the activities of the russian spy network, the exposure of which became known last week.

The EU has called for sanctions against pro-russian oligarchs in Moldova and Georgia involved in destabilization attempts in those countries.

A court in the Italian city of Milan has ruled on the extradition to the United States of the son of the krasnoyarsk governor, artem uss, who was detained in Italy on an international warrant. In the United States, this russian has been charged with circumventing sanctions and money laundering.

Deputies of the government faction of the National Association in the Sejm of Latvia have developed amendments to the law “On the State Language”, which provide for a ban on film captions in russian.

The US Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor has released its annual Human Rights Report, a report on the human rights situation in the world. Among the 198 countries for which reports were compiled, considerable attention was paid to belarus. The report points out that in 2022, significant human rights violations were reliably recorded in belarus, including: arbitrary killings by law enforcement agencies; torture or cruel, inhumane treatment that degrades dignity, or punishment by law enforcement agencies; difficult and life-threatening conditions in prisons; political prisoners and detainees; punishment of family members for alleged offenses committed by relatives. Nowhere in the text of the Report has aleksandr lukashenko been named president regarding his current rule.

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The largest international traders of hydrocarbons, Vitol and Trafigura, do not carry out any operations with russian oil and do not want to return to the russian market, – said Vitol CEO Russell Hardy and Trafigua CEO Jeremy Weir.

In 2022, the russian government allocated a record 174.2 billion rubles to support the aviation industry and additionally compensated airlines for losses for the transportation of passengers on domestic flights in the amount of almost 100 billion rubles. However, in 2023, support for civil aviation will be significantly reduced – the budget provides only 25 billion rubles.

The wholesale price of electricity in the far east of russia has increased by 50 %. The tariffs have increased because the government has allowed to add to them the losses of the region's TPP from the purchase of coal. Local entrepreneurs are going to complain to the prosecutor's office. The rushydro energy company, which in 2022 had losses of 35 billion rubles, has stated that even with new tariffs, its work in the region will be unprofitable.

gazprom used to earn in the European market several times more than in the domestic one, if we compare supply volumes. But due to the loss of a large part of foreign contracts, the company has lost a greater share of income. The duma committee on energy proposes to compensate for the loss by revising gas tariffs within the country. The chairman of the committee zavalny has stressed that the priority of fighting the effects of gas exports remains an increase in consumption in the domestic market. Deputies emphasize that the domestic market was subsidized by exports, and in the current conditions, the company has an excessive burden. Therefore, the change in gas pricing for all consumers should be relevant.

Against the background of the russian crisis, banks are reluctant to provide loans: in February there were by 12.3 % fewer consumer loans than a year ago - 2.35 million loans for 431.8 billion rubles, which is much less than in the traditionally sluggish January. At the same time, the average amount of overdue credit increases, in February this figure became the largest from 2021 – 145.6 thousand rubles. In total, the overdue over 90 days reached 712 billion rubles – having increased by 6.6 % since the beginning of the year.

The central bank is going to provide different categories of enterprises of the rf with a list of critical indicators which they are allowed not to publish allegedly because of the threat of international sanctions.

Manufacturers of rice in the krasnodar territory, where the bulk of russian rice is grown, have reported an increase in the price of rice cereals by 15-30 % depending on the supplier.

Minister of agriculture has removed from the previously approved state program “Development of the Fishery Complex” the task to achieve consumption by one russian citizen of at least 25 kg of fish products per year. The ministry also has prepared a project that abolishes the purpose of “strengthening leadership in the fish markets of the European Union and the countries of the Asia-Pacific region”, while manufacturers should reorient to African and Latin American countries.

For the first time in the recent history of the rf, in moscow there is a shortage of highly qualified professionals: more than 200 industrial enterprises are looking for almost 3,000 employees through the city employment service.

Two weeks before the start of the planned spring conscription for military service (from April 1), military registration and enlistment offices in more than 40 regions of russia sent summonses to persons liable for military service. It is officially stated that this was done “to verify the data”, but there are many cases where persons liable for military service were immediately sent to military trainings, in particular, it was recorded in ulyanovsk, nizhny novgorod, saratov, and penza regions, as well as in the republic of mari el.

Sales of books published in foreign languages in russia, in February decreased by 30 %, in total, the range of foreign literature decreased by 40 %.

Six lawyers have been detained in belarus, including attorneys of well-known political prisoners.

At a meeting with security forces, self-proclaimed president of belarus aleksandr lukashenko demanded to eradicate unemployment in the country. According to him, a person who does not work is a potential criminal.