March 28, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Ukraine will receive USD 1.5 billion in loans to support development policy through the World Bank mechanism under the guarantees of the governments of Japan and the United Kingdom.

The Administrative Council of the Council of Europe’s Development Bank (CEB) approved the project “HOME. Compensation for Destroyed Property”, which provides for a loan of EUR 100 million to Ukraine. The funds are planned to be used to support the direct assistance mechanism, thanks to which combatants, disabled people and large families will receive compensation for housing destroyed as a result of hostilities and russia’s terrorist attacks.

On April 2, 2024, the International Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the russian federation (RD4U) will officially open the process of filing applications for compensation for losses, damages or harm caused by russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jan Lipavský has said that Ukraine can receive 1.5 million shells within the framework of the Czech Initiative.

Minister of Defence of France Sébatien Lecornu has assured that Paris will soon be able to supply Kyiv with 78 Caesar self-propelled howitzers, as well as 80,000 rounds of ammunition for 155mm guns by the end of this year.

The French company Delair will supply the Armed Forces of Ukraine with 400 of its reconnaissance drones, the contract for the production of which has already been concluded.

The armored vehicle coalition for Ukraine has been launched in Warsaw (Poland).

Ukraine and Sweden intend “as soon as possible” to start negotiations on the conclusion of a bilateral agreement on cooperation in security sphere.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Tobias Billström believes that NATO countries should strive to create more “strategic difficulties” for the rf in order to curb its behavior.

The Latvian national airline AirBaltic has announced its readiness to resume flights to and from Kyiv, Lviv, and Odesa as soon as security conditions allow.

The government of Latvia has decided to sell at auction a plot of land in the center of Riga on which the “house of moscow” is located, which previously belonged to the government of the capital of the rf, but was nationalized by the decision of the Saeima. The funds are planned to be transferred to support Ukraine.

39 Nobel laureates have signed an open letter calling on the world community to strengthen support for Ukraine in its fight against russia and not to recognize putin as president of the rf.

The UN's 38th report on the human rights situation in Ukraine has recorded that 32 Ukrainian prisoners of war were executed by russian occupiers in the period from December 1, 2023 to February 29, 2024.

Interior Minister of the FRG Nancy Faeser has assured that German law enforcement officers “will do everything to protect the Ukrainian team and its fans” during the European Football Championship, which will be held in the country this summer.

UK Defence Minister Grant Shapps has called on EU countries not to impose trade restrictions on Ukraine during the war.

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The European Union will have sufficient gas reserves next winter, and the countries of Central Europe, which still buy russian pipeline gas, are working on alternative sources of imports in case transit through Ukraine stops.

Due to US sanctions, the russian app mir pay has been removed from the Google Play store. From April 3, “mir” cards (operated by the russian national payment card system) will be blocked worldwide.

Samsung has announced on its website that from April 3, contactless payments to Samsung Pay with “mir” cards will stop working in the rf.

russian oil companies face serious delays in receiving payments for exported oil and petroleum products due to increased checks on banks in China, the UAE and Türkiye for compliance with US sanctions. Now money transfers to the rf can be delayed for weeks or even months.

Switzerland has announced that it does not intend to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons due to russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Finland has denied permission for the flights of the Turkish airline Southwind Airlines because of the latter’s connections with russia.

At the end of 2023, assets on non-resident accounts with russian brokers decreased to 6%, against the growth of 20-35% in the previous three quarters. Due to international sanctions against the rf, which are toughened almost every two months, the UAE, Belize and Saudi Arabia are gradually losing interest in the rf.

Foreign companies are massively selling their assets in russia, despite the possible consequences for both the auction organizers and non-residents participating in the purchase.

Due to the strengthening of international sanctions, the russian internet recruitment company headhunter group plc is changing its registration from Cyprus to kaliningrad region.

The russian bank vtb is trying to avoid international sanctions by selling part of the blocked assets to a “third-party contractor” for 900 billion rubles, part of which the bank wants to unblock in April.

The ministry of economy of the rf has reported that 29 subjects of the rf did not fulfill the plan of investments in the development of the economy of the regions, 23 – lost workers.

Due to the russian crisis and the regions’ colossal debt of almost 1.6 trillion rubles, the authorities of the rf demand from the subjects of the federation to return one-third of the debt according to the existing schedules, and have moved two-thirds from 2025-2029 to 2030-2039.

The weakening of the russian ruble against other currencies and difficulties with withdrawing funds from the rf have led to the fact that in the first quarter of 2024, russians reduced their purchases of real estate in other countries by 50%, in particular in Türkiye – three times, where in January-February 2024, russians purchased 950 objects against 2.7 thousand a year earlier. In the UAE, russian applications decreased by 25.8%.

moscow is first in the ranking of cities with population of over a million in terms of unaffordability of mortgage housing. From March 2020 to March 2024, the average price per square meter increased by 80% in old moscow, and by 92% in new moscow.

In February, the number of apartments purchased by the population under a share participation agreement in moscow and moscow region decreased by 6%, and in st. petersburg and leningrad region – by 3 %. Compared to January, the sales market in moscow decreased by 14%, in st. petersburg – by 44%. Only 26% of built apartments were sold in the krasnodar territory, in leningrad region – 23%.

In 2023, the cost of technical operation of real estate in russia increased by 15%.

In russia, there are big problems with providing therapy to HIV-infected patients in the institutions of the federal medico-biological agency. Patients are denied a number of antiretroviral medicines, so they have to change therapy without medical reasons. In particular, often are prescribed antiretroviral medicines, which were previously canceled for medical reasons or due to their side effects. Such a situation can provoke the progress of the disease, development of resistant forms of the virus, appearance of HIV-associated diseases.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 3.5 million packages of antidepressants have been sold in russia for a total amount of almost 3 billion rubles. Sales growth in monetary terms was 45% compared to the same period at the beginning of 2023, in real terms – 33%.

Due to the significant losses of the russian occupiers in the war against Ukraine, the families of the killed “improved their financial situation”, putting 1.1 trillion rubles in bank savings (plus 2.5%) against the background of cash withdrawals in January (minus 0.7%). “This is unusual for February and is a record for this month”, said the central bank of the rf.

In the first reading, the state duma adopted a draft law that allows family members of russian occupiers who are fighting against Ukraine to register in the territories of Ukraine temporarily captured by the rf “on behalf” of' the occupier.

The Office of the Democratic Forces of Belarus has been officially opened in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

belstat has classified the real data on pensions for January-February this year, not publishing them in its new collection of the country's socio-economic development. According to the latest published data, real pensions fell by 0.8% in January of this year compared to December 2023. These payments were reduced for four months in a row – in January of this year, December, November and October of 2023.

According to belstat, the net profit of belarusian companies has fallen by 33.6% compared to January last year. The work of enterprises has become less profitable – only 5.6% on average, while a year ago it was 7.7%. There are more unprofitable organizations, and their share among all enterprises in the country has reached 20.7% (in January 2023, the figure was 19.2%). The amount of net losses for January reached 794 million rubles, having jumped up by 75% over the year. Creditor debt of enterprises increased by 16% compared to January of last year, and on February 1 amounted to more than 77 billion rubles. Accounts receivable increased by 9.5%, amounting to 65.8 billion rubles.

belarusian automobile association is asking officials to withdraw cars from state price regulation, which has significantly complicated the work of business entities in the automotive sector. The situation was also influenced by the dominance of the belgee car market. The association points out that by the end of 2023, the share of Geely (and belgee) cars sold in the belarusian market was more than 72%.

From April 1, 2024, the limits of duty-free import of goods for personal use imported by ground transport to the rb will decrease to EUR 500 and 25 kilograms. Currently, the limits are EUR 1,000 and 31 kilograms.