May 15, 2022 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Senators of the United States of America arrived in Ukraine. “The visit of the US Senate’s delegation led by the leader of the Republican minority in the upper house of Congress Mitchell McConnell is a strong signal of bipartisan support for Ukraine from the United States Congress and the American people”, points out the President's Telegram Channel. The President thanked the US senators for their commitment to the struggle for democratic values ​​and freedom, in which the United States, along with other partners, stands side by side with the Ukrainian people. Zelenskyy also expressed hope that the US Senate will promptly approve a package of additional funding to support the Ukrainian people, which has already been considered in the House of Representatives and increased from $ 33 billion to $ 39.6 billion.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy will speak at the World Economic Forum to be held in Davos from May 22 to 26. The President of Ukraine will speak on May 23, the opening day of the Forum. Zelensky will address the participants of the Forum by video link.

The Foreign Ministers of the Group of Seven pledged to strengthen russia's economic and political isolation, continue to supply arms to Ukraine and work to reduce the global food shortage caused by the war. After a meeting at the Weissenhaus at the Baltic Sea, top diplomats from the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United States and the European Union also pledged to continue military and defense aid to Ukraine “as much as needed”. They also promised to fight russian disinformation aimed at blaming the West for problems with food supplies around the world through economic sanctions against moscow, and called on China not to help moscow and not to justify russia's war. The Ministers believe that the key to increasing pressure on russia is to ban or phase out russian oil purchases by EU member states, which are expected to reach an agreement on the issue next week, even if Hungary continues to oppose it. “We will speed up our efforts to reduce and put an end to dependence on russian energy carriers supplies as soon as possible, proceding from the G7's commitment to phasing out or banning imports of russian coal and oil”, the statement says. “We will never recognize the borders that russia has tried to change through military aggression, and we will continue to support our participation in support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, including Crimea”, the Ministers said. Ministers also criticized belarus for its stance on the war. “We ... call on belarus to stop facilitating russia's aggression and to abide by its international obligations”, reads the statement.

NATO countries are ready to support Ukraine in deterring russian aggression until the victory of Ukrainian troops. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia Ivan Korčok, reports The Guardian. “NATO is ready to support Ukraine until it wins the war”, Korchok said before a meeting of Allied Foreign Ministers in Berlin. He stressed that russia has already lost the war politically. The leadership of the russian federation have failed to achieve the desired results and significantly worsened the situation in their country.

US Chargé d'Affaires Christina Quinn stressed that russian president putin is “in the same league” with the leaders of North Korea, Syria and Iran, he is in the category of the worst autocrats of all time. “president putin has made himself an outcast on the world stage”, Quinn said.

She added that it is difficult to imagine that putin will be able to regain his reputation, because now the world has seen who he is. The Chargé d'Affaires of the United States also stressed that it is too early to draw conclusions about the legal process, but it will not be surprising if the world recognizes russia's war against Ukraine as genocide of the Ukrainian people. In order to call something genocide, there is a legal procedure, there are courts that deal with it. But President Biden has already said that he thinks it is very similar to genocide. We do not want to draw conclusions about the legal process, but we will not be surprised if it is recognized as genocide… I am not a lawyer, but the terrible things we saw in Bucha, I think, should definitely go to court”, said Quinn.

38 diplomatic missions of foreign countries have resumed work in Kyiv, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The work of their missions was resumed mainly by countries of Europe and Asia. “This is another proof that our partners believe in the victory, future and prospects of Ukraine. Thank you to our friends for their support! We believe that very soon all other foreign missions will return to the capital”, emphasized the Foreign Ministry.

At the G7 Ambassadors' meeting, Ukraine called it necessary to create an influential Organization of Grain Exporting Countries that would respond to global market challenges. This was stated by Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solskyi at the opening of the G7 Ministerial Conference of Agriculture in Stuttgart, the press service of the Ministry of Agriculture reports. “Due to the blockade of Ukrainian seaports, 7 million tons of wheat, 14 million tons of corn grain, 3 million tons of sunflower oil and 3 million tons of sunflower meal and other crops did not enter the world market”, Solskyi said. This has already led to a record rise in world market prices. Therefore, Solskyi suggested discussing the creation of an influential organization of major grain-exporting countries in the world, which would respond to threats to food security, in particular from russia. “In the coming days, G7 Agriculture Ministers must work out joint sustainable solutions that will ensure global food security and create a stable economic base for farmers”, the Ministry stated.

Canada will consider assisting Ukraine in obtaining additional equipment for phytosanitary control, which will speed up the passage of all necessary examinations before the export of agricultural products. This was discussed at a meeting between the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi and his Canadian counterpart Marie-Claude Bibo. They also exchanged views on how the two countries could join forces to protect the existing and create new food security supply chains in the face of russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Portuguese authorities have arrested the house of russian billionaire roman abramovich worth 10 million euros. At this, two weeks before the russian invasion of Ukraine, the company millhouse views llc, owned by abramovich's investment holding, tried to sell the estate. However, it failed to do so – the Portuguese state banking corporation caixa geral de depósitos reported this to the police. “abramovich's house in the Algarve region, worth 10 million euros, is frozen. He tried to sell it 15 days before russia's invasion of Ukraine”, the statement said.

After russia declared war on Ukraine, abramovich became a “target” for many countries. Among other things:

– France has frozen his “royal” estate for $ 250 million – it previously belonged to British King Edward VIII;

– the authorities of the offshore zone of Jersey, located in the English Channel and under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom, have frozen more than $ 7 billion of his assets;

– the United KIngdom itself has imposed sanctions against the metallurgical company Evraz, whose largest shareholder is abramovich;

– due to the restrictions imposed on him, abramovich was forced to sell one of England's leading football clubs, Chelsea.

May 14, President of Finland Sauli Niiniste called russian president putin to announce that his country was joining NATO. “President Niiniste has announced that Finland will decide to apply for NATO membership in the coming days”, the Finnish leader's office said in a press release. He stressed that by joining the Alliance, Finland “strengthens its own security and takes responsibility”. According to Niiniste, the decision was influenced by moscow's demands for NATO non-enlargement and the war in Ukraine. In addition, Niiniste expressed to putin his concern over the situation in Ukraine and called for peace.

The Moldovan Post has stopped posting from Moldova to russia “for technical reasons”.

Hungary's new President, Katalin Novak, said at her inauguration ceremony that russia's war against Ukraine is also against the Hungarians. She condemned russia's aggression and said what sacrifices Hungary is ready to make for peace. “This war is not our war, but this war is being waged against us, peace-loving Hungarians. We desire security, mutual respect and prosperity. We demand that war crimes be investigated and punished! We are not neutral. We support innocent victims and the truth. As members of the European Union and NATO, we are fulfilling our obligations”, she said. Katalin Novak condemned putin's aggression and said Hungary was ready to mediate in the talks. According to her, Budapest supports Ukraine's accession to the community of European countries.

Ankara is ready to send a ship to evacuate Ukrainian defenders and civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, which is blocked by the occupiers. They will be transported to the territory of the Republic of Turkey. This was announced by the representative of President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ibrahim Kalin to Reuters. According to the plan, people from Azovstal should be taken by land to the port of Berdyansk. “And the Turkish ship will take them across the Black Sea to Istanbul. If it can be done this way, we will be happy to do it, we are ready. In fact, our ship is ready to go and transport wounded soldiers and other civilians to Turkey”, Erdogan's spokesperson said.

The wives of the defenders of Mariupol appealed to Chinese leader Xi Jinping to help save the military, to rescue them from the Azovstal metallurgical plant surrounded by Russian troops through an extraction procedure. They stated this at a briefing on May 14. They explained their appeal to Xi Jinping by saying that countries that help Ukraine agree to join the extraction, so they are not an authority for russia. China is an economic ally of russia and has more weight for putin. “Yes, they see the only way out for themselves – extraction to Turkey. This is geographically real. But we need a guarantor, and we hope that China will become such a guarantor”, said the relatives of the defenders at the briefing.

 May 14, in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, during its performance, the Ukrainian Kalush Orchestra simply asked from the stage to help Ukraine save Mariupol and Azovstal. The team did it for the sake of Ukraine, because every Ukrainian’s heart goes out to Azovstal. Also, the participants of Eurovision-2022 from Iceland after their performance in the final called for peace for Ukraine. “Peace for Ukraine! We love you”, Systur members said after the performance. During the performance, the young ladies held their guitars with the Ukrainian flag painted on them. After Ukraine's performance in the final, Internet users began to actively seek information about Azovstal. This is evidenced by Google Trends data.

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russian foreign minister lavrov has said that “even in the gloomy years of the Cold War, russia does not remember such a “simultaneous expulsion of diplomats”.

russia's stock market continues to decline due to the deteriorating geopolitical situation around russia. Attempts by investors in April to play up russian stocks were unsuccessful – following the results of last week, the moscow stock exchange index fell by 3.6%. Investors are concerned about the intensity of new sanctions against russia. The EU is currently developing a sixth package of sanctions, where the main threat will be the refusal of European countries to purchase russian oil. Today, market participants expect a further decline in the moscow stock exchange index. “Given the interval of new sanctions in a few weeks and unfriendly verbal interventions of all parties involved, we expect at least very turbulent times for russian assets in the near future”, said the director of the department of shares of “capital system” asatu.

The russian government is recording negative changes in the labor market – for the first time since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, an increase in the number of officially registered unemployed in russia has been recorded. It is reported that 690.5 thousand people were unemployed as of March 1. At the same time, the number of “idling” or working part time employees has also increased. So far, experts see the situation on the russian labor market as “stable”, but point out the strengthening of negative trends: the expected significant increase in unemployment in summer and autumn.

After the imposition of sanctions, auto parts in russia became more expensive by an average of 30%. Stopping the supply of components led to a significant shortage of bumpers, glass and headlights, which increased prices sixfold. There are also problems with the supply of electronics for cars. The permit for parallel import of spare parts introduced by the russian government did not improve the situation.

Today, 30-35% of technical centers face a lack of components, especially engine parts, shock absorbers, suspension parts, electronics, as well as some consumables: engine oil, filters, spark plugs, says the head of the fresh auto service ilya ivansky. A shortage of spare parts took place during the pandemic, he said, but the situation has deteriorated significantly since the aggression against Ukraine. According to russian automotive market research, the average cost of original spare parts in case of an insured event in April increased by 96.6%.

A trial in the case of thirteen former ingush police officers, who refused to disperse protesters, has begun in the zheleznovodsk city court of the stavropol territory. The prosecution believes that “the inaction of local security forces led to a clash between protesters and rosguard guards, as a result of which the latter were injured – suffered injuries of varying severity”.

Employees of kirov's “komunenergo” held a meeting against the massive reduction of staff. The company has already fired 320 employees – drivers, mechanics, cleaners, controllers.

Terrible forest fires in Russia continue. On May 13 alone, there were 19 heavy fires that spread to 2,100 hectares. The fire destroyed not only 17,000 hectares of forest, but also at least 19 settlements. The rapid spread of the fire resulted in the burning of 518 houses. Every day there are outbreaks of fire in different regions. Authorities say the fires are provoked by broken wires, as well as short circuits caused by hurricane-force winds. Their gusts reach 40 meters per second. There were 220 fires in the region within just 24 hours. Today forests are burning in 13 regions of the russian federation. The fires have affected more than a thousand people. 16 people died. This was reported in the local investigative department of the rf. The fire is spreading rapidly and has already approached the villages of big and small kusku, in the immediate vicinity of krasnoyarsk. More than 40 firefighters are putting out the fire. This problem is probably the fault of the locals. However, they know that firefighters cannot cope with such a serious fire and therefore ask volunteers to help cope with the fire. On May 7, a fire broke out in the city of uyar in Siberia. About a third of the city was destroyed. People who were injured were first promised 15 thousand rubles as compensation, but then the damage was estimated and the authorities said they would pay 30-50 thousand. Locals say they have not received any payments, and even such a meager amount will not help rebuild housing, as the new house requires at least three million.

russia faces forest fires every year, but in 2022 they have become larger and cause serious damage. Many are left homeless because the ministry of emergencies cannot cope on its own. Earlier, the military came to their aid, but now they are gone, because the authorities sent them all to Ukraine to war.