May 16, 2022 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The government of Italy is preparing a new, third powerful package of military aid for Ukraine. It is expected to be announced on May 19. The full list is classified, but it is well known that it will include FH70 howitzers, mortars, Stinger MANPADS, machine guns, Lince armored SUVs, as well as ammunition. The FH70 is an obsolete artillery system compared to the American-British M777. However, thanks to the automated loading of shells, an experienced crew can fire every 10 seconds. FH70 hits with 43-kilogram high-explosive fragmentation shells L15A1. The maximum flight range is 24 to 30 km, depending on the projectiles. In particular, the system is in the service of the armies of Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Japan, Estonia, Norway, the Netherlands and a number of other countries.

This week, 42 ​​investigators from the International Criminal Court (ICC) will travel to Ukraine to investigate russian federation’s crimes committed in our country. According to the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, a joint investigation team formed by Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine has signed a cooperation agreement with this Court, Le Monde reports. This will be the largest number of investigators ever sent by the International Criminal Court. Among them will be 30 forensic experts and analysts from the Netherlands. However, Khan pointed out that the investigation will be strictly objective – investigators will not follow either side. First of all, they will analyze all the facts and establish the truth. Nevertheless, the Prosecutor is confident that the russians will not be able to avoid responsibility for every war crime committed in Ukraine. It is important that the investigation is credible and independent so that the judge can make the right decision. The International Criminal Court will also have access to general documents, said Karim Khan.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called on Allies to continue and even increase their military support for Ukraine. He said this on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO diplomats in Berlin. “Ukraine is capable of winning this war. Ukrainians are bravely defending their land”, said Jens Stoltenberg. He added that, according to his estimates, the russian attack on Ukraine is not developing as planned by the kremlin. “They did not manage to take Kyiv. They are moving away from Kharkiv, and their large-scale offensive in the Donbas has stopped”, said the NATO Secretary General.

NATO will soon develop a new Strategic Concept that will set out the Alliance's priorities for the coming years. In it, russia can be denoted as a “direct threat” to the Organization. A previous similar document was approved in 2010. Since then, it has lost its relevance and requires change.

For example, in the latest announced NATO Strategy, russia is called a “partner” of the Alliance. This point will be revised and will give russia the status of a country that could pose a direct threat to NATO member states in the future. With this in mind, an algorithm will be developed to help support neighboring countries vulnerable to coercion and aggression by the kremlin.

At the same time, the allies will leave open the possibility of resuming relations if russia's behavior changes. It is noted that the document also applies to China and its relations with russia. The final version of the Strategy is due to be approved at the NATO summit in Madrid in late June.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Berlin on 15th May for an informal meeting with NATO Foreign Ministers. He announced this on his Twitter page. According to him, the topic of the talks is joint “actions of the parties to counter russia's unprovoked aggression against Ukraine”.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba met with the Secretary of State of the United States Anthony Blinken in Berlin. The meeting took place within the framework of the Congress of Foreign Ministers of the North Atlantic Alliance on May 15. “I met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Berlin. More weapons and other support are heading to Ukraine. We agreed to work together to ensure that Ukrainian food exports reach consumers in Africa and Asia. I am grateful to my colleague and the United States for their leadership and unwavering support”, Kuleba said.

Earlier, NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana told reporters that events in Ukraine would be on the agenda of the two-day meeting: “Russia's brutal invasion is losing momentum. Given the significant support of allies and partners, billions of dollars of military, financial and humanitarian aid, thanks to the courage of the Ukrainian people and Army and with our help, Ukraine can win this war”, he said. According to Geoana, the congress was also attended by the Foreign Ministers of Finland and Sweden, who recently expressed their readiness to join NATO.

The participants also plan to discuss preparations for the Alliance's summit in Madrid in June. “As you know, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg has proposed a strategic concept that is currently being discussed. Of course, our Ministers in Berlin today will give further political guidance so that we have a credible, progressive document in Madrid that will once again highlight NATO's unity and relevance and ensure its resilience for the future”, said the Deputy Secretary of the Allience.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine need a new type of offensive weapons. Therefore, NATO countries should provide appropriate military assistance to Ukraine. This was stated on May 15 by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss after a meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in Berlin, reports The Guardian. In particular, she pointed out that following the meeting, it was decided to continue to support Ukraine to help it “oust the rf”.

“putin must be defeated in Ukraine, russia must be restrained, and such aggression must never happen again. Ukraine's security must be based on its ability to defend itself”, she said.

Truss added that the Allies should support Ukraine's transition to NATO-standard equipment by immediately providing artillery, training and the necessary experience.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on May 14 that he expects a bill to allocate $ 40 billion to Ukraine to be adopted on Wednesday after a procedural vote Monday. “We expect to apply cloture (a parliamentary procedure that curtails further debate on the issue by 30 hours and allows to move to the vote) – hopefully with a significant majority of votes in favor, which will help us approve the aid on Wednesday”, said McConnell from Stockholm, which he visited after Saturday's visit to Kyiv.

Kentucky Republican Senator Randall Paul has single-handedly blocked an accelerated procedure for considering a new aid package for Ukraine. The Senator introduced a draft amendment to the bill, proposing to create a separate inspector who would check the allocation of funds under this package.

Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby said Friday that if the bill is not passed by next Thursday, May 19, it could affect the ability of the United States to provide uninterrupted military assistance to Ukraine, and Democratic Senator Chris Coons said that “a week delay will harm the defense of Ukraine”.

Senate Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell has called on President Biden to denote russia as a sponsor of terrorism, which would deprive it of sovereign immunity, which prevents it from filing a civil lawsuit against the country for damages. “I think it's a good idea, and I would support it. The President can do it on his own, and I would urge him to do it”, the senator said in Stockholm. On the eve, on Saturday, McConnell and Republican senators Susan Collins, John Barrasso and John Cornyn met with President of Ukraine Zelenskyy in Kyiv. McConnell assured Zelenskyy that support to Ukraine in the war against the russians is bipartisan, and that the “vast majority” of national security-focused Republicans support Ukraine's counteracting the russian invasion despite some of his party fellows’ criticism of the $ 40 billion aid package to Ukraine. “I want to reassure them that there is very broad support in the Congress to continuing the struggle”, McConnell said. Last week, the Senate registered a resolution recognizing russia as a sponsor of terrorism. The co-authors of the document are senators from both parties – Democrat Richard Blumenthal and Republican Lindsey Graham. The resolution states that the Senate considers the actions of the russian government led by Putin to be acts of terrorism, and calls on the US Secretary of State to recognize russia as a state that sponsors terrorism.

In the United States, the intelligence community is investigating what had led to two major mistakes made in the past year in Afghanistan and Ukraine. This was reported by CNN, citing its own sources. According to the TV company, a secret letter was sent by the US Senate Intelligence Committee to the Department of Defense, the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The letter said that in their forecasts, intelligence agencies underestimated the resistance of Ukrainian troops to the russian invasion and overestimated the ability of the Afghan military to resist the Taliban. Both major military crises occurred during the US presidency of Joe Biden. Given the real situation in the two countries, US senators are examining the extent to which the methodology for assessing the intelligence community and the assumptions that underlie them reflect the real picture. CNN has learned that the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ capability of resisting the russian army was assessed more accurately by a small intelligence agency in the United States. Journalists explain that more accurate intelligence data on Ukraine would have led to the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s receiving the necessary weapons earlier, and the weapons could have been heavier.

At the same time, US intelligence before the large-scale invasion of russian troops in Ukraine predicted that “Kyiv is likely to fall within three or four days”.

Germany will soon hand over 155-caliber self-propelled artillery units to Ukraine. This is the first heavy weapon that the Germans will hand over to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, Ukrainian diplomats are discussing the transfer of other types of weapons, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. On the first day of Kuleba's visit to Berlin, trainings of the Ukrainian military to use German 155-caliber self-propelled artillery began in Germany. According to the Minister, this is an extremely important moment in German-Ukrainian relations. “This will be the first heavy weapon that Germany will hand over to Ukraine. Very soon. And these self-propelled howitzers will defeat the enemy who stepped on our land. Therefore, a precedent has been set, the first psychological barrier has been overcome”, Kuleba said. He discussed with his German colleagues the next types of weapons that will be handed over to our state. Germany must decide what they are and when it can supply them.

Latvia has terminated an agreement with Belarus, which allowed direct rail transportation of military cargo from belarus to third countries through Latvian ports, according to the Latvian Ministry of Transport. The relevant decision was made by the government on May 10. The agreement was adopted on January 25, 1994, when Latvia had not yet joined the European Union. The country joined the EU on the 1st of May 2004 and joined NATO on the 29th of March 2004. At the same time, public administration is generally revising bilateral relations with russia and belarus in the context of the russian war in Ukraine.

russian occupiers have stolen almost 0.5 million tons of grain in Ukraine. They planned to sell part of it illegally on foreign markets. The movement of russian ships with looted grain was first reported in late April. The supply channel was to run from the ports of the sanctioned temporarily occupied Crimea to Egypt. But after the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry disrupted the Egyptian course, russian ships headed for Lebanon. However, this criminal plan was destroyed by Ukrainian diplomats! The Lebanese Republic refused to accept the loot, and once again expressed its deep support for Ukraine. Lebanon is currently in a rather difficult economic situation and is particularly in need of grain supplies. russia's invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated the food crisis in the Middle East. The Lebanese Republic is one of importers most dependent on Ukraine’s wheat. According to Lebanese customs in 2021, the share of wheat imported to Lebanon from Ukraine was over 80%. Due to the blocked Ukrainian ports and the mined Black Sea, in Lebanon, prices have risen and there is no longer enough grain for basic needs, bread.

Thanks to the coordinated work of the Embassy of Ukraine in Lebanon, russian ships did not receive the “green light” to enter the port. After all, the plundered grain will not resolve the problem radically, but will only complicate the situation. As a result, international solidarity, logic and common sense prevailed. Besides, Lebanon has recently received a $ 150 million loan from the World Bank to purchase grain. The multi-day epic with three russian ships “matros pozinich”, “matros koshka” and “mikhail nenashev”, loaded with stolen Ukrainian grain (27 thousand tons each), is over. They also left Beirut following the “russian warship”, said Ambassador Ihor Ostash. He added that Ukrainian diplomats worked especially hard and were actually proective. After Egypt rejected the “matros pozinich”’s request to enter the port of Alexandria, the ship headed to the Middle East and declared the Lebanese capital of Beirut as its port of destination. Two other ships followed the same route. “From the very beginning, we analyzed all possible options. Even the case if the russian ships did arrive in the Lebanese capital. To this end, we organized a team of Lebanese lawyers, worked with them on a legal scenario for the arrest of the ships and were preparing for a lawsuit”. The Ambassador also added that the relevance of such a scenario has not disappeared. Therefore, the Ukrainian side will continue to document all cases of criminal looting and add them to the legal evidence base. After all, ships with Ukrainian grain sailed to Syria. And then “matros pozinich” returns to Sevastopol. Possibly to be loaded with the stolen grain.

The wives and mothers of Azovstal defenders flew to Turkey. In Istanbul, they are to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to thank him for his efforts to save the lives of soldiers. They also intend to ask the Turkish leader to join forces with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The corresponding video address was published by Natalia Zarytska, the wife of the fighter of the “Azov” Regiment.

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The cost of tourist trips for russians abroad and even in russia has increased 1.5 times compared to the summer of 2021, said the tour booking service travelata.ru. This applies to all tourist destinations. The main reason is the rising cost of air tickets. According to the service, now russian resorts have become “popular” for the summer season of 2022. According to a study by the service, 51% of travelers plan to spend their holidays in russia. Last year, the most popular destination was Turkey, but now it has moved to second place – only 33% of potential vacationers have chosen it.

Earlier, the vice-president of the association of tour operators of russia muradyan has predicted that in 2022 the tourist flow will be reduced by 80% due to restrictions and sanctions imposed on russia in response to the aggression against Ukraine.

roskomnadzor has said that from now on russians are denied access to russian-language news portals USA.one and Germania.one. Apparently, propagandist Soloviov will inform them about all the news.