May 26, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

May 26, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Finland has sent a new €109 million military aid package to Ukraine, which includes anti-aircraft weapons and ammunition. In total, since the beginning of the war, Finland has provided our country with military aid  worth 1.1 billion euros.

At the Ramstein meeting on May 25, the US Secretary of Defense announced that participating countries had committed a total of $65 billion to Ukraine. The funds will be used to strengthen the current combat capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as for the long term. “Putin hoped that our resolve would fade, and he was betting that our unity would crack. But we remain as united as ever”, the head of the Pentagon said.

The US Department of State has approved the possible sale to the government of Ukraine of the NASAMS air defense systems and related equipment at an estimated cost of $285 million.

Members of the US House of Representatives – Democrat Adam Schiff and Republican Brian Fitzpatrick – have sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling for the transfer of frozen assets of the russian central bank for military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

The world leader in the development of data analytics software Palantir and the government of Ukraine have signed a memorandum on strengthening digital cooperation. In addition to military assistance, Palantir products make it possible to document the rf’s war crimes. The company will also help Ukraine optimize reconstruction, including assessing damage to buildings and infrastructure.

The first 20 Ukrainian pilots will begin the first phase of training on F-16 fighter jets in the United Kingdom.

Norway will support the training of Ukrainian pilots and personnel on F-16 fighter jets.

Minister of Defence of Sweden Paul Jonsson has announced training on the familiarization program of several Ukrainian pilots on Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighters.

The total amount of the Netherlands’ military assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion is about 1.6 billion euros.

Military aid to Ukraine from Poland since the beginning of russia's war against Ukraine has exceeded 3 billion euros.

“Ultimately, it seems extremely clear that at the end of the war, for peace and security in Europe to be real, Ukraine needs to be a NATO member state”, said Prime Minister of Latvia Krišjānis Kariņš.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has stressed that the North Atlantic Alliance expects Georgia to implement international sanctions that limit russia's ability to wage a war of aggression against Ukraine.

President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier has promised to strengthen NATO's eastern flank in response to russia's full-scale war in Ukraine.

In the capital of Spain, Madrid, mobile complexes of the “Passport Service” will start operating in test mode and will issue Ukrainian documents.

The EU has extended the duty-free trade regime with Ukraine for a year.

The European Union is discussing the possibility of transferring to Ukraine profits received from almost 200 billion euros of blocked russian assets.

The European Union has announced that it managed to overcome dependence on russian energy thanks to a plan to reduce gas consumption. At the same time, the European Commission predicts that the EU this year will save more gas than it imports from russia.

Natural gas prices in Europe have fallen below their lowest level in almost two years.

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The human rights organization Walk Free, together with the International Labor Organization and the International Organization for Migration, presented the Global Slavery Index, according to which 1.9 million slaves live in russia. The term “modern slavery” refers to cases of exploitation where a person cannot give up or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, abuse of power or deception, as well as sexual exploitation, child labor, forced marriage.

Gas production in the rf in April decreased by 20 %, to 34 billion cubic meters. At the same time, according to the London ICE exchange on May 25, gas exchange prices in Europe for the first time in two years fell below $ 300 per one thousand cubic meters.

According to the Eurasian Economic Commission, in 2022 the number of russian labor migrants in Armenia increased by 272%, in Kazakhstan – by 70%.

The American company Johnson & Johnson has stopped the supply of contact lenses to russia.

According to the latest opinion poll, 46% of russian families have loans – this figure has halved since the first such survey in 2009 (26%); 7% have three or more loans for a family.

86% of russians believe that teenagers should earn extra money.

russia increasingly lacks top managers capable of working in the russian crisis: demand for them has doubled. According to recruitment agencies, in the segment of top managers with a salary of more than 60 million rubles a year, 30 % of professionals left the rf, of those with salary of 20-60 million rubles – almost 25 %.

The international aviation and space show (maks), which was supposed to take place on July 25 - 30 in zhukovsky near moscow, has been canceled for the first time in 30 years. The event was traditionally held under the patronage of the president of the rf, who would open it, but now the air show has been postponed indefinitely.

The number of kiosks and press pavilions in the rf continues to decline: in 2022 – by 7.3% (by more than 1 thousand objects). In the first quarter of 2023, the situation has become worse, in particular, not a single kiosk remained in astrakhan, and most of all they are closed in the republic of bashkortostan and st. petersburg, rostov, samara, novosibirsk, vologda regions.

The state duma has adopted in the second and third readings a draft law on fines or arrest of up to 15 days for distributing maps and images challenging the territorial integrity of russia.

Lithuanian customs, due to “atypical growth of trade with certain third countries” and in order to prevent possible circumvention of sanctions, from June 5 strengthens control over goods restricted for export to belarus and russia.

The Council of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation continues to exclude russians and belarusians from competitions.

Students of baranovichi state university were forcibly gathered in a cinema hall to be shown “films” by the kgb and belarusian propagandists about the “terrorist attacks”, which, allegedly, were planned to be organized in belarus on May 9. Also, students were forced to watch an interview with the pardoned ex-editor of NEXTA roman protasevich.