November 12, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Chief of EU Diplomacy Josep Borrell has assured that the EU is united in supporting Ukraine despite Hungary's ambiguous position. He has also commented on the European Commission's report on enlargement: “Ukraine is recognized as having a very good result, much better than some other states that have been preparing for EU membership for many years”.

EU Spokesperson Peter Stano has said that EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministers will discuss the situation in Ukraine next week.

As of today, the EU has provided Ukraine with over 980,000 shells out of the planned one million, and by the end of this year the total amount should reach over 1.5 million rounds of ammunition.

Ukraine has signed a number of agreements with Denmark to purchase weapons worth EUR 535 million from Ukrainian defense companies.

The German arms company Rheinmetall has reported that since the beginning of October, Ukraine has been receiving new satellite images as part of its cooperation with ICEYE.

Minister of National Defense of France Sébastien Lecornu has said that Paris will continue its military support for Ukraine.

“Ukraine, and beyond that the international community, would have too much to lose if russia imposed the law of the strongest”, said Minister of Foreign Affairs of France Jean-Noel Barrot.

President of France Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer have reaffirmed their determination to support Ukraine for as long as it takes our country to win the war with russia.

“The United States and the United Kingdom have been two of the leading countries that have supported Ukraine. Our determination to do so is just as strong. I was at a meeting with NATO defense ministers just two weeks ago when all NATO nations reaffirmed their commitment to step up their support for Ukraine”, said UK Defense Secretary John Healey.

John Kirby, Strategic Communications Coordinator for the US National Security Council, has said that President Joe Biden “has committed to spending every dollar we have to support Ukraine for the duration of his term in office”.

“President Biden will have the opportunity over the next 70 days to make the case to the Congress and to the incoming administration that the United States should not walk away from Ukraine, that walking away from Ukraine means more instability in Europe”, emphasized National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

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“Frankly, I think putin doesn't know for sure. I think he probably hasn't decided exactly what he's going to do for north korea on a going forward basis”, Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, commented on russia's payments for military assistance to the dprk.

Since November 11, Lithuanian customs has tightened control over dual-use goods declared as exports from the EU to the rb and rf.

On the domestic market of the rf, the price of third-grade wheat has increased by 100 rubles to 15,500 rubles a ton, and of fourth-grade wheat – by 75 rubles to 14,950 rubles for a ton. The average price of sunflower has risen by 400 rubles to 38,000 rubles for a ton over the week, the price of sunflower oil – by 2,500 rubles to 100,175 rubles for a ton, and the price of soybeans – by 250 rubles to 42,050 rubles for a ton.

October was one of the worst months for the russian collective investment market: out of 159 largest retail funds with assets of more than RUB 500 million, only 35 generated income for their shareholders.

Over the month, the moscow exchange's corporate bond index rucbtrns fell by 2.7% to 142.98 points. The index fell more than that only in September 2022, when it lost more than 4%, having fallen to 131.29 points. The rgbitr government bond index fell by more than 4% over the month to 536.53 points. Losses in ruble-denominated bonds amounted to up to 4.5%.

In the third quarter of 2024, the net profit of one of the largest agricultural companies in the rf, rusagro, decreased by 37% to RUB 15.9 billion, and in the period from January to September – by 50% to RUB 19.4 billion. As of September 30, the company's net debt amounted to 50 billion rubles.

Apples in russia have risen in price by 12.8% since the beginning of the year.

In the rf, the wholesale price of salmon caviar has risen to 9 thousand rubles (a year ago it cost 5.5 thousand rubles), while the retail price has reached 13 thousand rubles.

Pursuant to putin's decree, by July 1, 2025, 10 to 20% of civil servants in the regions of the rf will be laid off.

According to minister of finance of the rb seliverstov, in 2025, the rb’s government plans to allocate about 10 billion rubles to repay the national debt. Another 5 billion rubles will be spent on interest payments. The rb is unable to pay off its debts on its own, so it plans to re-borrow about 75% of the external public debt.

In the first nine months of this year, the share of belarusian goods on the belarusian market was 57.7%. belarusian goods accounted for only 21% of the clothing market. In general, the share of belarusian manufacturers in the non-food market of the rb fell to 38% in the first half of the year, while a year ago it was 42%.

As of November 10, 41,988 employees were needed in minsk. The main demand for personnel was formed by industrial enterprises (28%), healthcare and social services (14%), trade (10%), education (9%), construction (8%), and transport (8%). As of early November, all in all, the country was short of almost 168.8 thousand workers.

Due to the decline in the average salary in November, the burial allowance also fell by 27.3 rubles.