November 19, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

“...So my last call on my colleagues will be – be more united, take decisions quicker. The events don’t wait for you; russia is not stopping the war because you are thinking about it”, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell appealed to his colleagues to speed up military assistance to Ukraine.

Minister of Defence of the FRG Boris Pistorius has confirmed the plans to provide Ukraine with four thousand drones equipped with artificial intelligence and capable of effectively hitting targets at a distance of up to 40 kilometers.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Austria has announced the allocation of EUR 8 million for humanitarian aid to Ukraine and Moldova.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis has urged the EU to stop fearing an escalation in russia's war against Ukraine.

“No one will stop putin with phone calls. Last night's attack (November 17), one of the biggest in this war, proved that telephone diplomacy cannot replace real support for Ukraine from the entire West”, said Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk.

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The EU has imposed new sanctions on iran over its military assistance to russia. Additional bans apply to ships and seaports involved in the supply of iranian unmanned aerial vehicles, missiles, technologies and components. The sanctions list includes three russian shipping companies – “mg-flot”, “vts-broker”, “arapaks”, and the largest iranian shipping company – the “islamic republic of iran shipping line group”, along with its director.

The United States is considering disconnecting russia's “gazprombank” from the SWIFT international interbank system.

The Greek Navy has extended a series of naval exercises in the Laconian Gulf for another four months to once again prevent the russian oil transshipment aimed at circumvention of EU sanctions.

The rf has prepared amendments to the law “on advertising”, according to which distributors of advertising, media, bloggers, operators of advertising systems, as well as intermediaries between them and advertisers, will have to pay three percent of their quarterly revenues received for online advertising services to the rf’s budget. Only propaganda federal TV and radio channels are exempt from the additional tax.

russian home appliance manufacturers have announced that due to the rf central bank’s high key rate and difficulties in obtaining loans, they will reduce their production by 30% starting next year.

Starting January 2025, “rosneft”'s corporate income tax will be increased from 20% to 25%. Meanwhile, the russian ministry of finance is considering increasing the tax to 40%.

The ilsky oil refinery in the krasnodar territory of the rf has requested financial support from the government.

Due to the shortage of workers, the rf continues to massively employ people aged 60 and older, who currently account for 24% of the population and by 2046 will account for 27%.

In 2025, the government of the rf intends to raise the transportation tax for the population by an average of 6.1%. It is also planned to allow regional councils to introduce a local fee for vehicles crossing the state border on a permanent basis.

“The minsk tractor plant is trying to compensate for losses from its core business – in addition to making axes, it is going to produce rapeseed oil.