November 30, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action
11/30/2023

“... NATO's answer today is very clear and unwavering: we must and will support Ukraine”, said US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Antony Blinken also expressed hope that the US Congress would approve US President Joe Biden's request for additional funds, in particular – to help Ukraine.
The United States has attracted large investments in the economy thanks to military aid to Ukraine.
“… the fact that the Ukrainians were able to strike russian military facilities in the deep rear, destroying their planes and helicopters… The fact that without a fleet, they were able to move the russian black sea fleet to novorossiysk, which made it possible to unblock the Black Sea grain corridor... This is a great achievement”, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized. At the same time, he said that he was impressed by Ukraine's achievements in reforms and the fact that Ukraine had presented and agreed with its allies on an annual program to meet NATO requirements.
Former US Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker believes that Ukraine's rapid accession to NATO will convince putin of the futility of the war in Ukraine.
Germany is making an additional contribution of €11.5 million to the NATO-Ukraine Trust Fund.
The House of Deputies (the Lower House of the Czech Parliament) has approved the extension of the mission to train the Ukrainian military next year.
European Commissioner for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová has said that Ukraine's position should certainly be taken into consideration in any negotiations on the war with the rf.
“The next Secretary needs a clear vision of NATO's future, how the Alliance will expand, how it will work to deter russia”, said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Krišjānis Kariņš.
Microsoft will provide free cloud services to Ukrainian government agencies for another year.
The European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL) has extended the activities of the European Voluntary Air Navigation Solidarity Fund to support Ukraine and Moldova until 2024.
Ukraine has fully synchronized its energy system with Europe.
The European Commission does not see a negative impact of agricultural exports from Ukraine on EU markets.
The government of the province of Ontario (Canada) has decided to include the study of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in the school curriculum.
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US Department of State has assured that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken does not plan to meet with lavrov at the OSCE ministerial meeting in Skopje.
russia was not elected to the executive board of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
The Financial and Analytical Department of the Czech Republic is studying the possibility of freezing new real estate of russian state organizations: the hotels ulrika and moskevsky dvur in Karlovy Vary, which are controlled by the company svyazinvestneftekhim from tatarstan and the russian state-owned company meditsinsky tsentr, are currently being inspected. The Czech authorities have already frozen almost 70 objects of “goszagransobstvennost” (“state property abroad”- Transl) of the rf.
President of Moldova Maia Sandu has revoked the citizenship of the leader of the pro-russian party of regions of Moldova and the Congress of Moldovan Diasporas in russia, aleksandr kalinin, on the basis of the article “Law on Citizenship” “recruitment to the armed forces of a foreign state”.
The Kazybekbi District Court of Karaganda (Kazakhstan) sentenced a citizen of Kazakhstan to six years and eight months in prison for participating in an attempt to occupy Ukraine as part of the russian terrorist organization “wagner”. The court called the convict's actions an attempt to “undermine the constitutional order” and “violate the territorial integrity of Ukraine”.
From October 2022, when international sanctions on russian slabs came into force, to September 2023, EU countries purchased 2.8 million tons of slab from the rf, which is significantly less than the established limit of 3.75 million tons. Next year, the quota is also 3.75 million tons, and at the end of 2024, slab purchases will be stopped.
The passage of trucks from russian Kaliningrad has been decreased by Lithuania almost three times.
Deliveries of Intel processors to russia in January-October 2023 decreased by 64%, to 178 thousand units, of AMD – by 70%, to 35 thousand units.
In November, the average price of russian urals oil decreased and will amount to about 6.3 thousand rubles against 7.4 thousand rubles in October.
In September, exports of coking coal from russia decreased by 8.2% compared to the same month last year, to 2.3 million tons (since the beginning of the year, its sales decreased by 5.1%, to 23.6 million tons).
The net loss of the russian airline aeroflot for the first nine months of 2023 is 111 billion 322 million rubles.
In 2022, russian businesses reduced their financial contributions to the development of science in russian universities by 27%.
In russia, until July 1, 2024, the introduction of biometric systems for checking persons at checkpoints, as well as in access control and management systems in banks, factories, commercial companies, etc., will be postponed. The reason is that Chinese biometric terminals do not support russian cryptography standards. Companies that develop biometric access systems in the rf emphasize the need for high conversion costs and the reluctance of customers to agree to the transfer of biometric data to the one and only russian system.
moscow lacks 30,000 taxi drivers, carriers are trying to attract those who want to temporarily earn money from the regions, but admit their poor skills and lack of experience in a big city.
In November, the average cost per square meter in new buildings in moscow increased by 19% – from 271 thousand rubles to 323 thousand rubles.
Investors have lost interest in russian shopping malls: in the first nine months of 2023, developers commissioned only nine projects with a total area of 230 thousand square meters, while in 2021 there were 1.5 million square meters of real estate.
According to the latest study, 58% of russians under the age of 35 do not trust russian banks to save their money. At the same time, over the year, the share of those who save for unforeseen circumstances decreased from 37% to 33%, those who save for small household appliances and gadgets – from 54% to 27%. The share of those who save for housing repairs has halved (19%), while the share of those who save money for education for themselves and their children (10%) has halved.
The number of measles cases among russian children from January to September 2023 increased 262 fold and amounts to more than 4.9 thousand (last year there were 19 cases).
The ministry of internal affairs of russia has prepared a draft law on the introduction of the concept of a “loyalty agreement”, which provides for consent to the observance of a number of restrictions by foreigners when entering the country.
german khan, co-owner of alfa group, has lost a legal battle against EU sanctions imposed over his ties to putin.
In the russian volgograd, a draft law has been prepared that provides a mechanism for changing the name of the city to stalingrad.
russia wants to rename the Gulf of Finland as part of a response to “a series of unfriendly actions of Finland’s authorities”.
The anti-terrorism commission of the primorsky krai has launched a Telegram bot for denunciations – “oper pishet”, which will accept messages about extremism, weapons, incitement to hatred and “propaganda of the evil”.
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has continued the suspension of belarusian and russian national teams and clubs from participating in international competitions. The decision was made at a meeting of the Executive Committee and will be valid until the meeting of the FIBA Central Council in April 2024.
The council of ministers of the rb suspended the European Cultural Convention, which aimed at protecting national culture as part of the European one and encouraged the study of other European languages and cultures. The Convention has been ratified by all 47 member states of the Council of Europe, as well as belarus, the Vatican and Kazakhstan. For belarus, it came into force in 1993, a year before lukashenko came to power.
In 2024, belarus wants to revise the cost of one square meter of living space in an apartment building. For example, for minsk, it will increase by 7.6% – to 968 rubles (now – 900 rubles). For regional cities and minsk region, they want to raise the cost of one square meter to 806 rubles (now - 750 rubles).
belarusian members of parliament have approved in the first reading a draft law with changes to the advertising market. Among other things, officials want to introduce the mandatory introduction of social advertising. The authorities also intend to allow advertising on the windows of trains of the underground railway in minsk, and approve the promotion of alcohol on TV and radio.
The ministry of internal affairs of belarus has recognized as an “extremist formation” a group of citizens united under the name “dissidentby”, who are engaged in helping belarusian political prisoners.