November 5, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has pointed out the progress in developing a plan for the Ukraine Facility program, which will provide Ukraine with funding in the amount of EUR 50 billion, and expressed confidence that our country has made “excellent progress” on the path to membership in the European Union and is able to move to the next stage. At the same time, the President said that during a meeting with US senators and congressmen, she explained to them the EU's position on the importance of supporting Ukraine.

Ursula von der Leyen has said that the European Commission will soon present the 12th package of sanctions against russia, and also plans to agree on the legal nuances regarding the use of profits from russian sovereign assets blocked in the EU in the interests of Ukraine by the end of the year.

Sweden has officially confirmed the transfer of eight Archer self-propelled artillery systems to Ukraine.

“Lithuania will stand with Ukraine this winter as well”, said Chief Adviser to the President of Lithuania Jaroslav Neverovič at a meeting of the Presidential Working Group on the Peace Formula dedicated to energy security.

The volume of the Ukraine Energy Support Fund, established in the spring of 2022 to accumulate contributions from governments, international financial organizations, and private donors, already exceeds more than EUR 300 million.

The UN has appealed to the world to raise $435 million to help Ukrainians this winter.

Minister of Defence of Italy Guido Crosetto has said that the time for peace talks between Ukraine and the rf has not come yet.

The EU is “deeply concerned” about the DPRK’s military aid to the rf.

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13 entities of the russian financial sector fell under full US sanctions, including seven russian banks: commercial bank absolut bank pao, blanc bank limited liability company, home credit & finance bank limited liability company, joint stock company post bank, publichnoe aktsionernoe obshchestvo kommercheski bank russki regionalny bank, joint stock company russian regional development bank, joint stock company russian standard bank.

Sanctioned also are: chairman of the board of russki regionalny bank dmitry zharikov, the financial holding company sistema public joint stock financial corporation, the subsidiary of sistema – east west united bank sa (Luxembourg), the subsidiary of sistema – east west united bank sa (Singapore), the subsidiary of sistema – sistema smarttekh (rf), the public joint stock company saint petersburg exchange (spbx).

The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has imposed sanctions on russian ekaterina zhdanova, who helped representatives of the “russian elite” withdraw millions of dollars, circumventing sanctions.

Since November 1, russian banks have stopped preferential lending to large electronics manufacturers and transferred them to market rates of 15-20% per annum. The reason is that russia ran out of funds for subsidies under a government decree that provided for the opportunity for developers of base stations, computers, smart phones and other equipment to take advantage of a preferential loan at a rate of 1-5% per annum.

Due to the lack of cars of the world's leading companies in the rf, in October, russians bought lada the most (30.71% of the market), followed by only Chinese brands: Haval (11.42%), Chery (9.67%), Geely (9.23%), Changan (5.69%), Omoda (4.26%), Exeed (3.94%); sales of the Chinese Changan increased 29 fold.

russia has become the main importer of Chinese cars in the world. In the first half of 2023, the supply of Chinese passenger cars to the rf in price terms increased almost 6.5 fold ($4.6 billion) compared to 2022 ($715 million).

Goods and services for New Year's celebrations in the rf have risen in price by 20-30%.

In pursuance of putinʼs decree, the government of the rf has approved the legislative consolidation of the suspension from August 8, 2023 (i.e. retroactively) of most provisions of agreements on the avoidance of double taxation with 38 countries “unfriendly” to russia. For russian business, this is a very unpleasant decision, because reduced or zero tax rates are frozen: the russian rate of 15% will be applied to dividends (instead of 5% or 10% specified in the agreements), for royalties and interest – 20% (instead of the zero rate).

The profit of the russian bank raiffeisen in January-September 2023 decreased by 28% compared to the same period last year, the loan portfolio decreased one and a half fold, to € 6.303 billion. For the third quarter, the bank's profit after tax amounted to € 339 million, which is 2.3 times less than last year.

Due to the accumulated colossal debts, russia’s post put up for sale 118 real estate objects – commercial premises, houses with land plots, warehouses, garages, etc.

In minsk, a pregnant woman with a white-red-white umbrella was detained right on the street. The court imposed a large fine of 1,850 rubles on her. The woman was found guilty of conducting an “unauthorized picket” with the help of... an umbrella.