October 17, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

In a letter to EU leaders, President of the European Council Charles Michel emphasized that the EU summit would focus on discussing the situation in Ukraine. “I expect that we will fulfill our commitment made in June, together with our G7 partners, to provide approximately EUR 45 billion (50 billion US dollars) by the end of the year to support Ukraine's military, budgetary and reconstruction needs”, said Charles Michel.

“We will support Ukraine with military aid to make sure that they are in a position to fight back”, stressed NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. According to him, at some point our country will be able to negotiate with the rf “from a position of strength”.

Minister of Defence of France Sébastien Lecornu has said that his country will soon begin supplying Ukraine with new kamikaze drones of own design.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the FRG Tobias Lindner has emphasized that Ukraine is now defending the European security order on the battlefield, and Berlin should not hesitate to support it.

The Ministry of Economy of Lithuania has announced that a Ukrainian company plans to build a plant for the production of RDX (hexogen) explosives in the country. “Lithuanians and Ukrainians are also discussing the development of drones and other defense technologies”, added Erika Kurochkina, Deputy Minister of Economy of Lithuania.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will discuss further support for Ukraine at NATO and G7 ministerial meetings this week.

The US has organized a virtual repair mission to help keep Western military equipment in Ukraine in working order.

The Third Parliamentary Summit of the Crimea Platform in Riga, Latvia’s capital, will be attended by delegations from about 40 countries.

The International Monetary Fund may approve the fifth tranche of the $1.1 billion program for Ukraine at the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Washington next week.

In 8 months of 2024, Ukraine exported 2.8 million tons of Ukrainian food and agricultural products to Italy.

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White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby believes that the North Korean military’s possible participation in a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on the side of the rf “could mean new levels of putin’s desperation to continue trying to make progress in Ukraine”.

Minister of Defence of Sweden Pål Jonson has said that the proposal to increase defense spending in the country's budget to 2.4% of GDP is related to the threat from russia.

European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson has assured that the EU is prepared for the halt of russian gas transit through Ukraine from January 1, 2025.

Latvia has built 80% of the fence on the border with the rf – 222 kilometers out of 283 total kilometers.

The central bank of the rf will continue to raise the key interest rate this year, by the end of the year it will rise to 21%, said president-chairman of the vtb kostin. The central bank has introduced a tough monetary policy in russia and plans to raise the key interest rate to 20% in the coming days.

evgeny ufimtsev, head of the russian union of auto insurers, has said that suppliers cannot deliver up to 30-40% of containers with automotive parts to the country due to problems with payments, which could result in a 20-30% rise in prices for spare parts in the rf.

In August-September, retail sales of red caviar in the rf decreased by 8% compared to last year, while in moscow they fell by 14%. Prices increased 1.8 times during this period. According to the forecast, by December the assortment will be significantly reduced due to running out of last year's stocks, while prices will rise. According to the all-russian association of fish producers, wholesale prices for red caviar in August 2024 amounted to 4.8 thousand rubles for 1 kg, up by 50% compared to last year.

According to rosstat, over the week, the price of butter in the rf increased by 1.6 %, since the beginning of the year – by 19.43 %.

The government of the rf has reduced the 2025 quota for temporary residence of foreigners in the rf to 5.5 thousand permits. In 2022, there were 19 thousand such permits, in 2023 – 13.5 thousand, in 2024 – 10.6 thousand.

By the beginning of the heating season in many cities of the rf, utility service providers were unable to establish stable operation of heat supply systems. In particular, since October 9, large-scale pipe bursts and breakdowns have been recorded in tver, which have left almost 800 apartment buildings, as well as schools and kindergartens, without heating. People complain about the extreme cold indoors, as the temperature in the city drops to 0 degrees at night and the first snow has fallen.

The situation with freedom on the Internet in the rb is deteriorating: this year the country received only 22 points out of 100 possible (in 2023 it had 25). Freedom House explains the deterioration of the situation by the fact that the rb’s “government has stepped up the suppression of online voices, blocking independent media and information sources”. Besides, the authorities used the law “to criminalize online material created by what they considered “extremist” or “terrorist” groups and individuals”. Arrests of journalists and online activists continued.

Since the beginning of the year, 720 corruption crimes have been detected in the country, with more than 620 people charged with them. Criminal cases were opened against the former deputy minister of transport and communications, deputy minister of energy, former minister of agriculture, first deputy chairman of the brest regional executive committee, ceo of “lidsenlmash”, ceo of “mapid”, the largest construction company in the rb, and deputy ceo of the minsk tractor plant.

In 2024, sales of belarusian “gomselmash”'s agricultural equipment in the rf decreased by 30%. president of the “rosspetsmash” association babkin has said the main reasons were a decline in the income of russian farmers, higher prices for machinery, and high credit costs.

The rb’s government has tightened the conditions of certification for medical professionals. To obtain the second category, doctors need to have three years of experience in their specialty (previously it was two), for the first category – seven years (previously – five), for the highest category – ten years (previously – eight). According to experts, this was done to reduce professional additional payment and to tie employees to state medical institutions even more.