October 3, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset has emphasised Ukraine, democracy, and unity as priorities for his work.

“We must understand that they are fighting to defend the values that we also share”, Prime Minister of France Michel Barnier promised support for Ukraine.

“The political narrative and the understanding that Ukraine will be a security provider within the Alliance, the realization of this and the experience that we can get from Ukraine, I think, are absolutely important”, Minister of Defence of Sweden Paul Johnson emphasized that NATO membership should be decided only by Ukraine and the Alliance members, and no country outside the Alliance should have the right to veto.

President of Romania Klaus Iohannis has informed the Parliament of the decision to approve the transit of Swedish amphibious assault boats to Ukraine.

The European defense group KNDS has opened a subsidiary in Ukraine to repair and maintain weapons systems, including Leopard 1 and 2 tanks, CAESAR and PzH 2000 artillery systems, AMX10 RC armored vehicles, and Gepard anti-aircraft systems.

The American company AeroVironment has signed an agreement with a Ukrainian company to localize the production of Switchblade 600 barrage munitions. Ukrainian Defense Industry JSC has also agreed to cooperate with arms companies from the United States, France, and Poland, and “Ukrainian Armor” has agreed with Czechoslovak Group to jointly produce 155-mm artillery shells.

Lithuania and Sweden, as part of the Mine Action Coalition, have agreed to purchase pickup trucks and trucks for the needs of Ukraine’s Armed Forces and State Special Transport Service.

USAID representative Samantha Power has announced a new program to support Ukraine's healthcare and energy sectors, as well as humanitarian funding worth more than $1 billion: $825 million for the energy system, $237 million for humanitarian funding, and $13 million for rehabilitation of people with disabilities. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, USAID has provided Ukrainians with $32.5 billion in humanitarian and development assistance.

Germany is donating six large power generators to Ukraine.

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The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have announced sanctions against seven individuals and two legal entities affiliated with the russian cybercrime group Evil Corp.

The European Court of Justice of General Jurisdiction upheld the EU Council's 2022 sanctions decision prohibiting the provision of consulting and other legal advisory services to russian legal entities.

Latvia has strengthened its air defense system in the Latgale region bordering on the rf. Latvia has deployed additional radars and mobile teams near its eastern borders in case of new situations of military drones entering the country from russia and the rb.

“sberbank” has stopped accepting applications and signing up for IT mortgage agreements with russians due to the exhaustion of the limit of funds for this program. For the same reason, in September, the bank suspended family mortgages.

In October, vtb bank will ban russians from applying for multiple credit cards due to the tightening of monetary policy by the central bank of the rf.

In 2025, the rf’s government is going to collect 2.6 times more taxes from the incomes of russians than this year – up to 811 billion rubles (against 307 billion rubles). The budget for 2025 suggests additional revenues from “expanding the progression of personal income tax: 15% for income over RUB 2.4 million per year, 18% for income over RUB 5 million, 20% for income over RUB 20 million, and 22% for income over RUB 50 million.

The government of the rf has included in the draft federal budget for 2025-2027 an additional mandatory contribution (non-tax payment) by telecom operators “to the universal service reserve” and a fee “for the distribution of advertising and promotion services on the Internet”. If such a decision is made, communication services for the population will rise in price again.

The logistics operator pony express in the rf will increase prices for its services by 20% by the end of the year; the last price increase was in November 2023.

Since the beginning of the year, corn prices in russia have risen by almost 20%, while in other countries they are declining. Corn harvesting is decreasing in the main agricultural regions of russia, in particular, in the krasnodar territory, the yield decreased by 54%, in voronezh region – by 27%, in tambov region – by 44%, and in the stavropol territory – by 44%. In addition to unfavorable weather conditions, the decline in yields was caused by the fact that the share of counterfeit corn seeds in russia this year has reached up to 15%. Experts predict that russian exports will decrease by 44%.

The first launch of russia's new “soyuz-5” carrier rocket has been postponed to 2026; it was originally planned to be launched in 2023, then in 2025.

The rb has extended the ban on the import of certain goods through the belarusian-Lithuanian section of the state border until April 1, 2025. This measure was taken in September, after Lithuania had submitted materials to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate the lukashenko regime’s crimes against belarusians.

On October 1, the council of ministers of the rb increased the export duty on liquefied petroleum gases. The rate of export duty on them amounted to $45.2 per ton (increased by $24.4), on ethane, butane, and isobutane –  to $40.6 per ton (increased by $21.9).