September 20, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) intends to continue investing around €1.5 billion per year in Ukraine in the next two years.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said that Ukraine will soon receive M1 Abrams tanks from the United States, and Ukrainian pilots will be trained on F-16 fighter jets in the United States.

Minister of Defence of Denmark Trolls Lund Poulsen has said that his country, in cooperation with other partners, is purchasing additional 45 tanks for Ukraine (30 Leopard 1 tanks, 15 T-72 tanks).

The Netherlands and Denmark will finance military aid to Ukraine from the Czech Republic. The first project will be the transfer of 15 modernized T-72EA tanks to Ukraine.

Minister of Defence of the FRG Boris Pistorius has announced a new €400 million military aid package for Ukraine, which will include ammunition, missiles, armored vehicles, demining systems, winter clothing and generators.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Annalena Baerbock demands a strong signal from the UN against putin over his war of aggression against Ukraine.

During a meeting in New York, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Yōko Kamikawa and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken have reaffirmed the readiness of Tokyo and Washington to continue working together in support of Ukraine, which is suffering from russia’s aggression.

“In this war, time is not on putin's side. Time is never on the side of a dictator who initiates an imperialist war of choice. Time is never on the side of aggression”, said US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. He also pointed out that russia has already destroyed enough Ukrainian grain to feed more than 10,5 million people for a year.

John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications of the US National Security Council, has said that the United States is suspicious of the statements of the rf and North Korea about the absence of agreements on the supply of weapons, and warns that it will consider such agreements a violation of the UN Security Council’s resolution, so it will act accordingly.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has announced a meeting of Foreign Ministers of member states in Kyiv. According to him, one of the main topics of the Ministers' meeting is future security commitments to Ukraine in the context of russia's war of aggression against it.

The European Commission has proposed to extend temporary protection for Ukrainians until March 3, 2025.

The Seimas of Lithuania has adopted a resolution calling on the countries of the Alliance to invite Ukraine to NATO at the summit in Washington.

Latvia will provide Ukraine with 12 modular houses by the end of the year.

Norway will provide Ukraine with about 50 tracked trucks.

“We have no reason to think that this war (in Ukraine) will somehow bypass us. Yes, there are risks for Bulgaria”, Minister of Defence of Bulgaria Todor Tagarev commented on the drone with explosives found in the Black Sea city of Tyulenovo.

Bulgarian Transport Minister Todor Gvozdeykov accused russian propaganda of causing farmers' protests against the import of agricultural products from Ukraine.

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In the United States, russian marchenko has been arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud in the United States and participate in a procurement scheme for American dual-use microelectronics in order to transfer to the rf in circumvention of sanctions.

Poland has proposed to tie sanctions against belarus to sanctions against russia in order to put an end to the circumvention of anti-russian sanctions.

The Estonian Police and Border Guard Department has said it would ensure that none of the 3.6 thousand russians living in Latvia and who are likely to be ordered to leave the country due to a failed language proficiency test do not end up in Estonia.

1,300 russians have not been allowed into Lithuania since the introduction of entry restrictions.

Within a week, 58 cars with russian registration were not allowed into Lithuania.

Finland, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, refused to hand over rotational leadership to the rf in October 2023. russia announced that it had to withdraw from the Council due to a de facto boycott by other participants in the Council (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, the EU), which began in March 2022.

Turkey has announced its intention to build a nuclear power plant with China instead of russia.

The German company Boehringer Ingelheim has stopped supplying russia with the medication Micardis, which is used for arterial hypertension.

On September 20, the state duma of the rf will decide to cancel informing the Secretary General of the Council of Europe about the introduction of martial law or a state of emergency in the rf.

After the transition period, the introduction of cross-border carbon regulations among all suppliers to the EU and the United Kingdom, russian exporters will be subject to the largest border tax. And this is despite the fact that the supply of products from the rf, which is subject to such a mechanism, decreased by more than 40% in 2022. Suppliers of ferrous metallurgy and fertilizer products are under the greatest financial burden. For russian companies, the border tax during 2026-2035 may range from € 3.39 billion to € 6.33 billion, depending on the volume of specific emissions for exported products.

russian supplies of regulated products to the EU have significantly decreased compared to previous years: with an overall decrease in imports of such goods by 4% last year (and an increase of 10% compared to 2019), russian exports to the EU in physical volumes decreased by 41% compared to 2022. In particular, the supply of aluminum and aluminum products decreased by 30%, of electricity – by 65%, of mineral fertilizers – by 32%, of ferrous metallurgy products – by 28%. As a result, russia's share in total imports of aluminum decreased from 16% to 10%, of electricity – from 22% to 7%, of fertilizers – from 38% to 21%, of iron and steel – from 20% to 14%.

The government of the rf has postponed the deadline for the execution of the order for the construction of regional turboprop aircrafts IL-114-300 and civil helicopters from the end of this year to the end of 2025 due to problems with flight tests and certification of the TV7-117 engine. Mi-38 helicopters with such an engine will be delivered no earlier than 2026, taking into account the loading of jsc-klimov with the state defense order for the needs of the occupation army of the rf. The aviation industry of the rf expects an official postponement of the implementation of other civil aviation projects, in particular the sj-100 aircraft.

Since the beginning of September, rebar in the rf has risen in price by 20%, which is why the ministry of industry and trade urgently convened a meeting and demanded that metallurgists stop raising prices.

The ministry of justice of the rf has published a draft law proposing to significantly reduce liability for crimes for copyright infringement; the rf is going to decriminalize 26% of such crimes.

Approximately two hundred russian tourists who arrived from Egypt to moscow on an AlMasria Universal Airlines flight lost their luggage. The carrier simply decided to leave all the belongings of tourists from the aggressor country in Sharm el-Sheikh and did not explain the reason.

By the decision of the government, Latvia closes the checkpoint Silene/ urbany on the belarusian border. The government explains this measure by a large number of attempts to illegally cross the belarusian-Latvian border and the need to transfer resources to protect the “green” border. Since the beginning of September, Latvian border guards have prevented 1,773 attempts to illegally cross the border.

In Switzerland, the trial of the ex-fighter of the belarusian special rapid response unit (sobr) yuri garavsky, who in 2019 publicly announced his involvement in the disappearances of opposition politicians, has begun. The man's case is being heard by the court of the canton of St. Gallen.

The house of representatives of the national assembly of the republic of belarus has adopted the draft law “On suspension of the Agreement between the republic of belarus and Ukraine on the regulation of the resettlement process and the protection of the rights of IDPs and members of their families” in the first reading.

The ministry of agriculture of the rb has revised export prices for butter. Now belarusian exporters will be able to sell butter with a fat content of more than 80% to russia at a price of at least 460 russian rubles per kilogram, and butter with a fat content of 72% to 80% – no cheaper than 410 russian rubles per kilogram. The minimum export prices have been increased by 20 russian rubles.

The central district court of minsk recognized as extremist materials not only the website of the bnr council, its social media pages and logo, but also awards: the order of the chase, for military merit, the medal for the 100th anniversary of the bnr, the order of the iron knight and their digital images.