September 25, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

“The European Commission has come up with a proposal to accumulate a EUR 35 billion loan to support Ukraine both militarily and economically. Both things have to be done simultaneously... So we have to provide Ukraine with the capacity to produce electricity and energy capabilities, and at the same time, with air defense means to avoid the destruction of those capabilities within a few days”, said chief of European diplomacy Josep Borrell. The diplomat has also said that the EU will lobby the UN to support the peace process started by Ukraine during the first Peace Summit in Switzerland.

The G7 Ministers of Foreign Affairs have called on the international community to increase assistance to Ukraine, which is under daily attacks from the aggressor country – russia.

Since the beginning of russia's full-scale invasion, the G7 countries and their partners have raised over $ 4 billion to restore Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

The Netherlands has announced a new package of support for Ukraine to restore critical infrastructure worth EUR 209.5 million. The country will also contribute EUR 45 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund.

France's Special Envoy for Ukraine's Relief and Reconstruction Pierre Heilbronn has announced that by the end of this year France will allocate EUR 60 million to support Ukraine's energy sector.

Denmark is providing Ukraine with EUR 16 million to restore the energy sector.

Norway will allocate 100 million kroner (about $ 9.5 million) to continue the mission to evacuate seriously wounded Ukrainians for treatment in Europe.

“We must give President Zelenskyy the means to disrupt putin's calculations, and the means for this are financial”, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radosław Sikorski said.

Lithuania and the American military-industrial company Northrop Grumman will jointly produce 30 mm ammunition, including for Ukraine.

Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida has said that his country will continue to actively support Ukraine.

The Parliament of Switzerland has recognized the Holodomor of 1932–1933 as genocide of the Ukrainian people.

“The United States is committed to adapting the UN system to reflect this world of today and tomorrow, not the one that existed in 1945”, emphasized US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

rf

New Zealand has imposed new sanctions on russia and the rb. Announcing this, Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters emphasized that the sanctions are aimed at the russian military-industrial complex and belarusian companies that provide assistance to the russian army. The sanctions have been imposed against the all-russian research institute of experimental physics, the academician zababakhin all-russian research institute of technical physics, the operating organization of the Zaporizhzhya NPP and its “chief” romanenko, former chief of the general staff of the rf’s navy vitko, the belarusian optical and mechanical association and its director moroz, the belarusian orsha aircraft repair plant, chief of the belarusian railways morozov, and general secretary of the red cross of the rb shevtsov.

“...By committing aggression against a sovereign state, russia abandoned this obligation(to protect international law). It can no longer claim to protect the security of the international system and other nations”, – President of Poland Andrzej Duda said regarding the need to ”think about the effectiveness of existing international structures in the light of key global challenges”.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry into violations in Ukraine has found new evidence of the widespread practice of russian authorities’ using torture against Ukrainians both in temporarily occupied territories and in the rf itself.

EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell has pointed out that russia continues to undermine global food security.

“It is difficult to imagine the presence of russia, which clearly does not understand the value of freedom. Such a presence would be cynical. I would like it to be possible again someday, but let's be serious – it's definitely not going to happen within the next four months”, said director of the museum Piotr Cywinski regarding russia's participation in the 80th anniversary of the liberation and destruction of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau on January 27, 2025.

Estonia and Finland intend to develop a plan to close the Gulf of Finland to russian ships if it is necessary for security reasons.

Turkey has halved its purchases of russian oil: in August, the total volume was less than 200 thousand barrels per day against 400–450 thousand barrels in early summer.

Georgia's Personal Data Protection Service has fined Ridetech Georgia for connecting to “yandex” servers located in the rf.

The net margin on sales of AI-95 in the rf averages minus 4.2 rubles per liter. On September 23, on the spbmtsb exchange, AI-92 and AI-95 petrol prices rose again by 1.3 % and 0.3 %, respectively (to 60.5 thousand rubles and 67.2 thousand rubles per ton).

For the first time since 2018, interest rates on housing loans have exceeded 21 % per annum in the 20 largest mortgage banks in the rf. At the same time, mortgage terms have significantly worsened, with vtb bank having raised the minimum down payment for a “family mortgage” from 30.1 % to 50.1 %.

In the Republic of Chad, russian “sociologists” shugaley, sueifan, tsarev and belarusian denisevich have been detained. In 2019, shugaley and sueifan were imprisoned in Libya for influencing the country's elections, and shugaley is also under EU sanctions for his ties to the international terrorist organization “wagner”.

The Lithuanian Seimas has approved amendments to the law on state and official secrets, which will ban people who work with classified information from travelling to russia.

Unless the human rights situation in the rb changes, easing the sanctions imposed on the official minsk is out of the question, said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis.

Members of the Lithuanian Parliament have supported the denunciation of the agreement with the rb on the promotion and mutual protection of investments. A similar agreement with the rf will be terminated as well. Besides, the Seimas has supported the denunciation of the agreement with the rf on the avoidance of double taxation. All the agreements were signed in 1999.

By November 15, belarusians have to pay property taxes for 2023 – for real estate, land and transportation. The billed amounts for housing and land are significantly higher than last year.

Due to the decline in the average salary in the country, the amount of the burial allowance will be reduced in October.

A resident of Pukhovichi district of minsk region received a summons from the police addressed to her son, who died in 2013. He is being summoned as a witness in a case initiated in February 2024.