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

Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dick Schoof has announced a new more than EUR 200 million package of aid to Ukraine. The funds will be used to protect and repair energy infrastructure and provide humanitarian aid.

The government of Romania has approved a draft law authorizing the free transfer of the Patriot air defense system to Ukraine and has sent it to the Parliament for consideration.

“Our support for Ukraine is unwavering as russia continues these heinous attacks”, US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink reacted to the September 2 russian air attack on Ukraine.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radosław Sikorski has said that Poland and other countries on the border with Ukraine are “obliged” to shoot down russian missiles before they enter their airspace.

EU Spokesperson Peter Stano has emphasized that only Ukraine can make proposals regarding russia's participation in the second peace summit.

Since the beginning of the rf’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has attracted $98.7 billion in external financing.

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“China has repeatedly emphasized that nuclear weapons cannot be used to unleash a nuclear war, and nuclear weapons cannot be used to conduct hostilities”, the PRC Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said about russia's threats to change its nuclear doctrine.

This year, russian military aircrafts have been recorded 109 times over the Baltic Sea near the external border of Latvia's territorial waters.

“russia has begun to more actively use various means of broad influence, such as sabotage, influence on critical infrastructure, various types of corporate property – and real estate is part of this palette. This is necessary in order to prevent hostile influence on Finland now and in the long term”, Minister of Defence of Finland Antti Häkkänen explained the need for a ban on real estate transactions for russians.

The Border Guard Service of Finland has announced that the fence on the border with the rf will be built higher than planned: the total height will reach 3.5 meters, and the mesh will be denser.

In August, russia's manufacturing PMI stood at 52.1 points, down from 53.6 points in July, the worst result in 12 months, as shown by S&P Global’s study.

russia's chemical industry continues to depend on imported material and technical resources: 35% of companies depend on raw materials, 49% – on equipment, 51% – on components, and 33% – on technology. The situation with a “critical level of dependence” is at 42% of enterprises, with a “high level” – at 37%. In 2023, the average age of industrial machinery and equipment in the industry exceeded 12 years.

In the first quarter of 2024, the staff shortage at russian chemical and product manufacturing companies increased 1.9 times compared to 2021. In June this year, 27% of enterprises were looking for new employees.

Export prices for premium russian coking coal in June-August fell by $20 to $130 per ton. The ministry of energy of the rf predicts that coal companies will continue to reduce prices or cut production.

According to the forecast of the national rating agency, in 2025, mortgage loans for housing construction will be reduced to 1 million loans worth RUB 3.8-4.2 trillion, which will be equal to the figure for 2020. In 2023, russians were granted 2 million loans worth 7.8 trillion rubles.

Several large collection companies have stopped their activities in the rf, which has led to a shortage of collection services in a number of federal regions, – sberbank reported.

Starting September 1, russian IT companies are raising software prices by an average of 15%, according to the integrator company “informzashchita”. At the same time, the “tsyfra” group of companies, which deals with digitalization in the industrial sector, has announced a 20% price increase.

On September 2, the moscow stock exchange index fell by 1.96% to 2,598.34 points for the first time since May 2023. The rts index (the composite index of the russian stock market) fell below 900 points for the first time since April 19, 2022. The biggest declines were in the shares of “surgutneftegaz” – by 3.94%, of “yandex” – by 3.7%, of tcs group – by 3.42%, of vtb – by 2.89%, and of “sberbank” – by 1.49%.

In the second half of august, new car prices rose again in russia: solaris - by 0.7-6% (by 15-130 thousand rubles), lada granta – by 1.4-2.2% (by 20-25 thousand rubles), niva – by 1.6-3.5% (by 31-45 thousand rubles). ), all Geely models – by 0.4-1.5 % (by 15-30 thousand rubles), Belgee – by 0.5-0.7 % (by 15 thousand rubles), two models of sollers – by 1.2-2.9 % (by 50-75 thousand rubles), Exeed RX – by 2-2.2 % (by 100 thousand rubles), BAIC BJ40 – by 1.1 % (by 50 thousand rubles).

Former minister of labor of the rb irina kostevich has said that the average life expectancy in the rb in 2023, compared to 1995, increased from 68.6 to 74.6 years. However, the latest official data released by the rb’s officials was only for 2019, before the coronavirus epidemic. According to them, the average life expectancy for men in the rb was about 64 years, and for women – 78 years. At the same time, the retirement age for men in the country is 63, and for women – 58.

The government of the rb has reduced the list of types of handicraft activities by its resolution. It excluded the production of soap, candles, wedding accessories, picture frames, phone cases, flowers and their arrangements, postcards and photo albums.

The new textbook in history of the rb, which will be presented in the context of world history and is intended for 11th form, presents the events of 2020 as an attempted coup d'etat.