November 1, 2024 Ukraine and the World - Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Minister of Defence of Norway Bjørn Arild Gram has announced additional military support for Ukraine in the amount of up to NOK 1.3 billion (EUR 109 million) for the maintenance and operation of F-16 fighter jets.

“The United Kingdom is committed to exceeding our NATO commitments and providing three billion pounds a year of guaranteed military support to Ukraine for as long as it takes”, said Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves.

Lithuania has provided Ukraine with a military aid package that includes power generators, mines, and ammunition. In total, since the beginning of the war, Lithuania has provided our country with military aid worth more than EUR 705 million.

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau has called for redoubling efforts to support Ukraine.

“Ukraine will become a member of NATO, there is no doubt about this, and all Allies have made these decisions at previous summits”, said Marie-Doha Besancenot, NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy.

The European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development have signed an application for grant funding for Ukraine to develop an emergency assistance system 112.

Due to the war in Ukraine, Riga City Council once again gave up fireworks on Latvia's Independence Day and New Year's Holidays.

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The United States has imposed sanctions on more than one hundred companies, including the russian electronics distributor “chip & dip”, semiconductor manufacturer “angstrem”, developer of aviation and space systems “zvezda”, institute of engineering physics, institute of information transmission problems, manufacturer of tyres for the russian army – the “kordiant” holding, etc. The sanctions also targeted russian deputy defense ministers fradkov, buliga, fomin, goremykin, tsyvileva, head of “transmashkholding” lipa, and more than 30 other people from different countries, including China, India, Montenegro, Switzerland, Turkey, and Chile.

Four companies from the rf and China have been subjected to secondary US sanctions for cooperation with the rb’s companies that were previously subject to restrictions. Morotack Tianjin Technology Co Ltd China, a Chinese company that sells critical components for military products to “rogachevsky zavod diaprojector”, was added to the sanctions list. The russian companies “prezentatsionnye lazernye sistemy” and “innovatsionnoe predpriyatie ntsvo-fotonika” have also been sanctioned for their cooperation with this company. rossiyskoe optiko-mekhanicheskoe konstruktorskoe byuro “astron” is in the sanctions list for supplying parts for thermal imaging devices to the belarusian company “minskiy mekhanicheskiy zavod imeni vavilova”.

The United States has imposed sanctions on citizens of Switzerland Andres Baumgartner and Fabio Libero Delco, who helped russians illegally withdraw money to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

The Ministry of foreign Affairs of Germany has allowed for the introduction of new sanctions against north korea if north korean troops participate in russia's war against Ukraine.

The Court of Appeal of Poland has upheld the convictions of two russian and belarusian citizens for spying for russia.

The Coast Guard of Finland has said that since April it has been recording constant interference with satellite navigation signals in the Baltic Sea, and in recent weeks it has observed tankers falsifying their location data to conceal visits to russia.

The Office of the Prosecutor General of Finland has charged the former leader of the russian neo-fascist group “rusich” vojislav torden (yan petrovsky), with war crimes committed in Ukraine in 2014.

The Latvian Saeima has approved a draft decision to send Viktor Pučka, a member of the opposition Stability party, to be tested for his command of the Latvian language.

Sweden and Norway refuse to fully switch to cashless payments due to security threats from the rf.

Euroclear, the international depository, received EUR 5.2 billion of proceeds from frozen russian assets in the first nine months of this year.

In the rf, banks with foreign participation continue to reduce their business. In particular, in the first nine months of 2024, unicredit bank reduced its lending to russians by 25%, to RUB 60.4 billion, and citibank decreased its lending to russians threefold, to RUB 2 billion. In addition, citibank gave up servicing russians’ debit cards and making transfers via the rapid payment system.

At the request of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis and the British-Swedish AstraZeneca to protect their patent rights to anti-tumor and anti-diabetic medicines, russian “akselfarm” and “akrikhin” have been banned from producing generics (copies) of foreign medications that are popular in the world.

The International Automobile Federation has banned russian driver karyakin from participating in the Dakar Rally.

The prosecutor general's office of the rf has declared undesirable the activities of the American non-governmental organization Young Presidents' Organization, which brings together more than 35,000 executives of large companies from different countries to exchange business experience.

The government of the rf has prepared almost 900 amendments to the draft federal budget for 2025-2027. According to minister of finance siluanov, the total amount of redistribution will be about 7 trillion rubles, with a significant part of the changes aimed at the war against Ukraine.

Switzerland has joined the June package of EU sanctions against the rb and introduced new restrictions at the national level. A ban will be imposed on investments in companies operating in the rb’s energy sector. Tough restrictions are also imposed on trade: imports of gold, diamonds, coal and crude oil from the rb are prohibited, and so are exports to the rb of luxury goods, goods for oil refining and liquefaction of natural gas, goods for belarusian industrial facilities, aviation fuel and sea fleet goods.

Federal Minister of the Interior and Community of the FRG Nancy Faeser has proposed to deploy the EU Frontex border guard service on Poland’s border with the rb to curb illegal migration.

The self-proclaimed president of the rb lukashenko is determined to find new oil and gas deposits in the country. By his order, the government has planned to allocate more money from the budget to finance geological exploration. The ministry of natural resources will receive additional funds for this purpose by cutting the cost of servicing the country's external debt.