October 31, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

“putin's war in Ukraine is the greatest threat to our security”, said President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

“There can be no agreements about Ukraine's future without Ukraine's participation”, emphasized President of Poland Andrzej Duda.

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers have appealed to President Joe Biden to “give Poland the authority to intercept and neutralize missiles over Ukraine, especially those that threaten to invade Polish airspace”.

NATO has handed over 65 ambulances to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Lithuania will provide one-time payments of EUR 176 to newly arrived refugees from Ukraine.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will allocate EUR 300 million for electric locomotives for Ukrzaliznytsia. At the same time, Ukraine will be able to receive another 30 electric locomotives worth $190 million in grant funding under the World Bank's Repairing Essential Logistics and Network Connectivity Project.

Lithuania has signed a memorandum with Ireland and Italy on projects to rebuild Ukraine, under which Dublin will allocate EUR 3 million to build bomb shelters near schools in our country. The parties will also sign an agreement with the winners of the international architectural competition “School of the Future for Ukraine” – the Italian company Scandurra Studio Architettura.

rf

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has announced that the USA’s government has imposed sanctions on several hundreds of individuals and organizations in different countries that have fueled the rf’s efforts in the armed aggression against Ukraine.

A court in Helsinki has confiscated $4.25 billion worth of russian assets in the country at the request of Ukraine's state-owned Naftohaz.

According to Eurostat, in January-August 2024, wine supplies from the European Union to the rf decreased by almost 25%, to 125.7 thousand tons. This is the lowest level in the last 20 years.

russian gazprom has reported a loss of RUB 309.1 billion for the first nine months of the year. Gross profit decreased by 9% to 837.9 billion rubles. Accounts receivable as of September 30 amounted to RUB 3 trillion, compared to RUB 2.59 trillion at the end of 2023. Accounts payable amounted to RUB 1.302 trillion.

The russian shipyard “zvezda” once again postpones the commissioning of the first two arc7 ice-class tankers for the “arctic lng-2” project. According to the plan, the lead tanker was supposed to be delivered in March 2023, the next four – in September-December 2023, but due to international sanctions, the deadlines were postponed several times. Now, the first tanker is expected to be completed in early 2025, and another – in the first quarter.

The average check of commercial real estate acquisitions in the rf in 2024 may amount to 3.5 billion rubles, less by 40.7% compared to last year, according to the consulting company nikoliers. The obvious reason for this is the decline in demand for such real estate and lack of free money.

According to rosstat, in the second quarter of 2024, only 4.9% of russian households had enough money to meet all their needs. The share of families unable to buy durable goods is 47.6%. 10% of the population has enough money for food, but finds it difficult to pay for utilities and buy clothes.

sberbank and vtb bank have stopped providing family mortgages to russians for the purchase of real estate, as they have run out of money under the government program.

The state of the housing and utilities sector in russia is deteriorating. In particular, 470 residential buildings in novosibirsk are without heat and hot water due to an accident at the pumping station of the CHP-4.

head of the human rights council under the president of russia fadeev has said that there are no political repressions in russia like under stalin, but there are “sanitary measures”.

The European Parliament's statement on the upcoming elections in the rb says that elections held in the current atmosphere of fear and repression, under conditions that contradict all internationally recognized standards, without the possibility for belarusians living abroad to exercise their right to vote and run as candidates, without a transparent vote counting system and without the participation of international observers cannot be considered fair and free.

Compared to other EAEU member states, prices for agricultural products in the rb have increased the most over the year – by 9.7%.

According to the report of the ministry of healthcare, the birth rate in the rb in 2023 was 6.96 per 1,000 people, the lowest since 1955, and it had not previously fallen below 8.9. As of January 01, 2023, there were 83,575 children under the age of 1, while as of January 01, 2024, there were 76,872.