August 9, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Since February 2022, Ukraine has attracted more than $93 billion in budget support from international partners.

Bulgaria has joined the NATO mission to train Ukrainian military servicemen.

The German concern Rheinmetall AG expects large orders from Ukraine for the production of ammunition, which could exceed EUR 2 billion.

Marcus Faber, the Head of the German Bundestag's Defence Committee, does not consider the possible use of German weapons in the fighting in the rf to be a problem.

Leader of the Social Democratic Party of the FRG Lars Klingbeil supports the plans to deploy long-range US weapons in Germany.

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On August 8, Estonia introduced enhanced customs control on the border with the rf at the Narva, Koidula and Luhamaa checkpoints. According to Prime Minister Kristen Michal, the decision was made in order to prevent transportation of sanctioned goods through Estonia.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen has said that the checkpoint on the border with the rf will not be opened in the near future.

The Prague City Court (Czech Republic) has sentenced russian aleksandr franchetti to five years in prison for creating an organized criminal group that participated in the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The rf’s budget did not receive 1.36 trillion rubles of planned revenues in the first seven months of the year (0.7% of GDP versus 0.5% in the first six months), the ministry of finance of the rf reported.

Due to international sanctions, it has become more difficult for russians to buy foreign currency and replenish their bank accounts in other countries: in June, they transferred 12.2 billion rubles compared to 71.7 billion rubles in May, which was the lowest since September 2021.

In the second quarter of 2024, for the first time in the last two years, online sales of FMCG in the rf declined. In particular, the volume of grocery orders at wildberries decreased by 22.4% compared to the beginning of the year, at ozon – by 7.9%, at “lenta” – by 7.7%, at “kuper” (former “sbermarket”) – by 6.7%, and at “vkusvill” – by 4%.

For more than two years, russian banks have been unable to implement the government's decision to substitute imported equipment. As of July, the transition to russian-made servers and data centers in large banks averaged 75%, in medium-sized banks – 55%, and in small banks – 40%.

In March 2024, the shortage of couriers in the rf amounted to 140 thousand people. According to the forecast of the russian delivery service restomania, by the end of the year, the shortage of employees will increase to 300 thousand.

“rosinkas”, one of the largest cash carriers in the rf, has stopped its own production of armored vehicles for cash collectors due to a shortage of workers and resources.

In the rf, the price of apples for juice and other products to be supplied in September has increased by 45-67%. Processors have already announced their intention to raise the price of apple-based beverages by 30-35%.

In russia, supplies of foreign-made anti-rhesus immunoglobulin, which is essential for pregnant women, have decreased by 71%. As of August 5, there were 65 thousand packages of the medicine left in the rf, with an annual demand of 200-210 thousand. The manufacturer, the Israeli company Kamada, which supplied Kamrow to the rf (which covered 32.5% of the country's needs), terminated its contract with the russian distributor last year.

On August 8, the ministry of agriculture and food of the rb once again raised the minimum export prices for dairy and meat products. Meat should be exported to the EAEU, cis and Georgia at a price not lower than $3.9 for 1 kg, and to other markets – not lower than $3.7 for 1 kg. Cheese will be exported at a price not cheaper than 4.5-4.6 US dollars a kilo, depending on the fat content.

57% of urban residents of the rb count their expenses and income in foreign currency rather than in the official currency.

The kgb of the rb has expanded the list of persons involved in terrorist activities. Nine citizens have been added to the list. The list now includes 1,199 people, 459 of whom are belarusian citizens.

Following the lawsuit filed by the main directorate of justice of minsk city executive committee, the minsk city court decided to liquidate the minsk bicycle society.

The talai foundation has brought another batch of Ukrainian children from the russian-occupied donetsk region to gomel. 43 children will be sent to a children's camp in vitebsk region for 18 days.

According to the prosecutor general's office of the rb, 18 children committed suicide in the first half of the year. This is twice as many as in the same period last year.