Chronicle of world's economic war against Russia: customs revenue fell by half

Author

Valery Moiseev

After the attack on Ukraine, Russia faced economic problems and sanctions from many countries and international organizations. In Russia itself, the authorities call it an economic war. has prepared a selection of the latest reports on April 22.

Economy

The IMF estimates that Indonesia will overtake Russia in terms of share in global GDP in 2024. In 2021, Russia was the world's sixth largest economy, behind China, the United States, India, Japan and Germany. In 2024, Russia's share of world GDP will fall to 2.52%, and Indonesia's share will rise to 2.61%.

During the 20 days of April, the Federal Customs Service transferred 258 billion rubles to the budget according to the plan for the whole month of 536 billion rubles. Now the daily payments are twice less than the required amount: they had to transfer 22 billion rubles, and in fact — 11.5 billion rubles.

The American publishing house Marvel has stopped issuing licenses for the production of its comics to publishing houses from Russia. Works, the rights to the publication of which were acquired earlier, will be published.

The Swedish company Essity, which produces hygiene products, has announced the start of its departure from Russia. It owns the brands Zewa, Libresse, Leukoplast, Tork. In 2021, Essity's net sales in Russia were $ 290 million, which is 2% of the company's total sales.

The Belgian brewing concern Anheuser-Busch InBev has decided to sell its stake in the Russian brewing company AB InBev Efes. It is negotiating with its Turkish partner, Anadolu Efes. At the same time, the company intends to revoke its license to produce Bud beer in Russia. In addition, Anheuser-Busch InBev reported that it brings the Ukrainian beer brand Chernihivske to the markets of Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Austria and other countries. All proceeds from the sale of this beer will go to humanitarian aid.

Swedish bearing manufacturer SKF has announced its withdrawal from Russia. He will sell his business in the country. SKF is one of the largest bearing manufacturers in the world. Sales in Russia accounted for about 2% of the group's total turnover in 2021.

In March, the volume of microloans in Russia fell by 22%. In some companies, profitability is close to zero. The decrease in the issuance of microloans is associated not only with a decrease in demand, but also with an increase in risk policy.

Sanctions

The British government will impose an embargo on the supply of silver, timber and high quality products (including caviar) from Russia and increase by 35% customs duties on 96 goods from Russia and Belarus. These include diamonds, rubber, live animals, food, clothing, vehicles, musical instruments and more.

The Office for the Implementation of Financial Sanctions of the United Kingdom (OFSI) has allowed payments to Gazprombank or its branches under gas supply contracts with the European Union. The license is valid for servicing contracts signed before April 21 and is issued until May 31.

Despite the restrictions, Russia has increased oil supplies to Europe by tankers to 1.6 million barrels per day against 1.3 million in March, according to TankerTrackers. There are some indications that sanctions circumvention schemes are being used in supplies. Now oil from Russian ports is increasingly being transported by tankers marked "destination unknown". The share of such deliveries in April was 40%. Such schemes have already been used by Iran and Venezuela: oil is delivered to large tankers, where it is mixed with oil from other sources. Eventually, new varieties of oil products appear on the market, such as the "Latvian mixture" and the "Turkmen mixture".

Society

The Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) has suspended Russia's status as an observer in the organization due to the war in Ukraine. No state voted against, eight countries abstained: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Latvian Parliament has approved amendments to deprive of citizenship those who support or participate in war crimes, genocide and actions that threaten democratic countries. The amendments were developed after calls to cancel the passport of Russian billionaire Petr Aven.

Approximately 93% of Russian veterinary clinics are currently deficient in drugs and vaccines for animals.

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan said that Russian citizens cannot open bank cards of international payment systems in the country through third parties. Earlier it was reported that a number of travel companies in Russia are launching tours to Uzbekistan, the purpose of which is to issue Russian citizens with bank cards of Visa and Mastercard payment systems.

The authorities of St. Petersburg have allocated 8.6 billion rubles in the city budget for 2022 for the program, which aims to "concentrate the efforts of the state system to achieve public consent and positive mood of citizens living in St. Petersburg, on socio-political and socio-economic issues of city life".

Conde Nast (Vogue, GQ, Glamor, and Tatler) is closing down in Russia.

InStyle magazine will no longer be published in Russia. Licensee Dotdash Meredith revoked it.

The OnlyFans platform where sers post erotic content on a paid subscription has suspended Russian accounts.

The international alcohol company Edrington has stopped supplying all its products to Russia. It produces single malt whiskey The Macallan, Highland Park, The Glenrothes and The Famous Grouse.

From April 25, all Russian airlines will be disconnected from the World Tracer system, designed for global baggage retrieval. This system is used by all IATA member airlines. There are 2,800 airports among its members.

Despite the trend

An airline MGA Aviation will be set up in Antalya, Turkey, to transport tourists to Mediterranean resorts. Four aircraft will be used for the flights: two Boeing 737-900 and two Boeing 777. It is reported that this airline is connected with the largest Russian charter carrier Azur air. Earlier, in mid-April, Turkey announced the creation of a new airline Southwind as part of a three-stage "road map" to attract Russian tourists to the country.

Adobe, which had previously announced a shutdown in Russia, has allowed existing customers to renew their product licenses. The ban only applies to new purchases and the extension of existing contracts with corporate clients.