Chronicle of world’s economic war world against Russia: Hundreds of trucks are stuck at the border

Author

Valery Moiseev

After attacking Ukraine, Russia has faced economic problems and sanctions from a lot of countries and international organizations. In the Russian Federation itself, the authorities call it an economic war. has prepared a compilation of the latest posts about this as of May 3.

Economy

The sanctions-driven crisis entails major risks for the human capital and job market in Russia, researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences reported. They predict the growth of partial employment, when employees get lower wages without being fired; the increased incidence of employer misconduct; the outflow of migrants, and the rising crime rate.

The U.K.’s BP has rid its European refineries of Russian oil, said the company’s CEO. BP owns four refineries in Europe: in Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands.

The U.S. Treasury Department authorized transactions with Gazprom Germania until September 30, 2022.

In Alexandroupolis, northern Greece, the construction of a floating LNG terminal was launched, which will not only help supply energy resources but change Europe’s energy map, said the Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The LNG terminal with a capacity of 5.5 billion cubic meters per year is expected to become operational in 2023. The incoming gas can be distributed to the markets of Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and North Macedonia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The European Union will seek to step up cooperation with African countries to help replace imports of Russian natural gas and reduce dependence on the RF by almost two-thirds this year. Nigeria, Senegal, and Angola offer largely untapped potential for liquefied natural gas.

The EU intends to sign a trilateral memorandum of understanding with Egypt and Israel to boost LNG supplies to Europe by summer this year.

The European Union plans to support the doubling of the capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor, which brings gas from Azerbaijan, to 20 billion cubic meters per year.

VR Group, Finland's national railway operator, has announced that it will sell its assets in Russia. The company has begun the termination of transport contracts with its Russian counterpart. In April, VR Group reported that freight traffic between Russia and Finland would cease completely by the end of the year.

Italy can cut off its dependence on Russian gas supply by the second half of 2024, the Italian Minister For Ecological Transition said.

Finnish PPG, of which Tikkurila is a part, winds down its operations in Russia. Since the war began, they made an immediate decision to refrain from sales to Russian state-owned entities and parties in the aerospace market.

Famur, a Polish company, suspended the performance of two contracts for the supply of equipment to customers in the Russian Federation and suspended offering new machinery and equipment to this market. The company produces machinery for mining, the energy sector, transport of bulk materials, and reloading.

More than 450 trucks are waiting for a pass to the Russian Kaliningrad oblast at the Lithuanian border checkpoint in Kybartai. The expected waiting time is not less than 60 hours.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, about 2,000 Yandex employees have left the RF, which makes up about 10% of the staff.

The German Grohe has stopped supplies to the RF. The company is a well-known manufacturer of sanitary fittings, faucets, and accessories.

Sanctions

The sixth package of sanctions against Russia, which would include barring more banks from SWIFT, can be passed at the nearest meetings of the EU Foreign Affairs Council. They will be held on May 10 and 16.

The German Economy Minister said that Germany is ready to support the EU embargo on Russian oil.

Hungary cannot assure the uninterrupted functioning of its economy without Russian oil, said the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. He added that 65% of the country's oil comes from Russia through the Druzhba pipeline.

Slovakia will insist on exemption in case the EU bans Russian oil supplies, said the Minister of Economy. He told that Russia provides 100% of the needs of Slovak consumers in oil.

Society

Geely, a Chinese company, has raised the prices of its cars in Russia by 42-55%. This is the record price increase since the beginning of the year.

TikTok refuted the information that users from Russia could allegedly post their videos on the platform.

Football clubs from Russia and the Russian national team have been banned from participating in UEFA international competitions for the 2022/23 season. Russia's bid to host Euro 2028 or Euro 2032 has been rejected.

Russian residents will not be able to vote for participants of the Eurovision Song Contest, because this year Russia’s not taking part in the event – it has been excluded for a year due to the war in Ukraine.

The Bolshoi Theater in Moscow canceled performances of the ballet "Nureyev" directed by Kirill Serebrennikov and the opera "Don Pasquale" by Timofey Kulyabin scheduled on May holidays. Previously, both directors have spoken out against the war in Ukraine and left the RF.