Olaf Scholz vows to “do everything” to increase EU military support for Ukraine.

Russian lawmakers on Wednesday adopted a law aimed at confiscating the money and assets of anyone accused of spreading “disinformation” about the military amid the conflict in Ukraine. The text was adopted in the second and third readings, and its final approval was verified by 377 votes in favor and no votes against.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, said that “the law on scoundrels has been adopted.” “This decision will make it possible to punish those who act against their country (…), confiscate their property and their money,” he underlined, assuring that “the majority of Russians” “support the need to punish traitors.” “Those who tarnish the reputation of “our country, its soldiers and its officials” involved in Ukraine.

The text will now go to the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, before its expected promulgation by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to renew the tariff exemption on agricultural goods entering the EU from June, combining it with “safeguard measures” to limit the amount of the most important commodity, in a move fueled by farmers' discontent. .

These “reinforced mechanisms” will make it possible to adopt “rapid corrective measures” in the event of significant disruptions in the European market, including localized ones. For some products – poultry, eggs and sugar – an “emergency break” is planned to “stabilise” imports at average levels in 2022 and 2023 – beyond which tariffs will be reimposed, the European executive indicated.

Russian banks posted record profits last year, fueled by a flow of government-subsidized mortgages, as well as a surge in financing to buy assets sold by Western firms leaving the country, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) indicated in a report on Tuesday. and broadcast by Financial Times. “Despite tough international sanctions aimed at isolating Russia's financial system as punishment for its massive invasion of Ukraine, its banks earned 3.3 billion rubles ($37 billion) in 2023, 16 times more than the previous year,” the document notes.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday ordered military equipment manufacturers to increase production and “stop chaos.” “Look, guys, stop cheating. We took care of this in 2022. In 2023, these machines should be running at full capacity. I want to have a specific plan within a week on how to achieve the indicators. The president (Vladimir Putin) set up … this has to be done, because these orders All are connected to the fulfillment of very specific tasks on the battlefield,” he criticized during a visit to Yekaterinburg, an industrial city in the Urals.

For his part, the director of these production facilities pointed out that the factory has already increased its production sixfold in the last two years.

Russian presidential candidate Boris Nadezhdain, the only opponent of the attacks in Ukraine, submitted the signatures of support needed to register his candidacy for the March 15-17 election. “The signatures have been submitted,” a member of the electoral commission announced, an AFP journalist at the site said.

The man in question supports the “result” of the attack in Ukraine and condemns Vladimir Putin's authoritarian tendencies. He has generated unexpected enthusiasm in recent days, with tens of thousands of Russians rallying to support his candidacy.

The European Union on Wednesday asked for a detailed list of military support for Ukraine, as Kyiv runs out of ammunition to counter the Russian military. “It is important to clarify the situation and know where we are and where we are by the end of March and the end of the year,” European diplomacy chief Joseph Borrell explained before the start of a meeting of EU defense ministers.

The Europeans pledged to deliver one million bombs to Ukraine by the end of March last year, but this target will not be achieved as planned, several ministers acknowledged. Dutch Defense Minister Gajja Ollongren said it would “take a little more time”.

Russia launched a new night strike against Ukraine with 20 drones and three ballistic missiles, the Ukrainian armed forces said on Wednesday, insisting that air defenses downed a dozen devices.

Officials have released little information at this stage on the damage caused by this new attack. However, police in Kharkiv region (east), which borders Russia, indicated that a supermarket and residential houses were damaged during the attack.

The Russian president is said to have a large residence in the Republic of Karelia near the Finnish border. It is the “Dossier Center,” an investigative arm funded by the adversary Mikhail Khodorkovsky, that is releasing videos that support the allegations.

European results. Europe must take “reasonable and courageous” decisions, even “innovative” ones, in the coming months to “accelerate” and increase its military support for Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron announced during a visit to Sweden on Tuesday. “We must be ready to act, protect and support Ukraine no matter what happens”, especially during the US presidential election in November, he stressed.

Cyber ​​attack. On Tuesday, Ukraine said it had launched a cyber attack that knocked out a Russian Defense Ministry server and temporarily disrupted internal communications. The move “neutralized a special communications server of the Russian Ministry of Defense,” the Ukrainian military intelligence service (GUR) claimed in a press release claiming responsibility.

The ICJ has requested The UN's top court will deliver its decision on Wednesday in a case between Ukraine and Russia in which Kiev is accused of sponsoring “terrorism” and “ethnic discrimination” following its annexation of Crimea in 2014. Described in The Hague (Netherlands), Kiev. Moscow is a “terrorist state,” and has said Russian support for separatist rebels was a precursor to the February 2022 invasion.So Ukraine is seeking reparations for attacks attributed to the separatists, including the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in July 2014. 298 people were killed. Note that this issue predates Moscow's invasion of the country.

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