Page 66 - RusRPTJul22

2.24 Politics - misc
The European Union imposed a Sixth Sanctions Package on June 3 that contains significant new import bans and export restrictions. With a few exceptions, the import of Russian crude oil and petroleum products into the EU by sea is completely banned. Oil pipelines will be excluded from the ban for the time being, but the largest importing countries, Germany and Poland, have announced their voluntary renunciation. The ban will take effect in early December for crude oil and early February 2023 for petroleum products. The ban on coal imports was already decided in April in the context of the fifth package of sanctions. So far, imports of natural gas from Russia are not subject to restrictions.
The ban on oil imports will be strengthened by banning the purchase, brokerage, financing and insurance of Russian oil transportation. The UK's accession to the ban on insurance makes it very difficult to insure tankers carrying Russian oil in the world's seas. The EU also extended its export restrictions, e.g. business services and chemical products. The ban on oil imports and export restrictions is intended to significantly cut Russia's export revenues and the federal budget revenues. Thus, they undermine Russia's chances of continuing its offensive war in Ukraine.
In addition, the EU decided to ban the provision of payment intermediation services to three major Russian banks (Sberbank, Rosselhozbank and Credit Bank of Moscow). The decision means excluding them from the SWIFT messaging system for international payments.
The G7 allocates up to $5B for food security. The G7 countries have agreed to mobilize more than $4.5B to counter Russian-caused food instability, which could put 20 million people on the brink of starvation, announced the White House. More than half of that money will come from the United States. President Joe Biden will announce additional funding of $2.76B to help protect the world's most vulnerable populations. Of that nearly $2.8B, $2B will be used to save lives through emergency interventions, and $760M will be spent on short-term food aid to alleviate further growth in poverty and hunger in vulnerable countries affected by high prices for food, fertilizers, and fuel. In 2022, up to 40 million people might find themselves in poverty due to Putin's war in Ukraine.
The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, adopted a law providing for legalisation of parallel import of goods to the country at its meeting on June 22. The law states that the use of the exclusive right to the results of intellectual activity, expressed in goods and identifications such goods are marked with, is not a violation. The law protects Russian companies that import goods without the permission of the right holder from possible civil, administrative and criminal liability. In early May,
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