Page 32 - RusRPTNov23

military and humanitarian aid to Kyiv from the US at $113bn as of the end of September.
Norway has introduced a new sanctions against Russia in order to strengthen the earlier measures and prevent their bypassing, the government said in a statement on Monday citing Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt. The new sanctions correspond in many aspects to the 11th package of sanctions of the EU against Russia and include a prohibition of sales of securities denominated in any currency and of transit of goods and technologies that might raise Russia's military and technological potential across the country.
Ukraine freezes WTO action against Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. Kyiv "put on hold" its complaints against Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary over grain agreements at the World Trade Organization, Ukraine's Trade Representative Taras Kachka said on Oct. 5, as cited by Interfax Ukraine.
Switzerland will pay Ukrainian refugees up to $4,000 to return home.Swiss authorities presented a temporary strategy for the voluntary return home of Ukrainian refugees, as it is planned to cancel the temporary protection status for Ukrainians in 2024 or 2025. In Switzerland, they hope that approximately 70,000 Ukrainians will return home, and 80% will do so voluntarily. To encourage refugees to leave the country before the temporary protection status expires, authorities offered Ukrainians financial assistance from $1,000 to $4,000 per person, depending on the departure time. It is expected that after the cancellation of the S status, 20% (or 14,000) of Ukrainians will want to stay in Switzerland. Swiss authorities are concerned that the longer Ukrainians remain in the country, the less likely they will want to leave.
US bankruptcy filings surge to dangerous levels. The increase in large corporate bankruptcies in the first half of 2023 marked a reversal from a gradual decline in filings since the start of 2021, according to a report released today by Cornerstone Research. Amid constant warnings from financial experts and major investors about the dire state of the US economy and predictions of its even direr future, recent data showed that the number of bankruptcy filings in the country is resembling previous crises. For example, the number of bankruptcy protection filings in the US has reached a "dangerous level" similar to what it was during the Great Recession of 2008 and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
1 in 5 Europe-based Russian spies located in Switzerland. Switzerland is increasingly becoming a base for Russia's secret services, with about 80 Russian spies in the country, according to an investigation by Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung.
32 RUSSIA Country Report November 2023 www.intellinews.com