Progress in the situation in Russia and Ukraine: Putin signed an order to counter Western oil price limits on Russia Zelensky will deliver a State of the Union address
China News Agency, Beijing, December 28th. Comprehensive news: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree on the 27th local time, announcing that he will ban the supply of Russian oil and oil products to countries and regions that limit the price of Russian oil. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the 27th local time that he will deliver a State of the Union address in the near future. The Ukrainian edition of Forbes magazine reported that since February this year, the total assets of the top 20 Ukrainian billionaires have shrunk by more than US$20 billion.
Putin Signs Presidential Decree Against Western Oil Price Limits
Russian TV Today reported on the 28th local time that as a response to the West’s price ceiling on Russian oil, on the 27th local time, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree, announcing that he will ban the supply of Russian oil to countries and regions that limit the price of Russian oil. and petroleum products.
The presidential decree stipulates that if a price-limiting mechanism is directly or indirectly introduced into the supply and marketing contract, the Russian side will prohibit the delivery of Russian oil and oil products to foreign entities and individuals. In exceptional circumstances, the President may impose case-by-case exemptions.
According to reports, the above-mentioned presidential decree will take effect from February 1, 2023 and will be valid until July 1, 2023. From the effective date of this order, the supply of Russian oil to the relevant countries is prohibited; the effective time of the oil product supply ban will be determined by the Russian government, but not earlier than the effective time of the presidential decree.
Earlier, Russia also said that it may cut oil production by 5% to 7% in early 2023.
In early December, EU member states reached an agreement on setting a price ceiling of US$60 per barrel for Russian seaborne oil exports. The Group of Seven and Australia also announced the implementation of the same price cap policy as the European Union. The price limit policy came into effect on December 5.
Zelensky to deliver State of the Union address soon
On the 27th local time, Ukrainian President Zelensky said in a routine video speech that he will deliver a state of the nation address to the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine in the near future, summarizing the external and internal situation of Ukraine, and confirming that Ukraine is in the new Goals to be achieved during the year.
The day before, Zelensky said in a routine video speech that there is still a power shortage throughout Ukraine, and power outages are still continuing. As of the evening of the 26th local time, about 9 million people in several areas of Uzbekistan were without power, but the number of people affected by the power outage and the duration of the power outage are gradually decreasing.
According to Ukrainian media reports, on the 28th local time, the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and several areas in the central and eastern Ukrainian air defense sirens sounded.
According to Forbes, the total assets of Ukrainian billionaires have shrunk sharply
The Ukrainian edition of Forbes magazine reported on the 27th local time that compared with the beginning of February this year, the total net worth of the top 20 Ukrainian billionaires has shrunk by more than 20 billion US dollars.
According to the report, the current total assets of these Ukrainian tycoons are 22.5 billion US dollars. The richest man is still Rinat Akhmetov, the boss of the Mining and Metallurgical Investment Group, but his assets have plummeted to US$4.4 billion from US$13.7 billion in February. Ranked second and third are the co-founders of the IT company Grammarly, Litvin and Shevchenko. Their respective fortunes have dropped from US$4 billion in February to US$2.3 billion at present.
Also among the top 20 Ukrainian richest people is former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, whose assets have shrunk to $730 million from $1.6 billion in February.
Russian foreign ministry accuses NATO of distributing ‘digital weapons’ through Ukraine
According to a report by the Russian Satellite News Agency on the 28th local time, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the number of cyber attacks against Russia will increase by 80% in 2022. “NATO is essentially distributing ‘digital weapons’ through Ukraine unsupervised, with unforeseen consequences globally.”
According to the report, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that in 2022, Russia will successfully intercept more than 25,000 cyber attacks targeting state resources and 1,200 targeting critical infrastructure. In 2021, the main targets of attackers were financial institutions, and in 2022, state institutions suffered the main attacks.
“The vast majority of cyber attacks against Russia are launched from NATO, EU member states, and Ukraine,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Kyiv has actually lost its “digital sovereignty,” and Ukraine’s “cyber army” is essentially a tool of NATO.