Progress in the situation in Russia and Ukraine: Putin signed order to counter Western oil price limits to Russia Zelensky to deliver State of the Union address
China News Agency, Beijing, December 28 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 petroleum products to countries and regions that restrict the price of Russian oil. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the 27th local time that he will give 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 Ukraine’s top 20 billionaires have shrunk by more than $20 billion.
Putin signs presidential decree against Western oil price limits
Russian TV Today reported on the 28th local time that, in response to Western price caps 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 establishes that if a price cap mechanism is introduced directly or indirectly into the supply and marketing agreement, the Russian side will ban the delivery of Russian oil and petroleum products to foreign entities and individuals. In exceptional circumstances, the President may impose exceptions on a case-by-case basis.
The aforementioned presidential decree will reportedly take effect from February 1, 2023 and will be valid until July 1, 2023. As of the effective date of this order, the supply of Russian oil to the affected countries is prohibited; the effective time of the ban on the supply of petroleum products will be determined by the Russian government, but not earlier than the effective time of the presidential decree.
Earlier, Russia also said it could cut oil production by 5% to 7% in early 2023.
In early December, EU member states reached an agreement on setting a maximum price of $60 a barrel for Russian seaborne oil exports. The Group of Seven and Australia have also announced the implementation of the same price cap policy as the European Union. The price limit policy went into effect on December 5th.
Zelensky will soon give a State of the Union address
On the 27th local time, President of Ukraine Zelensky said in a regular video speech that he would give a state of the nation address in the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine in the near future, summarizing Ukraine’s external and internal situation and confirming that the ‘Ukraine is in the new Goals to be achieved during the year.
A day earlier, Zelensky said in a routine video address that there is still a shortage of electricity across Ukraine and power outages continue. As of the evening of the 26th local time, about 9 million people in different areas of Uzbekistan were without electricity, 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 Kiev and several air defense areas in central and eastern Ukraine sounded sirens.
According to Forbes, the total wealth of Ukrainian billionaires has dropped sharply
The Ukrainian edition of Forbes magazine reported on the 27th local time that compared to 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 head of the Mining and Metallurgical Investment Group, but his net worth has dropped to $4.4 billion from $13.7 billion in February. In second and third place are co-founders of computer company Grammarly, Litvin and Shevchenko, whose respective fortunes have fallen from $4 billion in February to $2.3 billion today.
Also among the top 20 richest Ukrainian people is former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, whose assets shrank to $730 million from $1.6 billion in February.
Russia’s 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 said that the number of cyber attacks against Russia will increase by 80% in 2022. “NATO is essentially distributing ‘digital weapons’ through the ‘Ukraine without supervision, with unforeseen global consequences’.
Russia will successfully intercept more than 25,000 cyberattacks against state assets and 1,200 against critical infrastructure in 2022, according to the report, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. In 2021, the attackers’ main targets were financial institutions, and in 2022, state institutions suffered the main attacks.
“The vast majority of cyberattacks against Russia are launched by NATO, EU member states and Ukraine,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Kiv has effectively lost its “digital sovereignty” and the “military computer” of Ukraine is essentially a tool of NATO.
