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FNPR Newsletter. March 29, 2022

29.03.2022

335

March 29, 2022

On March 24, it has been a month since the beginning of a special military operation of the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine. On this occasion, I would like to provide you with up-to-date information about what is happening from the standpoint of the Russian trade union movement.

Public opinion polls conducted last week by the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) show that the level of support for the operation has increased by 9% compared to February 24 reaching 74% of Russian citizens (VCIOM findings as of 23/03/2022). Trade union attitudes towards the operation have not changed over the past time: by our estimates, the actions of the country's leadership are supported by up to 90% of the FNPR membership.

Despite certain problems — the rise in prices for some goods and products caused by bans and restrictions from the so-called "Сollective West" countries led by the United States, 61% of Russian citizens believe that their Government is taking necessary measures to reduce negative consequences of such unlawful and unilateral actions aimed at undermining our country's economy.

We feel increased tension in the labour market, certain reduction in the number of jobs, but so far these phenomena have not become widespread, and the general situation in the labour market remains calm.

The government of Russia, together with employers and trade unions, are carefully developing ways to preserve the jobs that may be eliminated after the withdrawal of Western companies from Russia. The range of measures discussed is very broad — from the external management of such enterprises right up to the nationalisation of critical industries.

One of the steps being considered in the financial sphere is a partial transfer of foreign trade deals between Russian enterprises and those from unfriendly countries for payments in roubles, which in fact means a gradual rejection of the settlements with them in dollars and euros.

These and other forced measures taken in response to unprecedented external pressure inevitably lead to a global economic crisis, signs of which are already visible in many countries of the world. Our country made every possible effort to prevent slipping into economic chaos, but the United States and its European allies have rejected all the proposed options, thereby, according to many experts and analysts, accelerating the end of the era of the unipolar world, the hegemony of the dollar and the imposition of their own economic, political, social and cultural rules and conceptions.

As regards the progress of the Special Military Operation, on March 25, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defence held a briefing on its results over the past month. In general, our armed forces have successfully coped with the task set for the first stage of the operation, it will continue until the set goals are achieved.

During the briefing, the original documents of the Ukrainian National Guard Command were demonstrated, testifying to the preparation by the Ukrainian armed forces for a massive offensive planned for February 28, 2022 on the territories of Donbass beyond their control in order to resolve the political issue of their independence by military coercion.

(https://eng.mil.ru/en/special_operation/news/more.htm?id=12414732@egNews)

In the course of studying the documents that fell in the hands of Russian investigators and experts, new details about the activities of the Pentagon-funded chemical and biological laboratories on the territory of Ukraine are emerging. As follows from the documents, since 2015 and until now, about 30 laboratories have been functioning in Ukraine, where the studies of particularly dangerous human and animal diseases were conducted under the supervision of US military biologists. According to Russian experts and military specialists, it is precisely these facts that may explain the foci of infectious diseases of humans and animals that occurred over these years in Ukraine and the adjacent territories of Russia сausing group fatalities among the population and massive loss of livestock.

(https://eng.mil.ru/en/special_operation/news/more.htm?id=12414584@egNews)

The latest official statements by the military expressly refer to the involvement of the U.S. President's son Hunter Biden in the financing of these laboratories through financial mechanisms under his control.