Update for the 16th of April, 2022

Economically:

The Russian government allocates 363 billion rubles for benefits for children from low-income families, being sent to a total of more than 5 million children
A bill has been sent to Russia’s State Duma which would tax crypto exchanges at 13% within Russia, and 15% for foreign exchanges.
Belarus prohibits the entry of vehicles registered in the EU.
Russia lowers oil production by 6% from March to April.
Annual inflation in Russia increases, ranging from 7.2% to 21.7% across the oblasts/republics/autonomous zones/idk across Russia.
The Russian military has launched a railway connection from Energodar to Donbass; this is only in test mode right now, but in the future, will be able to transport ore and coal between Russia and Donbass.
Zelensky calls paying for Russian oil ‘blood money’.
Russia keeps grain flowing abroad
Russia, China to boost freight rail traffic

German Economy Minister tells Germans to walk and cycle more, drive less: “Every kilometer traveled is a contribution to making it easier to get away from dependence on Russian energy resources,”
Germans urged to cut back on hot showers to save gas
Germany to spend an addtitional $2.1 billion on military spending, most of which is for Ukraine.
Britain to ramp up gas transit to Europe. And yet energy prices have already skyrocketed?

Turkish Airlines allows for its tickets to be paid for in rubles
Cambodia and Nepal look to deepen economic ties.
Greg Abbott ends the rule that left trucks waiting for hours to cross Mexican border.
India’s largest company may buy Walgreens.
Nakedcapitalism: The global fertilizer shortage is already causing havoc in Latin America
Nakedcapitalism: US natural gas prices to spike as exports boom.
A couple days old, but: Russia’s Sergey Glazyev introduces the new global financial system
Semiconductor average lead time breaks half-year barrier
Union Pacific Curtails Fertilizer Shipments, Delaying Deliveries and Preventing New Rail Orders from Being Taken
Mexico’s congress will decide on Sunday whether to give the government near-total control over the country’s electricity sector

Attitudes towards various countries have shifted dramatically in Russia: positive opinion of the EU shifts from 37% -> 21% pre/post invasion, negative opinion 48% -> 67%; 78% have a negative view of NATO now; 57% have a negative view of Ukraine (30% positive); 87% have a positive view of Belarus, 83% have a positive view of China, reaching a new height.
Putin just signed into law that bill I was talking about the other day, where you can be fined for equating the USSR and Nazi Germany.

Serbs gather in Belgrade in a rally in support of Russia.
Protestors in Moldova protesting the ban of the St. George ribbon brought red banners and chanted “Fascism will not pass.”
Pope Francis: “Refugees are divided into first and second classes - by skin color, depending on where they come from — from a developed or underdeveloped country. We are racists, and this is bad,”
Russia bans Boris Johnson from entering the country.
Article on the IPEF, the economic framework designed by the US to counter China in the Asia-Pacific.
Psaki confirms that Biden is not going to go to Ukraine, after he claimed that he would.
Finland joining NATO is “highly likely” and “hopefully swift”, says Finnish Minister.
German EU official claims that Russians don’t value human life and thus aren’t Europeans. Let’s go ask the former European colonies if they think that Europeans value human life.
China’s Ukraine Response Is All About the US (Not Russia). In the long term, China is intent on using the Ukraine conflict to erode U.S. leadership and sow division in transatlantic relations.
Latvia plans to ban the participation in the elections of parties that have not condemned the Russian special operation in Ukraine.
Putin and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia spoke on the phone, discussed Ukraine and Yemen, and expressed mutual commitment to the development of mutually beneficial ties between the countries.

Antony Blinken says that the fighting may last until the end of the year; Russia says that it will not delay the special operation and it will end “soon”.
Zelensky claims 3000 Ukrainians killed and 10,000 injured so far. But what about the billions killed in Mariupol?
Zelensky says that the world should be ready for Putin to use tactical nuclear weapons.
The Ukrainian conflict is a U.S./NATO Proxy War, but one which Russia is poised to win decisively
The Vizar factory near Kiev that produced components for the S-300 and Neptune systems has been destroyed.
British forces have been training with Ukrainian battalions since the war has begun.
Russian tactical bombers spotted flying over Ukraine.
Ukrainian position hit by something huge - so big that the sound of the explosion lasted for 30 seconds.
Two American Switchblade UAVs attacked Russian positions but did not cause any damage.
Ukrainian Su-25 shot down near Izyum.
Lots of explosions. Airfields, Ukrainian positions, Kiev, Lviv, Kharkov, etc.

Ukraine attempts to hit the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant with missiles, which were shot down by the Russians. This is one of the few remaining crossing points of the river across to Kherson and beyond for hundreds of kilometers, making it a crucial bottleneck.
Russian bombers strikes an industrial area of Mariupol. This is the first recorded use of Tu-22M3 long-range bombers by Russia, and they fly too high for almost anything that Ukraine possesses or has been given by NATO to hit them without great difficulty.