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Two reports from mid-July 2023 on the war
Summary
A look back at a Russian takeover decree and a South Korean pledge to Kyiv, reported in the days before 20 July 2023.
What did the days leading up to 20 July 2023 reveal about the wider reach of the war in Ukraine? Two reports from that week, one about business and one about diplomacy, offer a partial answer.
On 16 July 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised a temporary state takeover of the shares held in Russia by French agribusiness Danone and by Baltika, the brewer owned by Carlsberg. As reported at the time, the move was part of a wider response to the many private companies that had been reducing their business operations in Russia amid the war. Danone and Baltika were two of those companies.
That reduction in activity sat within a broader pattern. Many private companies had ceased operations in Russia, or donated or matched donations to the Ukrainian government or Ukrainian organisations, in response to Russia's seizure of Ukrainian territory in 2014 and 2022. Others had applied various sanctions.
A day earlier, on 15 July 2023, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol made an unannounced visit to Kyiv. He met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and announced that South Korea would pledge US$150 million in additional aid to Ukraine.
Taken together, the two reports show how the war was being felt beyond the front line: in the decisions of foreign companies operating in Russia, and in the aid commitments of a government in East Asia.
