Germany believes that the US bills approved over the weekend on financing Ukraine may be the last. Bundestag deputy Roderich Kiesewetter also noted that Europe will have to compensate for the lack of previous amounts of military assistance from the United States. In addition, the House of Representatives approved $26.4 billion in aid to Israel, as well as humanitarian aid for Gaza. In 2023, global military spending reached $2.44 trillion, which is a record high since 2009. The growth was 6.8%. Ukraine's defense spending is highlighted, which amounted to 37% of the country's GDP (including Western aid) or 91% of Russian spending. According to SIPRI, total global defense spending amounted to 2.3% of global GDP. The leaders were the United States, China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia. For the first time in the last 10 years, Russia has become the main supplier of aluminum to South Korea. Despite attempts by developed economies to exclude Russian products from world trade, in March South Korea significantly increased imports of Russian aluminum, purchasing 39.1 thousand tons. This is the first time since 2014 that Russia has been able to gain leadership in this area – India and Australia have been fighting for leadership for 10 years. Foreign banks continue to stop settlements with Russia – now it is Finca Bank from Kyrgyzstan. The Bank will suspend crediting funds to its customers' accounts through Sberbank Online starting from May 1. And from mid-May, funds will no longer be credited through Tinkoff. Iran is preparing to implement a pilot project to accept Russian Mir cards. Currently, active work is underway on technical aspects to ensure a smooth payment system. The issue of introducing the Mir payment system in Iran is becoming more and more relevant – in 2023, the number of Russian tourists amounted to 10.7 thousand people.
