May 2, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

For the first time in his second term, US President Donald Trump has approved the sale of weapons to Ukraine worth $50 million or more.

Ukraine and the United States have signed an agreement to establish the United States–Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund.

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent has said that the minerals agreement signed with Ukraine is a full-fledged economic partnership which will allow President Donald Trump to negotiate with russia on a stronger footing.

“I personally strongly support Ukraine’s accession to NATO and hope that the United States will change its position on this issue,” said Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen. She added that “from the point of view of Denmark and Europe, the most important thing is to end the war and establish a lasting peace so that russia does not just get a break and cannot attack again.”

EU Diplomacy Chief Kaja Kallas has assured that the European Union has a plan of action to further support Ukraine in case of Hungary’s “veto” of anti-russian sanctions in July.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria Beate Meinl-Reisinger has said that the Austrian Federal Government has made Ukraine’s recovery a priority and introduced special coordinator for Ukraine’s reconstruction Wolfgang Anzengruber.

Luxembourg will replenish the Ukraine Energy Support Fund by EUR 10 million.

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of EU countries have accepted an invitation to visit Ukraine on May 9.

“russia’s systematic torture, ill-treatment and other violations of international humanitarian law require a strong international response,” – Representative on Freedom of the Media of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ian Bratu condemned russia’s ill-treatment and murder of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna.

rf

More than 70 US senators support a bill for “crippling” sanctions against russia. They are proposed to be imposed if moscow does not agree to peace talks.

Gabon and Barbados have refused to fly their flags to ships of the state corporation “sovcomflot”, russia’s largest shipping company, which before the full-scale war owned the world’s largest fleet of Aframax tankers. “In 2022, “sovcomflot” was included in the sanctions lists of the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, and last year dozens of its tankers were sanctioned for transporting oil in violation of Western restrictions.

McDonald’s and Coca-Cola continue to view the russian market as a high-risk area and have no plans to return to the country.

Falling oil prices forced the russian government to hastily adjust the budget. Shortly after the ministry of economic development updated its forecast for this year, reducing the average export price of russian urals oil by 20 % to $60, the ministry of finance revised the main parameters of the budget. Revenues will sharply decline from 40.3 to 38.5 trillion rubles, expenditures will increase from 41.5 to 42.3 trillion rubles, the deficit will more than triple from 1.2 to 3.8 trillion, or from 0.5 % to 1.7 % of GDP. In absolute terms, the deficit was higher only during the pandemic (4.1 trillion), while last year the deficit was 3.5 trillion rubles. In the first three months, expenditures exceeded revenues by RUB 2.2 trillion.

Escalation of international trade wars, a more significant slowdown in the global economy and a tougher sanctions regime that will reduce demand for russian exports are the key external risks for the russian economy, according to the ministry of economic development of the rf.

The russians’ total payment for utility services will increase by 11.9 % this year, by 9.8 % – in 2026, by 7.9 % – in 2027 and by 5.9 % – in 2028. Compared to the original plans (5.4 % next year and 4.8 % in – 2027), the indexation rate will almost double, and the cumulative total for 2025–2028 will be 40.3 %.

Wholesale gas prices for the population, which have already increased by 24 % since the beginning of the war, will be raised by another 10.3 % this year, by 10.6 % – next year, and then by 9 % and 7 % in 2027–2028, respectively. As a result, the payments will increase by 42.2 % in four years, and the cumulative increase since the beginning of the full-scale war will exceed 76 %.

Starting July 1, electricity tariffs for russians will be raised by 12.6 %, and by another 9.3 %  – starting July 2026.

russia’s largest truck manufacturer – kamaz – has reported a net loss of 12.46 billion rubles in the first quarter of 2025. For comparison, last year in January–March, the company made a profit of RUB 1.4 billion. The loss from sales in the first quarter of 2025 amounted to RUB 5.6 billion, compared to RUB 1.2 billion in profit a year earlier.

The rf’s government has introduced a draft law which expands the powers of investigators and inquirers: they may be allowed to temporarily suspend transactions with citizens’ money and accounts without a court order.

The rf wants to rename Volgograd to Stalingrad. The city’s airport has already been officially renamed.

Since the beginning of April, Google has received at least five requests from roskomnadzor to remove queer dating apps from the company’s store.

The European People’s Party (EPP) has adopted a resolution strongly condemning the rb’s new law on freedom of conscience and religious organizations, as well as Article 193-1 of the criminal code, which criminalizes activities on behalf of unregistered organizations. The resolution contains the following demands: to abolish all repressive norms and articles of the law; to release all imprisoned clergymen and political prisoners, including Henrikh Okolotovich, Sergei Rezanovich, Andrzej Yukhnevich and Nikolai Khila; to return confiscated churches, including the Red Catholic Church in Minsk, to the faithful.

Members of the house of representatives of the rb have passed a draft law on amnesty “for Victory Day.” According to preliminary estimates, 7,630 convicts will be pardoned. This is the fourth amnesty since 2020 that does not apply to political prisoners.

As of April 1, there were 234,009 individual entrepreneurs in the rb. This is by 1.4 % fewer than at the beginning of this year. As for the areas of activity, the most noticeable decrease in the number of entrepreneurs was in the “information and communication” industry – by 3.9 %.

The gender gap in the average hourly wage in roubles between men and women is 26.8 %. In 2021, men earned by 24.3 % more than women.

In some shops of the belarusian steel plant in Zhlobin, employees have been sent on unpaid leave. These are the shops that have been hit hardest by EU and US sanctions.

lukashenko has awarded four customs officers for stopping the import of the largest shipment of explosives, which Poland considers a fake.