Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

NATO and the United States have reached an agreement on supplying Ukraine with weapons. “We make the best equipment, the best missiles, the best of everything. The European nations know that,” said Trump. “And today we have signed an agreement according to which we will supply them with weapons, and they (NATO) are going to be paying for it,” said US President Donald Trump. At the same time, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte pointed out that “Ukraine will be able to receive a really huge amount of military equipment, both for air defense and missiles and ammunition.”

US President Donald Trump intends to provide Ukraine with up to 17 Patriot air defense systems. “We’re going to send them (Ukraine) Patriots, which they desperately need. Some of them will arrive very soon – in fact, within days. Several countries that have Patriots are going to “exchange” them, and we will replace the Patriots with the ones they have,” he explained.

US President Donald Trump has said that the United States will impose tough sanctions on russia if no agreement on peace in Ukraine is reached within 50 days. “We are very, very unhappy with them (russia). We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 per cent, you’d call them secondary tariffs (tariffs against russia’s trading partners)”, he added.

A representative of the government of the FRG has said that discussions are underway in Europe to purchase “more than three” Patriot air defense systems from the United States for Ukraine.

The European Commission has agreed to grant Ukraine access to the “Roam like at Home” policy, which will allow Ukrainians to use mobile communications in the EU without paying roaming fees.

The Compensation Commission, which will deal with payments to Ukrainians affected by russia’s aggression under the Council of Europe mechanism, is to start working in 2026.

Lithuania is launching a two-month charity campaign Dronaton, initiated by the NGO Blue/Yellow, which aims to raise EUR 1 million to purchase drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent insists on radical measures against frozen russian assets. This has been reported by Senator Lindsey Graham. “The Europeans propose to limit the transfer of interest from those funds to Ukraine, while Bessent insists on more radical measures,” he said. According to him, the Congress may pass the most significant package of restrictions in the history of the country. The Senator has also said that Europe will start receiving a huge amount of weapons that can help Ukraine, and that russia and its allies will face strong sanctions.

President of France Emmanuel Macron has called for a significant increase in defense spending, in particular because of the threat from russia.

Latvia proposes to include russian fertilizers and fish in the next package of EU sanctions.

The volume of overdue loans to individuals in russia has reached 1.5 trillion rubles, a record for the last six years. These are mostly loans issued in late 2023 – early 2024 at high rates by risky borrowers. The number of non-performing loans increased by RUB 400 billion in May compared to the same period last year.

The volume of public procurement of new and used russian-assembled passenger cars decreased by 15 % in monetary terms to RUB 20.7 billion in the first half of 2025.

Leading medical universities in russia have increased tuition fees for basic programs this year, including General Medicine, Pediatrics, Dentistry, and Pharmacy. On average, prices increased by 30–35 %.

Following potatoes, which became the most expensive food product in the rf in 2024 and has increased in price by 48.47 % since the beginning of this year, other vegetables have also begun to rise rapidly. For example, from January 1 to July 7, carrots rose by 62.6 %, and beets – by 62.4 %. Thus, they topped the list of the vegetables rapidly getting more expensive.

russia plans to introduce additional state fees for migrants: for issuing or renewing a patent to a foreign citizen or stateless person – 4,200 rubles (2,200 UAH); for extending the validity of a work permit – 4,200 rubles (2,200 UAH); for issuing a duplicate patent or work permit, making changes to them – 2,100 rubles (1,100 UAH).

The volume of investments in real estate in St. Petersburg and Leningrad region in the first half of 2025 amounted to RUB 55.3 billion. This is almost by 24 % less than in the first half of 2025.

The average increase in the cost of a square meter in russia on the secondary market has been 5 % since May 2024. The indicator increased over the year in 67 regions of russia. The most noticeable growth was recorded in Kursk region, the price for a square meter increased by 26 % compared to May. Second is the Republic of Altai (+21 %). Udmurtia is third (+16 %).

In 2025, the growth rate of the russian advertising market may slow down to 20 %. The main reason is inflation.

Despite the RUB 300 rise in wheat prices, there is no profitability from exports due to rising purchase prices at ports amid an increase in low-quality supply from farmers. The drought also affected the quality of corn and sunflower.

Exports of grain crops by Novorossiysk Grain Terminal LLC decreased by 19 % compared to the 2023/2024 agricultural season.

The russian stock market on the Moscow Exchange declined on July 14 amid the deterioration in the external stock market and the risks of new anti-russian sanctions by the West. The leading stocks in the pullback were Aeroflot (-3.6 %), NOVATEK (-1.7 %), Sistema (-1.6 %), FosAgro (-1.6 %), Moscow Exchange (-1.5 %), and Sberbank (-1.5 %), LUKOIL (-1.4 %), Inter RAT (-1.4 %), ALROSA (-1.1 %), Tatneft (-1 %), Surgutneftegaz (-0.9 %), MTS (-0.9 %), NLMK (-0.7 %), Rosneft (-0.7 %), T-Technology (-0.6 %).

Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM)’s data show that russian citizens are becoming increasingly unaware of what actions are immoral and what are not. According to a survey conducted by state sociologists in June, 30 % of russians found it “difficult to answer” the question of what act, in their opinion, is an example of the most immoral behavior. Compared to 2005 (15 %), the share of respondents who could not name a single immoral act has doubled. russians’ loyalty to lies, meanness, duplicity and hypocrisy has increased dramatically: while 20 years ago, 25 % of respondents chose these actions as examples of immorality, now only 15 % do.

The Eurasian Development Bank expects inflationary pressures in belarus to persist and price growth to remain elevated until the end of the year. This is stated in the weekly review of the economies of the Bank’s member countries.

The police in belarus have moved to a new level in their efforts to “cultivate” citizens who are on the “unemployed in the economy” list. The unemployed are now summoned to so-called “group preventive measures” (where they are forced to find official employment) not by “notices of appearance”, as before, but by summonses.

lukashenko has shifted the blame for belarusian buses’ catching fire in the rf to their poor maintenance by russians.

lukashenko has taught St. Petersburg Governor Beglov about pricing. Prices should be fair. So there is no need to regulate prices. It won’t work anyway. Prices shouldn’t be regulated, but prices should be fair, there should be no unfair prices. lukashenko does not know what fair prices are about, but he knows where to get them.