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

The United States is negotiating with a number of countries to supply Ukraine with Patriot air defense systems.

“We also want to work together with Germany to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense, namely to counter the unmanned aerial vehicles with which the russians terrorize civilians,” said Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala.

“We restate our resolute condemnation of russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which constitutes a manifest violation of international law, in particular the UN Charter... We will continue to put pressure on russia, including through sanctions and measures aimed at tackling circumvention”, says the leaders’ joint statement following the EU-Japan summit.

As of July 2025, the Ukraine Energy Support Fund has accumulated more than EUR 1.15 billion from 33 donor countries.

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US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has said that sanctioning russian oil “is a very real possibility”.

Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala has stressed that the Czech Republic has got rid of dependence on russian fossil energy carriers, in particular gas.

India’s Reliance Industries has begun diversifying its sources of oil purchases to reduce dependence on russia.

The Internet giant Google has reported the removal of more than 2,000 YouTube channels related to russia as part of the struggle against disinformation. According to the company, the deleted accounts published content in different languages that promoted a pro-russian position, criticized Ukraine, NATO and Western countries.

By 2026, Lithuania may gradually give up russian as a second foreign language in schools.

russia’s citizens involved in the construction of Türkiye’s Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in Mersin province have joined the protests of other workers that broke out over non-payment of wages. They stopped being paid salaries in early July. Problems arose back in May, against this background, the staff at the construction site was reduced from 12 to 3 thousand people.

To additionally finance the state’s spending on the war against Ukraine and the work of law enforcement agencies, the amount of which already amounts to 40 % of the federal budget, it is necessary to release a reserve of 2 trillion rubles a year by cutting “inefficient spending”, said chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Budget and Financial Markets Artamonov.

In the first six months of 2025, russia imported 149.3 thousand cars, compared to 408.5 thousand cars for the same period last year. The imports decreased  by 63 %. Most of the cars were imported by the rf from China (77%), Kyrgyzstan is second in terms of supply (8%).

The volume of supply of apartments in residential complexes under construction in the rf in the first half of 2025 increased by 12 % in annual terms, to 22 million square meters. Sales fell by 26 % to 10.4 million square meters.

russian developers reduced the purchase of furniture for apartments by 20-25 % over the year, to 70–75 billion rubles. The decline is due to the abolition of preferential mortgages and a decrease in demand for furnished housing.

The share of mortgage denied to russians increased in June – now more than half of applications are not approved. In May, when the share of refusals increased for the first time this year, the figure was 45.7 %.

Starting from the 2026-2027 academic year, a new subject will be introduced in russian schools – “Spiritual and Moral Culture of russia”. As part of the subject, schoolchildren will get acquainted with the life paths and views of state, public and cultural figures, as well as participants in the invasion of Ukraine – by their example, schoolchildren will have to “root traditional values”.

A rapid increase in serious crimes in russia is recorded against the background of the return of tens of thousands of soldiers from the war against Ukraine. In the first six months of 2025, 333,251 crimes under grave and especially grave articles were registered, which is a record figure for the last 15 years. For comparison: during the same period in 2024, 301,746 such crimes were recorded, which means an increase of 10.4 %. During the three years of the full-scale war, russian soldiers and officers who returned from the front killed and maimed at least 750 people.

The draft law submitted to the state duma of the rf on year–round conscription for military service will result in russians’ losing the legal opportunity to evade military service.

The Border Service of the fsb of russia has gained access to the register of military records with electronic summonses. Now russians of conscription age will be additionally checked for a summons to the military commissariat during passport control at airports and at the border. If a summons is detected, travel abroad will be denied.

In russia, deputy governor of Bryansk region Nikolai Symonenko has been detained in a criminal case on the construction of defensive fortifications. Bryansk region has become the third and last region actually bordering Ukraine, where officials were caught in corruption during the construction of defence structures.

Active promotion of VPN services on foreign platforms is not just a struggle for freedom of access to information, but purposeful actions of Western countries allegedly aimed at destabilizing the situation in russia, – said minister of digital development, communications and mass media Shadayev.

In the regions of russia, the difference between the maximum and minimum average wages has reached a record 182 thousand rubles. For example, in Chukotka, they are ready to pay 223 thousand rubles, in Ingushetia – 41 thousand rubles. In the north of the rf, high salaries are due to developed industry and a shortage of personnel. And in the south, wages are restrained by high unemployment, seasonality and shadow employment. As a result, doctors, teachers, and technical workers leave poor regions. Analysts predict that the wage gap will grow.

The Supreme Court of russia has recognized the “International Satanism Movement” as extremist. Followers of the movement “adhere to the general principles of Satanism”, use uniform symbols and attributes, and perform occult rites. The movement is closely associated with manifestations of radical nationalism and neo-Nazism”, the prosecutor general’s office said. There is no “International Satanism Movement”. Earlier, the Supreme Court has already recognized as “extremist” the International LGBT Public Movement, the AUE and “Columbine” movements, which do not exist either.

Relatives of prisoners in russian prisons report systematic beatings, the aim of which is to forcibly persuade convicts to sign contracts with the ministry of defense for further going to the war against Ukraine. Mass cases of violence have been recorded in colonies in at least three regions – in the Volga region, Central russia and Siberia.

acting deputy prime minister of the Trans-Baikal Territory and former minister of road construction of the region Goncharov has said that he became a participant in a car accident in which a woman died due to the “poor condition of the road”.

A case has been opened against the Khabarovsk regional children’s library under the administrative article “participation in the activities of an undesirable organization”. The reason was the placement of the book “Especially protected territory of the Khabarovsk Territory”  with the emblem of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on the old version of the institution’s website. The prosecutor general’s office recognized WWF as an “undesirable organization” in June 2023, having accused the Fund of allegedly interfering with the “implementation of russia’s political course”.

After the cleansing of the media space, liquidation of dozens of civil society organizations, and political persecution of thousands of people, belarusian authorities have moved to a new phase of control of society – silent repression. Silence about the facts of persecution has become part of state policy: people are persecuted quietly, without high-profile verdicts and demonstrative cases. A new phase of terror works through silence, intimidation and fear.

Pakistanis who go to work in belarus will sign an obligation that they will fulfill a work contract and will not participate in illegal migration. This is stated in the standard operating procedure developed by the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment of Pakistan. According to the Bureau, belarus is experiencing an “acute shortage of skilled and semi-skilled labor” and has offered to employ up to 150 thousand Pakistanis.