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

“I think that the momentum for enlargement (of the EU) is stronger now than ever before, because the geopolitical dimension is part of every discussion today. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to give a clear answer and perspective to Moldova, Ukraine, and the Balkans, because we need stability in this region,” said Minister of State for Europe at the Federal Foreign Office of Germany Günter Krichbaum.

Minister for European Affairs of Denmark Marie Bjerre believes that separating Moldova and Ukraine on the path to the EU would be unfair to Ukraine.

Ireland, which will hold the EU presidency in a year, promises to support the process of joint accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the EU.

56 % of EU citizens support further enlargement of the European Union.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas believes that it is up to Ukraine to decide how the war started by russia should end, while the overall strategy should be to ensure that our country wins this struggle.

Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz believes that the most reliable security guarantee for Ukraine is support for its Armed Forces.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said that diplomatic efforts regarding Ukraine are focused on two directions: organizing a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and putin, and security guarantees for Ukraine.

President of Finland Alexander Stubb has said that progress has been made on the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine.

The United Kingdom will continue the Ukraine Permission Extension program to help Ukrainian refugees for another 24 months.

Humanitarian aid from Azerbaijan has arrived in Ukraine to support the energy sector. The shipment contains more than 50 items of high- and low-voltage cable products, generators of various capacities, and transformer equipment.

Lithuania intends to join Finland’s initiative to develop a network of shelters in Ukraine.

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Denmark, which currently holds the EU Council presidency, has put forward an initiative that would close possible loopholes for russian gas supplies to the European Union after a complete ban is imposed. According to the proposal, importers will be required to provide national authorities with evidence that the gas was not produced in russia.

Indian oil refinery Nayara Energy, controlled by “rosneft” and the russian United Capital Partners Fund, has lost at least a quarter of its supplies. After the European Union imposed sanctions against it in July, state-owned companies in Saudi Arabia and Iraq stopped supplying raw materials.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicts that President Donald Trump will consider imposing sanctions against russia this week. “putin, starting with the historic meeting in Anchorage, after a phone call when European leaders and President Zelenskyy were at the White House, did the opposite of what he himself had said. What’s more, he has intensified the bombing in a despicable and shameful manner. So, I think that... all options remain on the table, and we will consider them very carefully this week,” said the US Treasury Secretary.

Minister of Defence of Estonia Hanno Pevkur is convinced that the US President’s administration is now less optimistic about russia.

Bundeswehr Inspector General, General Carsten Breuer has said that the Bundeswehr and NATO are preparing for possible emergencies during russian military exercise “Zapad” just in case.

German intelligence agencies are warning the public about russia’s use of social media to recruit people for espionage and sabotage in or against Germany.

The Azerbaijani Parliament’s Commission on Countering Foreign Interference and Hybrid Threats has said that russia has launched a large-scale anti-Azerbaijani information campaign immediately after the broadcast of an interview with the country’s President, Ilham Aliyev, on the Al Arabiya TV channel in Saudi Arabia on August 27. “The campaign makes extensive use of platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X, which are banned or restricted in russia, as well as social media profiles and bots created on behalf of citizens of other countries,” reads the statement.

The growth of russia’s economy is slowing down faster than the government had expected, and this affects the budget, whose deficit will exceed the target this year. Initially, the Ministry of Economic Development had forecast GDP growth of 2.5 % this year, but now the authorities expect only 1.2 %. This is 3.5 times less than a year earlier and even lower than the 1.5 % growth figure announced by Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov.

Almost every second region of the rf is in industrial recession. A sharp decline in industry was recorded in North Ossetia-Alania (-21.8 %), Dagestan (-16.1 %), and Kostroma Region (- 10.4 %). Kalmykia (-9.9 %) and Murmansk region (-8.9 %) also made it into the top five anti-leaders. The industrial decline in each of those regions is linked to the manufacturing sector. More than half of the regions – 44 out of 85 – experienced a decline in construction: in Buryatia, Murmansk, Magadan, and Kostroma regions, it was twofold (about 50 %), and in Kalmykia, construction volumes decreased more than 8 times (-87.7 %). The reasons for this were rising production costs, high interest rates, and declining demand for housing. 40 % of the regions – 35 out of 85 – faced a decline in local budget revenues. In total, the regions lost 223 billion rubles in income tax (-7.8 %) compared to last year. At the same time, the decline was catastrophic in a number of regions: -53.9 % in the Komi Republic, -43.6 % in Karelia, -35.5 % in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and -33.3 % in Chelyabinsk region.

Total wage arrears are growing in russia. At the end of July, this amount doubled year-on-year, having increased from 523 million rubles to 1.7 billion rubles (+25 % in annual terms). The number of employees at risk of dismissal also increased 1.5 times, while the number of jobs in idle time increased by a third.

According to the results of January–June, the share of unprofitable organizations in russia increased by 2.3 % and reached 30.4 % – the maximum since 2020.

Residents of almost half of russian regions cannot afford to buy housing with the help of the state program “Family Mortgage”. In 41 regions of russia, a family with an average income is unable to comfortably service a mortgage for the purchase of a 50 sq. m. apartment. The lowest housing affordability is observed in the Krasnodar and Primorsky Krais, Kaliningrad, Belgorod, Amur, Rostov, Leningrad, Moscow, Samara, Sverdlovsk, and Tyumen regions, as well as in Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Kalmykia.

According to first deputy chairman of the state duma committee on information policy Anton Gorelkin, russia plans to introduce a self-ban on incoming calls from other countries. This will work through the state services portal, just like the self-ban on loans.

In September 2025, about 1.5 million first-graders will sit down at their desks in russian schools. For comparison: in 2024, schools accepted about 1.8 million first-graders, while in 2023 the figure was about 2 million. Thus, in two years, the number of children who went to school for the first time decreased by 25 %.

Against the background of russia’s confrontation with Europe, the number of German and French language teachers in russian schools has decreased sharply. While in 2019, 12,887 teachers taught German, by 2024 there were only 7,348 left, that is by 43 % fewer. The number of teachers of French decreased by 47 % over the same period, from 3,322 to 1,754.

belarus’ neighbors are conducting training exercises against the background of the belarusian-russian military exercise “Zapad-2025”.

The “Iron Defender-25” exercise has officially begun in Poland. The exercise is taking place on land, at sea, and in the air. More than 30,000 military servicemen from Poland and NATO countries are involved, as well as more than 600 pieces of military equipment.

A series of “Perkūno Griausmas 2025” exercise is beginning in Lithuania. It combines several small exercises on the territory of the country, which will last two months. In September-October, about 17,000 servicemen from Lithuania and NATO countries will take part in them. This series will include the “Priedanga-25” maneuvers together with the State Border Guard Service.

Latvia is launching the “Namejs 2025” exercise. About 12,000 Latvian and allied military will take part in them. The exercise will last until October 8. It is organized in cooperation with the headquarters of NATO’s Multinational Division “North”.

In August, EU countries prevented at least 6,685 attempts by migrants to illegally cross the border from belarus.

Overdue debt on loans in rubles as of August 1 reached 303.3 million rubles (284.5 million; a 6.6-fold increase): in the public sector – 44.9 million (35.8 million; +25.4 %); in the private sector – 258.4 million (248.7 million; +3.9 %).

In belarus, the government has introduced state regulation on funeral goods – a markup of up to 70 %, funeral services – profitability of up to 50 %.