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

“Our strategy is to build the most powerful Europe possible. And in my eyes, this means enlarging the European Union. There is unity in the EU, 26 countries agree that Ukraine, Moldova and other countries should join the EU,” Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen commented on Ukraine’s strategic partnership with the EU as an alternative to membership.

“In three weeks, a concrete decision will most likely be made at the next European Council”, said Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz regarding the use of blocked russian assets to further assist Ukraine.

Poland has almost entirely switched to importing iron ore from Ukraine, having given up russian supplies.

Council of Europe member states should “do their best to strengthen their deterrence, preparedness and resilience to the threat posed by russia” if they want to have a peaceful future. This is stated in the relevant resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The Council of the EU has extended sanctions against individuals and companies from russia responsible for hybrid destabilizing actions abroad against the European Union, including interference in the information sphere. Sanctions against individuals responsible for russia’s information manipulations abroad have been extended for a year.

President of France Emmanuel Macron has said that European states will begin to interfere with vessels from russia’s “shadow fleet” when they enter their waters. He added that the Chiefs of General Staffs of European countries, in coordination with NATO, will meet in the coming days to “develop joint actions in the coming weeks to implement a policy of interdiction of the ‘shadow fleet’.”

Director of the Defence Intelligence Service of Denmark Thomas Ahrenkiel has said that russia is waging a hybrid war against Denmark to stop it from supporting Ukraine.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Baiba Braže has emphasized that in the issue of the probable downing of russian fighters in NATO airspace, important are not the talks about “red lines”, but rather clear procedures and their implementation.

The American Citibank – one of the largest Western banks in the russian market and one of the top 20 in russia in terms of assets – is winding down its business completely. Starting November 1, Citi’s russian subsidiary (Citibank) will stop accruing interest income and supporting (opening, managing, and maintaining) all savings and growth accounts. Last year, the bank stopped servicing all of its debit cards, as well as stopped operations under the Central Bank’s Rapid Payment System, transfers, cash withdrawals at terminals, and QR code purchases. In November 2024, the bank closed its last branch working with retail customers.

A performance by pro-putin russian opera singer Netrebko was canceled in Romania.

The russian federal budget’s commodity revenues continue to decline. In September, the treasury received 582.5 billion rubles in taxes from oil and gas, which is by 25 % less than in the same month a year ago. The cumulative result of the beginning of the year is that the flows of raw material rents have decreased by 1.7 trillion rubles to 6.6 trillion rubles. Moreover, the rate of decline is increasing: in January-May it was 14 %, by the end of June – 17 %, in July – 18 %, in August – 20 %, and for the first nine months – 21 %. In September, revenues from the key mineral extraction tax on oil decreased by 32 % year-on-year, and on gas – by 52 %. Export duty collections decreased by 27 %.

Payments to russian oil companies under the fuel damper from the budget decreased by 49.9 billion rubles over the month. In September, oil companies received RUB 30.5 billion from the budget, and in August – RUB 80.4 billion. At the same time, in September 2024, oil companies were paid 145.7 billion rubles, which is by 115.2 billion rubles more than in September of this year.

The government of the rf has submitted a draft law to the state duma that proposes to abolish the VAT exemption for transactions related to bank card services. This will also affect acquiring and processing services, which ensure the transfer and processing of data between participants in cashless payments. This will make cashless payments more expensive.

The russian government is also preparing a radical reduction in funding for the federal project “Development of Public Transport”, under which it planned to purchase thousands of new buses, trolleybuses, and trams for the country’s cities, as well as modernize the aging transport infrastructure. In 2026, the project costs will be reduced threefold - from 42.6 to 13.8 billion rubles. Sequestration of funding is planned for the entire upcoming three-year budget period, despite the fact that about 40 % of the existing public transport fleet has exceeded its standard service life.

The ministry of finance of the rf has proposed to impose a value-added tax on goods purchased by russians through online platforms abroad. In 2027, the VAT for such goods will be 5 %, in 2028 – 10 %, in 2029 – 15 %, and in 2030 – 20 %. Foreign sellers and russian marketplaces selling foreign products will have to pay the tax. The innovation will apply to all goods whose value does not exceed the duty-free import threshold of EUR 200.

Sales of new passenger cars in russia in September 2025 decreased by 18.7 % year-on-year.

By the New Year, retail sugar prices in r ussia will jump by 20%, from 68 to 81 rubles, amid declining sugar beet yields. The volume of beet shipments by agricultural companies has decreased by an average of 50 %. Belgorod region suffered the most, with a 96 % decline.

The ministry of finance of the rf will halve sales of foreign currency and gold amid falling oil and gas revenues.

russia’s jewelry market is flooded with fakes. The share of falsified and counterfeit goods reaches 20 % of the annual turnover, totaling 56 billion rubles. The share of costume jewelry sold under the guise of jewelry in retail chains can reach 15 % (up to 42 billion rubles) of the total volume. At the same time, the share of products with characteristics that do not correspond to the declared ones may be much higher – up to 30 %.

In January-September 2025, freight traffic on the moscow railway decreased by 17.3 % to 40.7 million tons compared to a year earlier. Transportation of iron and manganese ores declined by by 13 %, of oil and petroleum products – by 18.6 %, and of grain – by 67 %. Overall, in January-September 2025, the load on the RZD network fell by 6.7 % to 830.2 million tons compared to a year earlier.

In the rf, stock prices for AI-95 petrol increased by 0.66 % over the week, and for AI-92 – by 0.06 %.

It is expected that in 2026, 50-60 % of russian companies will work remotely. The reasons for this are an acute shortage of professionals in the market, the need to retain valuable staff, cost optimization of enterprises due to sanctions and the decline in russia’s economy due to the war against Ukraine.

In russia, the number of small cattle has been declining in all categories of farms in recent years. According to the ministry of agriculture, by the end of 2025, the number of sheep and goats will reach 17.654 million heads, while in 2024 there were 19.138 million heads. Thus, the figure will decrease by 8 %. It is worth noting that the number of small cattle in russia has been declining over the past five years.

The state duma has proposed repainting Khrushchevkas (Khrushchev-era houses – Transl.) in life-affirming and vibrant colors to make life more cheerful for russians.

roskomnadzor has reminded the authors of telegram channels (with an audience of more than 10 thousand subscribers) of the obligation to grant administrator rights to a special bot developed by the agency. After registering the channel in the messenger, bloggers must launch this bot and give it the appropriate rights, otherwise the agency will refuse to register it in the state register of “authorized” channels. In russia, a law came into effect on November 1, 2024, which obliged all bloggers with an audience of more than 10 thousand subscribers to undergo mandatory state registration. Without this procedure, they are deprived of the right to advertise and publish offers of financial support.

On the morning of October 3, part of the building of the Industrial College of Energy and Communications collapsed in Vladivostok. This is the third case of an educational institution building collapse in russia in the last month. On September 21, the building of secondary school No. 5 collapsed in Tatarsk, Novosibirsk region. The day before, on September 20, the building of school No. 1080 collapsed in Znamenskaya Street in moscow.

Preferential medicines for diabetics have disappeared in Volgograd. Residents of other regions are also complaining about the lack of discounted medicines and test kits for diabetics. This is the case in Voronezh, Vologda, Saratov, Ivanovo, Bashkortostan and other regions. In Trans-Baikal, the problem is so acute that residents are forced to move to other regions to get discounted medicines.

The russian military servicemen participating in the invasion of Ukraine receive medical supplies made in 1977 as humanitarian aid – soviet bandages, cotton wool, and dressing bags from almost half a century ago.

In the first nine months of 2025, neighboring EU countries recorded almost 38,000 attempts at illegal migration from belarus.

lukashenko has named a new “global goal” for the belarusian economy: “No longer looking for new markets, but to hold on to at least our own”.

Since 2020, at least six thousand teachers in belarus have lost their jobs as a result of repression.

All belarusian government agencies will have to create TikTok accounts. This was stated by the first deputy head of lukashenko’s administration, Vladimir Pertsov, at a meeting with representatives of the press services. According to him, the task of each press service is to promote the state policy in the information environment and explain important decisions.

The belarusian confectionery factory” Kommunarka” has admitted that it had deteriorated the quality of its sweets to make them cheaper.