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

Ukraine has received the EU’s negotiating position on our country’s accession to the European Union in three clusters.

The European Commission calls a “joint product” and supports the three roadmaps adopted by Ukraine in preparation for the opening of negotiations. These concern developments in the spheres of the rule of law, public administration reform, and the functioning of democratic institutions.

“This needs robust legal and material guarantees. And the solution must safeguard European security interests. No peace at the expense of the EU or NATO, none over our heads”, Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz commented on a potential peace agreement on Ukraine.

“A ceasefire must come first. Any peace plan must include strong, legally binding security guarantees – not another Budapest memorandum. No concessions on Ukraine’s territory, sovereignty or international law,” – at the meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda emphasized the key principles necessary for an acceptable peace agreement to end russia’s war against Ukraine.

“To achieve lasting peace, there can be no decisions on Ukraine without Ukraine. And it is very important that NATO and Europe are closely involved in the process and decide on issues that concern us – in particular, security guarantees, sanctions, and frozen assets,” emphasized Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dick Schoof.

The European Commission proposes to divide the “reparations loan” into two areas of support for Ukraine: weapons production and procurement, and budget support. Budget support will amount to EUR 90 billion and will be provided over two years.

The EU Council has approved the sixth tranche to Ukraine amounting to approximately EUR 2.3 billion.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has provided a credit line of up to EUR 100 million to project companies that will develop, own, and manage affordable housing projects in Ukraine.

The Council of Europe Development Bank has provided Ukraine with additional EUR 30 million in compensation for destroyed housing, bringing the total amount of funding for HOME projects to EUR 200 million.

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All factions of the Austrian Parliament unanimously supported a resolution condemning russia’s systemic violations of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and practices applied to Ukrainian prisoners of war.

The rf federal budget’s revenues from oil and gas, which account for about a quarter of the state treasury’s revenues, will fall by 0.38 trillion rubles (-48.6 %) in December 2025 compared to December 2024. Oil and gas tax revenues in December will decrease by 0.12 trillion rubles (- 24 %) compared to November.

The experts from the central economic and mathematical institute of the russian academy of sciences believe that russia’s government should significantly increase public debt to fill the federal budget. According to their estimates, the government can “safely” increase the volume of public debt to 90-100 % of GDP from the current 15 % of GDP. In monetary terms, this means an increase in debt from 32.6 to 217.8 trillion rubles, i.e., by 185.2 trillion, or almost 7 times.

At the end of the first nine months of 2025, the consolidated budgets of russia’s regions ended the period with a total deficit of 118 billion rubles for the first time in several years. At this, a surplus was recorded for the same periods in 2021–2024. The most acute situation arose in five regions of the rf, where the budget deficit exceeded 20 % of tax and non-tax revenues. In Kemerovo region, the deficit was 25.5 %, in Vologda – 24.6 %, in Arkhangelsk – 21.6 %, in Murmansk – 20.3 %, and in Tyumen – 20.2 %.

Military spending from the russian federal budget for the period from January to September 2025 amounted to 11.855 trillion rubles. This is a record amount, and it is by 30 % higher than the budget spending on the war for the same period in 2024. Compared to 2023, military spending increased by 95 %, compared to 2022 – by 173 %, and compared to the pre-war level of 2021 – by 295 %, i.e. almost fourfold.

russian metallurgical companies were unable to repay loans of 600 billion rubles on time.

russian shipbuilders have faced the problem of digitalization. Key constraints are related to the lack of uniform requirements for the format and structure of 3D models, weak standardization, and the need to legally establish the status of digital models.

According to the Central Bank of russia, russian consumers are increasingly saving on purchases, switching to cheaper goods, and visiting shopping centers less often. Retailers and suppliers point out a decline in demand for household appliances and durable goods, furniture, home goods, building materials, and jewelry. Shopping center attendance has declined in the Urals, while in the Republic of Mari El, consumers have switched to cheaper lines of medicines. At the beginning of December, russians reduced their spending on clothing and footwear by 8.7 % year-on-year, on household appliances – by 8.8 %, on electronics and gadgets – by 6.5 %, and on beauty and health products– by 5.9 %. Consumption growth has slowed down in most regions.

Food producers in russia are raising their wholesale prices for retail chains following the VAT increase. Orders placed in 2025 at a rate of 20 % may not reach the chains next year: suppliers have warned that they will be canceled.

Austerity measures are forcing russian businesses to cancel entertainment events for employees ahead of the holidays. 49 % of employers have said they will not hold New Year’s parties this year. Most respondents explained their decision by a lack of funds.

Container transportation on the Far Eastern Railway in January–November decreased by 13.1 % compared to the same period last year.

The “Sollers” Group (a russian car manufacturer) forecasts a decline in sales at the end of 2025 compared to the previous year by approximately 20 %.

The number of credit cards issued in November 2025 dropped to the level of April 2022. The decline was 5 % for the month, and 25 % – for three months.

In russia, the last Visa and Mastercard cards with extended validity will cease to work in the near future.

russians working as shift workers began to face widespread delays and non-payment of wages. Such cases were recorded in 2025 in Sverdlovsk and Kaliningrad regions, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Primorye, Chukotka, and other regions.

russian cinemas belonging to the largest chains will not show foreign films during the New Year holidays. The “alternative screening” of foreign films and animations during the January holidays will be suspended. This refers to unofficial screenings of Western productions, the legal screening of which in russia was curtailed after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

All Google services should be blocked in russia, said deputy chairman of the state duma committee on information policy Andrey Svintsov.

Orthodox oligarch konstantin malofeev has called for the creation of russia’s own version of artificial intelligence, trained on a block of the “right” texts. He considers “Domostroi”, the Gospel, and the works by Aleksandr Dugin to be such texts.

Minister of education of the rf Sergei Kravtsov has called on teachers to put up with low salaries. The average salary in education is 68,245 rubles per month, which is by 30 % lower than the russian average of 96,255 rubles per month.

In russia’s regions, cancer patients are denied compensation for travel expenses to their place of treatment. Most appeals come from Bashkortostan, Murmansk and Irkutsk regions, the Kamchatka and Khabarovsk Territories, Tatarstan, Novosibirsk, and Central russia. Regional officials explain the reasons briefly: there is no money.

In St. Petersburg, demand for restaurant franchises has declined. In the first 11 months of 2025, interest in offers in this category decreased by 26.1 % compared to the same period last year.

In 2025, investment in commercial real estate in St. Petersburg and Leningrad region more than halved – to 36.8 billion rubles. In 2024, the figure was 82.1 billion rubles.

The administration of Baikal State University in Irkutsk is forcing students to install the state messenger Max under threat of not being allowed to take exams.

The Estonian women’s under-17 football team will refuse to play against belarus in the second round of the 2025/2026 European Championship. The reason given is the rb’s support for russia’s aggression against Ukraine. According to the results of the draw, Lithuania and Malta were also placed in the same group as Estonia and belarus. In view of this, it is likely that the Lithuanian team will take a similar position.

belarus has sharply reduced export prices for oil for all markets except russia.

In Belarus,construction and installation work has risen in price by 15.5 % since the beginning of 2025.

belarus has named the products that have risen in price the most this year. In first place is cocoa powder (+74.1 %). Apples (+55 %) and natural ground coffee (+35 %) are also among the leaders. Some products have risen in price slightly less, but have also become significantly more expensive. These include salted herring (+27.7 %), chocolate (+24.6 %), and honey (+23.7 %).