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

“The next few days will be crucial in ensuring this. We must choose how we will fund Ukraine’s fight. We know this is an urgent need,” said President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, stressing that the EU must decide on financial support for Ukraine at the EU summit on December 18-19.

“The scale of the destruction is incredible. But property is only one category, and I would even say the least valuable one. How do you put a price on a murdered family member, the deportation of children, life-changing trauma, or sexual violence and torture? The Commission must answer these questions in the coming years,” pointed out EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas during the signing of the convention on a compensation commission for Ukraine.

“...We are fully committed to the process of holding (russia) accountable and rebuilding homes and businesses damaged in Ukraine,” Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dick Schoof emphasizes the Netherlands’ firm decision to promote russia’s international responsibility for the war against Ukraine.

“Italy considers it a sacred principle that russia should pay for the reconstruction of the country it attacked, but this must be done on a solid legal basis... Any instrument of support for Kyiv must always comply with our values and the rules on which the rule of law is based,” said Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni.

“Our history teaches us, how vital reparations and accountability for international crimes are. At the time, there were no reparations for the soviet occupation of Lithuania and other Baltic states under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. And now putin and his regime are acting as if these crimes never happened!” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Kęstutis Budrys.

Georgia has supported the “anti-russian” convention on reparations for Ukraine.

Norway will allocate about $7 billion in total military aid to Ukraine in 2026 and will make contributions to support US air defense systems and the Czech Initiative. The Norwegians will also finance another batch of American weapons for Ukraine worth more than EUR 267 million.

Estonia will continue to support Ukraine at a level of at least 0.25 % of GDP (EUR 142 million) and will also contribute EUR 9 million to the IT Coalition.

Latvia will continue to support Ukraine at a level of at least 0.25 % of GDP (EUR 110 million).

In 2026, Lithuania will allocate more than EUR 220 million for military support to Ukraine at a level of at least 0.25 % of GDP, including contributions to PURL for the supply of American weapons to Ukraine, the “Patriot” program for our country, the Czech Initiative, and the Mine Action Coalition.

Luxembourg promises to allocate EUR100 million in 2026 to support Ukraine and a second contribution of EUR 15 million to PURL.

Portugal is preparing a contribution to the Czech Initiative and allocating EUR 10 million for UAV’s for Ukraine.

The Czech Republic has announced that the supply of 760,000 artillery shells has already been financed under the Czech Initiative for 2026.

Minister of Defence of Canada David McGuinty has announced additional C$50 million (over US$36 million) to support   the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Luxembourg has transferred another EUR 10 million contribution to Ukraine Energy Support Fund.

Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz believes that the “European Forces of Ukraine”, provided for in security guarantees from Europe and the USA in a potential peace agreement, could resist russian forces under certain circumstances.

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The European Parliament has approved the European Union’s plan to gradually phase out russian gas imports by the end of 2027.

If the international community succumbs to pressure from russia and fails to bring the mechanisms of the rf’s responsibility to completion, new acts of aggression will inevitably follow. This was stated by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.

russia’s stock market declined after reports of possible new US sanctions against russia. The USA is developing sanctions for the russian energy sector. There are plans to introduce measures against ships transporting russian oil, as well as against traders involved in these operations. New sanctions may be imposed if russia rejects a peace agreement with Ukraine.

A bipartisan bill has been submitted to the US Senate which provides for sanctions for purchasing or facilitating the import of oil and petroleum products from russia.

Finland and Poland will lead efforts to protect NATO’s eastern flank from russia’s aggression.

The likelihood of russia winning a legal dispute with Belgium over frozen assets of the russian Central Bank, which Europe plans to transfer to Ukraine, is minimal. It is virtually impossible for moscow to find a jurisdiction that would consider and satisfy the claim. One of the reasons is russia’s withdrawal from the international legal system.

In October 2025, India imported 22.23 million tons of oil – by 15.4 % less than in the same month last year. russia’s share in Indian oil imports in October decreased to 32.2 % in physical terms.

Coal exports from russia to China decreased by 4 % in the first nine months of the year.

Australian mining company Rio Tinto has refused to recognize the decision of the Kaliningrad Region Arbitration Court, which ordered it to pay almost 105 billion rubles to “Rusal”. “We categorically reject the lawsuit initiated in russia due to abuse of procedural rights and will resolutely defend our position,” said a representative of the company. The dispute concerns Australia’s Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL), which operates an alumina plant in Gladstone, in which “Rusal” owned 20 % and Rio Tinto – 80 %. In April 2022, in response to Australian sanctions, QAL deprived the russian company of the right to process products at its plant, which excluded the company from participating in the project. “Rusal” tried to challenge Rio Tinto’s refusal to supply alumina from QAL in an Australian court but lost.

Kenya’s authorities secured the return of 18 citizens who had been recruited in russia to participate in the war against Ukraine. The government of Kenya has already revoked the licenses of more than 600 unscrupulous agencies that sent Kenyans to the rf.

Latvia’s National Electronic Media Council has decided to restrict access to ten more internet resources that spread russian propaganda.

“All key risks to the development of russia’s economy materialized in 2024–2025,” writes the institute for economic forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Due to unfavorable demographic trends, the shortage in a labor market is worsening, the technological gap with developed countries and China is growing, revenues from hydrocarbon exports and raw material rents are declining, the defense burden is increasing, while sanctions pressure is intensifying. In this situation, the budget can only be balanced by limiting its expenditures, which, combined with a high key rate, “determines the deterioration of the economic situation in 2026”.

russians’ inflation expectations have risen to a 10-month high of 13.7 %. It is the population’s inflation expectations that are one of the determining factors taken into account when deciding on the key rate.

russians have been warned about a sharp rise in the cost of new flats. They  will be by 13-15 % more expansive in 2026 compared to 2025.

The profitability of egg production in russia in January–September 2025 was only 5.5 %, which is almost seven times lower than a year ago (38.81 %). Egg sales in the first nine months increased by 10 % in terms of volume but decreased  by 13 % in terms of value.

According to the results of the first nine months of 2025, the volume of new businesses in the russian special equipment leasing market decreased by 48 % compared to the same period last year.

Every second car owner in russia in 2025 bought counterfeit spare parts. The largest share of counterfeit goods is traditionally among motor oils and filters, but the trend of 2025  was the appearance on the market of a mass of low-quality parts for the chassis, auto electronics, and even internal combustion engine components.

The number of inventions and know-how generated by russian science continues to decline, despite the authorities’ demands to replace Western technologies as soon as possible and ensure “technological sovereignty”. The number of patents issued in russia after the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine decreased  by 25 % and fell back to its lowest levels since the 2000s.

The prosecutor general’s office of the rf  has declared the Dutch legal aid organization Stichting Justice Initiative (SJI) undesirable in russia.

“MPs will submit to the state duma  a draft law which will introduce fines for distributing films that discredit ‘traditional values”’,  said  member of the state duma committee on information technology Anton Nemkin. The law itself can be interpreted broadly and could lead to a return to soviet-style censorship. Violation of roskomnadzor’s demand to remove content will be punishable by a fine of up to 20,000 rubles for citizens, up to 200,000 rubles for officials, and up to 1 million rubles for legal entities. Repeat violations will be punishable by fines of up to 300,000 rubles for citizens, up to 800,000 rubles for officials, and up to 5 million rubles for legal entities.

Since the beginning of the 2025/2026 heating season, at least 123 cases of heat outages in residential buildings due to utility breakdowns have been recorded in russia. The largest number of incidents was recorded in Sverdlovsk region – at least 12 outages, as well as in Rostov (8 cases) and Irkutsk (5 cases) regions.

The government commission on the development of the electric power industry may consider introducing a ban on cryptocurrency mining in russian regions to stabilize energy supplies. Such a ban has been supported in Buryatia. In three neighboring regions – Irkutsk region, Zabaykalsky Krai, and Buryatia itself – the deficit reaches almost 3,000 MW.

Mortality in russia during the New Year holidays usually increases by an average of 24 %.

To date, about 800 private clinics across russia have refused to perform abortions. Such decisions are made under pressure from the authorities and the russian orthodox church.

“The ideas of democracy are a Western perversion imposed on us, which we must resist,” said Mikhail Delyagin, a member of the state duma from “Fair russia”.

belarus’ GDP growth keeps slowing down. At the end of nine months, it stood at 1.6 %, while at the end of 10 months, it was 1.5 %. The government’s forecast for socio-economic development this year predicted a 4.1 % increase in gross domestic product. The GDP deflator index was 113 %.

Industry, which has been the driver of the belarusian economy in recent years, is performing worse than last year. In January–November, there was a 1.7 % decline compared to the same period in 2024. The most noticeable decline was in manufacturing, which decreased  by 2.3  % compared to the first eleven months of last year.

As of November 1, 2025, the accounts payable of organizations in belarus reached 117 billion rubles. Of this amount, overdue debt amounted to 12.5 billion rubles, or 10.7 % of the total. Over the year, the total debt increased by 27.3 %, and the overdue one – by 23.8 %.

Subscriptions to national propaganda media outlets rose in price by 5–23 % over the half-year and by 10–39 % over the year.