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

Ukraine has received its ninth IRIS-T air defense system from Germany.

Senators from the US Democratic and Republican parties have condemned russia’s killing of Ukrainian civilians while Christians around the world celebrate Christmas. “It is worth repeating that President Zelenskyy agreed to a Christmas truce, but putin refused and ordered soldiers to continue committing brutal crimes of aggression on one of the holiest days of Christianity... The faith of Ukrainians is a force stronger than the evil unleashed by the kremlin today,” says the joint statement.

Manfred Weber, the leader of the largest political group in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party, believes that German soldiers under the flag of the European Union should be deployed in Ukraine if a potential peace agreement is concluded. “After a ceasefire or the conclusion of a peace agreement, the European flag should fly on the security line,” Weber stressed.

“...All provocations, both over the Baltic Sea and on the border with belarus, were fully under control. I would like to thank the nearly 20,000 of our soldiers who are guarding our security during the holidays – and, as we can see, doing so extremely effectively,” said Minister of Defence of Poland Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz regarding the incident involving the interception of a russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea.

The International Chess Federation did not allow representatives of the rf and the rb to compete under their countries’ flags.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, European exports to russia have decreased by 61 %, while imports have dropped by 89 %. In January–September 2025, trade between the two sides declined by 12.9 % year-on-year.

In Kazakhstan in 2025, siloviki opened 700 cases against those who had enlisted in russian military formations.

putin has said that russians will welcome tax increases if the money goes to the war effort.

“russia needs to switch to a six-day work week to accelerate economic growth,” said Gennady Onishchenko, an academician at the russian Academy of Sciences. He stressed that the increase in workload would not affect the health of citizens in any way. The six-day work week with Sunday off was introduced by Joseph Stalin in 1940. The standard five-day work week with an eight-hour workday was only established in March 1967.

rosstat has acknowledged the beginning of a decline in russia’s industry.

Tighter sanctions, higher interest rates on loans, and a sharp economic slowdown after the military boom have pushed russian industry to the brink of a severe crisis. According to top managers of major industrial companies, this year’s sales situation is the worst since 1998. Estimates of demand by representatives of big business have fallen below the lows of 2009 and 2015, when in the first case the global financial crisis was raging, and in the second, russia was hit by the first sanctions for the occupation of Crimea. Industry’s patience ran out in 2025. This year the production plans of factories and plants across the country have fallen to their lowest level in 16 years. The overall index of industrial optimism has also fallen to its lowest level since at least 2009.

By the end of 2025, sales of new cars in all segments on the russian market will decrease by 19 %.

In 2025, more than 20 russian clothing and footwear brands closed all their retail outlets. A year earlier, there were only four such companies. Clothing retailers Incity, Mai Collection, Mudo, Noun, Ready! Steady! Go!, Yollo, footwear retailers Megatop and Urban Vibes, as well as lingerie retailers Deseo and Etam have completely ceased operations. Face Code, I Am Studio, Inspire Girls, Just Clothes, Luzeen, Mollis, Prav.da, and others have moved online.

Vladimir Potanin, the head and main shareholder of russian mining and metallurgical giant Norilsk Nickel, has announced that there will be no dividends for 2025. At the end of 2023, the company waived its final dividends and did not pay them for 2024.

Investment activity in the russian real estate market will slow down significantly in the near future. According to forecasts for 2026, investment in real estate across the country will be by 30 % less than in 2025.

In 2026, the growth in prices for non-food products in russia may reach 30 %, and there will be a shortage in some categories.

The ministry of healthcare has removed 20 medicines from the list of essential and most important medications due to the cancellation of their supplies to russia.

russia has seen a surge in hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. This infection is also called “mouse fever” because rodents are its main carriers. In the first ten months of 2025, the number of people infected in the Urals tripled compared to the same period last year. In Saratov, Orel regions, and Bashkortostan, the incidence rate has doubled, while in Orenburg region and Udmurtia, it has nearly tripled.

In Krasnoyarsk, builders of metro (underground railway – Transl.) went on strike over unpaid wages. From January to October, total wage arrears in russia increased sixfold, from 370 million to nearly 2.2 billion rubles. Workers at the Volkovskoye deposit in the Urals, the Yaroslavl Shipyard, the Kingisepp Mechanical Plant, the Siberian Institute of Machine Building Design, as well as shift workers in Sverdlovsk and Kaliningrad regions, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Primorye, and Chukotka have faced salary delays and non-payments.

In six districts of Yakutia, coal reserves in boiler rooms are almost exhausted. Fuel problems have arisen in the Ust-Aldan, Churapcha, Tattinsky, Megino-Kangalassky, Amginsky, and Gorsky uluses. The reasons for this are the debts of resource-supplying organizations and a lack of funds: enterprises cannot pay coal mines and transport companies on time. The temperature in the region is currently -42 degrees Celsius. Yakutia ranks second in russia in terms of coal production, with 49 million tons.

In st. petersburg and Leningrad region, the single patent cost for migrant workers will be increased to 8,000 rubles from January 1, 2026. Currently, the monthly patent payment in both regions is 6,000 rubles.

The average market cost of standard delivery of groceries from shops and ready-made meals from cafes and restaurants for residents of st. petersburg increased by 25 %. Express delivery has risen by more than 40 %. In autumn, experts also recorded a 12 % increase in taxi fares. According to forecasts, they may increase by another 20–30 % in 2026–2027.

Demand for flights by business travelers (who visit cities for work purposes: meetings with partners, events, conferences) to st. petersburg in 2025 decreased by 22 %, while the city’s share in the total volume of business travel activity decreased to 9 % from 11% a year earlier.

President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda has said he has received assurances from the leaders of Poland and Latvia that they are ready to take the same position as Vilnius on the transit of belarusian fertilizers.

Since the beginning of the year, potatoes in minsk have risen in price by 16 %.

In 2025, there were 12 detentions of media representatives, 34 searches and inspections of premises in belarus. More than 100 cases of in absentia prosecution of journalists were recorded. 42 media projects were recognized as “extremist formations”. 28 representatives of media remain behind bars.