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

Ukraine has received a new batch of missiles for Patriot air defense systems from Germany. Germany will also transfer to Ukraine equipment from old power plants to support our country’s energy system.

The leaders of the G7 countries have agreed to maintain sanctions against russia. This was announced by President of France Emmanuel Macron. “In the conclusions of this extraordinary G7 meeting, which took place in the format of a video conference, the consensus was that we should not change our position regarding russia and maintain our effort for Ukraine,” he said.

After participating in a video conference of G7 leaders on the Middle East, President of the European Council António Costa said that now is not the time to ease sanctions against russia.

“The USA will not ease sanctions against the russian oil industry,” said Secretary for the US Department of Energy Chris Wright. He also added that the United States may give up russian enriched uranium.

The United Kingdom has convened a meeting of experts from partner countries belonging to the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) to discuss the legal aspects of military countermeasures against the rf’s “shadow fleet”. The JEF, founded by the United Kingdom, includes Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway.

“russia is using deceptive tactics and coercion to recruit thousands of foreign citizens from various African countries, as well as individuals from Cuba, South and Central Asia, to support its brutal, unprovoked, unjustified, illegal war of aggression against Ukraine,” reads the European Parliament’s resolution “On Human Trafficking and Serious Human Rights Violations Related to the Recruitment of Citizens, in Particular from Africa, for russia’s War of Aggression in Ukraine”. The European Parliament has also called for sanctions against those involved in russia’s recruitment of foreigners for the war against Ukraine.

The European Commission will suspend the EUR 2 million grant to the Biennale Foundation, if russia participates in the 2026 art exhibition. This was announced by European Commission Spokesperson Thomas Renier. “The Commission condemns the decision of the Biennale Foundation (Fondazione Biennale) to allow russia to participate in the 2026 Biennale art exhibition,” Renier said. He explained that “culture in Europe should promote and defend democratic values” and “foster open dialogue, diversity, and freedom of expression”. “These values are not  respected in today’s russia”, the Spokesperson said.

“We are not considering returning to russian energy carriers, regardless of how the situation in the Middle East develops. We have given up russian carriers – that is a fact. And technically, it is already impossible to return. We now rely on energy carriers coming to us from the south and west, and this is sufficient to cover all our energy needs,” said President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel.

The Parliament of Estonia has approved a law ratifying the convention on the establishment of an international commission to consider claims for compensation for damages to Ukraine.

Kazakhstan has revised the construction plan for the third power unit at Ekibastuz GRES-2 and gave up russian turbines and generators. China has become the new equipment supplier.

Customs authorities of South Korea intend to step up the fight against illegal exports of cars to russia after finding that more and more  cars are being supplied to the rf through third countries.

Average daily oil production in russia in February was 390,000 barrels below the quota allocated to the country under the OPEC+ agreement. This happened because production declined for the third month in a row amid sanctions, reduced purchases by India, and record discounts on russian crude.

russia’s oil export revenues in February 2026 fell to their lowest level since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine. Total exports last month also fell by 850,000 barrels per day to 6.6 million, which, according to the International Energy Agency, was also a record low since 2022.

russia’s federal budget deficit for the first two months of 2026 amounted to 3.449 trillion rubles, or 1.5% of GDP, which is by 1.032 trillion rubles more than in the same period a year earlier. Thus, in January-February alone, the treasury has already spent 91% of the planned deficit for the entire year: the budget law provides for a total gap of 3.786 trillion rubles.

A preliminary assessment of the federal budget execution for January–February showed not only a record increase in the budget deficit, but also the limited ability of the ministry of finance of the rf to close the growing gap through borrowing. The ministry of finance managed to close only about a third of it thanks to a sharp increase in withdrawals from the national wealth fund. According to reports for January and February, the ministry of finance withdrew approximately one-tenth of the liquid portion of the national wealth fund’s reserves of Chinese yuan (20.98 billion) and about 1/12 of its gold reserves (12.94 tons). In other words, the ministry of finance withdrew almost as much from the nwf in two months as it did in the whole of last year. As of March 1, the nwf had 4 trillion in liquid assets remaining. Of these, approximately 2.7 trillion rubles were in Chinese yuan, gold, and cash rubles (i.e., the most liquid assets).

With treasury revenues falling, the russian government is discussing a 10% reduction in federal budget expenditures in 2026, except for defense and “protected” social spending.

Budgetary organizations in russia, including hospitals and education institutions, underwent a large wave of cuts at the end of 2025. In the fourth quarter, 4,900 employees in the public administration sector, 4,600 people in the healthcare and social services system, and 3,800 teachers lost their jobs. The total number of employees dismissed on grounds of redundancy in all sectors of the economy in October–December last year jumped by 59% year-on-year. At this,  civil servants, doctors, and teachers accounted for 40% of all personnel cuts.

russian coal companies incurred losses of 408 billion rubles last year. The country produced 429 million tons of coal during the year. Thus, each ton brought an average loss of almost 1,000 rubles.

In February 2026, russia reduced by 8% fuel oil supplies by railway for export through ports and border crossings.

Container transportation on the far eastern railway in January-February decreased by 8.6% compared to the same period last year.

The volume of real estate investment deals in the rf as a whole may fall by 31% year-on-year in 2026. At the end of the first quarter of this year, by 50% fewer deals were concluded on the russian market year-on-year.

Sales of new Chinese cars in russia in February 2026 fell by 28.3%. At this, the share of all brands from China on the market fell to 39%.

“tatneft”’s net profit in 2025 decreased by 42% compared to 2024, so in 2026, the company sold all its shares in subsidiaries in the tyre business segment, as well as some other assets worth 26.3 billion rubles.

In novosibirsk region, farmers’ mass protests against the slaughter of cattle, allegedly due to an outbreak of pasteurellosis, have been going on for several days. However, local residents believe that healthy animals are being taken for slaughter. The latest major protests by farmers in russia were in 2016.

In moscow, sales of atlases and guidebooks have risen sharply amid mobile internet outages. Between March 6 and 10, they increased by 48% compared to the previous week. Sales of alternative means of communication have also jumped in the russian capital. There were by 73% more purchases of pagers than on the same days in February. Demand for walkie-talkies (+27%) and landline phones (+25%) has risen sharply.

Demand for logo parks in moscow and moscow region will decline by 14% by the end of 2026.

The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has opened an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed in belarus.

In October–December last year, 3.3% of the population (300,600 people) in belarus lived below the poverty line.

The International Society for Human Rights (Internationale Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte) has been recognized as extremist in belarus. It is an international non-governmental, non-profit, human rights organization with participant status in the Council of Europe.