April 4, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Chief Diplomat of the EU Kaja Kallas has said that out of the EUR 5 billion promised to Ukraine for this year to buy at least two million rounds of ammunition, the EU countries have already got more than 50 % of the amount.

The government of Denmark is working on the next, 25th package of aid to Ukraine worth 6.7 billion Danish kroner (almost $970 million), which should include air defense systems, artillery, and equipment to support the Air Force of Ukraine.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jan Lipavský has said that the Czech Initiative on Ammunition for Ukraine has enough resources to ensure monthly supplies of ammunition to Ukraine until September 2025.

From April 2024 to February 2025, the charity initiative in Slovakia raised EUR 5.1 million for ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Minister of Defence of Sweden Pål Jonson has called on EU countries to increase military aid to Ukraine. “We need to be sure that Ukrainians can negotiate from a position of strength”, he emphasized.

“We must continue to constantly support Ukraine. Peace through strength, a just peace –of course, Europe must also step up in this regard,” said Minister of Defence of Latvia Andris Sprūds.

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The United States has expanded sanctions against russia. Three legal entities registered in russia – “edison” llc, “kolibri” llc and “sky frame” llc – have been added to the US Treasury’s “blacklist” with a ban on any transactions and the freezing of all assets in the United States. The United States has also imposed sanctions against a network of individuals and legal entities through which the Houthis in Yemen had been purchasing grain stolen from Ukraine, weapons and military technology.

President of Finland Alexander Stubb has welcomed the package of sanctions against russia proposed by a group of US Senators. “I welcome the bipartisan package of sanctions proposed by Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal in the US Senate. It is ambitious,” he emphasized.

russia will continue to pose a threat to NATO countries for many years, even after a peace agreement with Ukraine. This was stated by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Until a new German Government is formed, russia will make massive attempts to influence political sentiments in the country, – said The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Germany.

Prime Minister of Moldova Dorin Recean has said that russian agents spent about EUR 200 million on efforts to buy votes in the country’s presidential election and referendum on the EU last year.

The Government of the Czech Republic demands from moscow about EUR 4 million for renting residential premises in the country. Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský has said that russia owes Prague about 100 million Czech crowns for the use of those premises.

Estonia will plant mines on the border with russia in case of war. Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, and Poland also intend to plant mines on the border with russia. Poland also intends to put mines on the border with belarus.

The russian stock market continues to fall rapidly. This week, the moscow exchange index went into the red for the 11th trading day in a row and fell to its lowest in almost two months – 2,926.6 points. The index lost 1.3 % within a day and 10 % within past two weeks, or almost RUB 500 billion in terms of capitalization. The current decline in the moscow exchange index has been the longest since 1998, when russia defaulted.

Forced discounts on russian oil due to tougher US sanctions and a sharp strengthening of the ruble have hit the budget’s commodity revenues. In March, tax revenues from oil and gas fell by 17 % year-on-year to RUB 1.08 trillion. Compared to March 2014, the treasury lost about 230 billion rubles in fees, which provide the government with every third ruble of revenue. The decline in natural resource rents by almost 20 % has been recorded for the second month in a row, and in the cumulative result – for January-March – oil and gas taxes fell by 10 %, to 2.64 trillion rubles.

The rf is experiencing a crisis in the freight transportation market: in January-March, every fifth transport company left the industry. About 30 % of russian transport companies stopped their business due to debts and inability to pay lease payments. The number of trucks seized from companies has more than doubled since the beginning of 2024, and by the end of the year the number of industry representatives may be reduced by 10-15 %.

The collapse of the rf’s automotive market is intensifying. Sales of new passenger cars in March fell by 44 % compared to the same month last year.

The medicine glatiramer acetate, an active ingredient in the treatment of patients with multiple sclerosis, is no longer available in russian regions. The main reason for this is that pharmaceutical companies do not want to sell the medication to the state because of extremely low purchase prices.

The russian service sector continued to slow down in March, with business activity growing at the slowest pace in nine months amid weaker growth in new orders and a decline in employment.

The federal bailiff service of the rf has begun to develop a mechanism for seizing cryptocurrency from the population to the state revenue.

The prosecutor general’s office of the rf has declared Elton John’s AIDS Foundations “undesirable” because of “lgbt propaganda”.

archpriest of the russian orthodox church andrei tkachev has said that russians should “suffer” and “endure”.

Between June 2023 and February 2025, more than 80,000 participants in the war against Ukraine and their families had sought psychiatric care in russian medical institutions.

The European Parliament has recognized the lukashenko regime’s persecution of belarusians in EU countries as a violation of the sovereignty of those countries.

Lithuania’s Seimas Committee on National Security and Defense unanimously supported the introduction of stricter national sanctions against belarusian and russian citizens. The idea is to suspend the issuance of residence permits to citizens of the rb and the rf if they do not have a valid visa. According to the proposals, existing residence permits should be revoked if belarusians and russians travel to their countries more than once within three calendar months.

russian and belarusian groups are involved in the attack on the information systems of the Polish party Civic Platform, which is part of the ruling coalition. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister of the government of Poland, Minister of Digitalization Krzysztof Gawkowski.