April 8, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The Council for International Partnerships under the President of France has identified support for Ukraine as one of the country’s priorities.

“These russian attacks must stop. A cease-fire must happen as soon as possible. And firm action will be necessary if russia continues to try to buy time and refuses to accept a truce. How much longer will russia insult US and Ukrainian peace proposals while killing children and civilians?” – said President of France Emmanuel Macron.

“Poland strongly condemns russia’s further attacks on Ukraine. russia must be held accountable for the deaths of Ukrainians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. moscow’s recent actions demonstrate that its goal is further war, not peace,” – this is the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland.

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Theodoros Roussopoulos has stressed that the result of russia’s war against Ukraine will determine the future of the European continent, as Ukrainians defend the values that are the basis of European identity.

This week’s session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will vote on a resolution on the need to bring the rf to justice and prevent impunity for its aggression against Ukraine. The resolution will cover the establishment of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression, an international mechanism for compensation and prosecution for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

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Ministers of Finance of the European Union will discuss the creation of a joint intergovernmental defense fund European Defense Mechanism. According to the plan, it will purchase weapons, charge participants for their use and issue loans. At this, non-EU countries will be able to join it – for example, the United Kingdom, Ukraine and Norway. The project is part of a discussion on how to finance preparations for a possible russia’s attack.

“russia shows complete disrespect for negotiations. It demonstrates every day that it has no interest in them”, said Spokesperson for the European Commission Anitta Hipper. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is convinced that russia must take steps towards a peaceful settlement of the war it has unleashed against Ukraine.

EU Sanctions Envoy David O’Sullivan has said that so far Brussels and Washington are not negotiating sanctions relief for russia.

Lithuania intends to use a helicopter to escort russian transit trains heading through the country to Kaliningrad region.

Due to the collapse in the global oil market, the price of russian urals oil has fallen to $50 a barrel. This is close to the lows for the entire period of the full-scale war against Ukraine and almost by $20 lower than the budgeted price for the current year.

April exports of russian wheat are expected to be by 60 % lower than last year.

In February 2025, the volume of unsold housing under construction reached 77.7 million square meters, or 68 % of the total volume of projects. During the year, the figure increased by 12 %: in February 2024 it amounted to 69.4 million square meters, or 66 % of total housing.

It is increasingly difficult for the russians to serve the mortgage they have taken during the boom of preferential programs. The overdue debt on mortgage housing loans for February increased by 7.6 billion rubles, or by 7 %, and on March 1 it amounted to 109.7 billion rubles.

russian manufacturers have sharply reduced the production of strong alcoholic beverages. In January-March, production of vodka fell by 22.7 % year on year, to 12.8 million dal, of brandies – by 25 %, to 1.4 million dol, and of liquor products – by 9.2 %, to 3.5 million dal.

In order to cope with staff shortage across the country, putin has signed a law that allows employers to hire children from 14 to 18 years of age.

The prosecutor general’s office of the rf has recognized Japanese non–governmental organization “Association on Northern Territories” as an undesirable organization. The organization is a sponsor of the nationwide movement of Japan for the return of the “northern territories”, openly declaring non-recognition of russia’s jurisdiction over them.

Latvia has extended the ban on the imports of agricultural products and feed from belarus and russia for another year – until July 1, 2026. It is a ban on the import of vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts, all kinds of grain, feed raw materials and finished feeds both directly from the rb and the rf, and through third countries, if the products are produced there.

The European Union, as part of the EU4Belarus – SALT initiative, has announced the launch of a new support program for citizens of the rb who suffered from political repression, lost their source of income or the ability to continue their studies.

In January–February of 2025, the foreign trade turnover of belarus’ goods amounted to $ 12 billion 542.7 million – by 4.5 % less than in the same period of 2024 (13 billion 139.6 million). Exports amounted to 5 billion 760 million (-8.3 % in annual dimension), imports – 6 billion 782.7 million (+1.6 %). The negative balance was 1 billion 22.7 million. In January, the negative balance was $ 504.3 million. Thus, within a month it increased more than twice.

belarus is the fourth in the EAEU by growth of agricultural production, a year ago it was in the lead.

Prices for approximately 45 % of the consumer basket will remain under the control of the state in the rb. Only prices for goods that are not in daily demand of the population are not controlled by the state. For example, pies and chebureks, some types of headwear.

60 thousand foreigners work in belarus. In 2024, the number of migrant workers increased more than twice.

Criminal prosecutions in the rb do not stop and show an upward trend. The average monthly number of trials under “political” cases exceeds 70, with 50+ new trials being held every month over the past two years.