April 9, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Norway is providing four billion crowns – approximately EUR 332 million – to the Czech initiative to purchase artillery shells for Ukraine. Besides, the country’s government is allocating another 1 billion crowns for the European Peace Facility, through which the EU finances the military aid to Ukraine – the contribution will also be used for artillery ammunition.

Prime Minister of Belgium Bart De Wever has announced a new EUR 1 billion aid package for Ukraine and promised to allocate that same amount every year. “We also need to re-arm Europe against  russia’s new  aggression. We need to work together to see how our private sector can become interested in the prospect of investing in Ukraine and building capabilities for our military-industrial complex, ” stressed the Premiere.

 Prime Minister of Belgium Bart de Wever also pointed out  that it would be logical for Belgium to send its military contingent to Ukraine as part of the Coalition of the Willing.

Since the beginning of russia’s aggression, Belgium has provided Ukraine with military, humanitarian and reconstruction assistance worth more than EUR 2.2 billion, and this year it is going to provide Ukraine with two F-16 fighter jets for spare parts.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has thanked Japan for its strong support for Ukraine.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has called on China to step up its efforts to bring peace to Ukraine.

Since the beginning of the russian war in 2014, United Help Ukraine, one of the largest charitable Ukrainian initiatives in the United States, has collected and delivered to Ukraine the aid totaling about $75 million.

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Almost half of the inhabitants of Norway believe that russia will launch sabotage attacks against their country in 2025.

The Defense Forces of Estonia may be allowed  to sink merchant ships in the Baltic Sea if they pose a threat to national security. The aim of the initiative is to give the country’s Navy the right to prevent incidents such as the damaging of sea cables by foreign merchant ships and damage to other infrastructure.

Financial Intelligence of Latvia has opened about 400 criminal cases for violation of sanctions. Deputy Head at Financial Intelligence Unit, Latvia (sanctions) Paulis Iljenkovs has said that most often they detect violations when the goods are allegedly being exported to Central Asia, but de facto they go to russia or belarus.

The deficit of the federal budget of the rf in January-March 2025 amounted to 2.173 trillion rubles, or 1% of GDP. This is by 1.878 trillion rubles more than in the same period last year.

As of March 1, the level of launching new housing projects in russia fell by 26 % in annual terms. Developers suffered the most in regions where the profitability of projects was at the level of 10-15 % due to low purchasing power.

The average cost of 1 square meter in the primary housing market in the old areas of moscow increased by almost 5 % in January-March 2025.

“As a specialized deputy minister, I can say that the industry has not had such a difficult time for a long time,” minister of construction of the rf nikita stasishin said at the all-russian housing congress.

The number of commercial organizations included in the state register of the rf as newly created ones, in the first quarter of 2025 amounted to 45.6 thousand, which is by 28.2 % fewer than in the first quarter of 2024 (63.5 thousand).

The government of the rf has amended the resolution establishing a ban on mining digital currency in certain subjects of the rf and in certain territories of the regions. In particular, from April 7, 2025 to March 15, 2031, mining is prohibited in areas and cities in the south of Irkutsk region.

Authorities of Tyumen region of the rf want to limit social aid to migrants, as well as to give the right to housing only to those migrants who have lived in russia for at least ten years. Now there is a rule that foreigners have the same right to benefits as the local population.

The state duma has adopted in the second and third readings a law that extends the time of validity of the decision of the military commissar to draft a recruit into the army. Currently, such a decision is valid during one draft campaign (spring or autumn). The amendments extend the term to one year.

Members of the state duma have adopted a package of laws toughening the punishment for “discrediting” the army, calls for sanctions against russia and cooperation with international organizations which do not suit the authorities. In particular, the state duma allowed to sentence russians to seven years in prison for cooperation with them.

russian authorities should not declare amnesty in honor of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the “great patriotic war”, said chairman of the state duma committee on defense andrei kartapolov. In his opinion, prisoners who want to be released as soon as possible already have such an option – they can go to war against Ukraine.

Lithuania is developing a package of migration legislation that will allow the authorities to close the border for asylum seekers. This year, Lithuanian border guards have stopped about 250 illegal migrants who crossed the border with belarus. Last year, a total of 1,002 attempts to illegally cross the border were recorded.

PACE General Rapporteur on political prisoners Azadeh Rojhan: “The situation in belarus is dire: the lukashenko regime is persecuting not only dissidents, but also their relatives. belarusian authorities are committing large-scale human rights violations against civilians, some of which may qualify as crimes against humanity, including deprivation of freedom and persecution for political reasons, as part of a brutal suppression effort.”

belarusian prisons and colonies sort people according to a system invented in Nazi Germany. People who are prone to “extremist” or “other destructive” activities, suicide, injury, disobedience, or attacking the administration are marked with yellow. A red tag means  a person  is prone to escape.

The positive balance of foreign trade in goods of the rb and the CIS has decreased 2.6 times on an annual basis.

Last year, more than a third of enterprises of the public sector of belarus reduced volumes of sales, and almost two-thirds – lost profits in the russian market. At this, almost 70 % of the total profit was formed by only two “channels” – the sale of “belaz” trucks and oil production in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, while 15 % of “daughters” of belarusian state holdings and state-owned companies operating in russia, ended the year 2024 with losses.

In March, 291 fuel oil trucks were registered in the rf, which is by 42 % fewer  than in the same month last year, and the minsk plant’s sales in the neighboring country decreased by 37 % to 855 vehicles within the quarter.

The situation at the gomel production association “gomselmash” is deteriorating. In particular, it became known about the poor condition of the plant of casting and normalizing, which is part of the “gomselmash”. The company had to take a loan from a bank to pay workers salaries in early 2025.

brest battery plant will suspend operations until May 12. The company also plans to reduce its staff