February 10, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

“It is in the political and military interests of the Alliance to support Ukraine not only now, but also in the future. You are fighting not only for your nation. You are fighting for your identity. And NATO stands with you. Our support for your sovereignty and territorial integrity will remain unwavering,” said Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Giuseppe Cavo Dragonet.

The United Kingdom is developing the Wasp and Snapper maritime unmanned surface vehicles to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Black Sea.

The United Kingdom is providing £25 million to launch the SPIRIT program to strengthen inclusive and sustainable social recovery in Ukraine.

“If we don't decide Ukraine's fate as part of the West, protected by the West’s security guarantees, putin will be provided with triumph. He will keep what he has and use his position to destabilize and attack Ukraine by any means necessary until the government in Kyiv falls, civil war erupts, and the whole country is brought back into his orbit,” said former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

President of the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Dr. Seth Jones believes that the administration of US President Donald Trump is well aware of the likely severe consequences for Ukraine if US aid is cut off.

In 2024, Ukraine exported $24.7 billion worth of agricultural products, the second highest figure in history after the record-breaking year of 2021.

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Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have synchronized their power grids with continental Europe.

“Today we are making history. We are connecting the Baltic countries to the continental European power grid. The power lines connecting us to belarus and russia are being dismantled. This change of power lines, which connected you to hostile neighbors, will be a thing of the past,” President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen commented on the Baltic States’ switching to the European power grid.

Prime Minister of Latvia Evika Siliņa has said that the process of disconnecting the Baltic states from the russian power grid proceeded without incidents.

Prime Minister of Lithuania Gintautas Paluckas has expressed his belief that the disconnection of the three Baltic states from the russian energy system strengthens energy security and ensures stability.

Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator Litgrid has pointed out that the Baltic states' power system has been operating smoothly since disconnection from russia and belarus.

Prime Minister of Estonia Kristen Michal has called the disconnection of the Baltic states from the common power grid with russia a “historic day”.

The Frankfurt am Main Prosecutor’s Office suspects 58-year-old russian billionaire roman abramovich of circumventing sanctions. The agency is conducting an investigation.

According to the “levada centre” poll, the main problem for russians is not the war, but inflation. When asked “what problems of our society concern you the most, and you consider them the most acute”, “price increases” is leading by a huge margin – 63 % chose this answer. The war is in second place: 35 % said “special military operation in Ukraine, conflict with the West, sanctions.” According to rosstat, in 2022-2024, prices in russia increased by 31.7 %, while last year inflation was 9.5 %. The 11 % rise in food prices “ate up” a significant portion of the growth in russians’ incomes. According to another survey, almost 2/3 of russian families (63 %) spend at least half of their income on food. Polls by the “obshchestvennoye mnenie” foundation, which the central bank relies on, consistently show that 6-9 % of people “do not have enough money even for food,” and another 20 % “have enough money for food, but not enough to buy clothes and footwear.” The share of those who are worried about rising prices has increased by 11 % since August. The third major problem is housing (emergency condition, non-availability, expensive mortgage), which was mentioned by 30 %. Only one in six russians (16 %) is concerned about the economic crisis, but in March 2024, only 9 % worried about it. Over the year, the share of respondents who believe that an economic crisis is possible within a year has increased significantly – by 10 % to 41 %. The problem of poverty and impoverishment of the majority of the population is a concern for one in five (21 %).

In order to encourage russians to go to war against Ukraine, the government of the rf has submitted to the state duma a draft law on increasing military pensions by 9.5 %. To increase the payments, the government proposes to change the coefficient of financial support taken into account when calculating the pension – from 85.47 % to 93.59 %. The federal budget will need to allocate 56.6 billion rubles for indexation. According to chairman of the state duma defense committee kartapolov, military pensions will be indexed twice in 2025. On October 1, 2025, the pension will also be raised by 4.5 % in accordance with the law on budget.

Previously issued exemptions for employees will cease to be valid after March 21, 2025. At this, employees of large state-owned and private companies have already stopped being exempted from mobilization. For several months now, the mts and “sberbank” have been recruiting new employees without guarantees of exemption from active duty. At “rostekh”, employees “involved in tasks related to military purposes” will retain their exemption from military service. At “rosneft”, issuing the exemption to each employee “is now discussed individually”. The number of exemptions that should remain after the spring has been estimated at “approximately 70-80 % of the current number”.

At the same time, due to significant losses at the front, in the spring of 2025 the russian occupiers plan to increase forced mobilization in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The occupying authorities are putting pressure on men of conscription age, forcing them to sign contracts under the threat of arrest, confiscation of property or forced deportation to depressed regions of the rf. A separate category on which russian military commissariats in the TOT rely is migrants. Citizens of Central Asian countries who came to the occupied territories to earn money are being forced to sign a contract with the russian armed forces.

The Koala tanker carrying 130,000 tons of fuel oil has sunk in the port of ust-luga in leningrad region.

The minimum cost to the confectionery industry to introduce labeling for its products will be about 62 billion rubles, in addition to fixed costs estimated at 46 billion rubles annually. The innovation may reduce line productivity by 15-20 % (failures of synchronization with the control centre, replacement of ribbons, rejection of barcodes), increase costs and, as a result, lead to a price increase for consumers by more than 10%.

On March 1, new rules for the development of land plots will come into force in russia, providing for fines and possible confiscation of property for non-use of land. If a plot remains unused for three years, the owner may lose the right to the land after fines.

So far, 665.34 tons of soil contaminated with fuel oil after the accident of two tankers in the Kerch Strait have been removed from the beaches of Sevastopol.

The International Accountability Platform for Belarus (IAPB) has submitted evidence and legal analysis to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to preliminarily study whether the Court has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute alleged crimes against humanity, including deportation, persecution and other inhumane acts committed by Belarusian officials since May 1, 2020. “Lithuania's transferring the case to the ICC marks an important milestone on the road to justice for victims of crimes against humanity in belarus,” pointed out Andrea Huber, Head of the Platform. – Thanks to the resilience and courage of belarusian victims and human rights defenders, as well as the Platform's team, which is determined to make a difference, we managed to provide the ICC Prosecutor with substantial information and evidence for consideration.”

On February 7, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) completed its consideration of the ninth periodic report of belarus. Committee members expressed concern about belarus’ harsh laws on HIV transmission and the high number of criminal cases in the country (HIV transmission is punishable by up to five years in prison). The Committee also expressed deep concern about reports of repression against journalists, activists and civil society organizations. The experts questioned the state’s justification of the recent closure of prominent non-governmental organizations, many of which were engaged in the protection of human rights.

As a result of the aging of the freight locomotive fleet, extending the service life of which is becoming extremely dangerous, belarus railways has been purchasing them from China for several years because of their higher quality and lower price than in the rf. China had to supply another 15 BCG2 electric locomotives. However, sanctions against russia disrupted the deal: Chinese investors and the manufacturer CRRC Datong refused to continue cooperation because of the risk of secondary sanctions, as well as a possible ban on the supply of European components. As a result, not only did the railroad not receive new locomotives, but it also had difficulties procuring spare parts, such as wheel sets.

The average rental price for one-bedroom flats in minsk has increased and amounts to $375 in equivalent, which is by 2.2 % higher compared to the end of 2024.

Only 47.6 % of belarusians read books in the belarusian language; 34.3 % read every day; 18.2 % read 1-3 books; 17 % do not read books at all.

The authorities in the rb have admitted the difficult economic situation at 32 dairy plants, the most difficult of which is at the polotsk dairy.

The ministry of antimonopoly regulation and trade of the rb wants to introduce a ban on the sale of sexual goods to minors: “products, apparatuses, tools and devices intended for sexual stimulation”. The relevant draft law was submitted for public discussion.

belarusian authorities continue to “hog” real estate from those who left abroad because of politics. On February 25, the house of the Tsepkalo family in slipianka district of minsk was put up for auction for the third time.

Human rights activists from “Viasna” report increased control and detentions on the rb’s borders with Poland and Lithuania. As before, people's phones are being checked: siloviki, in particular, look through the history of Google searches to find out what information a person was looking for.