February 11, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The European Commission intends to make further support for Ukraine a “top priority” in its 2025 work program.

Ukraine and the European Investment Bank have signed agreements providing for the allocation of EUR 16.5 million to restore critical infrastructure and implement energy efficiency, as well as EUR 100 million to restore water, heat, and sewage facilities. The EIB will also provide EUR 40 million for the 112 emergency system project.

In Lithuania, within a week, the Radarom! campaign fundraised more than EUR 1 million for UAVs and anti-drone equipment for Ukraine.

Lithuania will allocate almost EUR 32 million for the education of Ukrainian refugees in 2025.

Latvia will produce Patria 6x6 armored personnel carriers and is going to hand them over to Ukraine this year.

“We must help Ukraine have a strong army because its economy cannot finance an army of the size needed for defence. This is the first important step, along with the security guarantees we are negotiating,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“We should focus on supporting the end of the war to ensure that Ukraine can enter any negotiations from a position of strength,” – Chair of NATO's Military Committee, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone has pointed out that Ukraine's strikes on military targets in russia undermine the enemy’s logistics, weaken its ability to carry out further attacks and force moscow to allocate more resources to its own defense.

Chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) Christoph Heusgen hopes that this year's forum will outline steps to peace in Ukraine.

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President of Estonia Alar Karis has called on the EU to impose a full trade embargo on russia. “The EU should further strengthen its independence and stop importing russian energy carriers. We should even seriously consider a full trade embargo against russia,” he said.

“There is no doubt that energy policy is also a security policy. Unfortunately, today we are in a terrible situation in Europe, where russia has brutally attacked Ukraine. This affects all of us. First of all, it shows that we have to be independent. We have to be 100% independent of energy resources from russia and its energy systems,” said Dan Jørgensen, European Commissioner responsible for energy and housing.

The new US sanctions against russian oil, imposed by the Joe Biden administration as a “farewell”, will cost russia’s economy tens of billions of dollars in lost export revenue and will lead to an increase in the dollar exchange rate of more than 130 rubles. This is the forecast of the pro-government center for macroeconomic analysis and forecasting.

European countries have unofficial negotiations about large-scale measures to inspect and arrest tankers of the russian “shadow” fleet that transport russian oil through the Baltic Sea. New laws are also being drafted to give these efforts legal force. Proposals include the use of international law to detain ships.

russian banks approved only 5 % of consumer loan applications in January 2025. In January 2024, banks approved 22 % of applications submitted by russians. In January 2025, the volume of disbursed loans, including mortgages, cash loans, car loans and POS loans, amounted to RUB 441.5 billion (-28.2 % y-o-y), the lowest since April 2022. If the key policy rate remains at the current level, the situation in the consumer lending market will not change. At the same time, the high rate of bank rejections may lead to demand for loans from gray lenders. Due to the large number of bank refusals to issue loans, since the middle of last year, russians have been turning more often to microfinance organizations that provide payday loans at 0.8 % per day, or 292 % per annum. The share of microloans in total disbursements rose to a record 70 % in December.

89 % of russians surveyed do not make financial savings to secure their desired retirement. At the same time, 99 % of respondents stated their desire to live in prosperity in retirement.

The government of the rf has amended the list of planned investment projects in the far east, postponing the implementation of the project to expand the coal terminal in the port of vanino from 2025 to 2030.

In the Gulf of Finland, two russian cables connecting kingisepp, leningrad region, with kaliningrad have been damaged.

In russia, a significant increase in purchase prices for certain parts of the broiler and pork carcasses, such as wings, fillets and breasts, has been recorded. Their cost has increased by 11-46 %.

In 2024, russia produced by 4 % less fish products than in 2023. Production of frozen fish decreased by 11 %, the main reason being a 2.6-fold drop in the catch of Pacific salmon, compared to 2023.

The new parameters of russia's self-sufficiency in milk and dairy products, berries and fruits, which are contained in the updated and approved by the russian government strategy for the development of the agro-industrial and fishery complexes, do not “reach” the indicators stipulated in the food security doctrine (90 %).

The base rental rate for ready-made warehouses in the rf in 2025 may increase by 10.5 %, to RUB 13.8 thousand for a square meter a year. The increase is due to the harsh economic conditions caused by Western sanctions.

The rf’s government will ban employees of government agencies, banks and telecom operators from using foreign messengers for official communication or communication with citizens. Similar restrictions will apply to the owners of social networks, aggregators of goods and services, and online classifieds.

In 2024, 28.4 thousand people moved to russia under the program for the return of compatriots. This is the lowest number in the last four years. The number of people willing to live in russia is falling, despite the simplification of conditions for repatriates. The number of repatriates from Tajikistan has fallen most noticeably. While in 2021-2023 it was over 10 thousand, in 2024 it dropped to 5,244. The number of repatriates from Armenia decreased from 5,866 in 2023 to 2,129. Also, the number of repatriates from Moldova decreased by almost half compared to last year – from 1,105 to 567 people. In 2024, 52 people left Ukraine for russia.

russian schools are experiencing an acute shortage of young teachers, but have a large number of teachers of retirement age for whom the state cannot find replacements, said speaker of the state duma vyacheslav volodin.

russian science continues to lose its personnel base amid declining budget funding and the talented scientists’ leaving for abroad en mass. As of the beginning of 2024, 338.9 thousand scientists remained in the country. Compared to 2021, the number of scientists in research organizations and universities decreased by another 1,800, compared to 2020 – by 7,600, and compared to 2015 – by 40,500, or 11 %.

kursk region has accumulated a huge debt to the families of the deceased participants in the war with Ukraine, acting governor aleksandr khinshtein said. According to him, they have not been paid regional money since July, which fact he learnt with “horror and shame” in December. “As for the debt for the deaths and injuries, the situation with the budget of kursk region today is not just bad, it is very bad,” he admitted.

Latvia's Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis has urged the country's residents to give up travelling to russia and belarus, as in case of an escalation of the situation, Riga may close the eastern border within hours.

President of the European Council António Costa has called lukashenko a threat to peace in Ukraine and security in Europe.

Political prisoner Viktoriya Kulsha may become the first woman to die in lukashenko's gulag, – former political prisoner Polina Sharendo-Panasyuk said at a press conference in Vilnius.

The ministry of information of the rb has updated the list of “extremist materials”. On February 5, the court of the gorki district of mogilev region recognized the Ukrainian portal ukr.net as “extremist”.

belarusian dictator lukashenko has said his “elections” went as he “dreamed”.

At a meeting with heads of religious organizations of the country, lukashenko mentioned the coronavirus and said that “the way we have chosen was the right one.” As a reminder, it was recently estimated that the “right” way of fighting the pandemic in belarus, or rather ignoring it, claimed at least 90 thousand lives.

Authorities of the rb have prepared a draft law according to which parents (guardians, trustees) are obliged to protect children from “information disseminated on the global computer network Internet and harmful to the health and development of children”. The officials have not explained how this will work in practice.

In January, food prices in the rb rose by 1 % compared to December last year, non-food prices – by 0.5 %, and paid services – by 0.4 %. In annual terms, inflation was 5.2 % in January compared to the same month in 2024. Prices for food products rose most noticeably – by 6.5 %.

belarusians with dual citizenship are no longer allowed to enter the rb with foreign documents.

belarusian dog owners at the legislative level have been banned from using the “face!” command.