February 21, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda offers European states his action plan to support Ukraine and strengthen the continent's security, which includes the following points: real security guarantees for Ukraine – “NATO membership should remain on the negotiation table”; russia should be held accountable for war crimes, and sanctions should remain in place until the aggression stops; immediate financing of arms and EUR 10 billion for the Ukrainian defense industry; seizing frozen russian assets and imposing tariffs on russian/belarusian imports; our country’s accelerated accession to the EU – the target date is by 2030.

“We stand with Ukraine and will take full responsibility for ensuring peace and security in Europe. This is a fundamental interest of France, and I am its guarantor,” said President of France Emmanuel Macron.

“He (Macron) will come (to the United States) to speak for the Europeans and to say that Ukraine’s future cannot be decided without them,” said Minister Delegate for European Affairs to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Benjamin Haddad.

President of Finland Alexander Stubb calls on European countries to persuade the United States that Ukraine cannot lose the war.

“The war in Ukraine has to be resolved on Ukraine's terms, because russia is the aggressor here, and what we see at stake is the integrity of the rules-based world order,” said Minister of Defence of Australia Richard Marles.

Chancellor of the FRG Olaf Scholz has said that Ukraine must not be blamed for the war waged against it by russia. “Ukraine should not be restricted in its decision to become a democratic, sovereign state on its way to Europe,” Scholz emphasized.

US Republican Senators Thom Tillis and Susan Collins have expressed their support for President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “He’s kept a nation together focused on fighting russian occupiers, and I think we should give him a fair amount of credit for that work,” Tillis said.

“We have a pretty simple and clear position on this. President Zelenskyy was legitimately elected in free, fair and democratic elections,” said European Commission Spokesperson Stefan de Keersmaecker.

“President Zelenskyy holds his office after duly conducted elections,” – said Spokesperson for the Secretary-General of the United Nations Stéphane Dujarric.

“Of course, a country undergoing a violent invasion should not be staging elections. There was no general election in the UK from 1935 to 1945,” said former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk has said that the forced surrender of Ukraine would mean the surrender of the entire Western community.

“No one but putin unleashed or wanted this war in the heart of Europe. Yet no one in Europe must allow any doubts to creep in about us doing everything in our power right now to secure peace and stability in Europe and to safeguard the future of our children,” emphasized Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Annalena Baerbock.

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The European Union will ban eight more russian media outlets as part of the 16th package of sanctions against russia. The restrictions will apply to the state news agency tass, the russian defense ministry's television channel “zvezda” and the defence ministry’s official newspaper “krasnaya zvezda”, the pro-kremlin news portals eadaily, lenta.ru and newsfront, the Baltic news portal rubaltic, the website southfront, which the US Department of the Treasury accused of spreading conspiracy theories, and the publication of the “fond strategicheskoy kultury”, which is affiliated with the russian foreign ministry and run by the rf’s foreign intelligence service.

“putin is a war criminal who should be in jail for the rest of his life, if not executed”, – Chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican Senator Roger Wicker said on Tuesday.

The Federal Intelligence Service of Germany (BND) and the Intelligence Service of Poland (AW) have publicly pledged to cooperate against russia’s hybrid attacks. “Stronger together: AW and BND cooperate on a regular basis in countering russia’s subversive operations in Europe. We share the view that subversive activities could not have been carried out by russian intelligence and its proxies in Germany and Poland without the knowledge and permission of moscow's top leadership,” the Intelligence Services said in a statement.

The EU will allocate almost EUR 1 billion to protect submarine cables that ensure digital and energy security in the region.

Last December, beer supplies from Germany to russia dropped to their lowest levels since April 2022. Back then, russia purchased 6.5 thousand tons of beer from Germany. In monetary terms, sales dropped to EUR 4.7 million (RUB 432 million), a 1.7-fold decrease. The value of German beer sales fell lower only in June 2022 – to EUR 4.3 million (RUB 395 million).

Prices of industrial goods producers in russia in January 2025 increased by 0.5 % after 0.4 % in December last year. In annual terms, the figure increased by 9.7 % against 7.9 % a month earlier.

Retail prices for jewelry in the rf increased by 34 % last year, while the average check in the market grew by 19 % to RUB 9 thousand.

Due to problems with access to equipment after the Western manufacturers’ withdrawal from the country, higher project costs and debt financing, a government commission is considering investor proposals to postpone the modernization of 54 renewable energy projects with a capacity of more than 2 GW.

russian agricultural organizations sold 3,676.8 thousand tons of grain in January, which is by 15.1 % less than in January 2024. In particular, wheat sales decreased by 9.3 % to 2,491.4 thousand tons, corn sales – by 31.6 % to 522.9 thousand tons. Sales of oilseeds decreased by 16 % to 863.7 thousand tons, including sunflower – by 24.7 % to 435.9 thousand tons, sugar beet – 924.5 thousand tons were sold compared to 2.4 million tons a year ago. Potatoes were sold by 19.7 % less – 213 thousand tons.

Amidst the rapid rise in prices for new cars, there was a boom in used car sales in russia: the number of transactions increased by 30 % over the year. Motorists rushed to buy vaz “classics” and the cheapest foreign cars.

The majority of russian employers (64 %) see a shortage of IT specialists in the labor market, at this, 16 % of them need employees badly.

The rf’s ministry of digital development, communications and mass media is considering the telecom operators’ initiative to limit voice traffic in messengers, allegedly to fight fraud calls.

In 2024, one and a half hundred healthcare facilities were closed in russia: most of them in Dagestan, Kuzbass and Moscow region. Most often, district rural hospitals and maternity hospitals were liquidated. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, russian authorities have been cutting healthcare and medical spending and increasing military spending every year. In 2024, they cut spending on the national healthcare project, the modernization of primary healthcare, and fighting cancer. Funding from regional budgets is also decreasing: in 2023, two-thirds of regions cut healthcare spending. At this, spending on the war is growing: in 2023, russia spent 6.8 trillion rubles from the federal budget on the war, in 2024 – 10.8 trillion rubles, and in 2025 it will spend 13.2 trillion rubles.

According to putin, the work of russian courts, where, according to official statistics, only one person out of 400 defendants is acquitted, is the most important factor in the country's successful and sustainable development.

In 2024, the number of people sentenced to administrative expulsion from the rf increased by 34 %, compared to 2023.

head of the state duma commission to investigate foreign states’ interference in the internal affairs of the rf vasily piskaryov has warned of possible liability for russians who participate in anti-russian actions abroad. According to him, such events are organized by members of undesirable and extremist organizations, cooperation with which leads to severe consequences.

The UN has called for the immediate release of at least 120 political prisoners who are in danger in russian prisons due to critical health conditions, age or disability.

russian siloviki have proposed to restrict citizens’ free withdrawal of own funds from bank accounts at ATMs.

st. petersburg plans to put into operation 8,000 city surveillance cameras equipped with an “ethnicity recognition” system. The new system will make it possible to track the places where migrants congregate.

russians are no longer interested in holidaying in Anapa after a large-scale fuel oil spill in the Black Sea that polluted the resort's beaches. The total volume of bookings for summer tours in the resort city fell 7.6 times compared to 2024, and the demand for hotels decreased by 57 %. Demand for other resorts in the Krasnodar Territory also fell sharply: Vityazevo (decreased by 63 % year-on-year), Divnomorsk (by 45 %), Gelendzhik (by 32 %), and even Sochi (by 24 %).

In Nevinnomyssk, the Stavropol Territory, the mayor was happy to see cockroaches in the school and attributed it to the good environment.

Latvia's Saeima has conceptually supported a new draft law that bans russian and belarusian citizens from buying real estate in the country. The reason given is to strengthen national security and prevent possible threats to its interests. It is planned to introduce such a ban: for citizens of russia and belarus; legal entities registered in russia and belarus; legal entities in which citizens of russia and belarus directly or indirectly own at least 25 % of shares or stocks, or whose beneficiaries are citizens of russia and belarus; legal entities established in russia or belarus, or whose beneficiaries are citizens of russia and belarus.

In 2025 and the next 10 years, the trend of staff shortages in the belarusian labor market will continue.

Belarusians have drawn up a petition asking to restrict the operation of the online lottery “belbet, where even minors can play uncontrolled. However, the response from the ministry of finance of the rb states that this platform, which belongs to the lukashenko administration, is not subject to gambling regulations.

The government of the rb has admitted that in 2024, the goal of increasing exports to at least the level of 2023 was not met.

According to a survey conducted by independent sociologists, the majority of residents of belarusian cities are against further russification. The highest percentage of respondents (19 %) supported the idea of expanding the use of russian in computer and video games. This is followed by movies and TV series (15 %), government work, documents, the army (12 % each), outdoor advertising, higher education (11 % each), pre-school and secondary education, mass media, urban design, politics and public administration, pop and show business (10 % each), and book publishing. Two to three times as many respondents are for expanding the scope of the belarusian language: 33 % – in preschool education, 32 % – in secondary education and outdoor advertising, 29% – in mass media, urban design, politics and public administration, 27 % – in pop and show business, 25% – in higher education, 20% – in the army, computer and video games. According to the survey, the share of urban residents who prefer to speak belarusian last year was 11 %. “Sometimes” it is spoken by 44 % of the townspeople. A year ago, 7 % preferred belarusian. 63% of respondents consider belarusian to be their native language (compared to 56 % last year).