February 4, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action
2/4/2025

“We have to help end this war, but for peace to last in the way that Ukraine deserves, we must push the kremlin to change its goals. The only language they speak is strength. This is why I welcome the USA’s commitment to peace through strength,” said EU Chief Diplomat Kaja Kallas, adding that Ukrainians are fighting “very bravely” and the EU should find “further financing solutions for Ukraine”.
“Obviously, there is a need to increase support for Ukraine, which needs all possible financing and weapons. We must always keep this in mind, because how Ukraine will act if russia is forced to the negotiating table and how much Ukraine will be in a position of strength, will affect European security for a long time,” said Prime Minister of Estonia Kristen Michal.
A former Member of the UK Parliament from the Conservative Party has joined the International Legion as part of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military have received a hundred of FPV drones from Latvia as part of the public charity initiative “Drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.
Lithuania has announced the launch of the traditional campaign to support Ukraine “Radarom!”, which will raise funds for the purchase of drones and anti-drone systems for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Estonia will provide Ukraine’s Navy with a EUR 600 million aid package, which includes means to protect infrastructure.
“We will continue to help Ukraine in the future, because it is necessary,” said President of Poland Andrzej Duda.
The Council of Europe Development Bank has approved additional EUR 150 million to finance housing programs in Ukraine in 2025.
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During an informal summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels on February 3, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called to continue economic pressure on russia over the situation in Ukraine. “I am here to work with our European partners on keeping up the pressure, targeting the energy revenues supplying missile factories. Because ultimately, along with our military support, this is what will bring peace,” said Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer.
“The United Kingdom has imposed sanctions on over 2,100 individuals and entities under the sanctions regime against russia, over 1,900 of which have been imposed since putin's full-scale invasion. Sanctioned are more than 100 ships (including 93 oil tankers) transporting russian energy carriers,” reads the statement of the country’s government.
Prime Minister of Finland Petteri Orpo has emphasized that russia is and will be a real threat to the European Union, so EU members should be prepared to increase investments in defense.
Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) suspends flights on the Baku – astrakhan – Baku route for an indefinite period for security reasons. The airline has not been flying to kazan since January 8.
An employee of one of the largest laser manufacturers, Optogama, has been detained in Lithuania for secretly selling lasers to russian institutes working for the rf’s defence industry.
“severstal”’s quotes at the moscow exchange fell by 3.2% (to RUB 1,173 a share) on the news of the company's board of directors' recommendation not to distribute dividends for the fourth quarter of 2024 and the deterioration in financial performance for October-December 2024. On January 31, the company's securities lost 5.3% in value, falling to RUB 1,211.8 a share.
On January 31, the moscow exchange index fell by 0.65% to 2,948.1 points. The biggest drops were shown by shares of “severstal” (-5.3%), afk “sistema” (-2.96%), mmk (-2.73%), mkb (-2.33%), and nlmk (-2.08%).
The Chinese yuan was actively rising at the moscow exchange on February 3. The ruble was noticeably declining in the first trading of the new month. As a result of the trading, the yuan exchange rate amounted to 13.4425 rubles (+8.85 kopecks to the previous close). The Chinese currency was by 17.87 kopecks higher than the current official rate.
In February, russia's wheat exports, including deliveries to the EAEU, may reach 2.2-2.3 million tons, which is half as much as in February 2024 (4.4 million tons) and will be the lowest since February 2020 (1.9 million tons), – forecasts “rusagrotrans” analytical center. January exports were down by 63.2% year-on-year and are estimated at 2.54 million tons, compared to 4.08 million. For the entire agricultural season, exports will total 41 million tons, down by 19.6% year-on-year. At the same time, over the past week, third-class wheat in russia had risen in price by 2.3% to 15.9 thousand rubles a ton, fourth-class wheat – by 3.3% to 15.5 thousand rubles a ton, and fifth-class wheat – by 1.5% to 13.9 thousand rubles a ton.
Numerous accidents at russian refineries and restrictions on fuel exports have significantly affected the volume of oil refining in the rf. In 2024, the supply of raw materials to refineries decreased by 2.5% year-on-year to 271.4 million tons. According to the government, refining decreased by 3.1% to 266.5 million tons, while petrol production fell by 6.4% to 41.1 million tons. This year's figures will also directly depend on the number of unscheduled repairs at plants.
Low prices for diamonds are killing this industry in the rf quite quickly. The Diamond Index of rough and polished diamond prices continues to decline rapidly. As of January 21, 2025, it stood at 94.81 points, a record low for the entire tracking period.
Free prices on the russian energy market changed in different directions from January 27 to February 2: in the European part of russia and in the urals (the first price zone), they increased by 2.06% to 1934.62 rubles/MWh, in Siberia (the second price zone) – by 11.65% to 1969.82 rubles/MWh. Compared to the same seven-day period in 2024 (from January 29 to February 4), equilibrium price indices were by 11.4% higher in the first zone and by 36.9% higher in siberia.
The cost of tickets for flights with “aeroflot” will increase by the inflation rate in 2025, said the company's CEO aleksandr aleksandrovsky.
Planes in russia are tired of flying: “A sukhoi superjet 100 (SSJ-100) of the russian airline “azimuth”, flying from tbilisi to st. petersburg on February 2, made an emergency landing at pulkovo airport due to engine problems.
In January 2025, the number of offers for the sale of used premium cars (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Toyota, Lexus) in the rf increased by 22% compared to the beginning of last year. This is due to the fact that servicing premium cars has become a luxury, with the cost of maintenance and spare parts rising. There are problems with the availability of service centers and software.
Sales of lada cars in the rf in January 2025 decreased to 20,802 units.
The average time to sell on the secondary housing market in russia has increased in a number of segments to 35%, according to artemiy shurigin, president of the russian guild of realtors. The sales period increased the most in krasnoyarsk, chelyabinsk, krasnodar and samara. Those cities have seen the largest drop in demand for real estate due to the population’s having no money, affordable loans and because of the people’s uncertainty about the future.
In December 2024, the volume of non-resident investments in federal loan bonds (ofz) decreased by RUB 382 billion, or 29.5%, to RUB 915 billion. In total, in 2022-2024, the volume of non-resident investments in ofz decreased by RUB 2 trillion 167 billion, or 3.4 times, from RUB 3 trillion 82 billion.
In 2024, the top 100 largest companies in the russian online education sector showed a 19% increase in revenue, while in 2023 the growth was 32%. Experts attribute the slowdown to the increased key policy rate of the central bank, which has reduced the availability of loans for education, while the cost of courses in the segment remains quite high.
Sunflower seeds processing in russia is becoming unprofitable due to high raw material prices amid declining sunflower oil prices. Sunflower producers continue to “hold prices” and accumulate stocks, which may shift the attention of processors to soybeans and rapeseed and lead to a significant drop in seed prices in the future, analysts predict. Last week, sunflower prices continued to rise, and rose to the level of 200 to 1,200 rubles a ton depending on the region.
chair of the state duma committee on defense kartapolov proposes to increase liability for failure to notify the military commissariat of a citizen's move for more than three months. In the current version, this offense is punishable by a fine of 10 to 20 thousand rubles.
670,000 migrants may be deported from russia starting in May – this is the number of foreigners staying in the country illegally, mostly women and children, according to the rf ministry of internal affairs. The loss of labor will first of all affect construction, trade services, catering, delivery, transportation, and home care.
Due to the significant increase in “intelligence and hybrid threats” to prevent threats to public order and internal security, Latvia is considering restrictions on visa applications for citizens of the rf and the rb. The new rules should come into force by December 31, 2026.
belstat has calculated the commodity exports and imports of the rb for the past year: The foreign trade deficit exceeded $5.3 billion, which is more than half of the country's foreign exchange reserves. Long-distance countries have been consistently causing losses to the rb: exports to them fell by 8.9%, while imports from them increased by 3.4%. As a result, the trade deficit with non-cis countries is about $7.9 billion.
In January-November 2024, the amount of companies’ losses in the rb increased 2.04 times, from RUB 2,766.1 million to RUB 5,643.3 million, and the number of unprofitable companies increased by 2%, from 700 to 713. The leaders in terms of losses are: industry – RUB 3,839.2 million; transportation, warehousing, postal and courier activities – RUB 562.5 million; wholesale and retail trade; repair of cars and motorcycles – RUB 304.7 million. Leaders in terms of the number of unprofitable enterprises: industry – 219 enterprises; wholesale and retail trade; repair of cars and motorcycles – 112 enterprises; construction – 92 enterprises.
Authorities of the rb are increasingly regulating the country’s economy. On February 1, the maximum tariffs for paid medical services for appointments (consultations) of specialist doctors for private medical centers, which were approved by the ministry of healthcare at the end of 2024, came into force.
gosstandart has found unsafe furniture in belarusian shops. Two models of Chinese chairs have stability problems: EVERPROF model FORM and Breedge model SHELL. They are banned from being imported and sold in the rb.