February 6, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

In March 2025, the international depository Euroclear intends to make the second payment to the European Fund for Ukraine in the amount of about EUR 2 billion.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy will announce a new support for Ukraine totaling 55 million pounds (about $68.7 million): 17 million pounds for innovative energy projects; 10 million pounds for economic recovery; 25 million pounds – to support our country in strengthening more inclusive, effective and efficient social systems and services; and three million pounds – to supply Ukrainian grain and other food products to Syria.

Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic Karel Řehka believes that the partner countries’ political decision is needed to send military instructors to Ukraine.

“We're having very good talks, very constructive talks on Ukraine,” said US President Donald Trump.

US President Donald Trump's Special Envoy for Ukraine and russia Keith Kellogg will attend a Security Conference in Munich on February 14-16.

The next meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in the Ramstein format is scheduled for February 12.

Ukraine offers its underground gas storage for American LNG.

Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset has appointed former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjord Gylfadóttir as his Special Envoy on the situation of children of Ukraine.

As of January 2025, more than 355,000 Ukrainian children living abroad with their families are studying simultaneously at two schools – one foreign and one Ukrainian.

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The Council of Europe has reached an agreement on the legal framework for the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. If approved, the Tribunal will be independent of the International Court of Justice. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas has said that she had “no doubt that putin committed a crime of aggression” by deciding to attack Ukraine and violating its sovereignty.

“At this stage, we do not see that russia is serious about negotiations and serious about peace. And the conditions put forward by putin last year were not any basis on which a sovereign country could be seriously expected to start negotiations,” said David Lammy, the UK Foreign Secretary.

Norway's intelligence service has warned that russia is hiring criminals for sabotage operations and that Norway expects sabotage at its facilities in 2025.

Norwegian F-35 fighter jets intercepted a russian bomber group in the Far North.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen has expressed doubts about the accidental nature of a series of damages to submarine cables in the Baltic Sea that occurred at the end of 2024. According to her, it is “extremely unlikely” that all four incidents in a row occurred accidentally.

Among NATO countries Poland spends the most on defense in relation to its GDP for two reasons: to have good relations with the United States and to keep russia at bay. This was stated by the country's Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.

Hundreds of cases of vandalism of cars in Germany with environmental slogans are probably a special operation by russia in an attempt to stir up German society before the election and worsen the ratings of one of the parties.

India and Türkiye, which are the largest importers of russian coal after China, sharply reduced their purchases in 2024. Deliveries to India fell by 37% compared to the previous year and amounted to 25 million tons, while exports to Türkiye fell even more sharply – by 39%, to 14 million tons. In 2024, China also reduced its imports of russian coal by 7% compared to 2023. Last year, Beijing purchased 95.1 million tons of coal from moscow. In monetary terms, supplies decreased by 25% to $10.9 billion.

The US sanctions imposed in early January hit russia's oil exports from sakhalin. Only two out of the nine fuel tankers sent from oil and gas projects on the island across the Pacific Ocean did deliver their cargoes after the new restrictions.

sberbank of the rf financed the militants of the dpr, and therefore can be considered a terrorist accomplice. Therefore, its status as a state-owned bank does not entitle it to sovereign immunity. This decision was made by a judge in the United States, allowing the prosecution of russia's largest bank by the family of an American who died in the Malaysia Airlines plane crash over the Donbas.

The foreign exchange balance of the russian banking system continues to deflate as Western sanctions are toughening and financial bridges with the world are being destroyed. At the end of 2024, the client accounts of individuals and legal entities in russian banks held $159 billion, the lowest amount of foreign currency since 2008. In December, another $4.9 billion disappeared from client accounts, and in the fourth quarter - $15.9 billion.

The russian central bank has stated that its attempts to slow down inflation have failed. The indicators show an acceleration of economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2024 due to high budget expenditures, which stimulated consumer activity, and this contributed to the increase in price growth. “There are no signs of a transition to a steady slowdown in price growth so far,” said the regulator.

The lack of working capital and unavailability of credit currency have come to the forefront of the list of problems facing russian businesses. The share of organizations facing restrictions due to a lack of working capital increased to 26 % by the end of 2024 from 22 % in the third quarter. At the beginning of last year, only 13 % of respondents mentioned this problem. Unavailability of credit currency in the first three quarters hindered the work of 11% to 16 % of companies, while at the end of the year the share increased to 25 %.

The cost of the broadband access to the Internet and pay TV in the rf has increased by 5-15 % since the beginning of the year. According to 66% of operators, the main factors influencing the price increase were a shortage of equipment and an increase in its cost. Second (55 %) is the shortage of personnel, and third (54%) is the government regulation.

Companies engaged in the rf in logging and exporting timber and lumber abroad have lost a third of their export markets compared to 2021 and about $6 billion in annual revenue.

russians have switched to pollock after a sharp rise in fish prices. Pollock is the country's most abundant sea fish, so it is cheaper than other such products. In 2024, consumption of pollock in terms of raw fish exceeded 4 kg per person a year, a record in the more than 20-year history of observations.

At the end of this year, moscow is expected to commission by 21% fewer new buildings than a year earlier. The decline in the dynamics of commissioning of finished housing in the russian capital in 2025 is influenced by the relatively low level of new construction launches by developers in 2022. Besides, developers themselves are slowing down the pace of project commissioning due to low demand for new buildings: mortgage rates are practically at a prohibitive level. The decrease is expected in all housing segments, with the most serious in the elite segment. In 2025, developers of such new buildings will complete by 44.2% fewer year-on-year. In the business class, the decrease will be 28%, to 131, in the premium class – 22.2%, to 42, in the mass market – 12.3% to 242 buildings.

The rf’s government has appointed sochi-based “tonnelyuzhstroy” as the contractor for the design and construction of a road bridge across the river tumannaya, which will connect the seaside region with the dpr. “tonnelyuzhstroy” was founded in 2014 in Sochi, and as of 2023, it had only four employees. In the same year, the company recorded a net loss of more than half a million dollars. The firm does not have its own website, and there is no information about previously completed large projects.

The M-12 moscow – yekaterinburg federal motorway, which is being built under putin’s order, risks becoming a long-term construction project due to delays in workers’ salaries. It was planned to open in late 2024, but at the last minute the deadline was pushed back to June 2025. This happened against the backdrop of a massive layoff of construction workers on the bashkortostan section of the road, who stopped being paid in September. As of February, the debt has not been repaid. Now it amounts to 200-300 thousand per person, which is equivalent to a delay of 2–3 months.

The rf’s ministry of healthcare has proposed to double the fine for students studying at medical universities and colleges under a “targeted” contract. Under the “targeted enrollment” program, regional ministries of healthcare or medical institutions enter into contracts with individual applicants. The contracts provide for their employment after graduation, and the state pays for their education. If a student fails to fulfill his/ her obligations, he/she must reimburse the full cost of education. If the amendments proposed by the ministry of healthcare are adopted, the tuition fee will be reimbursed in double amount – almost 2.5 million rubles.

In 2024, in the rf, at least 50 people died in police stations, temporary detention centers, special detention centers, pre-trial prisons, courts, and during detention. The most common cause of death was “health issues”.

In 2024, human rights activists recorded 95 cases of pressure on environmental activists in russia. Over the year, 72 environmental activists, 15 initiative groups and five environmental organizations in 27 regions of the country were subjected to pressure. Five activists received real criminal sentences, and one was sentenced to community services.

russia should ban the sale of any alcoholic beverages to young people under the age of 21, said head of the investigative committee of the rf aleksandr bastrykin. He also proposed to criminalize the transfer of electronic means of payment to fictitious persons and to reduce the age threshold for criminal prosecution for drug trafficking from 16 to 14 years of age.

On February 5, the migration regime of expulsion of foreign citizens illegally staying in the country came into force in russia. Under the new law, migrants who have committed offenses or are illegally staying in russia will be included in a special register of controlled persons and will be required to send information about their location to the ministry of internal affairs in the form of a photo with geolocation. Migrants in the register will not be able to buy real estate, drive a car, use banking services, get married, change their place of residence or stay without the permission of the ministry of internal affairs and travel outside the region of residence. The rf’s ministry of internal affairs clarified that staying on a cruise ship or ferry for more than 72 hours without proper documents is also considered a violation. If a migrant repeatedly violates the established restrictions and prohibitions, he/she will be deported. In addition, the authorities have introduced fines for providing illegal migrants with services prohibited by law. The amount of the fine for citizens is from 2 to 5 thousand rubles, for officials – 35–50 thousand rubles, for legal entities – 400–500 thousand rubles.

22 % of russians surveyed can allocate only up to 50 thousand rubles for vacation, 23% – from 50 to 100 thousand rubles, 28% – from 100 to 150 thousand rubles, and 19% – from 150 to 300 thousand rubles. Only 8% of respondents are willing to spend more than 300 thousand rubles. Due to the rising cost of living, russians have also begun to give up en mass vacation trips to Türkiye.

member of the tomsk city duma from the communist party of the rf andrey petrov has proposed to erect a monument to soviet dictator joseph stalin in the city. According to him, the townspeople will support the initiative and are “ready to contribute” money for it. In tomsk, during the era of stalin's repressions, about nine thousand people were executed at the kashtachnaya mountain training ground alone.

After a drone attack in volgograd region, local clergyman yevgeny karavayev decided to defend krasnoarmeysky district by traveling with his son around the border with an icon of admiral ushakov: “I realized that God speaks through the mouths of children,” karavayev said.

Lithuania conducted massive searches in connection with the supply of cars to the rf and the rb in violation of sanctions. According to the Customs Criminal Service of Lithuania, the searches were conducted at the offices of a company engaged in cargo transportation and sales of vehicles in Vilnius and its suburbs. Two belarusian and two Lithuanian citizens were detained on suspicion of violating international sanctions, and vehicles worth EUR 1.5 million were seized. According to the investigation, in 2024, a total of 30 vehicles were delivered to the rf and the rb in circumvention of sanctions: tractors and semi-trailers, as well as luxury cars BMW, Mercedes-Benz and others. Their total estimated value, according to preliminary data, may be almost EUR 2 million.

Minister of Defence of Latvia Andris Sprūds has called for giving up travels to the rb and the rf: “Minimal contacts should be maintained with the aggressor, both at the individual and state level.”

On February 4, at the belarusian border, Lithuanian border guards turned back a record number of illegal migrants – 48 people. According to the State Border Guard Service, this is the highest number of migrants since October 2023, when there were 54 people.

Poland has completed the installation of an electric barrier on the border with the rb on the Istochanka and Svisloch rivers.

The rb should abandon direct presidential elections and move to the Chinese model, according to which the head of state is appointed by a “people's assembly,” said head of the central election commission of the rb ihor karpenko. “I do not believe in this liberal democracy. The Chinese system is more honest with its citizens, voters. There, the communist party said that it is responsible for the fate of the country, and it is the guiding force,” karpenko pointed out.

The foreign trade turnover of goods in the rb in 2024 amounted to $86 billion 27.2 million, which is by 3.7 % more than in 2023 ($82 billion 931.8 million). Exports for the year reached $40 billion 327.3 million ($39 billion 840.1 million; +1.2%), imports - $45 billion 699.9 million ($43 billion 91.7 million; +6.1 %). The negative balance amounted to $5 billion 372.6 million (-3 billion 251.6 million in 2023; +65.2 %).

The ministry of antimonopoly regulation and trade of the rb “strongly recommends” businesses to minimize the use of foreign words in advertising and signage and write in belarusian or russian instead. The ministry explained this measure by protecting “national interests”.

Law enforcement agencies of the rb have gained access to the data of the “Belarusian Hayun” monitoring project. The data of people who interacted with the project is highly likely to be in the possession of siloviki. So if they are in the rb, their safety is under serious threat.

Human rights activists report that repressions in the rb are not only continuing, but are gaining momentum even more. In January 2025, 506 cases of politically motivated repression were recorded. There were at least 175 politically motivated verdicts and 295 politically motivated decisions in administrative cases. The current government is preparing “opportunities for new large-scale, including cross-border repressions”. To this end, they even plan to make further changes to the criminal code. Meanwhile, siloviki have stepped up control and inspections of those leaving the country.

state organizations of the rb have begun to purchase expensive propaganda books about lukashenko at a cost of 200-205 rubles a copy. The money is taken from the state budget – in fact, from the pockets of belarusians.

The Security Council recognized a photo album about the BPR centennial celebration “BNR-100: Sviatkavanie 100- gadovaga Yubileyu u Belarusi I u Zamezhzhy” (Celebrating the 100th Anniversary in Belarus and Abroad” – Transl.) as extremist.