February 7, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Minister of Defence of France Sébastien Lecornu has announced that his country has delivered the first Mirage 2000 fighter jets to Ukraine. “The first of these planes have arrived in Ukraine. On board are Ukrainian pilots who had been trained for many months in France and will now join the defense of Ukrainian skies,” the Minister emphasized.

The United Kingdom is officially convening the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in the Ramstein format on February 12. The meeting will take place at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

EU Diplomacy Chief Kaja Kalas is this year's recipient of the Ewald von Kleist (founder of the Munich Security Conference) Award for her efforts to support Ukraine.

Teams of 22 Ukrainian companies engaged in innovative developments in defense and security became graduates of the accelerator from the California-based SRI International.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree to allocate one million dollars to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

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The European Union is not interested in increasing the supply of russian gas to its territory. Instead, it is planning a roadmap for giving up fossil fuels from russia completely. This was reported by European Commission Spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen.

Denmark has changed its policy of non-interference in the movement of ships in the Baltic Sea and now intends to inspect the ships which it considers dangerous. First of all, tankers will be  inspected – old, rusted, and most likely not complying with technical and environmental standards, these vessels are the backbone of the shadow fleet that transports russian oil. The Danish Maritime Authority will start inspecting ships that “cannot be considered safe to sail.”

Prime Minister of Lithuania Gintautas Paluckas has said that the country is ready for possible sabotage during synchronization with the EU energy system.

Latvia, like other Baltic countries, is fully prepared to disconnect from the russian power grid and synchronize with the European one, but is preparing for possible provocations. This was stated by President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs. He pointed out that the country is ready to be disconnected from the russian energy system, but “we cannot rule out a provocation.”

The European Court of Human Rights has declared illegal the fines imposed by the russian authorities on activists under an article on so-called LGBT propaganda. Shortly after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, russia withdrew from the Council of Europe and refused to comply with the ECHR's decisions.

The ministry of foreign affairs of the rf has revoked the accreditation of Benjamin Kenel, a correspondent for the French newspaper Le Monde. This decision was a response to Paris’ refusal to issue a press visa to correspondents of the pro-government newspaper “komsomolskaya pravda”, as “the candidates proposed by moscow were not journalists, but agents of russian special services.” Le Monde points out that for the first time since 1957, the newspaper is “not allowed to have its own correspondent in moscow.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France has already condemned the decision of the russian authorities.

The UK is revoking the accreditation of a russian diplomat in response to a similar move made by moscow last year.

russia has been officially informed about the termination of the “rossotrudnichestvo” agency’s activities in Azerbaijan. Earlier, the Baku.tv channel published a report on the work of the russian house in Azerbaijan, in which it actually accused its employees of unfriendly and espionage activities.

Also, Azerbaijan will sue russia over the crash of its Embraer E190 plane, which was shot down over grozny, if russia does not plead guilty. Currently, the evidence base is being formed, facts and evidence are being collected, and preparations are underway to apply to the international court.

The government of Finland has submitted to the Parliament a draft law that restricts real estate transactions for russians. The initiative, proposed by the country’s Ministry of Defense, stipulates that a permit to purchase real estate will not be issued to a person “whose country of citizenship may pose a threat to Finland’s national security.” In addition to the draft law, the Ministry of Defence plans to reform the procedure for buying back real estate if it has already been sold. At the end of 2024, bailiffs in Finland arrested more than 30 russian properties in addition to more than ten previously confiscated flats. The value of the newly confiscated properties exceeds EUR 10 million. Among them – the russian center for science and culture in Helsinki, an office building in the city's Lauttasaari district, and three properties on the Åland Islands.

The number of passengers using bus services from Tallinn and Riga to st. petersburg, russia, is now four times lower than before the coronavirus pandemic.

Due to the needs of the defense industry, russia is reintroducing restrictions on the export of unprocessed lead, as well as waste and scrap containing the metal: till June 20, exports outside the eaeu will require a license from the ministry of industry and trade. In 2022, similar restrictions led to a reduction in the utilization of secondary raw materials by lead producers and overloading of warehouses.

russia is facing a new wave of inflation: almost 40 % of large companies have announced price increases. Compared to the first half of last year, the number of those planning to raise prices has doubled: in April, 19 % of respondents said this, and in July, 16 %.

In January of this year, the rf state budget revenues from oil sales fell to a one-year low.

In the first eleven months of last year, russian enterprises received a balanced profit of 27.22 trillion rubles, which is by 15.4 % lower than in January–November 2023.

Market mortgages in russia will remain very expensive throughout 2025, while the volume of housing loans will be less than in 2024. After the abolition of massive preferential mortgages and the increase in interest rates, the volume of mortgage issuance in 2024 (4.9 trillion rubles) was almost by 40 % lower than in 2023 (7.8 trillion rubles). Mortgage growth in 2024 slowed to 13.4 % after a record 34.5 % in 2023.

In 2024, 172 oil tankers over 30 years of age were registered in the russian maritime register. This is a record figure for 16 years since 2009. The lowest number of old tankers in the register was recorded in 2011. Back then, there were 81 vessels over 30. Thus, the number of old oil tankers has more than doubled over 14 years. Along with the increase in the number of old tankers in russia, the number of new vessels under 10 years is significantly decreasing. In 2024, there were 64 such vessels in the maritime register. Figures lower than this were recorded only in 2009 and 2010 – 48 and 55 tankers, respectively. At the same time, the share of vessels younger than 10 years in the entire tanker fleet in 2024 was a record low – 14.7 %.

Almost 3.5 thousand employees of the state corporation for air traffic organization, who serve civilian airports in russia, plan to resign due to dissatisfaction with the new contract. The management, represented by rosaviatsia, refuses to finance some of special programs, wants to cancel benefits and disability insurance and to cut bonuses. It is also proposed to cancel the payment at retiring. Currently, it equals six monthly salaries.

Official statistics shows an improvement in the financial situation of the russian population: incomes and savings are growing, poverty and unemployment are decreasing. However, according to the “levada center” poll, those who believe that people have become poorer over the past year outnumber those who think that russians have become richer. When asked how the standard of living of the majority of the population has changed, 38 % said that the situation has changed for the worse, compared to 18 % who said “for the better”. The ratio of answers about the possibility to earn good money is 30 % vs. 23 % (37 % believe that nothing has changed, and 9 % could not answer).

Plastic pipes, windows and other products made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are expected to rise in price in the rf by 10-20% in the near future.

The rf ministry of internal affairs proposes to allow the use of drugs for training service dogs.

Investigative bodies should work more intensively with the property of citizens considered criminals by the russian authorities, including searching for and seizing cryptocurrency. This was stated by head of the investigative committee of the rf aleksandr bastrykin.

The state duma of the rf is preparing a draft law on mandatory medical examinations of migrants at state medical institutions. The document stipulates that foreign citizens must undergo a medical examination within 30 days after entering russia. The data from the medical examination will be entered into a database that will be accessible to the ministry of internal affairs.

On the night of February 5, a section of a bridge over the river bolshaya ussurka in the primorsky krai of the rf collapsed. This is the second such emergency in the region since the beginning of this year. Two-thirds of the bridges in the region are in a dangerous and unsatisfactory condition.

700 kilometers of heating networks in the temporarily occupied Crimea need urgent repair. This is 70% of the total network. Last year, the russian occupying authorities replaced only 21 kilometers, which is about 1% of the needed replacement.

The rf’s authorities are cutting down trees in the parks of the temporarily occupied Crimea to send the firewood to the russian troops in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. This action is called “warm trench shelters”. It involves not only the military but also local youth.

In the rf, the share of pirated websites in the video content segment has reached 94%.

Of the 25 russian films made in 2024 with state support, 20 films, or 80 %, did not pay off at the box office. Some high-budget projects were not even able to recoup their production costs.

The international music contest “intervision” will be held without perversions and mockery of human nature, – said minister of foreign affairs of the rf lavrov. Earlier, putin signed a decree to hold in moscow the international music contest “intervision” which has to replace Eurovision, from participating in which the rf and the rb have been banned.

Starting this year, kindergartens in the trans-baikal territory will start teaching kids “family studies”. Children will be taught what family values are about. Earlier, putin called to spread propaganda classes to preschools.

Members of the Latvian Saeima have supported the consideration of a draft law which would prohibit the purchase of real estate in the country by individuals and legal entities from the rf and the rb.

The United Kingdom suspends the avoiding of double taxation agreement with the rb.

The rb’s agreement with Lithuania on avoiding double taxation and preventing tax evasion regarding  income taxes will cease to be in force from the beginning of 2026.

putin has submitted for ratification to the parliament the agreement with the rb on security guarantees. This agreement provides for the deployment of russian military bases in the rb and allows to send the rb’s army to war against Ukraine.

The heads of district executive committees in the rb will approve the heads of organizations of all forms of ownership, as well as local territorial bodies. “The head of the district executive committee will coordinate the heads of territorial bodies of all ministries and departments (except for the kgb), heads of key organizations of the district of all forms of ownership according to the list approved by the executive committee itself,” said dmytry krutoy, head of lukashenko's administration. He pointed out that approval will not apply to small organizations, such as hairdressers or pharmacies.

Over the year, the number of employed people in the rb decreased by 43 thousand workers. The largest reduction in employment occurred in transportation, agriculture, retail, education, and industry. This is not the first year of such a trend in the rb.

Potato pancake index: during the year, potato pancakes with meat became more expensive by 5 %, and potato pancakes with fish – by 30 %.

The government of the rb has approved a list of goods whose prices may be regulated by the state if they need to be stabilized. The relevant resolution of the council of ministers of the rb was published on the national legal Internet portal. The government will be able to regulate, if necessary, the prices of certain goods that the country exports or imports: carcasses and half-carcasses of cattle, unhulled bran, condensed milk and cream, butter and cheeses. The ministry of construction and architecture of the rb will be able to regulate, if necessary, the prices of goods used in construction and in the production of constructional materials.

“belarusbank” has changed the maximum amount of cash that can be withdrawn within a month with one card of a foreign bank. Now this amount should not exceed 49 basic units, or RUB 2,058, within one calendar month per card. To withdraw an amount exceeding this limit, one should contact the bank's cash desk with an identity document, so that the person's data will be recorded.

The faculty of vitebsk state university, the name of which lukashenko could not read and called “maternyi”(“obscene” – Transl.) has been renamed. Now the “Faculty of Humanitaristics and Language Communications” is called the “Faculty of Humanitarian Knowledge and Communications”.

This week, belarusians are being thoroughly searched at the border as they enter and leave the country. siloviki are persistently interested in phones, laptops, and other devices.