February 9, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

At Ramstein meeting of Ukraine Defence Contact Group, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth intends to reaffirm US President Donald Trump's commitment to a “diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine”.

“Ukraine should be sufficiently armed to negotiate from a strong position. Obviously, the Czech Republic is interested in ensuring that russia never dares to attack its neighbor again,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechia Jan Lipavský. At the same time, the Minister said that the Czech Republic and the United States share a common position on the Middle East, russia’s aggression, and China’s expansion. “We talked about the need to deter russia and the need for Ukraine to take a strong position in peace negotiations,” said the Czech chief diplomat after a meeting with Chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee Brian Mast.

“Today, aid to Ukraine costs a European on the average as 1 cup of coffee a month. If we increased it to two, it would be possible for Ukraine to win this war,” said Riho Terras, Vice-Chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Security and Defense.

“...We need to spend more, spend better, and spend together. Because Europe needs a surge in defense,” said President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, adding that the EU is entering a new era of defense.

“...Our assessment, which I am quite sure the United States shares, is that putin shows absolutely no willingness to negotiate and to put an end to this war,” – said UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

“If you want to destroy a nation, if you want to completely wipe a country off the map, you attack its culture,” European Commissioner for Youth, Culture, Sport and Gender Equality Glenn Micallef cited the example of Ukraine, where russia attacks cultural and historical sites in an attempt to destabilize the situation in the country as a whole.

The Ukrainian sea corridor has transported 100 million tons of cargo to 53 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and America in the year and a half of its operation.

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The European Union is preparing to impose new sanctions against 25 Chinese companies that help russia circumvent restrictions imposed on it. This step will be part of another package of measures aimed at weakening russia's military economy.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the russian army has lost 800 to 900 thousand people “killed and seriously wounded.” This statement was made by US President Donald Trump during a press conference.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have officially disconnected from the russian power grid.

Under the January sanctions, russia will be losing about $50 billion in export revenues a year ($47 billion in 2025, $57 billion in 2026, and $52 billion in 2027) due to a decrease in exports of oil and oil products, as well as falling world prices and a growing discount on russian oil.

European banks are toughening their requirements for russians, for example, by raising the minimum account threshold. Until 2022, credit institutions required that the account balance be at least $2 million. Now, in some cases, this figure is up to $15 million. If these parameters are not met, banks ask clients to close their accounts. Such measures also apply to russians with a second citizenship or residence permit in Europe. The reason for this is the reputational and legal risks that banks fear under the sanctions.

The volume of foreign investment in the rf continues to decline rapidly and as of October 2024 has fallen to its lowest level in the last 15 years. According to the central bank of the rf, in the first three quarters of last year, foreign investors withdrew another USD 44 billion of direct investment from the real economy, bringing the total amount to USD 235 billion.

The results of January 2025 in the russian consumer lending market were the weakest in eight years. The volume of loans issued amounted to only 441 billion rubles, almost half as much as a year earlier. At the same time, all segments of retail lending showed a significant decline amid the central bank's tough monetary policy and tougher demands to the banking sector.

Imports of new cars to russia have halved. At the end of January, almost 32 thousand cars were imported to russia, which is half the amount in 2024. Back then, more than 64 thousand new cars were imported.

In 2024, overdue wage arrears in russia began to grow again. As of January 1, 2025, companies had accumulated RUB 507.9 million in salary arrears to their employees, up by RUB 153.9 million, or by 43.5%, from a year earlier. About a quarter of the amount – more than RUB 110 million – was accounted for by the old debt accumulated in 2022-2023 and earlier, and the bulk – RUB 394.7 million – was for salaries that businesses were unable to pay last year. The growth of wage arrears has been recorded for the first time since 2015.

putin refused to publicly apologize for shooting down an Azerbaijani plane over groznyi.

putin has instructed the government, together with the fsb and the ministry of internal affairs, to develop additional measures to block phone calls from the territories of Ukraine and other unfriendly foreign countries. Also, by July 1, 2025, putin will be given the proposals to improve the identification of subscriber numbers used by public authorities.

The number of bars has increased in moscow. At the end of 2024, there were 168 such establishments operating on the central streets of the capital city alone, – by 8% more than a year before. This was influenced by the international economic conditions, experts say: “There is anxiety in the country, and people are affected by this situation in one way or another, they just drink more.”

Since the second half of 2024, economic activity has been slowing down in the urals regions. This year, companies notice a decline in customer demand, so they formulate moderate production plans, and revise investment programs. Banks are preparing for a more restrained demand for loans from both businesses and households. Another important factor behind the slowdown in the region's economic growth is the shortage of labor. According to businesses, the problem of staff shortages remained one of the most pressing throughout 2024.

russian authorities of the temporarily occupied Crimea are compiling a new list of objects subject to so-called “nationalization”. Those are objects owned by Ukrainian businessmen or citizens hostile to the rf.

The Black Sea fuel oil spill has already killed 84 dolphins.

Monitoring groups have detected repeated leaks of a fine fraction of fuel oil on the central beach of the resort town of anapa.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has said that Poland is under constant pressure from hybrid attacks from the dictatorial regimes of russia and belarus, which, in cooperation with smugglers and human traffickers, are sending illegal migrants en masse to destabilize the EU's external borders.

As Baltic states have disconnected from the common energy system with the rb and the rf in favor of the European infrastructure, minsk has lost even the hypothetical possibility of supplying electricity to those countries from belNPP. Ukraine joined the European power grid back in 2022. It turns out that now the electricity generated in the rb can be consumed only domestically, as russia has enough of its own.

In 2019-2024, Georgia did not grant any asylum applications (refugee status or humanitarian status) from belarusians. In total, over the past six years, belarusians have filed 81 asylum applications in Georgia, 16 of which were filed by or on behalf of minors. During this period, Georgia rejected 56 applications, 13 from minors included.

The rb intends to ban some toys based on characters from computer games and movies. This provision appeared in the draft law on children's rights, which the house of representatives passed in the first reading. As an example of a toy that is going to be banned, minister of education of the rb andrei ivanets cited Huggy Wuggy, which has long been fought by pro-russian activists. “One of the most striking examples is the Huggy Wuggy toy, which is depicted as having no eyes, no other body parts. That is, the image of either a child or a doll is deliberately mutilated. It definitely educates and encourages our children to believe that this is the norm. Accordingly, it can later provoke violence and a distorted view of the good and the evil,” he said.