January 22, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against  russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Ukraine has received another batch of military aid from Lithuania – Lithuania-made drones, thermal imagers and five-ton telescopic forklifts. “We cannot slow down the aid to Ukraine because Ukraine’s security concerns are our security concerns. We have the same amount of time that Ukraine does. Since we have removed bureaucratic obstacles, the aid will be getting to Ukraine even faster,” said Minister of National Defence of Lithuania Dovilė Šakalienė.

“Together, we can achieve peace through strength – through NATO!” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte congratulated Donald Trump on taking office as President of the United States of America.

“I think russia’s going to be in big trouble. You take a look at the inflation in russia… I would hope that he (putin) wants to make a deal,” US President Donald Trump commented on the prospect of negotiations with the rf.

“We want the war (the rf’s aggression against Ukraine) to end,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“The challenge the day after the fighting stops will be to provide Ukraine with guarantees against any return of war to its territory, as well as guarantees for our own security,” said President of France Emmanuel Macron.

“We will continue to support it (Ukraine) no matter what happens next. We will support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.

President of Poland Andrzej Duda has amphesized that his country’s national interest lies in the defeat of russia and its imperial ambitions and restoration of Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders.

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US President Donald Trump has reaffirmed his intention to impose a 100% trade duty on the BRICS countries.

European Commission Spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Ikonen has said that the European Commission is developing a plan to withdraw all russian fossil fuels from the EU market.

Syria has cancelled the investment agreement between the port of Tartus and the russian company “stroitransgaz”, which promised to invest $ 500 million into the port.

The Helsinki District Court has ordered the arrest of the Eagle S vessel from the russian “shadow fleet”, which is suspected of involvement in damaging communication cables at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, in a civil case for damages.

Estonia will involve the forces of the volunteer paramilitary group Kaitselite to protect infrastructure facilities ahead of the planned for the next month disconnection from the joint power grid with the rf and the rb.

russia’s federal budget deficit in 2024 is 3.49 trillion rubles, which is higher than in the previous two years. In 2022-2023, the budget was executed with a deficit of 3.29 trillion and 3.23 trillion rubles.

In 2024, russia became the only coal exporter to China whose supplies decreased. And the situation is not expected to improve for the industry that suffers the biggest losses in russia’s economy. The place of russian coal miners in supplying China is being taken by Mongolian ones.

In 2024, India bought by 17% less diamonds from russia. In terms of money, the volume of supplies decreased 1.8 times, to $ 578.3 million. The average price of diamonds supplied to India decreased by 31% year-on-year to $159.1 for 1 carat.

russian authorities do not want to publish state statistics and rosstat data in order to protect themselves from “unfriendly” countries’ sanctions. The russian government is also planning to legalize confiscation of assets of residents of “unfriendly” countries, that seize russian property.

After international software vendors had left russia, the russian economy experienced a failure of “import-substituted” industrial software. The industry counted 837 “white spots” in different spheres. For 412 economic needs, there are no russian ahalogs at all, and in 425 cases, russian solutions need to be significantly improved.

Against the background of rising debt financing costs, problems with product sales, and expectations of declining sales, about 25% of russian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are considering closing their businesses. The share of unprofitable SMEs increased from 5% in 2023 to 8% in 2024 (in 2022 there were 9% of them). The RSBI index fell to 57.6 points in June 2024, to 55 points in July, and to 54.7 points in August due to the deterioration in the financial capacity of SMEs after the key policy rate hike. The rate hike led to a drop in russian consumer activity and, consequently, revenues, as well as increase in the cost of loans. In December, all types of SMEs showed a slowdown in business activity. 35% of businesses expect a further decline in sales, which is by 7% more than in November 2024 – the maximum in two years.

russian companies cut investments in plastics processing equipment by a third. Imports of plastic and rubber processing equipment in the first half of 2024 amounted to $241.5 million (RUB 24.6 billion, excluding taxes and duties), down by 31.6 % from a year earlier. The volume of investments in the first six months of 2024 was the lowest in ten years. In the second quarter, the decline accelerated to 44.7%. Imports of extruders, extrusion lines and plants in monetary terms decreased by 34.1%. Investments in plastic injection molding machines decreased by 39%, and in blow molding machines – by 43.5%.

According to the institute for national economic forecasting, the industrial optimism index of russian enterprises fell below zero in January 2025 for the first time since the beginning of 2022. As of January 20, the indicator had already lost 25 points compared to March 2024. The main reason for this trend is the negative sales dynamics. The January balance was the worst for this month since 2009.

In 2024, every tenth russian family constantly limited themselves in food. A third of families had to save on improving their living conditions.

Hackers have hacked into rostelekom. Hundreds of thousands of phone numbers and email addresses have been exposed. The company claims that no “particularly sensitive personal data” has got on the Internet.

denis bulanov, an mp of the saratov regional duma from the communist party of the rf, has proposed to change the name of the Black Sea to the russian sea.

Children’s recreation in anapa was threatened with disruption due to large-scale pollution of the beaches and the Black Sea with fuel oil. Managers of sanatoria and camps are complaining about massive refunds. Bookings in children’s resorts and camps in anapa for the summer fell by 40%.

In the rb, officials and employees of some state-owned enterprises have been banned from taking vacations and travelling abroad because of the elections. In some organizations, the ban was imposed only for a week before the election day, while in others it was imposed from the moment the election date was announced.

Dictator lukashenko is “puzzled” by the decline in the popularity of working professions among young people. According to him, many members of the younger generation are striving to become bloggers or go into IT instead of mastering such professions as, for example, electric and gas welders.

Updated data on deaths from coronavirus in the rb have been published – more than 90 thousand people, not seven thousand, as reported by the government. Compared to neighbouring countries, it turns out that about 35 thousand people would not have died, if the covid policy had been different.

According to the White Coats initiative, in order to hide the shortage of personnel in medical care, official statisctics of the rb overstated the number of doctors and nurses by at least 20%.

New minister of antimonopoly regulation and trade karpovich believes that there is no reason for belarusian trade not to become “more friendly” than soviet trade used to be: “There were smiling salespeople who always greeted citizens with an open mind in shops, catering and consumer services facilities.”