January 30, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe emphasizes that participants of hostilities in the territory of Ukraine as part of the International Legion of Defence of Ukraine are legal combatants and should be considered members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and “enjoy full legal and humanitarian protection”. “The Assembly strongly rejects the statements made by high-ranking representatives of the russian federation calling members of the International Legion of the Defense of Ukraine 'mercenaries'”, reads the resolution.

Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset promises that this year Ukraine will be a key priority for the Organization, and the Council of Europe will not give in on the issue of punishing russia.

The Parliament of Italy has voted to continue military aid to Ukraine in 2025.

Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenković has announced the preparation of a new package of military and technical aid to Ukraine.

The Finnish company Insta will present the Steel Eagle drone with an extended range of action, which was developed for Ukraine in cooperation with Ukrainian specialists.

This year, the Netherlands and Belgium will provide Ukraine with three Alkmaar-class mine countermeasures vessels as part of the International Maritime Capability Coalition.

“It (foreign aid freeze) needs to be temporary. Because we have, like, russia invading Ukraine, and we need to respond to that. We can’t just freeze that spending that’s been promised to Ukraine. So I just hope it’s, all this is temporary,” US Republican Congressman Don Bacon emphasized the importance of the USA’s assistance to its allies.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain J​osé Manuel Albares has announced another EUR 10 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Director of the Migration Department Evelina Gudzinskaitė has reported a decrease in the number of migrants from Ukraine. According to her, in January last year, more than 86,000 Ukrainians lived in the country, and this year – more than 77,000. The number of belarusian citizens decreased from 62,000 to 57,000, and of russians – from 15,000 to 14,000.

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“Following the russian federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, russian private military companies, whose very existence is prohibited by russian law, such as the “wagner” and “redut” groups, have committed numerous acts of torture and extrajudicial executions, mass executions included, of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians, as well as targeted attacks on civilian infrastructure,” the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe reads. The PACE also put on the rf the responsibility for the crimes against Ukraine committed by representatives of the above-mentioned groups and emphasized that these so-called “russian private military companies” should be distinguished from private military companies that are registered and operate within the legal framework of their respective countries.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and European chief diplomat Kaja Kallas have agreed on the need to “maintain maximum pressure” on russia. The US Department of State has also reported that Rubio welcomed the extension of European sanctions against russia.

China believes that russia should reduce its nuclear arsenal. This was stated in a statement by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in response to US President Donald Trump's proposal that moscow, Beijing and Washington should start trilateral negotiations on denuclearization.

The European Commission has proposed to impose 15% duties on agricultural products from the rf and the rb, as well as on some nitrogen fertilizers. Brussels explains this by two goals: the EU’s food security and reduction of russia's military potential.

The EU is considering a gradual ban on imports of russian aluminum as part of a large-scale package of sanctions on the eve of the third anniversary of the rf's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is also proposed to blacklist about 15 banks from the SWIFT system, take measures against more than 70 “shadow fleet” vessels involved in the transportation of russian oil, and add 35 individuals and 19 companies to the sanctions list. The register will include citizens of the rf, dprk and China, employees of the military-industrial complex, energy entrepreneurs and authorities of russia's “new regions”, as well as individuals accused by the EU of propaganda and disinformation.

The Court of Justice of the European Union has upheld sanctions against businessman aleksandr vinokurov, who is married to the daughter of the rf’s minister of foreign affairs sergey lavrov. In the EU’s fficial documents, vinokurov is described as “an entrepreneur engaged in activities in sectors of the economy that provide a significant source of income for the rf’s government.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen has called for more decisive action against russia's “shadow fleet” following another incident in which a submarine cable in the Baltic Sea was damaged. “The shadow fleet is the main issue and the main problem we are dealing with, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing investigations related to these cables,” said Valtonen.

Finland's Central Criminal Police suspects dozens of asylum seekers who arrived through the border with russia of committing crimes in the country.

“I think it's quite clear that countries like russia are not very happy that we, as the world's largest producer of large-caliber ammunition, are helping Western countries in terms of defense,” Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger commented on russia's failed plans to assassinate him.

Deputy Prime Minister of Poland Krzysztof Gawkowski has accused russia of trying to recruit Poles through the darknet in order to influence the country's presidential election campaign. “This is money directed from the russian services gru and fsb, which are looking for such patrons of their content here,” he said.

In 2024, Lithuania recognized 598 belarusians and 125 russians as a threat to national security.

In Latvia, the National Council of Electronic Media has decided to block access to seven more websites that spread russian propaganda. These are the website of the social fund of russia, the news portal of chelyabinsk and chelyabinsk region, the website of the moscow state institute of international relations, the publication “delovoy peterburg”, the news portal of rostov and rostov region, the official portal of the krasnodar administration, and the website of the international children's center “Artek”.

The Mayor's Office of Karlovy Vary has revoked the honorary citizenship of nikolai lishchenyuk, a former archpriest of the russian orthodox church, who until recently had been leading the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the city, which belongs to the russian orthodox church. In August 2024, the Czech Republic’s authorities expelled a russian citizen lishchenyuk from the country at the request of secret services, which stated that the clergyman, with the assistance of the russian authorities, had created an influence structure to support separatist tendencies in the EU, hence there were “reasonable suspicions” that he threatened the security of the Republic.

Syria's new government has issued a statement following the first visit of a russian delegation to Damascus since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. The Republic's authorities demanded that moscow, which had previously bombed Syrian cities to help Assad fight rebels during the civil war, pay for the damage. “russia’s role in restoring trust with the Syrian people through concrete measures such as compensation, reconstruction and rehabilitation was emphasized,” reads the statement.

Kazakhstan’s four more banks (Halyk Bank, Eurasian Bank, Nurbank and the Kazakhstan subsidiary of VTB) have suspended the issuance of payment cards for non-residents, citizens of the rf included.

The rf’s general prosecutor's office has recognized the Register of Damage Caused by Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, an international organization headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, established under the auspices of the Council of Europe, as an undesirable organization. “Its activities are aimed at violating the territorial integrity of our country, undermining the economic foundations of the state, and destabilizing the socio-political situation,” the russian prosecutor general's office said in a statement.

The abolition of preferential mortgage programs and the increase in the central bank rate to its highest level in two decades have thrown the russian construction market into a severe stupor. At the end of December, the volume of residential construction in russia fell by 19% year-on-year to 13.9 million square meters. Compared to November (-10%), the rate of decline almost doubled, and compared to October (-0.6%), it was more than 30 times faster.

The industry lobby of russian steelmakers expects a further decline in steel demand by at least 5% in 2025 under pressure from high interest rates. In 2024, steel demand in the rf fell by 5.6%. Construction and energy accounted for the largest decline, with production down by 6.4% and exports down by 7.9%. Consumption is expected to fall further this year, in particular due to the downturn in the construction and machine building industries, as well as the postponement of major infrastructure projects.

For the first time in many years, russia is close to losing its leading position in the global grain market. In 2025, the country's grain exports will be reduced by a third, according to the russian grain union, one of the largest specialized associations, which includes nearly 300 agricultural organizations that account for 90% of the national grain exports. According to the russian grain union, this year farmers will sell 48-49 million tons of grain abroad, compared to 72 million tons last year. Wheat exports may drop to 41-42 million tons. Compared to last year, the decline will be more than 16 million tons, or 28%.

Prices for game consoles in russia will rise by at least 10% if the European Union imposes a ban on the supply of consoles to the country. russian distributors will have to increase the supply chain, which will affect the cost. Since 2022, consoles have been imported into russia under parallel imports – without the right holder’s permission.

In the emergency zone after the fuel oil spill in the Black Sea, 7,336 waterfowl contaminated with oil products were found. The company brought 3,166 birds to rehabilitation centers, of which 495, or about 15%, survived.

Despite the difficult environmental situation caused by the fuel oil spill after the tanker disaster in the Kerch Strait, most mussel and oyster producers in the south of russia “do not see” any serious risks to their business.

The state duma wants to toughen legislation on “foreign agents” again. The proposals include a multiple increase in fines and a complete ban on teaching.

In 2024, russian authorities blocked 417,000 Internet resources, a record high since 2012.

The amount of the fine with a penalty that a russian court imposed on Google for blocking pro-kremlin YouTube channels, exceeded 1.8 duodecillion rubles. A duodecillion is a unit with 39 zeros. The sum of the claims is already larger than the world's GDP and doubles every week. Between May and June 2024, about 3,600 channels with russian propaganda were blocked, which led to the complete blocking of the service in russia in December.

putin has announced the need to switch russian officials and heads of state-owned companies to domestically manufactured cars. The dictator made similar calls before: in 2023, 2012 and 2008.

Religious propaganda in schools will become compulsory. russian school history teachers will be forced to teach students in grades 5-7 the subject “Fundamentals of the spiritual and moral culture of the peoples of russia.” Also, children in russian summer camps will be taught “loyalty to the russian state” and “traditional family values”.

patriarch kirill has called for declaring satanism an “extremist movement” in russia. Because satanists despise the values for which the military are dying in the “special military operation zone”.

minister of foreign affairs of the rb has boasted of the country's catastrophic dependence on russia in the economy. “The country has lost its multi-vector nature and now 70% of its trade is tied to russia,” he said.

lukashenko was congratulated on his “election as president” by the leaders of only 16 foreign countries. The United Nations has 193 members, with two more countries having observer status.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe intends to adopt a resolution that will not recognize the latest presidential election in the rb. The draft document states that it the “election”) did not meet international standards and became another evidence of the complete absence of democracy in the country. The text also states that more than 500 thousand belarusians were forced to leave the country due to repression.

The European Union is preparing new sanctions against the official minsk as part of a package of restrictions to mark the third anniversary of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In particular, the EU plans to ban the supply to belarus, as well as the transit through the country, of goods and technologies that could contribute to the technological development of the defense sector. Besides, it is proposed to limit the supply of primary aluminum from the rb, which was used to diversify revenues.

head of minsk city council tsuran accused residents of minsk of not paying for transportation properly: while buying a ticket, they pay less than a third of the actual cost of public transportation.

In December 2024, the kgb recognized the “Dukh Rusi” telegram channel, which had 12 subscribers at the time, as an extremist formation. It led to the arrest of seven teenagers in gomel, all of whom are being held in pre-trial prison waiting for the trial. The teenagers face up to seven years in prison for creating and/or participating in an extremist group.