January 31, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

“Intensified diplomatic efforts for peace (in Ukraine) should support and complement the principle of “peace through strength” as defined by the Ukrainian authorities. This principle emphasizes, in particular, that sustainable peace negotiations can only be conducted from a position of resilience and strong defense capabilities, and that a just and lasting peace can only be ensured by adequate security guarantees for Ukraine,” reads the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Minister of Defence of Sweden Pål Jonson has announced a military aid package to Ukraine worth SEK 13.5 billion (about USD 1.25 billion), which will include the following components: procurement for free transfer worth about SEK 5.9 billion; financial donations worth about SEK 2.8 billion; equipment from the Swedish Armed Forces worth about SEK 3.3 billion (146 trucks, 16 CB 90 boats, 23 weapons stations for naval use, one million of 12.7 mm ammunition, 1,500 TOW anti-tank missiles, 200 anti-tank shells, including training equipment, infantry equipment for individual soldiers and groups, personal protective equipment); services through the Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI) and the Swedish Defense University (FHS) worth approximately SEK 180 million; training worth SEK 650 million; and technical services worth SEK 400 million.

Ukraine has received portable short-range air defense missile systems along with missiles from the Republic of Lithuania. This year, Lithuania also plans to provide our country with air defense, drones, ammunition, and support the Ukrainian defense industry by financing the production of weapons. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Vilnius has provided Kyiv with more than EUR 767 million in military aid.

Chief of Defence of Lithuania Raimundas Vaikšnoras has said it is necessary to consider sending Lithuanian troops to Ukraine to perform a peacekeeping mission.

NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Šekerinska has said that the Alliance is on the way to fulfilling its plan to provide EUR 40 billion in security assistance to Ukraine in 2025.

The Budget Committee of the German Parliament has called on Minister of Finance Jörg Kukis to approve an additional EUR 3 billion in military aid to Ukraine.

Ukraine is ready to share its combat experience with NATO partners.

Ukraine has become a member of the Joint Confederation of NATO Reserve Officers.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania “has strongly reaffirmed” its unwavering position in support of Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence within its internationally recognized borders.

The International Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the rf against Ukraine has resumed accepting claims for damage or destruction of residential real estate, which was suspended after a cyber attack on Ukrainian registers.

The United Kingdom has appointed a Labour Party MP Alex Sobel as the country’s trade envoy to Ukraine.

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“PACE recognizes that putin must be held accountable for the numerous terrorist acts committed against civilians under his rule,” reads the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Romania, Slovenia, and Spain have sent a letter to the European Commission asking it to fulfill its promise to create a special EU body to counter foreign information manipulation and interference. The signatories emphasized the cases of election interference, mainly by russia and China.

The new package of EU sanctions will include restrictions against pro-kremlin media outlets: the tass news agency, the online publication lenta.ru, the russian defense ministry's “zvezda” TV channel and the “krasnaya zvezda” newspaper, the pro-kremlin Crimean website “newsfront”, and other propaganda outlets. The sanctions include a complete ban on broadcasting, distribution and promotion of the content of those media. EU internet providers will be obliged to block access to those resources.

Commander of the new Operational Command of the Bundeswehr Alexander Sollfrank sees russian subversive activities as an increasing security threat. “We are no longer at peace. We are observing hostile activities against the Bundeswehr in Germany, against infrastructure, including spying,” he said.

Roman Shvartsman, an 88-year-old resident of Odesa, speaking in the German Bundestag, drew parallels between russia’s invasion of Ukraine and World War II. “Back then, Hitler wanted to kill me because I was Jewish. Now, putin is trying to kill me because I am Ukrainian,” he said, speaking at a meeting to honor the victims of Nazis.

79% of Germans surveyed consider russia to be the greatest threat to world peace.

Ministry of Defense of Lithuania has submitted a draft amendment to the Government’s decree, according to which people working with classified information will not be allowed to visit russia, the rb and China for non-business purposes.

Deputy Finance Minister of Poland Zbigniew Stawicki has pointed out that his country is taking measures against companies importing russian fertilizers to prevent the EU from becoming once again dependent on moscow.

The Czech Foreign Ministry's Special Envoy for Energy Security Vaclav Bartuška has said that his country is not interested in the Turkish Stream pipeline to supply russian gas. “We have enough capacity from the USA, a contract with Algeria since last summer, and we can quickly expand it. We trust Italy, our reliable partner for the past 30 years (it has been transiting oil for us). So, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway are our partners,” Bartuška said.

aleksey yerkhov, the rf’s ambassador to Türkiye, has said that Western sanctions have created difficulties with the use of russian bank cards in the country. According to him, in particular, cards of the “mir” payment system do not work in Turkey. In general, the volume of bilateral trade between russia and Türkiye in 2024 decreased by 7.6% due to Western anti-russian sanctions, – said yerkhov.

The kremlin's plans for large-scale grain exports to China, which putin ordered to be launched in 2016, remained on paper. Although the “grain corridor” project is already 8 years old, and in 2023 the largest contract for $25 billion was announced, the Chinese market is still de facto closed for russian wheat.

In 2025, russian grain exports may decline by a third, to 47-48 million tons, amid a drop in harvest, lack of imported seeds, and problems with payments and logistics. Farmers can harvest only 100 million tons of grain this year, which would be a “failure level”.

Inflation in russia has exceeded 0.2 % for the second week in a row. Since the beginning of the year it has reached 1.14 %, compared to 0.86 % for the whole of January 2024. Consumer prices had increased by 0.22% from January 21 to January 27, after 0.25% a week earlier. The annual inflation rate as of January 27 was 9.95% compared to 9.92% a week earlier. Over the previous 13 years, inflation was higher in the fourth week of January only once – during the economic crisis of 2015.

In January, inflation expectations of the rf’s population rose to 14.0%, – the highest level since December 2023.

Strict lending rules in banks are pushing russians to take out more payday loans at 292 % per annum. In December, loans from microfinance institutions (MFIs) accounted for 70% of the total number of new loans, although a year earlier the figure was 47.4%. The “weight” of loans also increased in terms of lending volumes: in December, products from MFIs accounted for 13.6% of total disbursements. At the end of 2023, the figure was almost 3.5 times lower – 3.9%. Prior to that, the share of products from MFIs rose to 62.7% of total loans and to 8.7% of lending in the first months after russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In January-September, MFIs lent RUB 1.26 trillion to russians, an increase of 23.3% year-on-year.

The number of space launches in russia has fallen to the levels of the first half of the 1960s. The rf continues to lose ground in the global space market, where it was once a pioneer and leader. By the end of 2024, roskosmos carried out only 17 space launches, by 2 fewer than in 2023 and by 4 fewer than in 2022. russia has launched 8 times fewer space vehicles, than the USA (145 launches) and four times fewer than China (68 launches). The roskosmos’ plan of 40 space launches a year was less than half fulfilled, and the final annual result was almost the worst in the country's modern history: fewer launches (16 launches a year) were carried out only during the pandemic and lockdowns of 2020-2021.

The fleet of the russian rich was completely destroyed under the West’s sanctions. Out of more than 70 large yachts in the best of times, they have only about a third at their disposal.

russian films are in less and less demand abroad. In 2024, they grossed $16.6 million at the foreign box office, a drop of $1 million compared to 2023. If we look at the data for five years, the money has fallen threefold: in 2019, the films managed to earn $52.2 million abroad.

The largest coffee suppliers in the rf have informed retail chains about an average 20% increase in selling prices for bean coffee since March 1. The main reasons for the rise in prices are a shortage of raw materials, drought in coffee-growing regions, and a significant increase in prices for arabica and robusta varieties.

The rf’s government has announced that russia is short of 140,000 IT professionals.

Primary oil refining in russia last year amounted to 266.5 million tons, said deputy prime minister novak. In 2023, this figure was 275 million tons, so russian refineries reduced oil refining by 3.1% last year. In 2024, petrol production amounted to 41.1 million tons compared to 43.9 million tons in the previous year (down by 6.4%).

The growth of the mortgage portfolio in russia has slowed down to 13.4%. The volume of mortgage issuance in 2024 amounted to 4.9 trillion rubles, down almost by 40% compared to 2023 (7.8 trillion rubles).

In moscow, the number of mortgage transactions with new buildings fell by 26.4% in 2024. At the end of the year, the number of contracts for participation in shared construction in moscow was by 18.3% lower than in December 2023.

The growth of russians' incomes is largely eaten up by rising food prices. Almost 2/3 of russian families (63%) spend at least half of their income on food, according to a Levada Center survey. 37% of respondents said that their families spend “about half” of their income on food, another 16% – “about two-thirds”, and 10% – “almost all”.

In russia, the absolute number of births has approached the level of the year 2000, which was one of the lowest in the history of modern russia. A negative trend in birth rates has been observed in russia since 2017: the largest decline is recorded in the jewish autonomous region, kalmykia and the altai republic, – said first deputy minister of healthcare fisenko.

High school graduates who did not enter universities may be sent en masse to study at colleges and technical schools. Members of the state duma have addressed the minister of education of the rf with such a proposal. universities, for their part, will have to inform regional education departments about unsuccessful applicants so that they can “launch a mechanism for selecting a suitable secondary vocational education institution where the graduate can continue his or her studies.”

The russian judicial system more than 20 times has outperformed the ussr of the times of stalin and more than 30 times – the military tribunals of the early 1940s in terms of the share of convictions. Year after year, russian courts acquit on average only about 0.3% of citizens who have been persecuted, while in 1937, courts acquitted 7% of defendants, and in 1941-1944, military tribunals acquitted 10-12%. Last year, russian courts convicted a record number of defendants in criminal cases over the past 10 years – 589,011 people. At the same time, the share of acquittals has dropped from 0.26% in 2023 to 0.25%. In other words, for every acquittal, judges issued 400 guilty verdicts, and the chances of being acquitted in a russian court were about 10 times lower than winning at roulette, where the probability is 2.7%, or 1 in 36.

rospotrebnadzor is preparing to take control of the citizens’ observance of traditional russian spiritual and moral values. This is stated in a draft decree of the cabinet of ministers of the rf. Earlier, a similar draft decree was prepared for employees of the ministry of internal affairs. According to the document, police officers will monitor the preservation and strengthening of “traditional russian spiritual and moral values” among russians. The same amendments were made to the regulations on the federal bailiff service and the federal penitentiary service.

head of the russian orthodox church kirill has accused western artificial intelligence developments of “propaganda of political correctness”. According to him, it is necessary to counteract this by creating russia’s own “sovereign AI, like our state and culture. All this should be placed under very strict state control.”

russians who are not professionally engaged in politics and public administration should not explain to the authorities how to fulfill their duties better, said aide to the president of the rf medinsky.

members of the communist party of the rf faction of the dimitrovgrad(Ulyanovsk region) city duma have asked the mayor to “consider the issue of allocating a land plot for the installation of busts of stalin and zhukov” in the city center. The officials explained the need to install the busts by “the growing patriotic sentiment”.

russia needs to rename the Gulf of Finland, as the country “has been exploring it since ancient times,” said mikhail myagkov, scientific director of the russian military history society. “It seems to me that the logical name of this gulf would be the st. petersburg gulf or the gulf of st. petersburg,” the historian said at the presentation of the study “black book. A brief history of swedish and finnish russophobia”.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe believes that the so-called presidential “election” in the rb on January 26, 2025, does not meet international standards, and therefore there are no grounds to recognize lukashenko's legitimacy as president of belarus.

The Republic of Moldova does not recognize the election in belarus and supports the statements of the European Union, – said the country's Foreign Ministry.

The Government of Lithuania will propose to the Seimas to extend national sanctions against citizens of the rb and the rf for another year.

TheMinistry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania warns that in case of danger, it will have few opportunities to help Lithuanian citizens in the rb. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends that Lithuanian citizens do not travel to the rb and that those who are in the country leave it immediately.

The Ministry of Defense of Poland believes that as the election campaign unfolds in the country, the number of provocations on the border with the rb will increase. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Defense of Poland Pawel Zalewski. According to him, even the current decrease in migration pressure is part of a broader provocation to lull the vigilance of Polish special services and interfere in internal political processes in Poland.

The state control committee of the rb is dissatisfied with the deplorable state of agricultural machinery in the country. New combine harvesters stall on the road, and at some enterprises over 60% of products are defective. The agency appealed to the government on this issue, but to no result.

It is proposed to add new articles to the criminal code of the rb: article 366-1 – “violence or threat of violence against the president of the rb, the former president of the rb”. article 367 – “slander against the president” will be supplemented by “slander against the former president”, article 368 – “insulting the president” – by “insulting the former president”.

“The book “our president” will become a reference book for many in the country.” This was stated by head of the council of the rb natalia kochanova. “I know for sure that everything in the book is absolutely accurate – he (lukashenko) is ready to give his life for the good of his people and his country to the last drop of blood”, she added.

Over the past year, the number of people employed in the economy in the rb decreased. Actual unemployment in the country exceeds 150 thousand people, although the authorities officially recognize only 2.6 thousand.

At the beginning of this year, there were 237.3 thousand individual entrepreneurs in the rb. This is by 6% fewer than at the beginning of 2024. Most of them “disappeared” in minsk (-9.6%), grodno and mogilev regions (down by 7.1% and by 5.6%, respectively). The number of entrepreneurs decreased most noticeably in such areas as administrative and support services (-13.7%), professional, scientific and technical activities (-12.8%), and information and communication (-11.9%).

Prices for some cigarettes will rise in the rb starting February 1, the website of the ministry of taxes and fees reports. The increase is due, among other things, to the desire of officials to bring their prices closer to those in russia (where they are more expensive).