March 12, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Denmark has expressed its readiness to send peacekeepers to Ukraine.

Minister of Defence of France Sébastien Lecornu has said that calls for the demilitarization of Ukraine should be abandoned and emphasized the importance of well-armed Ukrainian Armed Forces for the future European security architecture.

“President Zelenskyy should not agree to a deal that would result in some sort of interbellum, with aggression constantly looming on the horizon,” said Minister of Defence of the Netherlands Ruben Brekelmans.

Finland proposes to confiscate the frozen russian assets, which will strengthen Ukraine's position in potential peace talks.

European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Inter-Institutional Relations and Transparency Maroš Šefčovič is confident that a sovereign Ukraine can strengthen the whole of Europe. “Thus, enlarging the European family, increasing democracy and respect for our values is the best response to today’s instability in the world. The European Commission will continue to work hard to achieve this goal,” emphasized Šefčovič.

Iceland has transferred another EUR 2 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund, bringing the country's total contribution to the Fund to more than EUR 5.6 million.

As of today, the EU has provided temporary protection to 4.3 million Ukrainian refugees.

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US President Donald Trump has said that russia has “no cards” in the negotiations with Ukraine.

The Council of the European Union is preparing for the timely renewal of the sanctions regime against individuals and legal entities whose actions undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine until March 15, 2025.

“putin has proven time and again that he is a hostile neighbor. He cannot be trusted, he can only be deterred,” said President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

Minister of Defence of Lithuania Dovile Šakalienė has said that a “tough and harsh” approach is needed in negotiations with russia. Speaking about the tactics of negotiations with russia, Shakalienė said that only tough diplomacy can work. “In my opinion, the only efficient diplomacy with russia was what Al Capone said, the only good negotiation is when you have a gun on the table. So that’s probably the kind of diplomacy that would work with russia,” Shakalienė warned.

To strengthen Ukraine's position in the peace talks, it is necessary to confiscate russian frozen assets in the European Union. This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Finland Riikka Purra.

Minister of Finance of Poland Andrzej Domański has emphasized that the EU “definitely needs to put further pressure on russia.” “We see that sanctions work. We see that the russian economy is getting weaker and weaker,” he said.

The Government of Denmark has introduced a draft law that significantly toughens penalties for violating EU sanctions against russia. In particular, the draft law proposes to punish violations of measures against russia with imprisonment for up to five years. Currently, the maximum penalty for such a violation is imprisonment for up to four months. If the crime is committed under aggravating circumstances, the penalty will be increased to eight years.

President of France Emmanuel Macron has condemned russia's “increasingly blatant attempts to destabilize” Moldova and its democratic institutions.

Minister of foreign affairs of the rf lavrov has accused Western countries of allegedly believing in satan and seeking to destroy the OSCE consensus.

In Februaary, the cumulative federal budget deficit of the rf increased by almost 60 % compared to January due to the ongoing outstripping growth in expenditures and lower oil and gas revenues. In the first two months, expenditures exceeded revenues by 2.7 trillion rubles, or 1.3 % of GDP, compared to the budgeted deficit of 1.17 trillion rubles, or 0.5 % of GDP. A year ago, in January-February, the budget was executed with a deficit of 1.13 trillion rubles, or 0.6 % of GDP.

At the end of last year, russian companies earned a total of 30.4 trillion rubles, which is by 6.9 % less than in 2023, and by about 15 % less if prices are taken into account. Losses jumped by 37.7 % to RUB 7.2 trillion. The number of profitable companies is declining in most industries. Many firms are experiencing rising costs for components, raw materials, and labor, higher tariffs, and more complex and expensive supply chains, – all this is pushing up production costs.

The majority of small and medium-sized enterprises (51 %) in russia are not going to invest in their development in 2025. A year ago, 42 % of companies reported no plans to invest in their development. Thus, the number of companies refusing to invest has increased by 9 %. The level of investment activity is considered satisfactory, with about 65-70 % of companies declaring their readiness to invest in themselves. First and foremost, the key interest rate, which the central bank kept at 21 % per annum for the second time in a row on February 14, affects the volume of investments. Other factors that hamper investment activity include a shortage of personnel and the accompanying increase in wages. High interest rates, inflation and expensive labor are weighing on the russian economy, which is already slowing down significantly this year.

The shortage of personnel is growing in the rf’s industry. The number of vacancies in the metallurgical and mining industries increased by 14-19 % in 2024.

Manufacturers of trolleybuses and trams in the rf expect a 30 % decline in purchases.

The total cost of consumer loans in the largest banks has reached 37 %. Since the beginning of February, the interest rate on such loans has increased by almost one and a half percentage points. In this way, banks are trying to fix their profitability and compensate for expenses in anticipation of a key rate cut. Loan funds continue to rise in price even after the key rate remains at 21 %. The average amount of a consumer loan is currently RUB 120 thousand. Borrowers take out loans for an average of two years. On the market, the minimum cost of such a loan is 29 %, and the maximum is 44 %. With current real interest rates, overpayment on such a loan can amount to a third of the amount received.

In 2024, collectors bought a record amount of non-performing mortgages from banks, more than tripling to RUB 3.9 billion compared to 2023 (RUB 1.2 billion). Banks not only increased the volume of sales of overdue mortgages, but also almost halved the time it takes to transfer them to collectors.

The share of young overdue debts of microfinance organizations and banks in the cession market – the assignment of claims to a third party – may reach 50 % in 2025 for the first time.

In 2024, food accounted for more than 20 % of all transactions in the russians’ main items of expenditure on salary cards. russians spent 7 % on shopping, 6 % – on pharmacies and healthcare, 5 % – on filling stations and car services, slightly less than 5 % – on household goods and repairs, and the same amount – on travel and recreation. Spending on transportation and entertainment accounted for 2 % each, while loan servicing accounted for about 1 %.

In 2023-2024, prosecutors’ offices in russian regions filed at least 52 lawsuits against schools demanding that they purchase “correct” geographic maps of russia and the world. According to the supervisory agencies, the “up-to-date” maps should reflect the belonging to russia of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions, as well as Crimea, captured in Ukraine.

Olympic gymnastics champion victoria listunova (the rf) was unable to obtain neutral status for international competitions because of her participation in the pro-government meeting “za мир без нацизма! zа россию! zа президентa!” (“for the world without Nazism! For russia! For the president!” – Transl.)

governor of the Primorsky Krai of the rf kozhemyako has said that the construction of a joint port with belarus and China in Primorye has been postponed due to too high interest rates in russia. For the official minsk, that port was strategically important as a new transit route to circumvent sanctions, so the “freezing” of the project calls into question belarus’ plans to gain access to the ocean.

In January 2025, the foreign trade turnover of goods and services in belarus amounted to $7 billion 20.4 million, which is by 2.6 % less than in the first month of 2024.

In February 2025, core inflation in belarusian rubles was 5.8 % in annual terms. In January, the figure was 5.7 %, and in December 2024 it was 5.5 %.

In the rb, 3.5 % of the population lives below the poverty line, which amounted to 9 million 156 thousand people at the beginning of last year. That is, about 320,500 people live below the poverty line. These people have an average per capita income below the subsistence level budget – at the end of last year, it was 437.8 rubles. In 2024, most people below the poverty line lived in Mogilev (5.2 %), Gomel (5.1 %) and Brest (5 %) regions.

The state control committee has complained to lukashenko about large private retail chains organizing their own bread production and creating more and more serious competition for state-owned bread factories in the retail market.

February was a record month for the number of incidents involving russian drones in belarus. Drone crashes were recorded at least in Khoiniki, Malozhin, Mozyr, Gomel districts, and the city of Gomel.