March 4, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The summit in London on March 2 defined support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine as the “first level” of security guarantees for our country.

The United Kingdom is allocating 1.6 billion pounds (about $2 billion) to Ukraine for the purchase of more than 5,000 air defense missiles.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer has confirmed plans to create a “coalition of the willing” to ensure the implementation of any peace agreement on Ukraine. According to the Prime Minister, his country is ready to lead the process of creating such a coalition and “together with others, support it with boots on the ground and planes in the air.”

“We must put Ukraine in a position of strength so that it has the means to reinforce and defend itself. This essentially means turning Ukraine into a steel porcupine – one that potential invaders cannot digest,”  President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen commented  on the possible future strategy of the EU.

“Peace is not just a ceasefire that gives russia more time to become stronger again. We want a just and lasting peace,” President of the European Council António Costa said regarding the potential end of the russian-Ukrainian war.

Nearly fifty leading economists in Norway have signed an appeal to the Government of Norway calling for increased support for Ukraine in the wake of recent geopolitical events. “Our political positions may differ, but we are united in our support for the fundamental democratic values for which the Ukrainian people are now fighting a desperate battle. Norway should substantially increase its support for Ukraine for a number of reasons,” reads the letter.

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During a summit in London, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau announced new sanctions against russia. The “black” list includes “9 leaders of post-wagner paramilitary organizations, one member of the associated with them top russian military leadership, 9 paramilitary organizations operating in Ukraine and in the kremlin's african network, as well as 12 related organizations responsible for resource extraction in this network.”

Minister of Defence of Finland Antti Häkkänen argues that a new era of readiness should begin in Europe, as russia's transition to a war economy increases its danger. According to Häkkänen, russia sees the world as a playing field based on political realism, where its own interests are pursued through policy of force. On this playing field, the rules are written by the strongest, and international obligations or agreements do not matter. According to him, responding to russia's aggressive policy of force requires strength and authority.

The prosecutor general's office of the rf has declared the Belgian NGO Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and its youth wing European Liberal Youth undesirable in russia. According to the agency, this is one of the most anti-russian organizations in the European Union. It is alleged that the NGO is engaged in discrediting russia's policies and accuses the authorities of violating democratic principles, rights and freedoms.

Due to inflationary pressures and corporate defaults in civilian industries, in 2025 the russian economy will become even more dependent on the military-industrial complex. Inflation in russia will be higher than the central bank's target of 4 % in 2025. This is despite the rf central bank’s efforts to reduce inflation by raising interest rates from 7.5 % in June 2023 to 21 % in December 2024. The actual rate of inflation in 2024 was higher than the officially published figure.

russia has failed to replace 95 % of critical imported software. Foreign solutions are still used in the vast majority of critical information infrastructure facilities. These include government organizations, banks, medical institutions, telecommunications and logistics companies.

In February 2025, cargo transportation by rail in the rf decreased by 9.3 % to 87 million tons compared to February 2024: metals (-13.1 %), cement and construction cargo (-15.6 % and -26 %), and grain (-28.7 %),

In February, russia exported 1.9 million tons of wheat (including the EAEU countries), the lowest figure for this month in the last five years. The previous low of 1.93 million tons was in February 2020.

At the end of February, the index of business activity in russia's manufacturing industries amounted to 50.2 points. In January, the index reached 53.1 points. Activity in the sector slowed down due to weak production growth as a result of Western sanctions.

The russian public electric transport market, which has shown record growth rates over the past three years, may collapse by 33 % in the tram segment and by 35 % in the trolleybus segment as early as 2025. The main reasons for the expected decline in production and supply are the reduction in government funding due to Western sanctions.

By the end of 2024, 10% of russian taxi companies are considering liquidating their businesses. 48 % of carriers said their profits were only slightly higher than their expenses. 28 % ended the year with losses.

russian hospitals have stopped prescribing  to patients suffering from cancer a medicine with the active ingredient mesna, which is used to prevent complications after chemotherapy. At this, the russian mesna has been discontinued, while the American medication was last supplied to the country in April 2023.

1,117 attempts to illegally cross the border from belarus were recorded by neighboring EU countries in January and February 2025. This is twice as many as in the first two months of last year.

belarusian exports of goods in January fell by 11.5 % to $2.726 billion. At this, imports increased by 1% to $3.23 billion. The deficit of foreign trade in goods in January amounted to $504.3 million, which is 4.2 times more than last year.

In January, the belarusians’ debts to banks increased by 257.5 million rubles and reached 26.4 billion rubles. Over the past year, consumer loan arrears have grown the most – by 3.2 billion rubles. As of February 1, 2025, it amounted to RUB 10 billion 265.5 million. At this, total debts on real estate loans increased by a total of RUB 2.5 billion over the past year, to RUB 16 billion 111.8 million at the beginning of February.

The February 27-28 heat outage in Mozyr (the rb) was a result of the crash of a russian drone, but the authorities decided to hide information about the causes of the large-scale accident. This was the first verified case when a UAV caused damage to the energy system of belarus.