March 5, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has outlined the five-point plan for rearmament of the European Union and support for Ukraine. The first part of the plan is to free up public funds to finance defense at the national level. The second element is a new instrument that will provide EUR 150 billion in loans to member states for defense investments in air defense systems, artillery systems, missiles and ammunition, drone and anti-drone systems, and joint procurement of equipment. The third point is the use of the power of the EU budget. The other two points involve mobilizing private capital by expanding the investment market and through the European Investment Bank. “The EU is ready to take responsibility. The ReArm Europe Plan can mobilize around EUR 800 billion in defense spending for a secure and resilient Europe,” Ursula von der Leyen emphasized.

“Europe must increase military assistance to Ukraine so that Ukraine can continue its fight for a just and lasting peace,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna.

Major European powers are supporting efforts to confiscate more than EUR 200 billion in frozen russian assets as they develop plans for a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine.

Ministers of Defence of the Group of Five (Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Poland) have reaffirmed their continued political and military support for Ukraine.

Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese has said that his country is open to possible proposals to participate in peacekeeping operations in Ukraine.

President of Finland Alexander Stubb believes that one of the acceptable security guarantees for Ukraine is the idea of automatic acceptance of our country into NATO in case of russia’s new attack.

“We remain absolutely committed to securing lasting peace in Ukraine and are engaging with key allies in support of this effort. It is the right thing to do, and it is in our interest to do so,” the UK Government said in a statement amid the US suspension of aid to Ukraine.

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On March 7, Ministers of Justice of the European Union will discuss the creation of a tribunal to punish the crime of russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which aims to bring putin to justice.

The number of banks accepting payments from VTB Shanghai is rapidly decreasing in China. VTB Shanghai is the only russian bank in China.

aeroflot suffered a loss of 4.9 billion rubles in the fourth quarter of 2024.

At the end of 2024, non-resource non-energy exports from russia decreased by another 2 % to $145 billion. Sales of goods (except for natural resources and fuel) have been falling for the third year in a row, and their current volume has become the lowest in the last 7 years.

russian sweets producers have raised selling prices by 5-15 % and decided to reduce the weight of their products so that buyers do not notice the price increase. The main reason for this is the increase in the cost of raw material, logistics and salary due to Western sanctions.

In 2025, russian publishers intend to raise selling prices for books by 15-20 %.

The new year for agricultural machinery manufacturers in russia began with a sharp drop in sales: in January, they fell by 31.5 % year-on-year to RUB 8.9 billion including VAT. The dynamics was significantly worse than in 2024, when shipments fell by 17.6 % to RUB 198.4 billion including VAT. Sales of self-propelled forage harvesters decreased the most – by 55.6 % in units, of grain harvesters and agricultural tractors – by 51.5 % and 44 %, respectively. In January, sales of imported agricultural machinery in russia showed a more dramatic decline, down by about 60 % year-on-year. The reasons for the decline in sales of agricultural equipment at rosspetsmash are low profitability of the agricultural business, reduced funding for state support for farmers and machine builders, a high key rate of the central bank and rising production costs of machinery and agricultural products due to western sanctions.

russia needs to attract labor migrants from new countries to fight the shortage of workers, said minister of economy of the rf maksim reshetnikov. As an example, he cited Myanmar, which has a population of 55 million people and 6 million labor migrants abroad.

russian authorities should return to discussing the reintroduction of the death penalty, said chairman of the investigative committee bastrykin.

26 government-inspired internet shutdowns took place in the rf in 2024 – not technical failures, but targeted restrictions on communication or access to services.

Western sanctions against russian coal and difficulties in finding alternative buyers in Asia have pushed Kemerovo region, russia's main coal mining region, which accounts for about 60 % of the country's hard coal production and about 80 % of coking coal, into a severe crisis. Due to financial problems, 8 coal enterprises in the region have suspended operations, and several hundred miners have not been paid for several months.

The Tomsk city duma is without an electronic voting system after the equipment broke down and could not be replaced due to international sanctions. Members of the duma are now voting in manual mode.

Sales of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) in russia in February 2025, as expected, showed a significant decline – by 24.9 %, to 85.3 thousand units. The result was the lowest since May 2023.

Participants in the war against Ukraine who return home should be subject to administrative supervision.

The prevalence of obesity among adult russians has reached almost 25 %, or about 36 million people, according to minister of healthcare of the rf mikhail murashko. Obesity among russian men is 20.6 %, among women – 27.4 %. Among children, 33 % of obesity is observed in the age group of 7-11 years, but the most rapid growth is in the teenage group of 15-17 years of age.

The state duma has ratified the intergovernmental agreement between russia and belarus on granting a 7-12 year deferral of government loans to minsk. The agreement covers about $800 million of belarus’ debt.

In 2025, belarus’ foreign trade deficit has exceeded half a billion dollars. Having lost the markets of Europe, Ukraine, and other countries due to sanctions and the policy of its own regime, belarus is increasingly dependent on russia, which, for its part, is also becoming less capable of supporting its allies due to a series of sanctions and economic problems.

The International Biathlon Union (IBU) and the International Ski Federation (FIS) are not discussing the possibility of russian and belarusian athletes’ returning to official competitions even in neutral status.

lukashenko demands to find rare earth metals in belarus.

The ministry of antimonopoly regulation and trade of belarus has demanded that the online retailer Ozon stop selling goods from “unfriendly” countries.