March 8, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

At an extraordinary meeting of the European Council in Brussels, 26 EU member states pointed out that Ukraine should achieve “peace through strength” by entering the negotiations from the strongest possible position. The European Council emphasizes the importance of the following principles: there can be no negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine; there can be no negotiations affecting European security without Europe’s participation; any truce or ceasefire can only take place as part of a process leading to a comprehensive peace agreement; any such agreement must be accompanied by credible and reliable security guarantees for Ukraine that will help deter future russia’s aggression; peace must be based on respect for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

President of the European Council António Costa has said that several EU member states have announced commitments to provide up to EUR 15 billion in additional aid to Ukraine.

The Council of Europe has called on the EU Council to speed up the work on EU Chief Diplomat Kaja Kallas’ initiative to approve the EU’s new multibillion-dollar package of military aid to Ukraine.

Ukraine has received the first tranche of funds worth 752 million pounds from the United Kingdom under a G7 loan secured by revenues from frozen russian assets.

The Parliament of Norway has decided to increase aid to Ukraine by $4.6 billion to $7.8 billion in 2025.

Ukraine will soon receive a new military aid package from Poland.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said that Europe has stepped up its efforts to help Ukraine, and Japan can also help our country by increasing economic pressure on russia.

Next week, Minister of Defence of France Sébastien Lecornu will meet with his counterparts from the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Poland to discuss support for Ukraine.

“Extending the same coverage that NATO countries have to Ukraine would certainly be much more effective, although it would differ from NATO membership. I think it would be a stable, long-term, effective security guarantee, more than some of the proposals I see,” Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni emphasized.

President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emphasized that in order to achieve a just, lasting and worthy peace between the rf and Ukraine, “a solid diplomatic foundation is needed on which the opposing sides will sit down at the negotiating table.”

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The United States is ready to toughen restrictions against russia for the sake of peace talks on Ukraine, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. According to him, the United States will “aggressively” apply sanctions to “immediately achieve maximum effect”. “The current administration has maintained strong sanctions and will not hesitate to go “all in” if it provides leverage in peace talks,” he promised.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham expects US President Donald Trump to impose new sanctions on russia's weak economy if putin refuses to come to the negotiating table. Graham's statement was prompted by the kremlin dictator's comments that russia will not give up its gains in Ukraine. Graham pointed out that over the past 48 hours, Ukraine has made important announcements about a ceasefire, a mining agreement, and readiness for peace talks. Instead, “putin has publicly defiantly and persistently rejected President Trump's proposals.”

The russian ambassador to Bulgaria was kicked out of the “Kvadrat 500” exhibition at the National Gallery in Sofia with chants of “This is not moscow” and “murderer”.

India has sharply increased its oil purchases from the United States to replace russian barrels that have been sanctioned by the United States. In February, the volume of US oil imports to the Indian market reached 357 thousand barrels per day, setting a record for the last two years. Compared to February 2014, oil flows from the United States to India increased by 60 %, or 136 thousand barrels per day.

The volume of trade between russia and China in January-February 2025 amounted to $34.68 billion. The figure fell by 7.1 % year-on-year.

There is a high risk of an increase in the cost of wheat flour in the rf due to a reduction in its production. Grain prices may exceed the maximum thresholds set by the state (16.1 thousand rubles for a ton of third-grade wheat and 15.5 thousand rubles for fourth-grade wheat). Year-on-year, the values increased by 24 % and 48 %, respectively. The reason for this is a drop in the harvest. Over the past agricultural year, grain harvests fell by 14 % to 125 million tons, and wheat harvests fell by 16 % to 82 million tons.

Imports of new passenger cars to the rf fell by 73 % in February. Foreign automakers have drastically reduced the supply of new cars to russia. The reasons are the falling demand, overstocking of warehouses, where, according to various estimates, 400-500 thousand cars have accumulated, and increased recycling fees.

In February, russia reduced export shipments of fuel oil and vacuum gas oil from its ports by about 15 % in daily terms compared to the previous month to 3.3 million tons.

The central bank of the rf has maintained restrictions on cash foreign currency withdrawals until September 9, 2025. This decision is related to sanctions that ban russian financial institutions from purchasing cash foreign currency from Western countries.

In 2024, the net profit of the “russian railways” amounted to RUB 13.9 billion, which is 8.5 times less than a year earlier.

In 2024, russia’s largest shipping company, “sovcomflot”, reduced its net profit by 55 % to $424 million. EBITDA (an analytical indicator equal to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) fell by 34 % to $1.04 billion on a 19.3 % decline in revenue to $1.87 billion.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the moscow exchange’s net profit decreased by 13.4 % to RUB 17.4 billion.

As of January 2025, the total fertility rate (the average number of children per woman) in the rf fell to 1.399, the lowest in the last 18 years. As of the end of 2023, this figure was 1.41, in 2022 – 1.42, and in 2021 – 1.47. Official statistics have been recording a decline in the total fertility rate for 9 years in a row, and during this time it has decreased by 0.37 points, or by 21 %. The rate of decline has been record-breaking since the 1990s, when it fell from 1.73 (1991) to 1.16 (1999). In the 2000s, the fertility rate increased and reached 1.76 in 2015.

russian authorities are going to create a service to process data on the location and movement of russians that they will receive from mobile operators. This follows from the updated passport of the digital transformation program of the ministry of the ministry of digital development, communications and mass media of the rf. The service will become part of the national data management system, for the development of which RUB 5.8 billion are planned to be allocated in 2025-2027.

In 2024, foreign citizens did not adopt a single child from russia – for the first time in 15 years.

The full-scale war against Ukraine, now in its fourth year and claiming a record number of deaths in russia since World War II, has created a conveyor belt of zinc coffins that are increasingly being found in landfills. On March 6, a zinc coffin dump was discovered in the town of Volzhsky near Volgograd. Two weeks earlier, dozens of coffins were found at a landfill in Novosibirsk. In January, coffins were found in a landfill in Lublino district of moscow.

In the city of Polyarnye Zori (Murmansk region), the action “Flowers to the mothers of heroes” was organized by the women's movement of the “united russia” party. As part of the event, dedicated to March 8, mothers of servicemen who died during russia’s invasion of Ukraine were presented with flowers and meat grinders.

In the capital of Pskov region, a park of “heroes of the “special military operation” will be built on the territory of the former “shtalag 372” concentration camp, said the local governor. He did not explain what the authorities were guided by when choosing the site. More than 75,000 people died in the concentration camp during World War II. In 2021, “shtalag 372” was recognized as a cultural heritage site of regional significance.

The American think tank Heritage Foundation has published an updated ranking of countries in terms of economic freedom for 2025. According to the research methodology, the index of economic freedom is calculated based on ten key indicators, including property rights, corruption, fiscal freedom, freedom of enterprise, trade, investment, and finance. The maximum possible score is 100, and depending on the final result, countries are divided into five categories: from “free” (80+) to “unfree” (less than 50). russia received 51.6 points, ranking 135th. belarus fell into the category of “unfree” countries, ranking 152nd with 48.9 points. belarus ranks last – 44th among European countries. The country's level of economic freedom is below the global and regional averages. According to the 2025 Index, the rb’s economy is considered “repressed.”

Banks in belarus have raised interest rates on loans by 1-3 %. These include loans for real estate and cars.

minsk continues to face a shortage of doctors, nurses, construction workers, as well as trade and catering staff. There is also a shortage of personnel in industry. As of early March, more than 60 % of all vacancies were for workers.

Another 33 people were added to the list of “persons involved in extremist activities.” At present, the document posted on the website of the ministry of internal affairs of the rb contains 5,023 positions.

Over the past four years, at least 188 people in belarus have been convicted under the article on “calls for sanctions.” Most of the convicts have been sentenced to long terms in prison.

Between the 2020 presidential election and February 2025, at least 1905 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – unions, trade unions, foundations, non-governmental institutions, and associations – were disbanded  in belarus. As of the end of February 2025, there were approximately 1,380 registered public associations in the rb.