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

“We hope that russia and Ukraine will hold direct talks in Istanbul next week, and we believe that this meeting will take place,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine General Keith Kellogg has said that the next round of peace talks between Ukraine and russia is expected to include security advisors from the USA, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

“NATO expansion actually serves russia’s security interests. Where russia borders NATO countries, there is no war. War happens elsewhere,” Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jan Lipavský commented on the potential suspension of NATO’s eastward expansion.

Japan will transfer $3 billion dollars to Ukraine, secured by the proceeds of russian frozen assets, to finance Ukraine’s priority budget expenditures.

The armed forces of russia “systematically” committed war crimes by killing civilians in kherson with drones. This conclusion was drawn by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine in its report.

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President of France Emmanuel Macron calls on the United States to impose additional sanctions against russia if the aggressor country is “not ready for peace.”

Liechtenstein authorities are considering toughening control over hundreds of trusts linked to russian beneficiaries that have been left without managers amid pressure from Washington.

Estonia has suspended negotiating with russia the  buoys in Narva due to the rf’s non-constructiveness.

russia is losing to China the race for the right to build the first nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan. The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) is ready to build two nuclear power units with a total capacity of 2.4 GW for $5.47 billion, twice as cheap as the rf.

The russian government is cutting spending on five state programs for the development of the economy and science amid problems with the federal budget, which has been hit by declining oil prices and a strong ruble. The state program for the development of industry, under which the kremlin demanded a 40 % increase in civilian production by 2030, lost 97.15 billion rubles in funding. The state program “scientific and technical development” of the rf, the aim of which is to bring  russia to the eighth place in the world in terms of scientific research, will lose 22.17 billion rubles of budget money. Spending on the state program for the development of the aviation industry, from which the kremlin expected thousands of civilian airliners to replace Western ones, is being reduced by 20 %: now it will receive 39.4 billion rubles instead of the original 49 billion. Spending on the state program “development of shipbuilding” will be reduced by 4.1 billion rubles, to 24.1 billion. The budget for the “energy development” program has been reduced by 7.2 billion rubles, to 62.6 billion rubles.

“transneft”’s net profit in the first quarter decreased by 15 % compared to the previous year.

The russian “aeroflot” group ended the first quarter of 2025 with an adjusted loss of RUB 3.4 billion.

The monetary base in russia decreased by 82.9 billion rubles from May 16 to 23.

In 2024, government customers failed to meet quotas for purchases of russian products in 49 product groups.

the board of directors of the russian company “sovcomflot” has recommended not to pay dividends  based on the results of 2024.

The volume of bookings for tours in russia with  tour operators at the beginning of the summer season is by 10–15 % lower than a year ago due to the closed beaches of Anapa, which was polluted by a russian tanker. “Anapa’s current occupancy rate at the beginning of June is minus 50 % compared to the same period last year. And then it gets even worse – minus 60 %–65 %. Anapa will lose more than two million tourists,” say tour operators

The ministry of healthcare of the rf will conduct medical examinations to check the reproductive health of children at the age of six starting in September 2025 and then annually from the age of 13.

The Omsk district court has banned twelve pages on websites in russia that contain images comparing putin to Adolf Hitler and a number of other memes with the russian president. In some cases, the ban included photos in which putin was photoshopped with a mustache and hairstyle similar to Hitler’s. In other cases, the court has banned photos with the words “Putler kaput”. The court has also banned a photo of a woman holding a poster that reads “putler, drink the poison before you are treated to lead”. In addition, the court has banned a page with an image of putin holding a revolver to his head and the caption “How to save russia from shame”. It has also banned a page with a picture of putin and the caption “The court has begun consideration of the case on the merits. The creature has declared that it is innocent”.

Lithuanian Armed Forces Commander General Raimundas Vaikšnoras has said that the country’s Army will increase its readiness in response to the “Zapad” exercise conducted by russia and belarus.

belarusian state media are spreading disinformation aimed at the Polish audience to influence the 2025 presidential election in Poland.  This is written by the authors of the report “Banned but still Broadcasting”, prepared by the DFRLab, the Foundation for Responsible Politics and Alliance4Europe.

Every fifth company in belarus lost money in January-March this year. The situation in Minsk is even worse: every fourth company there is unprofitable.

As of January 1, 2025, 1 million 764 thousand 309 children lived in belarus, which is by 26.2 % fewer than at the beginning of 2000 (2,391,869). The worst dynamics was recorded in Vitebsk region – a decrease by 39.8 %, in Mogilev region – by 35 %, in Grodno region – by 30.4 %, in Gomel region – by 28.9 %, in Minsk region – by 23.5 %, and in Minsk – by 6 %. During this period, the population of belarus decreased by 8.9 % (from 10,002,535 to 9,109,280). The share of children in the population decreased by 4.5 % over 25 years (from 23.9 % to 19.4 %).