Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

Ukraine has received EUR 5.9 billion from the European Union: EUR 4.1 billion under the ERA Loans mechanism, which is the final tranche of the EUR 18 billion program financed from the proceeds of frozen russian assets; EUR 1.8 billion allocated under the Ukraine Facility.

“I welcome the European Council’s very clear commitment to cover Ukraine’s financial needs for the next two years,” said President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, explaining that this assistance will be provided in any case, and the only unresolved issue remains which financing mechanism will be approved. “There are three options. Option 1 – to use budgetary space to raise funds on capital markets. Option 2 – an intergovernmental agreement whereby member states will independently raise the necessary capital. Option 3 – a reparations loan based on frozen russian assets,” said von der Leyen.

Deputy Prime Minister of Finland Riikka Purra has pointed out that the European Union is not changing its plans for financial assistance to Ukraine. She considers the plan to provide Ukraine with “reparations loans” based on russia’s frozen assets to be the best option among those proposed.

Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Estonia have announced that they will finance a joint package of weapons for Ukraine, which will be purchased from the United States. These countries have allocated additional $500 million for this purpose. “This equipment is extremely important as Ukraine enters the winter months and deliveries through PURL are arriving in Ukraine. NATO members will continue to provide Ukraine with the necessary equipment and supplies,” said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance of Norway Ellen Reitan has emphasized that by the end of 2026, her country’s financial support for Ukraine will total more than EUR 19.4 billion (NOK 227 billion).

Minister of Finance of Lithuania Kristupas Vaitiekūnas has emphasized continued support for Ukraine. “Ukraine is our only choice, and it is fighting not only for its own freedom and the right to choose its own path. Therefore, despite the scandal, there are no other options,” said Vaitiekūnas.

Minister of Economic Affairs of Denmark Stephanie Lose has stressed that the European Union will continue to support Ukraine and has called for reforms to continue. According to her, russia will not succeed in intimidating the EU.

German Government’s Spokesperson Stefan Kornelius has emphasized that his country “is in close and trusting contact” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and continues to “stand by” Ukraine.

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Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the G7 countries have supported the need to increase russia’s financial burden for the war against Ukraine and have said they are studying new measures to put pressure on countries that are helping the aggressor.

Canada has announced the expansion of sanctions against russia. The new list includes 13 individuals and 11 organizations, including deputy head of rossotrudnichestvo Igor Chaika, Gazprom structures, and Kyrgyzstan’s “Capital Bank of Central Asia”. The “Arctic LNG-2” plant and its ceo Oleg Karpushin have also been sanctioned. In addition, sanctions have been imposed on 100 vessels of the rf’s “shadow fleet”.

Croatia refused to accept a shipment of russian vacuum gas oil after the United States had imposed sanctions on the rf’s two largest oil companies.

In November, China significantly reduced its purchases of russian oil, replacing it with raw materials from Saudi Arabia. This month, China has been importing 926,000 barrels per day from russia, which is by 36 % less than in October.

American Citibank, one of the largest Western banks in the russian market and one of the top 20 in the country in terms of assets, is finally leaving russia.

“Lukoil”’s international business began to collapse even before November 21, when US sanctions against the company came into force after a month-long delay. “Lukoil” has already declared force majeure at its field in Iraq, while Dubai-based Vantage Drilling has also terminated its drilling contract with “Lukoil” in the Black Sea. The company’s value plummeted by $10 billion after the US sanctions.

More and more russian companies are defaulting on their loans amid the economic slowdown and high key rate. As of October, out of nearly 714,000 legal entities and individual entrepreneurs with loan debts, 171,000, or 24 %, were in default.

russian transport companies have begun to leave the freight transport market en masse due to rising costs and a sharp decline in profitability. Approximately 6,700 carriers are in the process of liquidation or bankruptcy. This has already caused a supply shortage in the market, which has been observed since the end of October.

In October, prices for new cars in the rf increased by 35 %. By the end of the year, cars will become more expensive by 3-4 %.

The average cost of a 200-gram jar of red caviar in russia is about 3,000 rubles. Year-on-year, the cost has increased by 33 %.

The russians’ overdue debt for heat, water supply, and sewage services has reached 415 billion rubles.

Thousands of families raising children with type 1 diabetes have reported malfunctions in remote glucose monitoring systems due to regular shutdowns or restrictions on mobile internet in various regions of russia.

The government of the rf intends to tighten regulations in the electronics sector to force companies and the population to switch to domestic products. This was announced by deputy minister of industry and trade Vasily Shpak. He pointed out that the ministry “will continue to tighten regulations”.

All house chats in russia must switch to the national messenger Max by the end of 2025, said minister of construction and housing and utilities Irek Faizullin. He did not specify who would force residents to do this or on what legal basis.

In St. Petersburg and moscow, there are raids on conscripts.

In Buryatia, village councils have been abolished and direct elections of heads of new municipal districts have been banned.

In russia, a video game glorifying the russian orthodox church will be created for 20 million rubles.

More than 33 countries, as well as representatives of the European Commission, opposed the decision of the International Paralympic Committee to reinstate the rights of the Paralympic committees of belarus and russia, as the rf and the rb continue to violate the Olympic Charter.

Canada and the European Union strongly condemn the support that the belarusian regime provides to russia in the war against Ukraine and call on minsk to ensure the return of deported Ukrainian children. This is stated in a joint statement by Canada and the EU following a meeting of the ministerial committee.

Poland has imposed sanctions on the belarusian company ERPBEL – the operator of the BYNEX crypto exchange, as the structure could be used to circumvent sanctions, finance and support belarusian state bodies, particularly in the context of facilitating russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

The authorities of Latvia and Estonia have announced their readiness to close border crossing points with belarus in order to support Lithuania, – said Prime Minister of Lithuania Inga Ruginenė. At the same time, Lithuania will open border crossings as soon as belarus stops its “hybrid attacks”.

In 2026, belarus will have to pay more than $8 billion in debts. The money will be requested from the rf.

The negative balance of the rb’s foreign trade in consumer goods increased 2.4 times over the year.