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

EU countries have contributed over EUR 22 million to finance the Shelter Coalition. Of this amount, EUR 11 million was contributed by Finland, EUR 7 million – by Sweden, EUR 2 million each – by Lithuania and Belgium, and EUR 500,000 – by Ireland. Switzerland also intends to join the initiative.

European Commissioner for Economy Valdis Dombrovskis has called on Western allies to speed up payments on a $50 billion loan to Ukraine.

“If a peace agreement is reached, Ukraine will continue to need strong Armed Forces and reliable security guarantees from its partners,” said Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz. The Chancellor also believes that “the use of russian assets is indeed an appropriate and correct step.”

“The United Kingdom will continue to support Ukraine and help provide it with the necessary military equipment to defend itself against russia’s aggression, while maintaining economic pressure on putin to reduce the revenues that finance the war,” said Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the OSCE Neil Holland

Ukraine and Latvia are strengthening cooperation in the development of technology of artificial intelligence, language models, and digital tools that will help Ukraine in the process of joining the European Union.

Latvia has financed the renovation of the pediatric ward at the Chernihiv hospital.

rf

russia has not been elected to the Council of the International Maritime Organization – a UN agency dealing with issues of shipping safety.

The discount on russian Urals crude oil rose to 23 % in November compared to the North Sea benchmark Brent, up from 17 % in October, after the USA imposed blocking sanctions on the rf’s largest oil companies – “Rosneft” and “Lukoil”.

Tighter sanctions and slowdown of the economy have hit all key tax revenues to the russian budget. At the end of the year, the federal treasury will collect by 5 trillion rubles less than planned on seven key tax items, which account for half of government revenues.

The industrial optimism index in the rf dropped in November to levels last seen in the late 1990s. Sales estimates deteriorated, and with them, satisfaction with demand declined sharply. The share of companies assessing demand as “below normal” rose to 66 % – an anti-record since 2009, when it was 80 %.

russia’s forestry industry may experience a collapse of tens of percent in 2026 due to tougher sanctions.

The crisis in the commercial real estate market has made it really hard for owners and operators of shopping centers to find tenants, so they’ve had to convert their buildings into warehouses. In January–October, 587,000 square meters of such real estate was put up for sale on the russian market, while for the whole of 2024, this figure stood at 94,000 square meters.

The volume of state purchases of medicines, medical equipment, and services in January–September 2025 across russia as a whole decreased by more than 8 % year-on-year, to 1.09 trillion rubles. The most noticeable decline – 13 % in monetary terms – during this period was observed in the medicines and materials segment.

At the end of the first half of 2025, the net profit of the largest developers over the past 12 months decreased by 26.1 % compared to the level of 2024.

“Gazprombank”’s net profit for the period from January to September 2025 amounted to 128.4 billion rubles. This is by 42 % less than last year’s figure for the same period.

“Transneft”’s net profit in the third quarter was by 3.5 % lower than in the same period last year.

The “Astra” Group recorded a 59 % decline in net profit for the first nine months of 2025. The Group’s main product is the Astra Linux operating system.

“russian Railways”’ net profit for the first nine months decreased 4.2 times, the net profit of russian investment company SFI decreased 2.5 times.

VTB followed Sberbank in announcing staff cuts.

russians will have to pay 750 rubles when purchasing smartphones and 1,500 rubles when buying laptops.

The rf’s insurance companies are preparing to install operational search systems, through which customer data will be transferred to law enforcement agencies.

As of November 1, russia’s individuals’ mortgage debt amounted to 21.058 trillion rubles, having increased by 288.8 billion rubles over the month.

From March 1, 2026, a ban on the screening of films that discredit traditional russian spiritual and moral values will come into force in russia.

The rf’s ministry of justice has declared the American human rights organization Human Rights Watch undesirable in russia.

Following Siberia and the Urals, moscow and st. petersburg have begun jamming WhatsApp.

Irkutsk region is preparing for mass conservation of construction projects due to a shortage of funds.

The European Union has prepared a series of new sanctions against belarus to close the loopholes through which minsk is helping russia fight Ukraine.

Prime Minister of Lithuania Inga Ruginenė has announced her intention to appeal to international judicial bodies, in particular the UN International Court of Justice, over belarus’ malicious actions.

The lukashenko regime uses criminals to smuggle cigarettes using balloons, said Commander of the State Border Guard Service of Lithuania Rustamas Liubajevas. “The lukashenko regime, in pursuit of its goals, attracts criminals from both belarus and Lithuania,” the official said.

On average, a belarusian family has resources amounting to 2,915.6 rubles per month. Monthly expenses amount to 2,801.6 rubles, which is practically the entire amount available. Of this, 1,907.2 rubles, or 68.1 %, is consumer spending. Food accounts for 37.2 % of all food expenses. On average, 35.9 % is spent on non-food items and 24.7 % – on services.