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

During the meeting of the European Council, 25 European Union leaders signed a joint statement expressing their unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, as well as their plans to continue providing comprehensive assistance in Ukraine’s resistance to russia’s aggression. The European Council also notes the progress made in the technical work to open negotiation clusters on Ukraine’s membership in the European Union and considers it necessary to officially open them immediately. “The European Union and its member states are ready to contribute to providing reliable and credible security guarantees for Ukraine, in particular through the Coalition of the Willing and in cooperation with the United States,” reads the statement.

The European Council expects the 20th package of anti-russian sanctions to be adopted soon and emphasizes the importance of further reducing the rf’s energy revenues, in particular through the use of the “shadow fleet”. “The European Council calls on all countries to immediately cease any assistance to russia in its war against Ukraine, whether direct or indirect, including through the supply of dual-use goods and components,” emphasizes the statement by the 25 European Union leaders.

EU leaders hope that the disbursement of the first tranche of the EUR 90 billion loan to Ukraine will take place in early April.

Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz has emphasized that the EUR 90 billion loan for Ukraine, which has already been approved by the EU, must be disbursed immediately. “We must not take into account even a single country in the European Union that is currently creating this blockade in Europe for domestic political reasons and due to the election campaign taking place there,” Merz added.

“The loan is crucial for Ukraine to be able to prepare for the coming winter. A decision has been made here at the European level, so I expect everyone to respect it,” – Prime Minister of the Netherlands Rob Jetten believes that European leaders should not give in to blackmail over the blocking of the EUR 90 billion EU loan to Ukraine.

Ukraine and Spain have signed agreements on a joint project to develop technology for automatically adjusting the width of wheel sets for different track gauges, as well as a grant agreement to finance it. The Spanish side has provided a grant of EUR 5.48 million for the implementation of this project.

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Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz has called for joint action by the USA and Europe to increase pressure on russia in order to achieve a just peace in Ukraine. He emphasized that Ukraine has long been ready for peace talks, while russia “systematically undermines all peace efforts” by continuing attacks against the civilian population and energy infrastructure. “Therefore, the demand of the hour is to increase pressure on moscow – and specifically, jointly, by the USA and European partners,” the Chancellor stressed.

The German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has reported an increase in sabotage, espionage, and other types of dangerous activities directed against Germany. The agency’s President Sinan Selen has stated that perpetrators are demonstrating a greater willingness to take risks and employing diverse methods in their operations against Germany, adding that he does not rule out the possibility of assassinations. According to him, russia is the country’s main adversary. “russia views Germany as an adversary, and at times as its number one enemy,” Selen said.

Resuming energy cooperation with russia, even amid the conflict in the Middle East, is impossible for security reasons. This was stated by Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk. “There can be no question of this, ladies and gentlemen.” “This is a matter of security. It is a matter of survival for the entire Western community… And I am counting not only on our partners’ understanding, but also on their full cooperation,” Tusk emphasized.

Belgium advocates increasing pressure on russia and supporting Ukraine, but would like the European Union to be at the negotiating table with russia regarding a future peace agreement. This was stated by Prime Minister of Belgium Bart De Wever. “Belgium is committed to continuing to support Ukraine 100% and keeping the pressure on russia at a very high level. We strongly support the 20th package of sanctions,” De Wever emphasized.

President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda has stated that Europe must further intensify pressure on russia, which shows no desire to end the war against Ukraine.

In Latvia, the National Electronic Media Council (NEPLP) proposes banning the broadcast of music by artists subject to sanctions on Latvian radio stations.

Lithuania is proposing to impose a five-year entry ban on artists who have performed in russia or belarus.

Lithuania has also banned 268 russian citizens who were directly involved in russia’s aggression against Ukraine from entering the Schengen Area.

The government of Moldova has expanded its sanctions list to include a number of prominent russian propagandists in the media and cultural sectors. The restrictions apply to TV hosts and journalists from state-run russian propaganda channels, as well as public figures who support the kremlin’s policies.

The bank of russia’s business climate index – a key indicator of business activity – fell below zero in March 2026 for the first time since 2022. Since the beginning of the year, the index has been falling continuously: 1.5 points in January, 0.2 – in February, and 0.1 – in March. Business activity has slumped across the board – the BCI deteriorated in all sectors except manufacturing and transportation. russian companies are seriously committed to cutting production.

In russia, more than 800 companies have been transferred to state ownership through the courts. The rise in nationalization is occurring against the background of an economic slowdown and the search for additional sources of budget revenue. The largest redistribution of wealth since the 1990s has already affected dozens of billionaires on the Forbes list and nearly 20 of the largest companies in terms of revenue. The main beneficiaries of this redistribution have been the largest state-owned corporations and business groups linked to putin.

For two years, russia was the largest foreign market for Chinese cars, but a sharp increase in the recycling fee, an economic slowdown, and unaffordable interest rates on loans caused a collapse in shipments. In 2024, 14.5% of Chinese car exports went to russia, but last year that share fell threefold to 4.7%, and in January–February of this year it stood at just 3%.

russians do not notice the slowdown in price growth indicated by official statistics. According to the ministry of economic development, inflation slowed to 5.91% year-on-year in February and to 5.84% – by March 13. However, a survey commissioned by the central bank recorded a jump in inflation as perceived by russians to 15.6% from 14.5% in February.

In russia, computer sales have fallen by 30% due to rising prices.

VK has been operating at a loss for the sixth year in a row. The holding company, which operates russia’s largest social network and the video-sharing platform RuTube, and which launched the “national messenger” project Max reported a net loss of 24.9 billion rubles for 2025. VK has about 80 million users in russia and covers 95% of the russian internet.

As of February 2026, the number of traditional coffee shops in russia had fallen by 13%. In moscow, the number of coffee shops decreased by 12%, in st. petersburg – by 23%.

The “Chitay-Gorod” bookshop chain was fined for selling books by Fredrik Backman. This is not the first time bookshops in russia have been targeted for books by the Swedish author.

The labor shortage in russia’s housing and utilities sector is estimated at 150,000 people.

In russia, the workload on teachers has increased by 19% over the past nine years. One reason for this increase is the growing number of students in specialized high school classes. In 2016, the share of 10th –11th formers studying an advanced specialized program was just over 50%, by 2025, it had reached 95%.

To date, at least 19 coal enterprises in the kuzbass have suspended operations. In January, coal production, processing, and exports fell by 7 to 15.5% compared to the same period last year. By the end of 2025, the local budget had lost 36 billion rubles in tax revenue. Over 6,000 miners were left unemployed due to the closure of enterprises.

The culling of livestock has reached chuvashia, which has become at least the sixth region in russia where authorities have announced the seizure and culling of livestock in recent weeks, allegedly due to an outbreak of pasteurellosis and related diseases.

Businesses in moscow are switching to landlines amid the shutdown. Due to a sharp increase in demand for installations, customers have to wait three to four weeks.

In February 2026, the moscow housing market saw a record drop in demand in recent years. The number of transactions involving new construction fell to its lowest level since the pandemic. The number of transactions in the housing-under-construction market totaled 3,800 shared-equity contracts, which is by 51% fewer than in February 2025. Mortgage borrower activity declined by 29% year-on-year.

Medical workers in russian regions are complaining en masse about salary cuts due to reductions in incentive payments. Salaries have fallen by a quarter, or even a third.

Construction workers in murmansk have gone on strike over delayed wages.

In the temporarily occupied city of mariupol, several construction companies involved in rebuilding facilities destroyed by the russian occupying army have stopped paying their employees.

Visa cards issued by “alfa-bank” (belarus) and “belgazprombank” have stopped working in the EU, as well as in the United Kingdom, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

As of early March, belarus was short of 155,800 workers. Demand for blue-collar workers accounted for about 69% of the total number of job openings.

In belarus, the number of people leaving the country for temporary work abroad has been growing annually since 2021. While five years ago 86,700 people engaged in such “rotational work”, by 2025 the figure had risen to over 128,000. In other words, over the five-year period, their number increased by 48%.

According to the results for January–February 2026, the value of industrial product inventories in the rb amounted to 12,200,822 billion rubles – by 17.7% more than in the first two months of 2025. The ratio of inventories to average monthly production increased nationwide by 14.9% over the year (from 75.7% to 90.6%).

Official imports of hybrid cars to belarus have fallen 50-fold.