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

Belgium is allocating EUR 1 billion in defense aid to Ukraine this year and has confirmed its intention to provide our country with additional F-16 fighter jets.

Spain has confirmed that it will provide EUR 1 billion in support to Ukraine in 2026.

“Ukraine’s accession to the EU will be a strategically important step toward greater security and a prosperous Europe,” said Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz. According to him, the participation of Germany and the European Union in negotiations to end the rf’s war against Ukraine is a necessary condition.

Ukraine and Germany have signed an agreement on the exchange of digital combat data for the development of new weapons systems, a declaration of intent to support industrial recovery and resilience, as well as a document regulating cooperation between the countries’ Defense Ministries.

Hungary's new leader, Péter Magyar, considers the russian leadership a threat to Europe.

European Commission Spokesperson Balázs Újvári has announced that the European Commission expects to provide the first tranche of a loan totaling EUR 90 billion to Ukraine as early as the second quarter of 2026.

The German drone manufacturer Quantum Systems is deepening its industrial cooperation with Ukraine by establishing two new joint ventures.

“Sanctions are having an impact. And, looking to the future, they will have a significant impact on the development of the russian economy,” said Director of Latvia's Constitution Protection Bureau Egils Zvedris.

The European Commission has officially given the President of the Venice Biennale 30 days to resolve the issue of opening the russian pavilion; otherwise, the organization will lose EUR 2 million in funding.

“Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, russia has spent approximately $130 billion (10 trillion rubles) to circumvent sanctions,” reported Latvia’s Constitution Protection Bureau (SAB) in its report “Losses Incurred by russia As a Result of Western Sanctions”. The agency bases its estimates on internal, non-public calculations obtained from russian authorities.

While “rosstat” reports that poverty in russia has fallen to a historic low and real household incomes have risen by nearly 30% over the past four years, an increasing number of retailers are being forced to switch to the hard-discount format – shops offering maximum discounts, which people have dubbed “beggars’ markets”. The number of such “shops for the poor” in the country has increased 2.4-fold over the past five years. Over the past year, the number of hard discounters increased by 12% and reached 11,800 shops nationwide.

russia’s foreign trade surplus fell by 51% in February.

“russia’s economy is no longer just slowing down – it’s collapsing – and credit risks are beginning to materialize right now,” said senior managing director at sberbank and head of the financial analytics center mikhail matovnikov.

Customs authorities have begun imposing higher duties on russian businesses for goods purchased in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) but manufactured in “unfriendly” countries. Businesses have already begun to respond to this new approach: some companies are reducing their product ranges by excluding the riskiest items, while increased inspections and delays at the border are driving up logistics costs. This practice may lead to a significant increase in retail prices for a range of goods, while some of them may become unavailable to the end consumer. In particular, everyday non-food items could become more expensive – by 10-15%, and in some segments – by up to 30%.

If a windfall tax is introduced based on results of the year 2025, russian banks will lose approximately 270 billion rubles.

A systemic crisis is observed in the water supply and wastewater management sector – its share in russia's GDP has fallen to 0.24%, while net losses from regulated activities have reached 36 billion rubles.

Demand for luxury new-build properties in russia in January–March 2026 fell by 54% compared to the same period last year.

By the end of 2025, the average mortgage amount in russia reached 4.9 million rubles. This figure increased by approximately a quarter compared to the previous year.

Demand for secondary housing in moscow fell by 10.5% over the year.

Profits for russia’s largest fast-food chains fell in 2025. Specifically, “burger king” saw a 61% drop in net profit for 2025, “vkusno-i-tochka”’s profit fell by 15.1%, and “rostic”’s – by 27.5%. The reason for this decline was a significant increase in the fast-food restaurants’ own expenses, particularly for staff, as well as rising ingredient costs due to inflation and logistical challenges. The drop in profits is also linked to the fact that household incomes are not keeping pace with inflation, which is forcing consumers to visit restaurants less frequently or switch to more economical consumption patterns.

The state-owned railway monopoly rzd has published an announcement regarding the sale of Riga railway station in moscow for 4 billion rubles. The state-owned company has decided to sell some of its assets due to deteriorating financial performance. Specifically, rzd’s debt rose from approximately 3 trillion rubles in 2024 to 3.8 trillion rubles by the end of 2025. Due to a rise in debt servicing costs to 534.1 billion rubles, as well as a decline in freight traffic last year, rzd saw a 22-fold drop in annual profit.

The net profit of the “first freight company” (pgk) for 2025 fell ninefold to 4.6 billion rubles (42.7 billion rubles a year earlier). pgk is russia’s largest private logistics company in the railway freight market.

The financial performance of the russian alternative to Microsoft Office, the developer of “MoyOffice” deteriorated sharply in 2025. Revenue for the parent company of the “New Cloud Technologies” brand fell from 2 billion rubles to 1 billion. Net loss rose by 233%, from 1.2 billion to 4 billion rubles.

In the first quarter of 2026, the number of job openings in the housing and utilities sector of the rf increased by 47% compared to the same period last year.

Tighter regulations for providers will lead to a 30% increase in the cost of home internet. The ministry of digital development proposes introducing paid licenses for telecommunications service providers (ranging from 1 to 50 million rubles depending on the category), as well as making them install systems for operational-investigative measures (SORM) before commencing operations – immediately after establishing a legal entity. This refers to special equipment that allows the fsb to access subscribers’ calls, internet traffic, and other data.

Major russian online services have begun restricting access for users connecting via VPN.

runet will be required to disseminate state propaganda. russia plans to create a national information platform that will be mandated for integration into websites and apps of social networks, marketplaces, video services, and other online platforms.

“Most russians perceive with understanding internet outages and blocking of foreign messaging apps,” said russian president’s press secretary dmitry peskov.

russian laws allow schoolchildren to be employed without their parents’ consent.

In russia, more than 50% of books may be removed from libraries due to legislation on “undesirable organizations” and “foreign agents”.

“Since the beginning of the year, belarusian companies have seen a noticeable decline in the profitability of both goods and services sold and total sales. According to the results for January–February, the profitability of goods, works, and services sold stood at 7.3%. By comparison, it was 7.7% in the first month of this year and 8.3% in December of last year. The same situation applies to sales profitability. Over the two months, it stood at 6%, whereas in January 2026 it was 6.4%, and in December 2025 – 6.8%.

According to data from the Speedtest Global Index, as of February 2026, belarus ranked 101st out of 104 countries in terms of median mobile internet speed. Only Pakistan, Libya, and Bolivia had slower mobile internet.

police major vyacheslav leonenko has been appointed director of the belarusian state puppet theater – currently the most popular theater in the country.

Another settlement has disappeared in belarus. The village of stukany (tolochin district, vitebsk region) has vanished from the country’s map. In March, the village of solodovnya in kruhlaye district of mogilev region officially ceased to exist. A little earlier, in early February, a similar decision was made regarding the village of bel in lioznensky district of vitebsk region.