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

“Sweden has intelligence indicating that russia is systematically manipulating statistics to convince Ukraine’s Western allies that its economy has allegedly withstood the burden of high war costs and Western sanctions”, said Head of Sweden’s Military Intelligence and Security Service Thomas Nilsson. In particular, russia significantly underreports data on inflation and the size of the budget deficit. “The real inflation rate in the rf is closer to a key rate of 15% than to the central bank’s official estimate of 5.86%,” said Nilsson. Swedish intelligence also concurred with the assessment by the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) of Germany that russia is underreporting its budget deficit by approximately $30 billion.

The Latvian State Security Service believes that threats to European drone manufacturers from russia confirm the kremlin’s readiness to continue its harmful activities on Latvian territory.

Latvia’s National Electronic Mass Media Council has restricted access to ten more websites that spread russian propaganda.

European Commission Spokesperson Ricardo Cardoso has reiterated that the rf  should not benefit from the war in the Middle East and rising oil prices. Germany will begin privatizing the German subsidiary of “gazprom”, which Berlin nationalized after russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

russia’s president has found  himself in a corner, and this makes him even more dangerous, writes columnist David Ignatius. “putin may feel cornered by the deadlock in the war against Ukraine, his inability to help Iran, and Viktor Orbán’s resignation as Hungary’s Prime Minister. In such a situation, he may start thinking about the next war against European countries,” the journalist believes.

The oil and gas sector’s share of russia’s GDP last year was 13%. This is the lowest figure since 2017.

The economic slowdown and decline in many industries are no reason to count on increased state aid: the state itself lacks funds. minister of economic development malsim reshetnikov has warned of this.

The slowdown of the russian economy has led to the collapse of import substitution in the country, said director of the cherepovets foundry and mechanical plant vladimir boglaev. According to him, the government’s policies have led to a drop in demand and a halt in growth in virtually all sectors. “The main problem is that “cooling the  economy” has clearly turned into “freezing the economy”.  And the goals that were set for us several years ago – centers for import substitution and development – have not merely been derailed; they have been buried. And everyone who invested in import substitution is now left with nothing,” he said.

According to last year’s results, “kamaz”’s net loss under international financial reporting standards amounted to 42.96 billion rubles. A year earlier, the company reported a profit of 731 million rubles.

The former russian subsidiary of the well-known Danish jewelry house Pandora has faced a sharp drop in revenue. At the end of 2025, JSC “panklub” reported revenue of only 562.7 million rubles – a 52% decrease from the previous period.

In russia, soybean yields could drop by 64–91% by 2050 in the absence of technological solutions amid climate change.

Last week, russia’s car market took another step backward. During  April 13- 19, just over 23,000 new passenger cars were sold in russia. This is by 7.3% fewer than the previous week. The commercial vehicle segment (3.5 tons and up) saw a weekly decline of 12.8%.

Chicken meat production in russia began to decline in early 2026. In the first three months of 2026, poultry meat output in the country fell by 2.7% compared to the same period in 2025. The sharpest declines were recorded in key production regions: tambov region (-12.4%), the stavropol territory (-10.5%), and leningrad region (-9.5%). head of the national meat association  sergey yushin has  emphasized that the situation has long been critical for many companies.

russians with utility bill arrears may not see any money, as the ministry of construction of the rf is preparing a draft law on the online write-off of housing and utility debts.

Since the beginning of 2022, the cost of making a coffin in russia has risen by 84%, and the cost of digging a grave – by 51%. In January–February 2026, the volume of funeral services provided in real terms increased by 6.9% year-on -year, and in monetary terms – by 15.7%.

“Younger generation of russians does not seek stable employment,” stated chairperson  of the federation of independent trade unions of the rf nina kuzmina.  She attributed this to the labor shortage in the country. “’post-millenials’, who are supposed to replace older workers retiring, are not interested in stable employment at all; they are happy  with platform-based daily work with daily pay without formal employment contracts,” said kuzmina.

“In russia, it is necessary to conduct medical testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among one-third of the entire population,” stated minister of healthcare mikhail murashko. According to WHO data, russia’s HIV prevalence rate is on par with that of African countries. In russia, there are 890 people infected with the virus per 100,000 people, while, for example, in Guinea there are 874, in Liberia – 944, in Chad –771, and in Ethiopia – 601.

The kremlin’s domestic policy bloc has required political parties to coordinate criticism of internet restrictions with the presidential administration and has prohibited them from pushing this issue.

Refusing to unlock a phone upon entering russia can now result in a 15-day arrest.

Courts in russia have begun fining citizens for posts containing three sixes, deeming them propaganda for the non-existent “international satanist movement”,  which has been declared “extremist” in the rf.

Residents of belgorod border zone have accused “akhmat” fighters of looting. Local residents have been complaining about looting for several years.

Students at ural universities are in no hurry to sign contracts with unmanned forces. As of November 2025, only 21 students have agreed to serve in the unmanned forces. Earlier, minister of science and higher education of the rf valery falkov set a quota for the largest universities: at least 2% of students must sign contracts with the ministry of defense. If this quota is met, it could amount to about 44,000 people, and if  technical schools and colleges are included – up to 76,000.