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

During its plenary session in Strasbourg, the European Parliament will decide on the European Union’s accession to the International Claims Commission for the subsequent payment of reparations from russia to Ukraine and its citizens.

Senior official at the UK Foreign Office Stephen Doughty has pointed out that russia’s war against Ukraine poses serious and unacceptable threats to nuclear security in Europe.

The Czech Republic has announced its intention to join the Expanded Partial Agreement on the Special Tribunal on russia’s Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

Ukrzaliznytsia will receive a EUR 54 million grant as part of a joint project with the EU and the EBRD.

Germany has transferred three cogeneration units to Ukraine, which will be used to meet the needs of Chernihiv region.

The European Investment Bank will provide EUR 350,000 in technical assistance to develop a decarbonization strategy for PJSC Centrenergo.

During its presidency of the EU Council, Lithuania is ready to facilitate the adoption of a decision to completely phase out russian oil imports as part of strengthened sanctions. This was stated by Minister of Energy of Lithuania Žygimantas Vaičiūnas.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna has stated that the 21st package of sanctions against russia, which the EU has already begun drafting, will be tough and will target russian energy carriers.

Minister of Culture of Italy Alessandro Giuli will not attend the opening of the 61st Venice Biennale in protest against the presence of the russian pavilion at the event.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia has declared three russians involved in organizing the russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale persona non grata. mikhail shvidkoi is involved in international cultural cooperation and promoted the rf’s participation in the exhibition. anastasia karneeva was involved in organizing the russian pavilion, and katerina vinokurova is associated with the company operating the pavilion and is the daughter of minister of foreign affairs of the rf sergey lavrov.

Prime Minister of Japan Sanae Takaichi has established a working group tasked with reviewing the country’s security and defense policies amid escalating tensions, as China, north korea, and russia strengthen their military presence in the region.

According to calculations by experts at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), russia’s military spending had reached $190 billion by the end of 2025. On average, russia’s military machine had been “swallowing” $15.8 billion per month, $3.65 billion per week, $520 million per day, and nearly $22 million per hour.

Lending to the rf’s economy showed zero growth in March.

The increased tax burden has sharply worsened the situation for small businesses in russia: 65% of companies did not turn a profit in the first quarter.

On social media, russian entrepreneurs are posting videos en masse stating that they can no longer cope with taxes, which have risen since the start of the year, and are forced to close businesses they have built up over the years.

Member of the russian academy of sciences robert nigmatulin has described the current state of the russian economy as an “existential crisis”. In his view, the existing governance model requires not selective reforms, but a large-scale restructuring comparable to the perestroika period in the ussr. The expert pointed out that it is impossible to emerge from the crisis without profound economic and political transformation.

Governor of the bank of russia elvira nabiullina has announced a record labor shortage in russia. According to her, russia is facing such a labor shortage for the first time in modern history. “This is affecting the entire economic situation”, she said.

The real incomes of most russians turned out to be by a quarter lower than in “rosstat”’s reports. The average income is about 60,000 rubles (approximately EUR 630) per month. The largest group – nearly 40% (30 million people) – lives on up to 45,000 rubles (approximately EUR 480).

In russia, the share of non-performing loans in consumer lending has risen from 9% to 13.1% since the beginning of last year.

A wave of mass layoffs is underway in a number of sectors of russia’s economy. These include IT, logistics, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, consulting, and business services.

The board of directors of the leasing company “europlan” recommended not paying dividends based on the results for 2025.

According to the results for 2025, russia’s mining and metallurgical company “metalloinvest” reported a 14% year-on-year decline in revenue. Gross profit for the year fell by 35%, operating profit decreased 3.8 times, while  “metalloinvest”’s net profit dropped to 11.07 billion rubles, compared to 81.89 billion rubles a year earlier.

The company “new cloud technologies” has ceased releasing new versions of the “MyOffice” software suite for corporate communications and document management. The software provider faced serious financial difficulties. In particular, net losses had  reached 4.02 billion rubles by the end of 2025.

The weighted average rent for Class A warehouses in moscow has fallen below 10,000 rubles per square meter, which is by 25% less than in the same period of 2025. This sharp decline was caused by businesses shifting to strict cost-cutting measures and reducing expenses amid falling GDP and a halt in retail growth.

Two million rubles will be spent on renovating the “patriotic structure – the letter z” in barnaul. Meanwhile, the city’s budget deficit exceeds 1.3 billion rubles.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Estonia has drafted amendments to the law restricting real estate purchases, which would prohibit russian and belarusian citizens without permanent residence permits from buying property within the country. The aim of the initiative is to limit the ability of hostile states or individuals under their control to use real estate for intelligence collecting, sabotage operations, or influence activities against Estonia.

The European Parliament has called on the international community to recognize the deployment of nuclear weapons in belarus as a threat to collective security.

In the first quarter of 2026, Poland prevented all attempts to illegally cross the border from belarus – stated the country’s Minister of the Interior and Administration Marcin Kierwiński.

The UK’s Trade Remedies Authority has recommended extending anti-dumping measures on welded pipes from belarus. It is proposed to extend the 38.1% duty for the next five years.

In belarus, the account of “German-belarusian society” has been  designated as “extremist.” This is one of the oldest German civil society organizations dedicated to promoting dialogue between belarus and Germany.

Starting April 29, new scrappage fees will take effect in belarus. For the import of passenger cars by individuals, the rate has increased by 14.7–17.7% depending on the vehicle’s age. For a car manufactured less than three years ago, the fee will be 624,920 rubles, and for older vehicles – 1,282,020 rubles. The scrappage fee has also increased by 50% for new tractor-trailers with a maximum permissible weight of 12 to 20 tons. The fee is now 149,400 rubles.

In 2025, in belarus, by 62,000 more people died than were born.