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

At a meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, 36 countries and the European Union agreed to adopt an Expanded Partial Agreement – an international treaty establishing a steering committee for the Special Tribunal on the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

More than 40 OSCE participating States have invoked the so-called moscow mechanism to investigate the practice of ideological re-education and militarization of Ukrainian children who find themselves in temporarily occupied territories and in russia.

Following another massive russian shelling of Ukraine, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has announced, that the EU is finalizing a EUR 6 billion support package which will include drones.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio believes that the war against russia has transformed Ukraine’s Army into the strongest army in Europe.

Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz has pointed out that with its latest attacks on Ukraine, russia is demonstrating its commitment to escalation rather than negotiations.

Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, General Carsten Breuer believes that by 2029, russia will be capable of launching an attack on NATO, and this could happen even sooner.

The threat from кussia is growing as it learns and adapts in the war against Ukraine, and therefore Europe must strengthen its own defense capabilities and take on more responsibility for the continent’s security. This was stated by Chief of the Defense Staff of the British Armed Forces, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton.

In April 2026, russia reduced its maritime exports of petroleum products by 9.8% compared to the previous month and by 17% compared to April 2025.

Tighter sanctions, high interest rates, and tax hikes have led to a deterioration in the financial performance of nearly all of russia’s largest companies. Three-quarters of russia’s largest businesses saw a decline in revenue and profit or incurred losses by the end of 2025. Collectively, the 28 largest companies lost 16.7% of their revenue (which fell by 8.6 trillion rubles), 30.8% of their net profit (which fell by 1.9 trillion rubles), and 20.1% of their EBITDA (which decreased by 3 trillion rubles). “rosneft”’s profit fell nearly fourfold for the year, “gazprom neft”’s and “tatneft”’s profits halved, while “lukoil” posted a loss of 1.06 trillion rubles for the first time in three decades of its history. Coal companies saw their losses increase (“mechel”’s doubled, “raspadskaya”’s rose by 28%); the magnitogorsk iron and steel works and “rusal” became unprofitable, while “severstal”’s and nlmk”’s profits plummeted 4.7-fold and halved, respectively. “russian railways” (rzd) ended the year on the brink of a net loss (the monopoly’s profit fell 22-fold), while “aeroflot” lost 65% of its profit. The largest transport operators ended the year with net losses: “sovcomflot”, which manages a “shadow fleet” of tankers, lost $648 million, and the “fesco” group lost 3.2 billion rubles. For these companies, this means that an era of survival is upon them.

russian factoring companies (financial intermediaries) have reported a decline in revenue for the first time in five years. Total revenue for the first quarter of 2026 fell by 25% compared to the same period last year. The decline affected nearly all major market players.

If russia’s key interest rate continues to decrease too slowly, up to 15% of microenterprises could face closure this year. In 2025, for every new business opened, 1.37 closed; by January 2026, that ratio had risen to nearly two.

Following tax hikes in russia, over 200,000 small businesses closed within three months.

The number of 24-hour grocery shops in russia’s largest cities decreased by 8% over the course of the year.

The board of directors of “rusal”, russia’s largest aluminum producer, recommended not paying dividends for 2025. “rusal” last paid dividends based on the results of the first half of 2022.

The board of directors of “magnit”, one of russia’s largest food retailers, also recommended not paying dividends for the past year.

Authorities of the rf have stepped up inspections of businesses evading higher taxes. The ministry of finance and tax officials have begun cracking down on a scheme used by small businesses to evade taxes: entrepreneurs close and reopen their sole proprietorships to reset their VAT limits.

russian marketplaces have lost at least 10% of their users due to VPN blocking.

Regular mobile internet outages have become a problem for russian doctors. The majority (54%) of healthcare workers have reported that the outages significantly complicate their work. At this, many hospitals do not have wired internet, leaving staff completely “cut off” from their work systems.

Internet restrictions – blocking messaging apps, cutting off mobile connectivity, and cracking down on VPNs – topped the list of russians’ greatest fears in the first quarter of 2026.

Already, every fifth russian believes mass protests are possible in the country due to the deterioration of living standards.

russian tourists are massively canceling trips to the Black Sea coast: hotels, sanatoria, and health resorts in Anapa are reporting up to 50% of cancellations.

In russia, the role of education as the primary factor in professional success is declining. Only 19% of respondents consider it decisive.

After several weeks of falling approval ratings, the all-russian center for the study of public opinion suddenly decided to change its survey methodology – and putin’s ratings immediately “improved”.

In the city of moscow and moscow region, the share of light industrial facilities (targeted at small and medium-sized businesses) in the total volume of warehouse space commissioned in the first quarter of 2026 decreased by 9% compared to the same period last year.

The net profit of residents of the “great stone” (a special economic zone with a special legal and tax regime in belarus, created as part of China’s global “Belt and Road” initiative) fell fourfold. Investment in fixed assets halved to 59.1 million rubles, while foreign investment in fixed assets amounted to only 0.4 million rubles.

Virtually all channels of lukashenko’s “belarus” radio on YouTube have been blocked without the right to reinstatement. Earlier, the same fate befell the YouTube channels “ont”, “stv”, and “belta”.

In the first quarter of 2026, accounts payable (companies’ debts to creditors) in the rb rose to 126.1 billion rubles – an increase of 12.8% compared to the same period in 2025 (111.8 billion), including overdue accounts payable of 13.6 billion rubles (11.9 billion; +14.3%).

In April 2026, MAZ sold by a quarter fewer new buses (26 units) on the russian market than a year earlier.