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

The Conference on Ukraine’s Recovery will take place next year in Tallinn on January 28–29.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson has stated that Washington plans to hold trilateral talks on ending russia’s war against Ukraine.

Chancellor of the FRG Friedrich Merz has highlighted the threats facing Germany – ranging from extremist parties to external enemies, including a “massive threat” from russia.

“We were wrong to think we could develop a partnership with russia. russia rejected the partnership we offered and has become an aggressive, imperialist power whose goal is to radically change the entire political order of Europe,” – at the same time, Germany’s Ambassador to Ukraine Boris Ruge does not believe that Ukraine’s accession to the EU is impossible while the war is ongoing.

As shown by the results of a ZDF-Politbarometer poll, 63% of citizens in Germany support maintaining the current level or increasing military support for Ukraine from European countries.

The General Court of the European Union dismissed four lawsuits filed by russian investors who sought to challenge restrictions on investment arbitration.

russian assets in Finland and Austria totaling approximately $500 million were seized as part of a legal campaign by Ukraine’s Naftogaz. The company is demanding compensation from russia for property Naftogaz lost in Crimea in 2014. In April 2023, an international arbitration tribunal in The Hague awarded Naftogaz more than $5 billion. russia refused to pay, and the Ukrainian company turned to courts in other countries to collect the debt using russian assets.

In Romania, trials have begun against russians who illegally obtained Romanian citizenship. Among those who had previously received passports, Romanian media named former top executives of “sberbank”, “rusal”, and “gazprom”.

Georgia halted oil product imports from russia in September. Black Sea Petroleum, which began operations in late 2025, has completely stopped using russian raw materials. The plant’s management cited the threat of European Union sanctions as the reason for the decision. Azerbaijan has also reduced its dependence on russian raw materials. In the first seven months of 2026, the republic reduced its oil imports from russia 3.9-fold.

Indian oil refineries are cutting back on shipments from their main supplier – russia – and are increasingly opting to purchase crude oil from Persian Gulf countries. This is due to very high freight rates, which make transporting crude over long distances unprofitable.

russia has fallen out of the top three global suppliers of non-coking coal. russian exporters reduced their shipments of non-coking coal by more than 18% over the first nine months of this year, ceding third place in shipment volume to South Africa. This trend was driven by weakening demand and difficulties with shipments to Türkiye, as well as competition from Mongolia in the Chinese market.

The cost of medical services in russia may rise by 13% by the end of 2026. This is more than double last year’s overall inflation rate.

The volume of online sales of counterfeit goods in russia increased by 57% in January–June 2026. The largest share of counterfeit and “gray market” products falls into categories with high consumer demand and average purchase prices, such as clothing, footwear, cosmetics, perfumes, and household chemicals.

russians will miss out on large-scale “black Friday” sales on marketplaces due to Ukrainian strikes on ozon and wildberries warehouses. Typically, at the end of the year, retailers sell off leftover inventory from previous years, but everything has been destroyed, and there is no excess inventory left.

russia’s largest banks have begun significantly reducing credit limits on existing credit cards. russians are finding that instead of 200,000–300,000 rubles, they now have only 1,000 to 10,000 rubles at their disposal, while the grace period has been shortened from 120 to 60 days.

russia plans to increase bookmakers’ tax contributions to the budget. In 2027, the rate will be 2.25% of the tax base; in 2028 – 2.5%; in 2029 – 5%; in 2030 – 7.5%; and in 2031 – 10%.

From January through September, “norilsk nickel” reduced its palladium output by 4%. Platinum production fell by 2% over the nine-month period.

Governor of rostov region yuri slyusar has stated that cargo transshipment volumes in the region had fallen by 65%. This was caused by drone attacks and restrictions imposed on shipping. According to the regional governor’s estimates, in just one month, stevedoring companies lost 3.5 billion rubles, while shipping companies lost another 1.8 billion.

As of early October 2026, the amount of delinquent mortgage debt in the krasnodar territory stood at 19.8 billion rubles. Since the beginning of the year, this figure has risen by 45%.

The state duma of the 19th convocation, elected in the autumn elections – in which, according to estimates by election analysts, one in every three votes may have been rigged – will be one of the wealthiest in history. In total, the 450 MPs – 349 of whom are members of “united russia” – have savings in the form of cash in bank accounts totaling 44.4 billion rubles. The total savings of the new MPs exceed the annual budgets of six russian regions with a combined population of 1.7 million people. These are the altai republic (44.1 billion rubles), karachay-cherkessia (43.9 billion rubles), ingushetia (43.3 billion rubles), kalmykia (35.3 billion rubles), the jewish autonomous region (28.1 billion rubles), and the nenets autonomous okrug (30.5 billion).

In 27 regions of russia, the HIV epidemic has reached the generalized stage. This means that the virus threatens not only at-risk groups but is spreading among the general population. The most affected regions include kemerovo, irkutsk, and sverdlovsk regions, where more than 2% of residents are infected. Among russian men aged 40 to 50, more than 3% are infected with HIV.

In 2025, russia recorded the highest number of outbreaks of parenteral infections arising during the provision of medical care in the past 15 years. In 2025, 8 outbreaks were recorded in healthcare facilities in the rf, with 104 patients infected. In 2026, investigations are ongoing into 11 outbreaks across ten regions of the rf, where the spread of HIV and parenteral hepatitis in medical facilities is suspected. In moscow, an investigation is underway into an outbreak in which 22 cases of viral hepatitis C have already been identified. Among the major outbreaks with confirmed spread of parenteral hepatitis and HIV over the past two years is the infection of 82 people at a sanatorium in kabardino-balkaria.