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

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Johann Wadephul rejects calls to create a new European security architecture as a way to end russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. “Europe does not need a new security architecture, as russia would have us believe, but simply the restoration of the existing security architecture,” the Minister stated.

As part of efforts to counter russia’s circumvention of sanctions and to better coordinate the actions of European Union member states in this area, two new bodies are being established. This was announced by European Commission Spokesperson Siobhan McGarry. These are the Sanctions Office and the Crypto Sanctions Task Force.

The rf’s sovereign assets frozen within the European Union will remain frozen until russia pays Ukraine reparations for war damages – otherwise, the EU reserves the right to use them. This was stated by European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Valdis Dombrovskis.

Canada has expanded its sanctions against russia. The country is adding 38 legal entities and 24 individuals to the sanctions list with the aim of further limiting russia’s military capabilities by “targeting elements of its defense-industrial base, in particular entities involved in the development of ballistic missile technologies and russia’s cyber activities”.

Ten Northern European countries, led by the United Kingdom, will join forces to deter russia. The plan is to create a naval alliance within the framework of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF). The JEF also includes the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The alliance’s members plan to move beyond information sharing and consultations to practical cooperation among their naval, air, and ground forces.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland is rapidly preparing amendments that would tighten restrictions on russians entering the country, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen. According to her, the changes will be incorporated into the government decree governing this matter. “russia must stop its aggressive war against Ukraine,” Valtonen emphasized.

Europe must learn to respond more firmly to russia’s hybrid actions, said Prime Minister of Finland Petteri Orpo.

Minister of Internal Affairs of Estonia Igor Taro has stated that russian acts of aggression in Europe should be viewed as “state terrorism” rather than hybrid incidents.

kremlin dictator putin is the only person who can stop the war against Ukraine, but if we want lasting peace in Europe, Ukraine should actually become a NATO member state, a full-fledged member. This was stated by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Margus Tsahkna.

Canada will push for tougher sanctions against russia during next week’s meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of G7. This was stated by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Anita Anand. The Canadian Foreign Minister added that she would not invite the minister of foreign affairs of the rf to any meeting, but took the opportunity at the G20 summit to express her position to him regarding the abduction of Ukrainian children, shelling of civilians, and attacks on energy infrastructure.

In Moldova, the Vulcanesti-Chisinau power transmission line has been put into operation, which will allow for the import of electricity from Romania and other European countries, bypassing the unrecognized region of Transnistria. President of Moldova Maia Sandu has stated that the new electricity supply route will prevent russia from using the country’s energy dependence as a means of political pressure. “No one will be able to blackmail us or cut off our electricity and heating anymore,” she emphasized.

Switzerland’s U-20 national hockey team refused to play against russia’s national team at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Canada. The Swiss Ice Hockey Federation made this decision after evaluating sporting, political, and social factors.

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Council upheld the decision to suspend the belarusian men’s and youth national teams from the 2027 World Championships.

The Bank of Maldives (BML), the country’s largest bank, has stated that, in accordance with legal requirements, it does not process payments related to russia or its citizens. “In accordance with our current policy, russia is included in the list of countries with restricted access to money transfers,” the Bank said. This means that the financial institution does not conduct any transactions directly or indirectly related to russia.

“The leadership of the moscow patriarchate has declared sexual minorities to be enemies and used this to justify an aggressive war. The Orthodox Church of Finland completely rejects this position, as well as the war itself and its religious justification. People must not be turned into enemies, neither in sermons nor in war propaganda,” stated Archbishop Elia of the Orthodox Church of Finland.

More than half of the non-performing loans on russian banks’ balance sheets are unsecured. According to data from the central bank of the rf, as of September 1, the volume of non-performing loans issued by credit institutions reached 13.3 trillion rubles, or 12.9% of the corporate loan portfolio. At this, 7.2 trillion rubles of these loans are secured neither by cash reserves nor by collateral that the bank could liquidate. The potential losses for banks on these assets amount to 70% of the free capital of the entire banking system – that is, the banks’ own funds in excess of the central bank’s reserve requirement.

Rising demand for Baltic Sea port terminals has led to higher cargo transshipment costs. In October, rates for coal exporters rose to $15–25 per ton, while for small shipments rerouted from the south, they reached $20–25 per ton. The increase in transportation and transshipment costs makes exports unprofitable for shippers. In the long term, this will lead to a reduction in russian coal exports through the Baltic ports.

russian wheat shipped from the Baltic ports fell in price by 1.5% over the week – to $257 per ton. Over two weeks, the price dropped by 7%.

Sales of russian road construction equipment continue to fall at double-digit rates. In January–September, domestic sales volumes fell by 24.9% compared to the same period last year. Road construction equipment manufacturers have begun to suspend operations and lay off workers due to the drop in sales.

The number of companies registered in russia that specialize in the production of hard liquor and alcohol decreased by 7.4% over the past year.

Publicly traded russian real estate developers will not pay dividends to shareholders in 2027. This will be prevented by high debt burdens, declining revenue, and rising losses. Shares of construction companies are falling in value twice as fast as the moscow exchange index.

russians have sharply increased capital outflows abroad. In September, according to preliminary estimates by the central bank of the rf, they transferred a record 80 billion rubles (about $940 million) to the accounts of non-resident brokers – the highest amount on record.

Due to a lack of funds, russians are en masse lifting their self-imposed bans on taking out loans. As of March 1, 2025, more than 27 million citizens had placed a ban on taking out loans in their own names. However, as of today, 12.4% of those restrictions –or 3.3 million – have been lifted. 32% of russians explained their decision to lift the ban by the need to cover unforeseen expenses for which they lack funds.

The program to provide payments to rural medical workers in the rf, which had been in the works since 2021, has been put on hold. More than 500 billion rubles from the mandatory health insurance fund, which had been set aside for its implementation, will be used to cover the federal budget deficit.

russian citizens are increasingly concerned that putin will soon announce a general mobilization to continue the war against Ukraine. According to a survey, 58% of russians fear mobilization. This is the highest figure since September 2023. At the same time, support for a possible mobilization in russia’s society has fallen to a historic low. Only 9% of those surveyed consider it necessary.

russia’s authorities have simplified the procedure for reporting crimes and offenses, allowing law enforcement agencies to accept reports entirely in electronic form. Such electronic reports could primarily be used to persecute citizens who disagree with the government’s actions. This includes, in particular, charges of spreading “fake news about the army”, which carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison. The electronic format will also make it easier to file complaints regarding “offenses against the feelings of believers” and other similar offenses, for which the complainant’s personal presence is not required.

In the year 2026, in at least 27 regions of russia there were problems with transporting schoolchildren to schools. Disruptions in school transportation were reported in approximately 70 localities. In 45 of them, transportation of children was either discontinued or suspended.

A wave of layoffs among public sector employees has swept through five more russian regions, as noted by the publication “7×7”. The layoffs affected penza, arkhangelsk, and tyumen regions, as well as the primorsk territory – all of which had previously reported budget deficits – and karelia, whose budget is in surplus. Prior to this, due to a lack of funds in local budgets, public sector employees began to be laid off in st. petersburg, irkutsk and omsk regions, the khanty-mansi autonomous okrug, and the krasnoyarsk territory.

After cutting payments to contract military servicemen and laying off public sector employees, the st. petersburg authorities decided to raise taxes on small businesses and property taxes to cover the city’s budget deficit.

The fuel crisis is once again taking on a nationwide scale: “rosneft” has restricted fuel sales at filling stations across the country.

The “trassa” filling station chain has ceased operations. All 53 stations in moscow region are closed. Approximately 1,400 employees have been furloughed without pay.

In October, belarus’ international assets decreased by $373.7 million.

Annual inflation in belarus accelerated to 4.7% in September. It has been rising for the fifth consecutive month.

In October 2026, the belarusian-Chinese manufacturer “BelGee” sold 6,341 cars on the russian market, which is by 41.2% fewer than in the same month of 2025. Also in October, maz’s sales in russia fell by 30% compared to the same period last year.

At least 24 foreign citizens are being held in custody in belarus for political reasons. Among the foreign political prisoners there are citizens of Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Poland.