April 18, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

“Ukraine has accepted a full and unconditional ceasefire. russia, the aggressor, must do the same,” said President of Finland Alexander Stubb.

“Supporting Ukraine with more weapons and air defense is the only way to a just peace,” said EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarína Mathernová after the rf’s missile attack on the city of Dnipro.

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A French court has granted permission to enforce the award of the Hague Arbitration on russia’s compensation for damages caused to Naftogaz as a result of the occupation of Crimea in the amount of $5 billion.

US President Donald Trump has extended for one year the national emergency, which imposes restrictions on russian ships entering US ports.

Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala has said that for the first time in its history, his country has become completely independent from russian oil supplies.

“There should be no instrumentalization of commemorative events for propaganda purposes. Let me remind you once again that russia is now responsible for the fact that a war of aggression is being waged in Europe in violation of international law,” said Spokesparson for the Federal Government of Germany Steffen Gebestreit, regarding the participation of russian representatives in various commemorative events related to the end of World War II.

Another gas pipeline project that the kremlin offered to China to replace the never-approved “sila sibiri-2” pipeline has not been approved by Beijing. The project to supply gas through Kazakhstan, which moscow announced last autumn, promising to pump 45 billion cubic meters a year, will not be implemented, said China’s Ambassador to russia Zhang Hanhui.

According to the results of the 2024 fiscal year (April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025), trade turnover between Japan and russia fell by 9.41 % to 1.17 trillion yen ($8.2 billion). The volume of exports of goods from Japan to russia decreased by 1.2 %, while imports decreased by 12.3 %.

The group of companies “Grain Holding”, which is one of russia’s largest producers of flour and bread, is on the verge of bankruptcy due to the inability to fulfill its obligations to banks, tax authorities, suppliers of raw materials and services.

Sales of used cars in russia in March fell by 10.7 % year-on-year to 448.3 thousand units. The average price of a used car decreased to RUB 1.2 million.

In January–February 2025, russians bought 10 million bottles of infused vodkas. Hawthorn ones are the most popular. At the same time, sales of antidepressants increased by 27 % to 3 million packs.

Due to the shortage of doctors in the country, the ministry of healthcare of the rf has allowed paramedics and maternity nurses to perform the functions of a doctor in the absence of the necessary specialists in the institution. Paramedics will be allowed to deliver babies and prescribe medications to patients, including narcotic and psychotropic medicines.

In 2024, 145 russian citizens were convicted of high treason. This is four times more than in 2023 and the highest figure in the modern history of russia. The courts also sentenced 23 russians for espionage during the year, which is 2.5 times more than in 2023. If we count those convicted under these two articles, last year the russian authorities imprisoned one “traitor” every two days.

Last year, russia convicted 870 people on terrorism charges, including 48 minors.

In 2024, russian courts ordered the expulsion from the country of more than 174,000 foreign nationals. This figure was a record for nine years – the last time more foreigners were expelled from russia was in 2015 (177,800 people). Compared to the previous year, it increased by 34 % – in 2023, 129,700 foreigners were expelled.

Last year, 924 people were convicted under the article on evading military service in the rf.

In 2022–2024, russians and foreign citizens were fined 274.8 million rubles under administrative and criminal articles on “discrediting” the army and the article on military “fakes.”

The supreme court of russia has suspended the ban on the activities of the Taliban movement following a lawsuit filed by the prosecutor general’s office. Between 2016 and 2025, at least 37 people in the rf were brought to criminal or administrative responsibility in cases related to the Taliban terrorist movement.

The russian video hosting service rutube has stopped working in Uzbekistan. When trying to access the site, a message appears about blocking on the basis of a decree dated 2018. The document prescribes to restrict the work of resources with content that promotes violence, war, hostility, and terrorism.

deputy prime minister of the government of Trans-Baikal Region, viktoria bessonova put forward an initiative to deprive of parental rights the adults whose children are involved in setting grass on fire.

The Seimas of Lithuania has extended national sanctions against russian and belarusian citizens for another year.

Lithuanian citizens who also hold russian, belarusian or Chinese passports and individuals without Lithuanian citizenship will not be admitted to the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy, – the Government of Lithuania decided on Wednesday.

The ambassadors of the rf and the rb will not be invited to the Bundestag’s commemorations of the anniversary of the end of World War II.

The Lithuanian Government has decided to restrict traffic at the Šalčininkai and Medininkai checkpoints on the border with belarus, the only ones that remain open. From now on, motorcycles, mopeds, and electric bicycles are not allowed to cross the checkpoints. The reason for this is a sharp increase in attempts to cross the Lithuanian-belarusian border in this way after pedestrian and cyclist traffic was banned there in March 2024.