April 22, 2025 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The United States have expressed support for a potential extension of the ceasefire in Ukraine after Easter.

“It’s like declaring a hunger strike between breakfast and lunch while secretly eating sweets,” – Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jan Lipavský compared russia’s statements about the alleged “ceasefire” in Ukraine.

“If there is no shift in moscow’s thinking, it is difficult for me to imagine that this war will end this year. It is a war of attrition. I do not think that at this point moscow is ready to agree to security guarantees that would be quite acceptable for Ukraine,” said ex-Ambassador of Germany to Ukraine Hans-Jurgen Heimsoeth.

Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark pool military resources to counter russia’s aggression. These four countries are taking steps to shape a new regional security architecture.

The Institute for the Study of War in its report claims that russia is conducting a large-scale propaganda campaign to persuade the population of the need for a “great war” with NATO countries under the slogan of combating “neo-Nazi ideology” in Europe. “The kremlin has previously used this myth to persuade russians that their social and economic sacrifices in support of the war against Ukraine can ensure total victory,” says the report.

russia’s slowing economic growth and reduced demand for large purchases like cars, electronics and household appliances cut the volume of russia’s imports from China in the first quarter of this year. The rf spent $22.7 billion on the purchase of imported goods from the PRC in the first quarter of 2025, which is by 6.9 % less than in the same period last year. In February, russia spent $5.8 billion on imports from China, which is the lowest since June 2022.

The rf in the first quarter exported to China soybeans 1.7 times less than in the same period last year. This year, the export of russian soybean oil to China also decreased as compared to last year – in the first quarter it was 3.2 times less than a year earlier.

In 2024, the level of use of unlicensed software in the russian engineering software market increased from 65 % to 70 %.

Manufacturers of sunflower oil in russia have faced a crisis: output in January-March fell by 15 % year-on-year. This is due to the negative margin of seed processing, which decreased to minus 23 % in February. In March, the situation improved slightly, but profitability remained in the negative zone – minus 11 %.

Like in the ussr: state regulation of food prices in the rf, which in recent years is gaining momentum, will lead to the degradation of agriculture and food industry, as well as to a sharp reduction in the range of goods in stores. This is stated by thirteen industry associations representing manufacturers, suppliers, retail chains and consumers.

Because of the internal deficit, the government of the rf again extends the ban on the export of unhusked rice (raw rice) – from July 1, 2025 till the end of the year.

At the end of April, sales of “lada” vehicles in russia will decline by one third year-on-year. The automaker is seeing a dynamic decline in demand by almost 50 % in the market as a whole.

russians have been left without two American medicines for cancer. ministry of healthcare of the rf withdrew the state registration of two anti-tumor medications used in the treatment of various types of blood cancer – Revlimid and Imnovid. The rights to these medicines belong to the American pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb, which left the russian market after the outbreak of war against Ukraine.

In January-February, the number of enforcement proceedings on travel bans for debtors increased by one third compared to the same period in 2024. As of March 1, 2025, decisions on temporary restrictions on the right of debtors to leave the rf were in force in 9.5 million enforcement proceedings, which is almost by 3 million more than as of March 1, 2024.

Consumer bankruptcies continued to grow in russia in the first quarter. During the period, the courts declared 120.99 thousand people insolvent, an increase by 34.8 % year-on-year. Out-of-court bankruptcies also continue to gain momentum. In January-March, citizens initiated 15.65 thousand procedures. This is by 24 % higher than in the same period in 2024.

The prosecutor general’s office has declared the activities of the Italian NGO Commonita dei Russi Liberi in Italia undesirable in russia. According to the prosecutor’s office, the NGO’s activities are focused on organizing anti-russian rallies and drawing the Italian population’s attention to “systematic violations of citizens’ rights and freedoms in russia”.

In the first quarter of 2025, 170,800 grave and especially grave crimes were registered in russia. Compared to the same period last year, the number of such crimes increased by 13.6 %. Comparing the figures for previous years, we can see that this year’s number of registered crimes is the highest since the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In January-March 2022, 139,800 grave and especially grave crimes were committed, in the first quarter of 2023 –152,900, and in 2024 – 150,400. Sharp jumps in violence are recorded in large cities and depressed regions. The city of moscow, moscow region, and the Krasnodar Krai are leading in terms of the number of crimes. It was there that the kremlin massively deployed mobilized and “contract soldiers,” encouraging violence.

russia is breaking records for the number of terrorist attacks. In 2024, the ministry of internal affairs recorded 1,191 terrorist crimes – the absolute maximum since the beginning of record-keeping. In January-February 2025, 451 terrorist attacks were committed – almost 10 times more than a year ago.

The average salary offered to participants in the war against Ukraine upon their return to russia is less than 38 thousand rubles. This is twice less than the average salary in russia and five times less than the minimum wage of a contract soldier in the war against Ukraine.

russian companies that leased 15 mines in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions a year ago, have abandoned nine of them. These mines turned out to be unprofitable at current world coal prices and high costs. Now the companies are trying to return them to the “authorities” of the temporarily occupied regions for further liquidation.

The Sverdlovsk regional court has sentenced to 12 years in a maximum security colony a russian citizen yevgeny varaksin who transferred two thousand rubles from Poland to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The kgb of the rb has added eight people to the list of “involved in terrorist activities”. Currently, the kgb’s “terrorist list” includes 1,276 people, of whom at least 588 are belarusian citizens. Prisoners declared “terrorists” are prohibited from receiving money transfers. The list of “terrorists” includes convicted political prisoners, former siloviki from Zhodino, Dmitry Udovin, Andrei Doroshok, Vyacheslav Ilyich, Igor Kislyak, and Vitaly Papretsky, who in August 2020 recorded an appeal to their colleagues asking them not to become punishers (they were convicted in 2025 for allegedly “calling for sanctions” and “inciting hatred”).

On April 21, the shortage of workers in belarus exceeded 200 thousand people. So many offers from employers were posted in the nationwide vacancy database. The largest number of workers is needed in Minsk – 54,776. Especially in demand are IT, trade and medicine professionals. For comparison, as of February 14, there were 51.9 thousand vacancies in minsk.