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

The European Commission has confirmed its plans to adopt a new package of sanctions against russia by February 24.

The government of Latvia will allocate EUR 10 million to support Ukraine within the framework of NATO’s PURL initiative.

France suggests that India join forces to accelerate the end of russia’s war against Ukraine, in particular by supporting a moratorium on strikes against civilian targets and infrastructure.

Minister of Finance of Lithuania Kristupas Vaitiekūnas believes that the European Union needs to return to discussing the issue of a reparations loan for Ukraine. The Minister has stressed the need to ensure that the first tranche reaches the Ukrainian budget in April, “when the country will need this money”.

Angolan businessman Bento Adriano Mendes has donated more than 80 electric generators to Ukraine.

Minister of Finance of Sweden Elisabeth Svantesson believes that the EU should insist on a complete ban on maritime services for russia’s “shadow fleet”, even if the USA or the G7 do not express support for such a move. “...Their (russia’s) economy is small. It is only 12% of the European economy. But first of all, it is very weak. And now it is under a lot of pressure, and we know this from intelligence data and various figures provided by researchers,” stressed the Minister of Finance.

Poland is preparing a claim for reparations from russia for crimes committed during the period of soviet domination.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland has called on citizens to leave russia over russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine and moscow’s recognition of Poland as an “unfriendly” state.

Latvia’s National Electronic Media Council is calling on Members of Saeima to decide to shut down all private radio stations broadcasting in russian in the country.

“As military leaders, we see every day – based on intelligence and open sources – how russia is increasingly shifting its military focus to the West. The armed forces are rearming, learning lessons from the war in Ukraine, and reorganizing in such a way that the risk of conflict with NATO countries may increase,” said Defense Chief of Germany’s Bundeswehr, General Carsten Breuer, and the United Kingdom’s Chief of the Defence Staff, Sir Richard Knighton, in a joint article.

The neobank Revolut has begun checking old transfers made by russians living in the European Union. These are transfers from CIS countries to the EU. Revolut is trying to ensure that third-country banks did not serve as a transit link for money from russia. The bank requires confirmation of the source of the funds and blocks the account if it concludes that the money is of russian origin.

The tightening of US sanctions, which caused russian oil prices to plummet to $40 per barrel and below, led to a series of bankruptcies among small oil companies in key regions of the rf.

The prolonged period of high interest rates caused an increase in defaults on bonds issued by small rf’s companies.

russia’s central bank expects that the structural liquidity deficit in the banking system will average 3.0 trillion rubles in December 2026. The central bank estimates that banks’ need for liquidity at market conditions in 2026 will be 5.3–6.4 trillion rubles.

Since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, the authorities in most russian regions – 66 out of 85 – have sharply cut budget spending on housing and utilities at least once. In all cases, the cuts amounted to 10% or more. In real terms, spending fell even more sharply, as according to state statistics, the average annual inflation rate in russia since 2022 has been around 8.6%. The cuts in spending on housing and utilities are taking place against the background of a record total regional budget deficit, which reached 1.538 trillion rubles at the end of 2025, and a “tsunami” of utility accidents that has swept across the rf. In January alone, they were mentioned at least 1,280 times, which is almost twice as many as in January 2025.

JSC “russian railways” has effectively gone bankrupt and has no chance of getting out of debt on its own. The government of the rf is launching an unscheduled increase in railway tariffs to support “rzd”, which has lost 14% of its freight traffic since the start of the war, accumulated 4 trillion rubles in debt, and last year suffered its first net loss since the pandemic.

AvtoVAZ has reduced its Lada sales plan by 15%. The company’s employees expect their salaries to be halved to 40,000 rubles per month, while buyers report a sharp rise in prices. In 3.5 years of full-scale war, the cost of a Lada has increased by 72%.

Electric motor production in russia fell by 28% in 2025 to 0.9 million units, compared to 1.2 million units in 2024. This is the lowest figure in the last five years. russian electric motor production is critically dependent on imports of raw materials, components, and technologies. The decline in electric motor production in 2025 is directly related to the limited availability of imported components due to sanctions.

The average total cost of credit card loans for individuals from russian banks reached 50.38% in January 2026.

The share of food expenses in russian citizens’ budgets has reached its highest level in 16 years. At the beginning of 2026, 39% of all russians’ expenses went to the purchase of food products.

patriarch kirill of the russian orthodox church has warned that God would not hear russians’ prayers for higher wages.

The cost of cremation in russia has risen sharply following an increase in utility rates. The main reasons are an 8-12% increase in electricity rates for organizations and a 7-10% increase in gas prices. Problems with spare parts for imported furnaces and additional costs for cleaning systems have also had an impact. Prices have risen the most in moscow and moscow region. At the nikolo-arkhangelsk crematorium in balashikha, a standard cremation with an urn now costs 80-85 thousand rubles. A few months ago, the price was almost half as much.

The fsb will be able to block communications in russia and its individual regions even in the absence of a security threat. Changes have been made to the new version of the bill that will make the process of deciding on shutdowns even easier than originally planned. The version of the document that passed the first reading stated that communication services would be suspended after a “request” from the fsb in cases, “established by regulatory legal acts of the president and the government, with the aim of protecting citizens and the state from emerging security threats.” In the current version, the special services changed “request” to “demand” and removed references to the government and “threat to security”.

russians’ spending on mobile communications and home Internet may increase by 6–10% this year. Several factors are affecting the cost of services, including increased tax burdens, inflation, and rising operating costs for telecom operators.

The moscow arbitration court has ruled that it is permissible to register foreign technology as a russian development as part of import substitution (theft).

belarus recorded an economic decline in early 2026. GDP in January fell by 1.2% compared to the same month last year.

The automated price analysis system, created on the initiative of the belarusian government, cost 5.1 million rubles (US$1.8 million). However, it only works for three of the least sensitive goods: refrigerators, tyres, and bicycles. The system requires 2.5 million rubles (US$880,000) annually to operate.

Over the year, in belarus, prices for pork rose by 15%, for beef – by 12%, for fish – by 11%, for milk and kefir – by 9–10%, for butter – by 8%, for buckwheat – by 11%, and for confectionery – by 19–27%.

As of February 1, belarusian warehouses had accumulated stocks worth 12.044 billion rubles (about 4.21 billion US dollars). In January, they increased by 808.49 million rubles (283 million US dollars), while the stock level increased by 8.7% to 89% of the average monthly production volume. At this, January saw a decline in industrial production.