US President Donald Trump stated he is ready to strengthen sanctions against Russia if there is no progress in peace talks with Ukraine.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, after talks with Trump, emphasized the shared duty of Berlin and Washington to increase pressure on Russia.
Germany will increase its army size by one-third to counter Russia.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said his country will continue supporting Ukraine and push for the adoption of the 18th package of tough anti-Russian sanctions.
The European Union is considering adding Russia to its “grey list” of countries with weak anti-money laundering controls. Being on this list harms a country’s reputation and requires financial institutions in other countries to exercise “enhanced caution” when handling transactions involving organizations or individuals from that country, leading to higher costs.
The EU Court’s advisors in Luxembourg concluded that it is not necessary to prove links between sanctioned Russian businessmen and Putin’s regime, meaning others contesting sanctions are unlikely to have them lifted.
Loading of Russian ports with oil fell by 28.6% during the week of May 26 to June 1 due to EU sanctions against 189 “shadow fleet” tankers. Baltic shipments dropped 33.2%, and Novorossiysk shipments fell 23%.
The Bank of Russia is concerned about tariff indexation exceeding inflation, with a possible acceleration in July, said Bank of Russia head Elvira Nabiullina.
Amid a severe budget crisis, Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology prepared a draft resolution to significantly increase basic rates of environmental fees, affecting nearly all product groups under the extended producer responsibility system.
Russian companies sharply reduced hiring due to falling profits. The slowdown and “cooling” of the economy are linked to the record-high key interest rate by the central bank. Hiring cuts are most notable among small and medium businesses, especially in regional areas.
The board of Mechel recommended not paying final dividends for 2024 on any share types due to losses. In 2024, Mechel had a net loss of 9.9 billion rubles. The consolidated net loss was 37.1 billion rubles versus a profit of 22.3 billion rubles the previous year. Mechel is a Russian leader in coal, iron ore, steel, rolled products, ferroalloys, thermal and electric power production, with ports, transport operators, and sales/service networks in its group.
The Russian government plans to ban citizens from using foreign postal services to authorize on Russian internet resources.
In Belarus, new passenger car sales are declining rapidly. In May, 3,415 new cars and light commercial vehicles were sold, 13.5% less than in April. April sales were down 9.9% compared to March.
Belarus restricted access to 18,000 information resources, 7,000 of which were labeled “extremist.”
In 2024, the Belarus National Intellectual Property Center received 303 patent applications for inventions, down from over 1,600 in 2013 — a fivefold decrease. Inventive activity has declined annually since then.
