The closer we get to November 21 - the date after which the United States will consider any transactions with Lukoil and Rosneft a violation of its sanctions - the more uncertain the future of foreign assets. On Monday, Lukoil announced that due to “force majeure” it would stop regular operations at West Qurna 2 in Iraq. This is one of the largest fields in the world, control over which Lukoil received back in 2009.

The oil company Lukoil notified the Iraqi authorities that due to “force majeure” it was forced to stop work at the West Qurna-2 field, where the Russians began commercial oil production in 2014. This was reported by Reuters and later confirmed by Bloomberg and Interfax. According to Reuters, Iraqi authorities have stopped all payments by Russians in cash and oil. About 4 million barrels originally intended for the company in November have been withdrawn.

A Paris court decided to release from prison 70-year-old ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy, who became the first politician of this rank in recent French history to be sentenced to prison. At the end of September, he received a five-year sentence on charges of illegally financing his 2007 election campaign, including from the accounts of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and on October 21 he was sent to Santé prison in the west of Paris, the only one operating in the city.

Russia would hardly have been able to wage war for almost four years and live under sanctions if not for the technocrats. This is the customary name for the class of professional economists and managers that formed during Vladimir Putin’s time in power, who have more than once led the country through severe crises. For these supporters of a market economy and liberal approaches, the war came as a surprise and a severe shock.

In St. Petersburg, the singer Diana Loginova, performing under the pseudonym Naoko, received a third protocol on “discrediting the Russian army.” According to the head of the press service of the city courts, Daria Lebedeva, this time the case is related to the performance of the song by Noize MC “Swan Lake Cooperative,” recognized in Russia as a foreign agent.

In the UK, a scandal erupted around the BBC: the television corporation's general director, Tim Davey, and the head of the news department, Deborah Turness, resigned . The reason is a documentary about Donald Trump, in which fragments of his speech on January 6, 2021 were edited so that it seemed as if he was calling on his supporters to storm the Capitol. The error was first discovered by Daily Telegraph journalists who received an internal BBC report.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) conducted searches of businessman Timur Mindich in Kiev, Ukrayinska Pravda reports , citing sources. Mindich is a co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio and a longtime friend of Vladimir Zelensky. According to the publication, he left the country a few hours before the searches.

The US Senate approved a bill that would allow the government to resume full operation in a procedural vote with the minimum required vote (60). The final vote is scheduled for Monday, after which the document will be returned to the House of Representatives and then sent to Donald Trump for signature. Under the terms of the agreement, funding for several departments, including the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Veterans Affairs, will be restored by the end of the year.

Dmitry Dukhanin/Kommersant In conditions of budgetary savings, the authorities shift the financing of support for import substitution to the business itself. To support import substitution in radio and microelectronics, for which there is no more money in the budget, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will introduce a “technological fee” from September 2026, which will be paid by all importers and manufacturers in the industry, regardless of the level of localization.