The Economist writes about the surrogacy industry in Ukraine, which also suffered from the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation. Ukraine is one of the few countries where surrogate motherhood is legal, so many foreigners from Europe, China and America turn to Ukrainian women for these services. Before the war, about 2.5 thousand surrogate children were born here every year. After February 24, the industry faced numerous difficulties, some women were forced to search for the parents of the children they were carrying on their own. One of the main challenges here is the need to give birth in Ukraine, because, for example, surrogate motherhood is illegal in Poland, and therefore parents donʼt get the rights to the child. For many Ukrainian women, surrogate motherhood is a way to change their lives, because during pregnancy a woman receives $450 a month and another $18,000 after giving birth.
The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote an article about the EUʼs transition to a military economy. Although the West is not fighting Russia on the battlefield, the economic dimension of the war will have huge consequences for the countries that supported Ukraine. One of the main challenges, writes Krugman, is Europeʼs dependence on Russian gas. Allowing the market to solve the problem of energy shortages would mean excess profits for energy producers, whose costs would not rise, and financial ruin for many families and businesses. Therefore, the EU will take measures to protect the public from significant price increases and prevent excess profits for some businesses. Among the main tools are reducing electricity consumption and limiting the income of producers of "cheap" energy. Krugman believes that the devil is in the details, so conclusions about the effectiveness of these tools can be drawn later.
The Hypnotist in the Kremlin is the name of the column of Andrey Kolesnikov, a Russian-born American Carnegie Foundation employee on Foreign Affairs, in which he writes about the influence of disinformation and Kremlin propaganda. The author conducted a sociological study for the Carnegie Foundation and the Levada Center, the results of which review the mechanisms of influence on the population of Russia during the war. Among the tactics used by Putin, the author mentions media censorship, ruthless suppression of dissent and numerous rituals of submission: raising the flag, singing the national anthem in schools, etc. According to Kolesnikov, in reality the number of Russians who do not support the invasion of Ukraine is growing, and among those who "hesitate" many are "trying to adapt to the new situation" or are simply afraid. The author believes that visa restrictions against Russians will only worsen the situation, as they will build "new barriers" between Russians and the West and facilitate the promotion of the Kremlinʼs war narrative.