Russia's central bank, growth, budget and banking data all show a war economy under real pressure in mid-2026, yet most analysts read the picture as erosion rather than collapse — a distinction that matters for how long Moscow can fund the war and for the EU sanctions strategy Luxembourg helps shape.
Two waves of cyberattacks in June 2026 disrupted card payments, ATMs and online banking at Iran's largest state banks, with a group calling itself Black Wolves claiming responsibility. The outages revive memories of the 2025 Predatory Sparrow assaults on Bank Sepah and the Nobitex crypto exchange, and underscore how financial-system sabotage has become a frontline weapon in the wider Middle East confrontation.
China placed 10 US firms on its export-control list and barred 46 from government procurement on 22 June 2026, retaliating for the Pentagon's expanded list of 'Chinese military companies' and raising the temperature of a trade war that reaches export-dependent economies like Luxembourg's.
Meeting in Luxembourg on 15 June, EU foreign ministers once more failed to muster the unanimity needed to sanction Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Luxembourg's Xavier Bettel, among the bloc's sharpest critics of its inaction, has accused larger members of hiding behind history to excuse paralysis on Gaza.