A law curbing the independence of anti-graft agencies triggered the first street protests of the war and rare rebukes from European allies.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a bill that critics say weakens the independence of the country's anti-corruption bodies, sparking protests and drawing international criticism.

The passage of Bill 12414, which subordinates Ukraine’s two main independent anti-corruption bodies to the presidentially appointed prosecutor-general during wartime, had the feel of something done in panic.

Vasily Astrov, expert on the Russian economy at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, told Newsweek that "inflation has really subsided markedly over the past few months. The outcome of this policy has been a marked cooling of domestic demand, with the welcome side effect of rapid disinflation.