They pointed to weak oil revenue, which crashed by 50% in January from a year earlier, and a budget deficit that continues to widen, even after Putin hiked taxes on consumers. A Moscow business executive also told the Post that the crisis could arrive in "three or four months" amid spiraling inflation, adding that restaurants have been closing and thousands of workers are getting laid off.
We may be, in the course of 2026, coming to a point where the whole thing becomes unsustainable, because so much of the Russian economy has been distorted so much by the building up of the war economy at the expense of the civil economy. I think defying the laws of economic gravity can only go on for so long.
After years of wartime splurging, Russian shoppers are tightening their grip on their wallets - a shift that hints at growing stress in the country's economy. Growth in consumer spending has weakened across most regions, the Central Bank of Russia said in a report published Wednesday. In October and November, demand softened even as unemployment remained near historic lows and inflation expectations ticked higher.
Years after Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia's financial system is showing signs of vulnerability. Three and a half years of war against Ukraine have weakened Russia's cash reserves, indicators show, possibly signalling that its economic resilience is beginning to fray. Russia experts have told Al Jazeera that the country of 143 million people is now almost wholly dependent on export revenue from oil and gas for its cashflow, and a major round of new sanctions could bring it to the negotiating table.
After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,
Trump's portrayal as a dealmaker was tested in Anchorage, where he claimed Putin respected him, despite Putin holding to his Ukrainian territorial claims.
