“Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly worried about disparities in the Russian economy amid the ongoing war against Ukraine, Reuters writes, citing information from five sources familiar with the situation. They spoke on condition of anonymity. According to two of them, the opinion in favor of ending the war through negotiations has spread among part of the Russian elite. Reuters writes that over the past two years, the Russian economy, fueled by the export of oil, gas and other minerals, has been growing steadily – even in the face of several stages of Western sanctions. However, domestic economic activity has been increasingly strained for months due to labor shortages and high interest rates set to combat inflation, which has accelerated amid high military spending. Reuters notes that the publication “records for the first time” Vladimir Putin’s level of concern about the state of the economy, which sources say, and how the situation affects views in the Kremlin. Donald Trump, who returned to the post of US president on January 20, promised to quickly end the war in Ukraine. After the inauguration, Trump said that if Putin does not start negotiations, Washington may impose new sanctions and tariffs on Russian goods. At the same time, Trump added that Russia is moving towards “big economic problems”. According to Reuters’ anonymous interlocutors, Vladimir Putin’s frustration became evident at his meeting in the Kremlin with business leaders on the evening of December 16. There, he allegedly read a number of officials responsible for making decisions in the economic sphere. The Russian president was clearly unhappy after learning about the reduction in private investment due to the cost of loans, one of the sources said in the conversation. From the received information, the agency also concluded that the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, was not present at the mentioned December meeting in the Kremlin. In his comments on December 19, Putin said he hoped for a balanced decision by the Central Bank on the key rate. The next day, at its last monetary policy meeting in 2024, the Russian regulator kept the rate at 21%, despite market expectations that it would rise again. After the announced decision, Elvira Nabiullina denied that she succumbed to pressure, the authors of the material note. ”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
According to two of them, the opinion in favor of ending the war through negotiations has spread among part of the Russian elite. Reuters writes that over the past two years, the Russian economy, fueled by the export of oil, gas and other minerals, has been growing steadily – even in the face of several stages of Western sanctions. However, domestic economic activity has been increasingly strained for months due to labor shortages and high interest rates set to combat inflation, which has accelerated amid high military spending.
Reuters notes that the publication “records for the first time” Vladimir Putin’s level of concern about the state of the economy, which sources say, and how the situation affects views in the Kremlin.
According to Reuters’ anonymous interlocutors, Vladimir Putin’s frustration became evident at his meeting in the Kremlin with business leaders on the evening of December 16. There, he allegedly read a number of officials responsible for making decisions in the economic sphere. The Russian president was clearly unhappy after learning about the reduction in private investment due to the cost of loans, one of the sources said in the conversation. From the received information, the agency also concluded that the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, was not present at the mentioned December meeting in the Kremlin.
In his comments on December 19, Putin said he hoped for a balanced decision by the Central Bank on the key rate. The next day, at its last monetary policy meeting in 2024, the Russian regulator kept the rate at 21%, despite market expectations that it would rise again. After the announced decision, Elvira Nabiullina denied that she succumbed to pressure, the authors of the material note.
Last October, the World Bank predicted that in Russia, as a result of tighter monetary policy and “increasingly tighter constraints on production capacity and labor resources,” economic growth is expected to slow from 3.6% in 2023 to 3.2% this year and 1, 6% – the following.