Russia’s Whac-A-Mole Economy Is Working 

“The war in Ukraine wasn’t yet a month old when President Vladimir Putin crowed Russia had already survived an “economic blitzkrieg” of sanctions, though warning of worse unemployment and inflation to come. In some ways, he wasn’t optimistic enough,” Bloomberg reports.

“Joblessness has been in a near-continuous decline since then and now hovers at a record low on the eve of this week’s presidential election, as an economy warped by the military effort scoured for workers. It’s emblematic of why Russia bent but didn’t break under coercion by shifting to a war footing, allowing the Kremlin to spend its way out of a brief recession.”

“As Russia adjusted to a predicament that — on paper — made it the most sanctioned country on earth, the drip feed of punishment by Western governments meant the economy had enough time to build immunity while pocketing a record windfall from the spike in commodity prices the invasion helped unleash.”