putin tries to blame officials for russia’s economic collapse
russian dictator vladimir putin admitted problems with russia’s economy and publicly reprimanded officials from the economic bloc.
▫️According to putin, the official figure of 0.4% GDP growth in July is not enough. Therefore, he strictly ordered to ensure “higher rates.” In addition, putin demands that officials fill the budget by intensifying the fight against “gray schemes,” the shadow economy, and tax evasion.
Such a sharp shift in putin’s rhetoric, who until recently publicly denied obvious economic problems, indicates that it is no longer possible to hide the real situation. Propaganda will now move from silence to shifting responsibility onto “bad boyars” who “fail to follow the president’s orders.”
However, the main reason for russia’s economic decline is not incompetent officials, but putin’s aggressive war against Ukraine. It consumes enormous resources on an unproductive military-industrial complex and the army, leading to a record budget deficit, a collapse of industrial production, and falling oil and gas revenues. Therefore, simply ordering the government and officials will not help putin fix the situation or get more money for the war.
