The people of Russia admire two things in their political leaders, the projection of military power and the accumulation of national wealth. The calamity of the Russian economy over the last few years, has placed President Vladimir Putin under increasing pressure, to deliver on foreign policy successes. The 2014 seizure of Crimea served two major purposes. The first was it demonstrated internationally, the return of Russia as a Great Power. The second function was that it shored up any possible doubts, citizens […]
Investing in Russia
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Elections In Russia An Exercise In Futility
Legislative elections will be held in Russia on September 18, 2016. They have been moved forward from December 4th. In play are all 450 seats in the State Duma which is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia. In contrast, the next presidential election will be held in 2018. United Russia has been the ruling party since the 2011 election cycle. At that time they were able to capture 49.32% of the vote, which gave them 238 seats or 53% […]
Russia: Superpower Ambitions With An Economy In Full Decline
It is not the first time that a nation has imperial ambitions that reaches far beyond its economic capability. Britain in the 1950’s discovered that the financial cost of maintaining the Empire, far exceeded what was politically possible in a functioning democracy. It would eventually of been cost prohibitive regardless, in relation to the size of the domestic economy. This is the situation that Russia now faces. The cost of military expenditures are rising rapidly in the midst of a declining economy. Foreign […]
Russia Moves To Expand War In Europe
Although the war in eastern Ukraine has been simmering for months, the escalation in violence is continuing as summer turns into fall. There has been a false sense of complacency in the West, that the situation on the ground has been frozen and that the danger of a major war has been mostly averted. Nothing could be further from the truth. President Vladimir Putin from Russia knows his window of opportunity is closing and that he must move forward, to achieve his […]
An Economic Recovery In Russia?
There are quite a few analysts and some investors that are insisting that Russia has finally turned the corner and that real economic growth will return soon. They point to the recent action by the Russian Central Bank in lowering the benchmark interest rate from 14% to 12.5%. The reduction in the cost of borrowing came in addition to the success of the government in auctioning bonds in April, after months of suspension. Earlier in the month the Governor of the Central […]
How The Collapse In Oil Prices Is Destroying The Russian Economy
The collapse in oil prices is destroying the Russian economy. As oil prices continue to plunge ever lower in the international market, it is bringing economic turmoil to the nations that are dependent on energy exports. Brent the international benchmark for crude, dropped an additional 0.7%. It has now dropped below $60.00 USD (United States Dollar) hitting a low of $59.62 USD. Oil in the United States is priced even lower. WTI (West Texas Intermediate) dropped 1.2% and is now selling for […]