Russia's Economic Decline Is s Accelerating

From:	War News Updates Editor

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Fuel Fix/Bloomberg: How much more economic pain can Vladimir Putin take?

It's been a little more than six months since the full brunt of Western sanctions took force against Russia. The punishment, while slow in coming, has proven devastatingly effective—especially when paired with the crash in oil prices.

Last summer, of course, U.S. and European Union officials had no way of knowing an epic oil selloff was right around the corner. But in hindsight the coordination seems uncanny. Oil prices peaked less than a month before the sanctions were announced. By November, the combination of cheap oil and tighter sanctions was bleeding Russia of billions in budget revenue and had cut it off from the world's largest capital markets.

WNU Editor: Russians hate inflation .... it brings back all the bad memories of the 1990s when the currency collapsed and the country defaulted on its debts. And while the economy has not completely collapsed .... No, Obama, Russia's Economy Isn't 'in Tatters' (Leonid Bershidsky) .... the crisis in Ukraine and the decline in the Russian economy is now on the top of Putin's priority list .... but it is the economy that in the medium term can damage his ability to govern. For the moment .... the Russian public is giving Putin a pass, blaming sanctions and the drop in the price of oil as the main reasons for the tough times .... but this is only going to last so long .... if this continues into next year  the blame will shift to his Presidency, a fact that I am sure he is aware of.