Russia's Once-Hot War Economy Shows More Cracks
But cracks in the $2 trillion economy are now abundantly clear. This newsletter suggested in November that 2025 would be a year of consumer retrenchment as Moscow was forced to choose guns over butter. That dynamic was on display this week: Putin attended a flag-raising ceremony for Russia's latest nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, the fifth of the new Borei-A class built in the past six years. Meantime, car sales for June came in with a 30% plunge.
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