Told you before and Ill say it again...I would not be surprised to see Joe Biden outlast Putin in Russia and Xi in China..
How is that for strongmen?
The rouble crash is Putin’s moment of truth
The pace of devaluation has quickened since the Prigozhin mutiny. Over the last week, the rouble has broken its mooring, briefly blowing through the psychological line of 100 to the dollar. The central bank raised interest rates to 12pc in an emergency move on Tuesday but this has so far failed to restore confidence.
Russia now faces a drastic tightening of financial conditions and a currency slide at the same time.
Vladimir Putin can no longer maintain his line that the exchange rate slide is a calibrated and deliberate move in budget management. He touted rouble strength all last year as proof of Russia’s economic invulnerability.
“They are talking about it in every kitchen in Russia,” said financial journalist Orlon Skim.
Tim Ash from Chatham House said the devaluation is an internal propaganda disaster and “the clearest signal yet that the oil price cap and sanctions are working”.
Russia is running out of usable hard currency, to the point where Aeroflot has been landing at least nine of its Boeing and Airbus passenger jets with their brakes switched off because the airline is struggling to obtain parts at viable cost, and can no longer service its fleet in the West.
Pilots have to rely on reverse-thrust alone. A leaked memo obtained by Aviatorschina warned them of the risk of “overrunning the runway” in wet weather. This is a country in dire straits. Only in the magical world of Russian statistics did the economy grow 4.9pc in the second quarter, year-on-year.
Russia can of course buy anything it really needs on the global black market, mostly funnelled through Turkey, Dubai, or central Asia. German exports to Kazakhstan are up 105pc over the last year. Mirabile dictu.
Russia has switched to Chinese semiconductors – as well as cannibalising dishwashers and fridges – but these are mostly workhouse chips, too low-tech for advanced warfare. It would take years to configure Chinese circuits for Russia’s existing industrial system, and so far Chinese companies have been strikingly reluctant to do so.
The weapons captured or shot down in Ukraine overwhelmingly contain US chips acquired before the war. Russia has an elaborate smuggling network to obtain replacements but this costs hard currency. That is what Putin no longer has.
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