Putin’s cash crunch

It seems the Kremlin’s finance wizards are running out of rabbits to pull out of the hat.

The Russian government revealed this when it released its revised national budget for 2025, showing the spiraling costs of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine. 

Now it’s up to Europe and the U.S. to exploit this and increase the economic cost for Russia by plugging sanctions loopholes. By doing so, they can accelerate an end to the war, possibly in Ukraine’s favor, or at a minimum, incentivize Putin to negotiate a serious peace settlement.

The devil of Russia’s problem is hidden in the details of the published national budget.