Russia: Out of Cash, Full of Despair

Russia’s economy is far from stable. It is buckling under wartime spending, capital controls, and manipulated statistics. In this interview we test the claim that skeptics are “deluding themselves” and present the data that Moscow cannot erase. A 17 percent key rate paired with inflation above 8 percent points to a system in distress. The official unemployment rate of 2.2 percent looks impressive on paper but becomes meaningless when surveys show millions of Russians seeking second jobs to make ends meet. The state is choosing guns over butter. A higher VAT shifts the cost of war onto ordinary households while wages continue to erode. Deficits are rising, debt service is consuming more of the budget, and the National Welfare Fund is being drained to keep the illusion alive. Like gravity, economic laws cannot be denied. Propaganda does not stop the ground from coming up fast when you fall. Professor Yuriy Gorodnichenko, a Ukrainian-born economist and faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley, speaking with Kyiv Post's Jason Smart provides this critical assessment of Russia's economy. He is one of the most cited macroeconomists of his generation, with expertise in inflation, fiscal crises, and emerging markets. His scholarship has been published in leading journals and he has advised institutions from the IMF to national central banks. His insights on Russia’s economy combine rigorous data analysis with deep knowledge of post-Soviet systems, making his warnings especially significant. #RussiaEconomy #RussiaCollapse #WarEconomy #Inflation #KyivPost #JasonJaySmart #YuriyGorodnichenko Chapters: 00:00 – Intro 01:00 – Is Russia’s economy really stable? 02:45 – Inflation vs. high interest rates 05:35 – Labor shortages and second jobs 07:10 – Russia’s soaring defense spending 09:10 – Growing deficits and resource trade-offs 10:11 – Gasoline shortages and signs of panic 12:00 – Kremlin priorities vs. social welfare 13:10 – Tanks vs. cars: wasted output 14:17 – What collapse might look like