According to the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, the team of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is unable to stop the recession in the Russian economy. What is important to understand is that the rapid deterioration of the situation has very specific reasons: increased tax burden, blocking and slowing down the work of social networks and Internet services, as well as increasing costs for logistics, labor and marketing.
Points of attention
- Short-sighted decisions by Putin and Western sanctions have hindered economic growth, leading to a decline in foreign trade balance and escalating banking sector instability.
- The Kremlin manipulates macroeconomic statistics to create a facade of economic resilience against sanctions and military expenditures, deceiving external consumers.
Putin is personally destroying the Russian economy
According to Ukrainian intelligence, in the last 4 months alone, as many as 6% of Russian enterprises have been forced to stop their activities.
Moreover, it is indicated that in 2026, a significant part of enemy companies are preparing to lay off employees.
The SBR has data indicating that about 30% of small and medium-sized businesses may leave the market.
The economic situation in the regions of Russia is rapidly deteriorating. The deficit of the consolidated budgets of the Russian Federation's constituent entities in January-February reached almost 1 trillion rubles (12.5 billion US dollars). At the same time, due to the lack of incentives to increase tax pressure, the number of regions that demonstrate a growing budget imbalance is increasing.
Putin's short-sighted decisions and Western sanctions effectively thwarted plans to collect customs payments.
In addition, it is indicated that according to the results of January-February 2026, the positive balance of foreign trade decreased by 33% compared to the same period last year.
As for the situation in the Russian banking sector, it is actually on the brink of crisis.
At the same time, the Kremlin uses systematic distortion of macroeconomic statistics to create a false impression among external consumers about the relative resilience of the Russian economy to sanctions pressure and colossal military spending.
