'Putin .. wants .. the restoration of a strong Russia that is a great power player on the international stage. To that end, military force is viewed as a crucial means to gain international respect — and if not respect, then at least fear — and deference from those Russia wishes to influence and possibly control.'<blockquote>'A closer look at the Russian economy reveals a nation that is practically a caricature of the stereotypical Third World country .. Not that Putin minds. What he wants is the restoration of a strong Russia that is a great power player on the international stage. To that end, military force is viewed as a crucial means to gain international respect — and if not respect, then at least fear — and deference from those Russia wishes to influence and possibly control. Still, Russia's ability to throw its political and military weight around heavily depends upon the state of the Russian economy and how much fat can be sliced off to feed the purposes of those in power .. Putin's authoritarian and nationalistic insistence on a strong, centralized and intrusive government will prevent a truly normal and prosperous Russia.'
- Richard Ebeling,
In Long Run, Russia Is Still Third World, September 5, 2008</blockquote>
'Ivan Starikov, the former deputy economy minister, said the true inflation rate is near 30pc. “We are rapidly approaching the fateful mark where of 50pc of the average Russian family's income will be spent on food. We have again become a country of poor people,” he said.'<blockquote>'Mr Putin is counting on a 50pc devaluation since early 2014 to restore lost competitiveness and ignite a manufacturing renaissance. Having presided over a destructively-strong rouble for a decade, he has now embraced the virtues of a weak currency with the zeal of the converted.
Oleg Deripaska, chief of the aluminium group Rusal, said it is wishful thinking to suppose that a cheap rouble can kick-start an economy caught in a tangle of red-tape, crying out for root-and-branch reform and the rule of law.
“We should stop looking at the exchange rate and give some thought to the economic policy we really need. Nobody is going to borrow at 12pc in hard currency to invest,” he said.
The chief effect has been to shrink the Russian economy in global terms. “GDP was $2.3 trillion at the peak. It is now $1.2 trillion, and I fear we are going back to the level of 1998 when it was $700bn,” he said.
This would be smaller than Holland ($850bn) or half the size of Texas ($1.4 trillion), a remarkable state of affairs for a country vying for superpower military status in Europe and the Middle East.
Igor Sechin, the head of oil giant Rosneft, said devaluation is a false strategy, adding sarcastically that if it was so good to halve the rouble from 30 to 60 against the dollar, why not just keep going and push it all the way to 100. “That would be a dream wouldn’t it?” he said.
..
Ivan Starikov, the former deputy economy minister, said the true inflation rate is near 30pc. “We are rapidly approaching the fateful mark where of 50pc of the average Russian family's income will be spent on food. We have again become a country of poor people,” he said.'
- Ambrose Evans-Pritchard,
Russia retreats to autarky as poverty looms, October 18, 2015</blockquote>
'..Russia has failed to create functioning institutions and increasingly lags behind the advanced world socially and economically..'<blockquote>'It is clear that fighter jets are beating out pensions in the competition for state funding. Such are the government's and elite's priorities, which the Russian population has thoroughly supported, betraying their own best interests in exchange for the sense of national pride that Russia's interventions in Crimea, the Donbass, and Syria have given them.
..
..Russia has failed to create functioning institutions and increasingly lags behind the advanced world socially and economically; what can one expect but greater aggression and hatred toward the imaginary root of all of Russia's misfortunes?
All the while, everyday Russians continue to suffer. Russians' life expectancy and quality of life remain extremely low by Western standards. If the state actually had working institutions, it would have dramatically increased its investments in human capital, education, and health care. Instead, the state prefers to invest in protecting its only institution: "the besieged fortress." As such, the state spends oil, gas, and tax revenue on fighter jets, while defunding health care and placating seniors with a 4 percent increase in their meager pensions.'
- Andrei Kolesnikov,
Russia Chooses Bombers Over Pensioners, October 20, 2015</blockquote>
Context<blockquote>
'If Russia is to move forward, Pivovarov says, “we must cease to be Soviet people and overcome the Soviet in us.” '(Ukraine) - '..now that they have started throwing off their Soviet past..''..it will be critical for Russia's new leaders to eliminate the Chekist mindset.'