Botten ur för den ryska ekonomin. - Klarar inte längre att betala räntorna.

Indian banks block Russian oil payments after new US sanctions

Indian banks has begun blocking payments for Russian oil imports following the latest round of U.S. sanctions against Russia's oil industry, according to a report from Energy Intelligence, an energy information company.

The U.S. on Jan. 10 announced large-scale sanctions against major Russian oil companies and nearly 200 vessels of Moscow's "shadow fleet."

Following the new restrictions, financial institutions in India began blocking payments for Russian crude, Energy Intelligence reported on Jan. 20. India's state-owned banks, State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank, have exercised the most caution in avoiding U.S. sanctions.

Private banks have adopted a less rigid approach, the report said.

Russia built covert trade channel with India, leaks reveal

Russia has been secretly acquiring sensitive goods in India and explored building facilities in the country to secure components for its war effort, according to Russian state correspondence seen by the Financial Times.

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Some of the trade has been transacted in rupees, leaving Russia with a surplus of the currency.

The Kremlin has admitted difficulties in repatriating Russia’s oil profits because of US sanctions and currency restrictions. Russian groups have used rupees to trade gold and purchase goods to evade the sanctions, according to people involved in the trade and western officials.

It is true that Putin’s current strategy is unsustainable. He is trying to simultaneously wage war in Ukraine, maintain high social and infrastructure spending to create an illusion of normality for his domestic constituents, and preserve macroeconomic stability. It is impossible to do all three in perpetuity. Achieving the first and second goals requires large outlays of cash, which fuel inflation and thus prevent the achievement of the third goal. And the cracks in the Russian economy are becoming increasingly apparent.

The problem for the West is timing. Political leaders want the war to end quickly. Some analysts have also suggested that in the coming months, the pressure on Russia could be so great that Putin will have to seek an off-ramp to stabilize the economy and safeguard his hold on power. But Western hopes rest on a false assumption. Russia’s economic challenges are not yet so acute that they will make a meaningful difference in the war in the near term. For at least the next year, the Kremlin should be able to keep its overheating economy from exploding into a full-blown crisis. Putin will likely still have the resources to sustain his brutal campaign in Ukraine—and perhaps the incentive to wait out the West.

Andrej Kuzitsjkin, en rysk politiker som lever i exil i Estland, säger i en kolumn i Postimees att den officiella statistiken inte är korrekt. Genom sina källor i Ryssland har han kontrollerat priserna i butiker i Magadan, Irkutsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Jekaterinburg, Tjumen, Stavropol, Voronezj, S:t Petersburg och Moskva.

Enligt honom har priserna börjat stiga kraftigt.

- På grundval av den information jag fick och de fotografier jag tog i livsmedelsbutikerna kom jag fram till att inflationen i livsmedelspriserna är mycket högre än tidigare.

…

Kuzitshkin säger att i Moskva har till exempel priset på ett 180-grams smörpaket stigit från 1,3 euro till 3 euro per år.

Priserna på fiskprodukter har också stigit dramatiskt.

- I Tomsk och Irkutsk kostar ett kilo lax 20 euro på marknaden. Röd kaviar gick upp från 60 euro till 140 euro per kilo i många butikskedjor. Kycklingkött och solrosolja har gått upp med 20%", säger han och ger exempel på prishöjningar.

Ryssarna får också betala mer för potatis, som är en del av praktiskt taget alla ryssars dagliga kost.

- År 2024 minskade potatisarealen med 10 procent och produktionen med 20 procent. Som ett resultat steg priset på potatis i Moskva-butiker från 35-50 cent till mellan 80 cent och 1 euro.

I genomsnitt varierade ökningen av potatispriserna i olika regioner från 40% till 100%.

Update Thread:

So a few things happened that I think it would be easiest if I just lump together.