Source: Financial Times [UK]
“Russia is on the verge of a recession, its economy minister said on Thursday, the first public admission that the country’s war economy is starting to cool three years after President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Maxim Reshetnikov said at the president’s flagship economic conference in St Petersburg that ‘the numbers show [the economy] is cooling off.’ … Putin has presided over a record surge in defence spending, which grew 25 per cent year on year to Rbs13.1tn ($167bn) last year and drove two consecutive years of GDP growth above 4 per cent following a contraction in 2022, the first year of the war. The Kremlin’s embrace of ‘military Keynesianism’ has driven strong wage increases and a tight labour market, but has begun to cool off this year as demand reaches capacity.” (06/19/25)