Sanctions fail to stifle Russian economy

THWARTING sanctions, the Russian economy has enabled the Putin regime to frustrate Nato and prolong the Ukraine war. Moreover, local polls show that most Russians have accepted the war and have got on with their lives.

“Naive predictions that sanctions and wartime restrictions would trigger popular discontent and bring down Vladimir Putin’s regime have come to nothing,” notes Denis Volkov, director of the Levada Centre, a Moscow polling organisation. “In many ways, quite the opposite has happened. Most Russians might not identify with the regime, but they have consolidated around the Kremlin.”

In a series of polls between August 2022 and August 2023, Levada found that about one-fifth of the Russian population are active and uncompromising supporters of the war. Many of these are retired men, who generally support the government and the military. About a fifth of respondents who don’t support the war are young men and women. The numbers rose by 7 per cent when the government announced conscription in the autumn of 2022.