The next generations of Russians will have to pay a huge price for the visible stability of the Putin economy during the war Military personnel of the ensemble of the Federal Security Service of Russia perform at the opening of the Military Mushroom Festival "Spasskaya Tower" on Red Square in Moscow, August 23, 2024.

The apparent resilience of Putin’s war economy comes at an enormous cost to the country’s future The Spasskaya Tower annual military music festival in Moscow. Photo: EPA-EFE/YURI KOCHETKOV Two and a half years after Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian economy seems like a riddle wrapped in an enigma of competing narratives.

Mikhail Mishustin’s future briefly looked uncertain last week until Putin recalled just how useless he was Dmitry Astakhov / Sputnik / EPA-EFE If there was ever any truth to the rumours that a new prime minister was about to be appointed last week, all intrigue was rapidly put to an end when Putin once again nominated Mikhail Mishustin for the position. An assessment of Mishustin’s first term in the job by experts at The Bell gave him a surprisingly positive appraisal overall.

Economist Konstantin Sonin - about why Mikhail Mishustin should not be considered an “effective manager” Photo: Dmitry Astakhov / Sputnik / EPA-EFE If there was some kind of intrigue in the appointment of a new prime minister, it quickly ended. Putin again offered Mikhail Mishustin to this position. The experts of The Bell prepared an assessment of the first years of Mishustin, which sounds surprisingly positive.

Konstantin Sonin - about the book of Nikita Petrov "Time of Andropov" In the minds of many Russians who found the late Soviet time, the figure of Yuri Andropov is surrounded by an ominous aura: the powerful chairman of the KGB, transferred to the chair of the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the CPSU, began to restore order with an iron hand. It still seems to many that only his imminent death saved the late USSR from turning into second North Korea.

Why looking at Russia’s military economy through the prism of GDP growth is pointless People walk past billboards promoting enlistment in St. Petersburg, 28 November 2023. EPA-EFE/ANATOLY MALTSEV Konstantin Sonin Professor at The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy Commentators have recently begun raising the possibility of Russia winning the war in Ukraine again.