Why is Putin everything is fine, but the West is bad Although it was initially assumed that the powerful sanctions of the West will hit the Russian economy and politically weaken Vladimir Putin, today the matter looks so that it is the Western governments that may encounter the political consequences of a sharp deterioration in their economies.

Putin’s triumph over the West While sweeping Western sanctions were supposed to cripple the Russian economy and politically weaken Vladimir Putin, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Western governments may soon face a backlash as their own economies suffer the consequences of such policies. However, this process doesn’t reflect the actual economic situation so much as it shines a light on the ways democracies and autocracies react to crises.

Before the war, Russia and Ukraine were one of the main suppliers of food to the world market, on which the countries of Asia and Africa are especially dependent. Supply disruptions and rising prices, together with other market factors, could lead to a dramatic drop in the living standards of hundreds of millions of people, the UN Global Crisis Response Group writes in its report . Rising food and energy prices are reducing the purchasing power of the world's poorest households.