Chronicle of world's economic war against Russia: Aggressor's economy to take 10 years to recover

Author

Valery Moiseev

After the full-scale invasion in Ukraine, Russia faced economic problems and sanctions from many countries and international organizations. Russian authorities call it an economic war. The page has prepared a selection of the latest reports on April 26.

Economy

It will take for Russia 10 years to rebuild the economy to the level it was on in 2021, given Western sanctions, S&P Global Market Intelligence analysts say.

The management of Moscow's Vnukovo Airport decided to cut almost 5% of its staff. Earlier they reported that due to a tough situation in the Russian aviation industry, the airport started reducing costs, introduced downtime and part-time work for employees, and stopped hiring.

British Jaguar Land Rover is leaving Russia. It is cutting almost all staff, leaving a bunch of workers to legally close the local office.

Swedish Volvo Cars started downsizing its Russian office, too. However, the company expects to continue warranty support for its cars and is ready to pay for spare parts imported by bypassing the right holder. Other car manufacturers are also counting on parallel imports.

Cross-border online trade in Russia fell by half in March compared to the same period in 2021. Experts attributed the collapse to the refusal of Visa and Mastercard to serve the Russians.

In February – March, the prices on construction materials went up by 29.5%, finishing materials – by 48.5%, engineering equipment – by 43.2%. In response, the Russian government proposed to limit the markup on them and simplify the procedure for entering the market for new materials and structures.

The European Union is resuming oil purchases in the UAE amid preparations for sanctions on Russian oil. The tanker carrying the first shipment of oil from the UAE to the UK is symbolically named the Moscow Spirit. In early May, it should deliver 1 million barrels of oil. This will be the first shipment from the UAE to Europe in two years.

Polymetal, the second largest gold producer in Russia, has postponed the start of a new gold ore project in the Krasnoyarsk region for a year or longer. This is needed to reorder the project for Chinese equipment.

Azerbaijan will not pay for Russian gas in rubles, the state oil company SOCAR said.

In the first two weeks of April, the number of advertisers on federal television, compared to the previous year, fell by almost 1.5 times – from 286 to 197. The number of advertised brands decreased even more – by 1.8 times.

Sanctions

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Poland has imposed sanctions on 15 individuals and 35 legal entities from Russia. Among them, Gazprom, Novatek and Akron. The list of individuals includes Oleg Deripaska, Wildberries founder Tatyana Bakalchuk, Alfa Group co-owner Mikhail Friedman, Kaspersky CEO Yevgeny Kaspersky, Severstal owner Alexey Mordashov, 1C founder Boris Nuraliev and others.

The EU may restrict the prices on Russian oil instead of putting a full embargo. This could reduce Moscow's revenues, but will not harm Europe's energy security.

The EU is discussing imposing a price ceiling for oil from Russia instead of a full embargo. Such a decision may reduce Moscow's income, but will not harm Europe's energy security.

Society

The prices in pharmacies in many regions increased several times due to "incomprehensible greed of businessmen," said the Prosecutor General of Russia..

Psychological support services for Russians have recorded a shift in the clients’ concerns. Since February, the share of consultations on personal relationships, as well as on self-development and burnout has decreased. At the same time, the number of complaints about anxiety and uncontrolled aggression has increased.

French director Michel Hazanavicius, author of a zombie comedy "Z (Comme Z)", which opens this year's Cannes Film Festival, changed the original name of the film after an appeal from the Ukrainian Institute. The film will be released in Cannes under its international title Final Cut.

In the last two months, 26% of Russians switched from foreign video services to Russian counterparts. At the same time, 23% of users of various streaming platforms during this period temporarily canceled their subscriptions.