Digging into the folds of the Russian apparatus, numbers and numbers emerge that might justify those who, like Ursula von der Leyen, declared last May that Moscow’s bankruptcy, thanks to Western sanctions, was only a matter of time. The escalation of the war in Ukraine costs. And in order to fund them to the bitter end, Vladimir Putin is preparing to demand an extraordinary contribution from Federation companies and thereby continue to support the invasion. But there is more. According to Bloomberg, the tsar is also considering cutting spending in various sectors of the state to focus more resources on the defense and security budget.
If you don’t levy taxes to cover military spending, something like that. In mid-December, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin finalized a decree to replace higher dividends with state-controlled companies: multinationals like Lukoil, Gazprom, and Rosneft; then the payment of a one-time “contribution” from companies that operate coal and manufacture fertilizers. Effort defined as “revenue mobilization”, with proceeds going to war. And to pay for Iran’s deadly drones. However, according to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, the decline in GDP in 2022 was 2.7% and could continue. The amount of the dividends (believed to be over 50% of profits) and the one-time tax is unknown. And if Moscow’s surplus has so far been fueled by coupons and the tax on Gazprom’s extra profits, December’s war spending increased the Kremlin’s deficit.
Putin promises “unlimited” payouts; which will affect education and health. We speak of “optimization” on behalf of the government. But cuts of 150 billion rubles (about 2 billion euros) are to be reinvested at the front. And the risk of an economic and social crisis looms. With expenditures of 175 billion rubles (around 2.3 billion euros), around 100,000 people from the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, which was recaptured from Kyiv, are to be resettled to Russia. Territories ceded to mass troops in Donbass in the autumn after being annexed.
American 007 wondered why the Federation’s operations were so stubbornly focused on the East, specifically on the city of Bakhmut (Donetsk). And an answer has come. On site is one of Putin’s cronies, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the oligarch who created the Wagner private militia. He is on the front line in the Ukrainian city: less than 70,000 souls before the war, Bakhmut is now a victim of devastation and fighting. The real reason would be the “monetary” interest; the conquest and management of the salt and chalk mines. This was stated by a US official (not denied) quoted by Portal and the Guardian. The White House source speaks of “Prigozhin’s obsession with Bakhmut,” which is said to be based on base money. With the mercenaries in the front row. And the hierarch who pulls the strings of the military agenda. Dubbed “Putin’s Chef” because of his ties to the Tsar, Prigozhin is much more. A few days ago he described the city as “a fortress” where “our people fight house to house”. Now he’s ready to raise the level of atrocities. New recruits. Ex-convicts released from Russian prisons on pardon. On the other hand, America has repeatedly accused Wagner’s hitmen, who are accused of war crimes, of sending men to Mali, Sudan and the Central African Republic to exploit natural resources and help Putin finance the war. Unlike “liberation,” Kremlin spokesman Peskov claimed just a month ago. Money, wildness, same protagonists.