Thursday’s Coverage: Putin — I’ll Meet Zelensky If West Ends Support of Kyiv
Map: Institute for the Study of War
Maxim Reshetnikov addressed a conference to bolster economic confidence. But far from providing a boost, he gave a gloomy assessment based on “current business sentiment and indicators”.
All our numbers are a rear-view mirror. Judging by business sentiment at the moment, we’re basically already on the brink of falling into a recession.
“Everything else depends on our decisions,” Reshetnikov said. Indicating division among Vladimir Putin’s advision, he appealed to the Central Bank:
We all understand that fighting inflation is important. But we are simplifying the discussion a bit.
I’m just for showing the economy a little bit of love, just a bit.
Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina, credited with keeping the Russia system afloat as Putin pursues his invasion of Ukraine, raised interest rates to 21% by October 2024 to combat inflation. It only eased the rate to 20% this month.
Russia’s economic growth slowed to 1.4% year-on-year from January to March 2025, the lowest quarterly figure in two years. Prices are surging because of spending on the invasion and widespread labor shortages. Annual inflation has been more than double the Central Bank’s 4% target for over a year.
Speaking on the same panel as Reshetnikov, Nabiullina said the Central Bank would not revise the target. She argued that the economy is successfully coming out of a period of “overheating”: “The economy of demand grew, and the economy of supply lagged behind.”.
Russia’s defense spending has grown 25% year on year, reaching 13.1 trillion rubles ($167 billion) last year.