In just 11 days, systematic drone strikes have taken nine major Russian oil refineries offline, instantly vaporizing 300,000 tons of daily processing capacity. The fallout is already hitting the streets, with local governments in regions like Karelia forced to bring back civilian fuel rationing. But empty gas pumps are only half the story.
In today’s Weekly Economic Review, we break down why this infrastructure collapse is triggering a much larger systemic crisis inside Russia. The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) and Elvira Nabiullina have officially admitted the economy is back in the “overheating zone,” directly citing these strikes as a driver of uncontrollable inflation. While the Kremlin burns a 5.2 trillion ruble budget deficit to fund the war, choked Russian businesses are facing a massive wave of B2B payment defaults and crashing confidence. The state is actively cannibalizing its own private sector to survive.
Here are the 13 most critical economic signals of the week, and what they mean for the future of the Russian economy.
I’m Konstantin Samoilov, a Russian in exile and creator of Inside Russia community. I lived inside this system, and now I analyze it from the outside. I talk to people inside the country every day, follow the numbers and the mood, study Russia under microscope and share my findings with the world. No hype — just facts. If you want serious, brutal, and honest anti-propaganda analysis of how Russia really works, hit Subscribe.
Sources: open public data and reporting (Russia Today, MinFin, CBR, Rosstat, business press). This video is commentary and analysis for information/education only and follows YouTube community guidelines.