23 July 2026

Western sanctions were supposed to cripple the Russian economy and completely isolate it from global finance. But behind closed doors, the Kremlin has engineered a massive financial escape route—and an astonishing amount of money is moving through it.

Welcome to the Weekly Economic Review.

Today, we are looking deep inside the “A7” payment network. Built by the state-controlled defense bank PSB and fugitive Ilan Shor, this parallel financial system has reportedly processed over 10 trillion rubles—roughly $98 BILLION—in just one year. Moving through foreign trading companies, payment agents, and a new ruble-backed stablecoin (A7A5) that just surpassed $100 billion in blockchain transfers, this shadow network now handles nearly 19% of all Russian businesses’ foreign-trade operations. Also, a dozen of other significant economic news today.

But how exactly does this money pipeline work? Is this $98 billion pure capital flight out of the country, or is it massive gross transaction volume keeping the war economy’s imports and exports alive? And most importantly, can the Western banking system actually stop it?

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.