The Question Is No Longer "Where to Find Money for the War," but "Whom to Take It From"
While Vladimir Putin continues to trace imaginary "new realities on the ground" with his finger across military maps—claiming that "Tukhachevsky Street has already been liberated" and that "Sumy is only another ten kilometers away"—a far more dramatic battle is unfolding for the Kremlin, far from the front lines. It is taking place within Russia's own budget.
And on this financial front, the Kremlin is suffering losses that even the thickest cloak of propaganda can no longer conceal.
War Communism 2.0
Exactly one month ago, State Duma deputy Valery Gartung publicly—and in characteristically blunt, profanity-laced language—described the state of Russia's budget deficit, which, according to his estimates, has approached 11 trillion rubles over the past two years. At the time, his remarks were largely dismissed as routine pre-election populism ahead of September's State Duma "elections."
