How can Russia afford all this ? ...

[dogtag]

I've seen several reports which I assume are accurate, that Russia's
economy is on a par with California's. Now California's economy is
impressive but I doubt Gov Moonbeam could afford the huge military
expenditure that Putin does, nor these huge Gold purchases. I'm not
aware of Russian civilians fighting over food scraps or not driving
their cars because there's no gas, nor have I read anywhere that
Russia is in debt up to it's eyeballs, so how can they afford all this ?

https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/22/news/economy/russia-gold-us-sanctions/index.html

[togor]

Ivan depends on the sale of oil and gas for a lot of his revenue. As for facts and figures that Russians give to the Western media, assume they are jacked up a bit to project strength as opposed to weakness.

[Dan Shapiro]

Something to keep in mind from the Reagan days.

Reagan was briefed on Russian capabilities. He rightly deduced, 'so they're lying to themselves about what they can produce and in what amounts. And we take that information, knowing it's FALSE, yet we make our plans as if all they said was true!'

[sid]

Russia's gross domestic product is less than that of Czechoslovakia.

[Art]

Russia is one of the world's largest producers of Gold, currently third behind the United States and Canada. In fact Russia is so gold rich that during the Cold War years one of the indicators of how well (or poorly) the Soviet economy was doing was how much domestically produced gold they were selling to prop up their economy. At the end it was a lot. In a sense they are taking money out of one pocket and putting it into another with these gold purchases.

I don't know where these ideas about the Russian economy being so weak come from other than wishful anti Russian propaganda. I just checked the Russian GDP and as of today, depending on which way GDP is measured, Russia is either 6th behind Germany but ahead of Indonesia or 11th behind Canada but above Brazil. They certainly aren't China, Germany or Japan but Russia is consistently one of the top 10 economies in the world which is how they got into the G-8. Kicking them out of the G-8 was part of the punishment for invading The Ukraine.

The Russian economy is a combination of Tea Party and Trumpian economics. It has a budget surplus and minimal national debt. The Rooskies simply do not spend money they don't have. That's why after years of R&D on a 5th generation fighter the first order is for only 12 of the new SU 57s. They don't have the money to buy more and won't borrow money to buy more.

Like Trump they want products bought in Russia to be made in Russia. When Putin took power there were virtually no automobiles in private hands. Today 75% of all Russian households own an automobile (and cell phones, and flat screen T.V.s.) However the Russian 'gubmint mandates that automobiles sold in Russia be made in Russia so Toyota, Ford, Nissan, General Motors, Hyundai, Fiat and almost every other automobile manufacturer have built plants in Russia to meet the ravenous Russian demand for cars.

These are some of the reasons that Putin's approval numbers in Russia are stratospheric. Every Russian over 30 remembers when recycling newspaper meant using it for toilet paper and the government didn't have enough money to pay the Army. Putin's popularity has taken a hit lately over plans to increase the retirement age to 70 because state pensions can't be adequately funded with the current cash flow. Of course 60%, approval (while not great by Putin standards) are the numbers an American president can only dream of but even the most vociferous Putin critics in the west concede they are, generally, accurate.