It does seem as though the choice between guns and butter has been decided in favor of guns.
Maxim Trudolyubov: Against the background of the Kremlin’s stellar macroeconomic performance, Russian citizens are not doing particularly well: real incomes have been falling for five years now.
In a conversation with Michael Kofman, a senior research scientist at CNA, we discuss how far-reaching those reforms were, what they tell us about Russia’s world strategy, and how Russia’s prospects in international politics compare to those of the Soviet Union. While Moscow is contemplating stimulus measures for Russia’s stagnating economy, we are looking at Russia’s other success story, its military reforms and modernization program. Russia’s international foreign exchange reserves are at $530 billion. Seeing debt as a dependency, the Kremlin has driven Russia’s net public debt - that is, external debt plus all kinds of domestic debt - to zero. In response to sanctions and attempts to isolate Russia, the Kremlin has built up a budget with a very comfortable surplus (3.7% of GDP).
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