“Falling Oil Revenues and Soaring War Costs Squeeze Russia’s Finances”
“Moscow’s budget deficit rockets after Western sanctions almost halved oil and gas revenues in the first two months of the year”
“Russia’s government budget plunged into a deeper deficit in February, heaping pressure on the Kremlin to square the ballooning costs of its war in Ukraine with falling oil revenues caused by a raft of Western sanctions.
The soaring budget hole comes after both the Russian economy and the state have weathered Western sanctions better than expected during the first year of the war.
Some economists have warned the pain would rise as time went by, with new sanctions targeting Russia’s ability to turn its extensive natural resources into cash—historically its main source of revenue.
The government’s budget deficit rose to $34 billion for the first two months of the year, Ministry of Finance data showed Monday, up from $25 billion in January. That means that the shortfall has nearly hit the government’s full-year target of around $39 billion—or about 2% of Russia’s expected gross domestic product—in just the first two months of the year. “
“A Russian T-80BV tank was destroyed by Ukrainian fire in the vicinity of Chervonopopivka, #Luhansk Oblast.”
https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1633037298391498754