Russians feel the impact of Western economic measures, but it’s far from unbearable
The Russian economy is currently experiencing unprecedented pressure from a group of countries led by the United States, with more than 10,000 sanctions imposed on the country, its citizens, and companies.
Never before has such a volume of penalties been imposed on any one country. Even Iran, which has been the West’s geopolitical punching bag for many years now, is “only” subject to about 3,600.
Sanctions pressure on Russia has been growing since 2014, when key sectors of the economy - energy, the military-industrial complex, and the financial sector - were targeted. Since then, the country’s citizens have learned to distinguish between the dire predictions associated with sanctions and the tangible results of their implementation. While, in 2015, about 60% of Russians didn’t believe sanctions had any impact on their lives, by 2020, almost 90% said they felt no effects.
In short, people adjusted and became accustomed to the threats. Unemployment didn’t grow and even sat at historically low levels. Low inflation made many banking products such as consumer loans and mortgages affordable, helping to fuel a real estate boom in some parts of the country.
Comment: Putin has faith in his countryman as mature adults. He is not afraid to explain his governments policies to them in plain language, and ha been rewarded with a level of support that Western leaders can only dream of.
Putin lost the respect of wise Russians when he entrenched himself in power instead of passing power over to others in the example of George Washington (so admired by men for Simon Bolivar to poet Robert Frost). Putin’s arrogance extends to solving problems with the Republic of Georgia and Ukraine with his might-makes-right armored columns. He has turned Russia into a terrorist state and himself into a caricature of a dictator.