JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia earns less from oil and spends more on war. So far, sanctions are working like a slow poison” – AP

“The Russian ruble’s wobble … has exposed a crack in … Putin’s fortress economy, a vulnerability quickly plastered over by the Kremlin’s economic team in a move that allowed the currency to regain its footing, at least for now. Yet the patch — an emergency interest rate increase — cannot hide the dilemma at the heart of the Russian economy: how to fund the military while not undermining the national currency and overheating the economy with corrosive and politically embarrassing inflation. … Thanks to oil earnings, the government has negligible debt and robust reserves, though about half of that stockpile has been frozen by sanctions. Longer term, however, Russia’s economy [reportedly] is facing a ‘slow burn’ under pressure from sanctions and Putin’s war spending ….”

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