How effective are Western sanctions against Russia in the Ukraine war?
New economic data from Moscow paints a devastating picture.
Moscow – Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the West has responded to Vladimir Putin's Ukraine war with harsh sanctions.
In particular, gas and oil exports should no longer bring the Kremlin prince as much profit as before.
However, it was always unclear whether these measures would actually have an effect.
Again and again there were reports that Russia's income would even grow.
In view of ongoing Russian media campaigns, caution is generally required.
But now there is apparently trustworthy data from the Kremlin.
Russia's ruble hole: budget data speak for themselves
According to this, Russia is threatened with an even bigger budget deficit this year than feared anyway.
After the months of January and February, the Russian state budget already shows a deficit of 2.581 trillion rubles (32.3 billion euros), the Ministry of Finance announced on Monday, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
That is already almost 90 percent of the deficit of 2.925 trillion rubles (36.6 billion euros) planned for the year as a whole.
In the same period last year, Russia had achieved a surplus of 415 billion rubles (5.2 billion euros).
Russian household data shows sanctions taking effect
The main problem for the Russian budget is the slump in oil and gas revenues.
According to preliminary calculations by the ministry, these have fallen by almost half.
According to the Ministry of Finance, this is mainly due to the lower oil price and the fall in exports of natural gas.
A Year of Ukraine War: The Origins of the Conflict with Russia
A Year of Ukraine War: The Origins of the Conflict with Russia
On Monday morning, a barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent for delivery in May cost 85.33 US dollars.
However, because of the war of aggression waged against Ukraine by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, the western industrialized countries have imposed a price cap on Russian crude oil and now also on oil products from Russia.
Urals oil is therefore trading at a significant discount.
According to media reports, Moscow is only getting rid of its Urals oil at an average price of around $50 a barrel.
(rjs/dpa)
