The ruble is failing — and now more Russians are cutting back on buying basic goods like food and toothpaste as prices jump https://uk.style.yahoo.com/ruble-failing-mdash-now-more-172015658.html
At this rate... soon the Russian economy will be smaller than many impoverished African nations. Russia's massive brain drain is ravaging the economy - these stunning figures show why it will soon be smaller than Indonesia's https://www.businessinsider.com/rus...ortage-workforce-exodus-capital-flight-2023-9
This will not help the Russian economy in the near-term... nor will it help after Putin loses the war and the remnants of Russia wish to re-establish relationships with the West. These banks are not about to unfreeze Russian assets (which will eventually be seized to rebuild Ukraine) so this type of "blackmail" will not yield any meaningful results for Russia. However this type of thinking focused on using blackmail is how strong men and oligarchs attempt to do things to enrich themselves personally. Russia says it will not let foreign banks exit the market easily — unless they unfreeze Russian assets https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-says-not-let-foreign-120851579.html
LOL with your "negotiating" Vlad. It's quite laughable. The West is not going to lift sanctions and unfreeze bank accounts to re-start the grain deal. Instead they will escort the cargo ships out of Odessa with NATO military assets and defy you to attack them. All Turkey sees in this situation is their role as a middle-man for every shipment where they will profit on each shipload of grain. Turkey is not even going to attempt to suggest other nations to lift sanctions or unfreeze bank accounts for you, Vlad. Putin demands Western concessions before Russia will restart vital grain deal https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/sep/4/putin-demands-western-concessions-before-russia-wi/
It's amusing that Putin thinks he has any leverage in a grain deal. Now Ukraine will simply export grain via Croatian ports -- the volume growing over time.
The latest from Ukraine regarding grain shipments. Ukraine proposes Turkey open grain corridor without Russia https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-proposes-turkey-open-grain-142706413.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall Ukraine has submitted an official proposal to Turkey to restore a corridor in the Black Sea for Ukrainian grain exports without Russia's participation, Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar said on Sept. 7. The idea is "rational" because cargo ships already travel through Romanian, Bulgarian, and Turkish territorial waters of the Black Sea, the ambassador explained. Since Moscow refused to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July, the Ukrainian navy set up a temporary corridor to protect merchant ships leaving Ukraine's waters. At least four ships have passed through the corridor since it was announced on Aug. 10. Bodnar said that Turkey has not yet responded to the request, but expects Ankara and Kyiv to communicate on the issue in the coming days. Turkey played an important role in brokering the original deal in July 2022. Since Russia withdrew from the deal, Turkey has continued to position itself as a mediator between the two countries. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Sept. 4 for talks on restoring the initiative. While Erdogan told the press that he hopes a solution will be reached soon, and that a new package of proposals from the UN has led to "significant progress," Putin said Russia won't resume the deal without the West decreasing sanctions. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the demand "blackmail," and Bodnar agreed that lifting sanctions would be "absolutely the wrong path." Since July 2023, the Russian military started a campaign of strikes on Ukrainian port infrastructure and declared that all vessels sailing to Ukrainian ports would be considered military targets.
The ruble is not that important as far as the Russian economy is concerned. Russia is doing way better than the US economically. They got part of their gold reserves from Brussels so they have huge gold reserves like China and the US still has $600 billion in Russian monies held by the US Treasury. The US has run up the trade deficit to $30 trillion and reported to have added another $8 trillion in spending. Joe Biden and the RINOs are running the US into the ground with the $115 billion to Ukraine so far. That is why US inflation is out of control now. At some point, all the US dollar printing will implode and destroy the lives of most Americans.
Let's mention your math is completely off on how much Russian money is being held in outside countries frozen in western banks. The total amounts to a mere $300 Billion in total across all the frozen Russian government funds. The Russian reserves of gold at a mere $146 Billion are not meaningful for propping up their economy unless the country is actively selling the gold -- it is just sitting there as lumps of metal effectively as a mechanism to soft-back the currency and stop it from totally collapsing. Anyone pushing that Russia is doing better than the U.S. economically is not facing reality or basing their assertions on facts. Inflation is much higher elsewhere in the world than the U.S. In Russia, the economy is retracting which is even worse than moderate inflation. There is only so long that oil & gas can prop up the Russian economy and war spending. The spiraling cost of war means growing economic pain for Russia https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/28/economy/russia-military-spending-economic-impact/index.html
Putin is digging Russia into a bona fide military, economic disaster If Putin is still so obsessed with defeating Ukraine, he will need to start from scratch. But he won't do that, since it would mean admitting defeat. https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-757894