Four years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian economy is showing clear signs of structural exhaustion. The contours of a genuine economic endgame are coming into view for Russia. This is the finding of a new Kiel Report published by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics.
Ursula von der Leyen, 2022
This sounds like more of the same.
Are you somehow implying that she was wrong?
What she said would happen is exactly what happened.
What is the point of the sanctions?
The war hasn’t ended, has it?
Exactly what Von der Leyen said?
Weaken Russia’s economy.
That means less money for foreign supplies, and machinery, means fewer missiles, fewer shells, fewer tanks.
No, but maybe ask Ukrainians if they’d rather there be no sanctions and more missiles in their cities.
But you know all that, you’re just arguing in bad faith.
And why would they want to weaken the economy? Come on you can do better than that. Use your other brain cell.
And who said they shouldn’t do sanctions? Please quote me on that. And you have the nerve to tell me I’m the one arguing in bad faith? F off
it’s literally in my comment above, read.
Why the fuck should I quote you on that? I never said you said that.
What you did do is imply that it didn’t impact Russia’s war making capabilities, and I told you that you can go ask Ukrainians about that.
yes you are.
“Just asking questions” that you know the answers to. You fuck off
So you think that is supposed to be the end goal? Maybe you can think juuust 1 step further.
Then who were you replying to? God? Santa? Why should I be the one to ask whether Ukrainians prefer no sanctions?
I said they’re ramping up ballistic missile attacks, which they are. I said nothing about the front, drone attacks or whatever. The point was that they still have plenty of production capabilities to ramp these up despite all these sanctions and years of costly war. And supposedly having hit their limit, which is what we’ve been hearing for years now. So yeah, I don’t believe the boy who cried wolf this time. F me right?
When the f did I say I was “just asking questions”? That’s the second straw man you made in two comments. You really couldn’t recognize a bad faith argument if it hit you in the face because they are all you’ve got.
No, I made a statement. There was no question mark at the end. You chose to respond to that with a load of nonsense that shows you don’t understand an iota of this conflict and act like your shitty opinion is truth.
Again “just asking questions”. If you want to make a point. Fucking make it. Fuck off with this “just asking questions” bullshit.
And yes, weakening Russia’s war making capabilities is the fucking end goal.
Europe was perfectly happy with Russia having a strong economy to buy European goods and sell them cheap gas. There is no other end goal.
Yeah, completely ignoring the fact that they’d be able to produce much more without the sanctions. Also why are cruise missile attacks dropping? Maybe because they can’t keep up production because of sanctions? funny that.
According to whom?
The only quote you made was Von der Leyen, who didn’t fucking say that, did she?
No we haven’t.
If you hear “wolf” when people say something else, that’s on you.
A comment with nothing but questions you know the answer to but imply the answer is something else. That is exactly the definition of “just asking questions”. And you do it in other places as well.
Not a statement, is it?
May I remind you of your first comment on this thread?
And again, I’m not just asking questions and I never claimed that. Questions are a normal part of life, get used to it.
You know the end goal is to stop the war. That hasn’t happened. I’m asking you questions because you’re dancing around that disingenuously. The end goal cannot be to continue the war but at a lower pace and you know it.
Cruise missile attacks are dropping because they’re much easier to take down than ballistic missiles.
And you’re making it (again, disingenuously) seem like I said the sanctions aren’t having any effects. That is not what I said and you also know it. I said that despite the sanctions they are still ramping up ballistic missile attacks. So the message that they have hit their war economy limits is false. Since once you hit your limit –that’s what a limit means– you can’t continue.
They have not stopped, ergo they have not reached the limit.
Really? You can’t even read the headline of the article this thread is under. How am I supposed to take you seriously?
Here are a whole bunch of people claiming exactly that:
https://www.russiamatters.org/node/35164
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/russia-economy-worsens-current-account-ruble-energy-exports-2023-7
https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/09/fortress-russia-economy-has-adapted-well-pressure-stagflation-presents-opportunity-west
https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/feb/06/the-russian-economy-is-finally-stagnating-what-does-it-mean-for-the-war-and-for-putin
I’m beginning to think you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about…
Not the comment you initially replied to, is it? Disingenuous #3
But good talk my man. Keep it up and nobody will ever want to talk to you.
WTF? Sanctions have absolutely been part of reaching the point we’re at now.
Other comments by you have been misguided, but this is way way out there.
Yeah no shit Sherlock. The point is that many people have claimed it was close for years and this is just more of the same.
There is nothing “misguided” about my comment. You’re entitled to your opinion and I’m entitled to mine. You don’t hold the truth.
Facts are not a matter of opinion.
What facts exactly?
How long do you think draining a country’s economy takes?
That is a pretty silly question to ask, since experts have failed to put a proper time frame on it and have made claims that have not come true. Every country and its circumstances are different so there is no telling.
And I said in my first comment I will believe it when I see it, so what makes you think I thought it would be fast?
All I’m saying is this messaging is not so different from Von der Leyen’s rhetoric in 2022.
It took 4 years for an impoverished Germany, and they were committed to all out war. So 4 years doesn’t sound silly.
Also this article is about it actually happening now, not a prediction
Germany burned itself with all kinds megalomaniac buildings, war machines and expansion on all fronts, and it took the might of the entire allied forces to bring them down.
There have been all kinds of signs and symptoms from day one and every time they said Russia was on their last legs. Russia’s economy going down the drain has been happening since the start of the war and the sanctions. The question is whether it will end the war, of which there are currently very few signs. And as I said the ballistic missile attacks are ramping up, so they still have ample production capabilities.
So in fact, nothing new is happening now and the war in Ukraine hasn’t ended.
It’s an enormous country with an abundance of natural resources. It was always going to take a fair amount of time before they got desperate. Now they are, and it’s not going well, hence the endless missile and drone barrage.
They lost their momentum on the ground a while back, and now they’re reduced to holding what they can and hope they can break the Ukrainian morale with civilian casualties. There’s nothing new there. They’re using the same tactics they used in Chechnya all over again. The only difference is the weaponry used.
You don’t have to tell me, tell everyone who made the claim
I live about an hour from the Russian border. I know people on the other side. I can read Russian well enough to follow their news since we’re probably fairly high up on the list of targets if this goes really wrong. Not that that would end well for Russia, but they’re not exactly behaving rationally atm.
I know what it really looks like inside Russia. Can you claim the same, or do you just like to spread misinformation?
What the F are you talking about you dumbass? I am AGREEING WITH YOU
You are, huh? Where?
You didn’t answer my question.
Maybe look up the phrase someone is using, in this case “you don’t have to tell me” before you start to make accusations.
And do you really want me to answer whether I like to spread misinformation?
Yeah, no :)