Russia on Brink of Economic Crisis Like the One that Brought Down the USSR, Blant Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 6 – Radio Liberty economics observer Maksim Blant says that even before all the sanctions go into effect, it is “already obvious that Russia is on the brink of a social and economic catastrophe comparable in extent to the crisis of the end of the 1980s which led to the disintegration of the USSR.”

            His comment was first posted by Radio Liberty at svoboda.org/a/31740453.html but now has been reposted on the Russian Ekho Rossii portal albeit without his name or affiliation, likely one of the ways its editors hope to avoid drawing the attention of the powers that be (https://ehorussia.com/new/node/25445).

            Blant provides a detailed discussion of how the end of Visa and MasterCard operations in Russia and restrictions on converting currencies and purchasing goods by Russian banks and companies are already affecting Russian consumers and also Russians living outside of the Russian Federation.

            He suggests there are some workarounds that may allow people to continue to function more or less normally but leaves no doubt that in a matter of weeks, those options will be increasingly hard to exercise and the combination of sanctions and the withdrawal of Western businesses from Russia will hit Russians accustomed to them very hard.

            Obviously, they will not be as bad off as they were in 1989-1991; but at the same time, their expectations for what is normal have changed; and consequently, they are certain to feel the greater deterioration of the situation that they had come to expect much as Soviet citizens did the deterioration of the situation they were used to.