Russian oil windfall limited PRO Members Public
The war in Iran has begun to generate significant budget revenue for Russia — but the energy tax take will still be lower than it was in 2022. * This week the finance ministry published figures on Russia’s oil and gas revenues for April, including income from the mineral extraction tax
The price of Ukraine’s retaliatory drone strikes PRO Members Public
Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy, written by Alexandra Prokopenko and Alexander Kolyandr and brought to you by The Bell. Ahead of a Victory Day parade that has been slimmed down under the threat of Ukrainian drones, we look at the economic costs of Kyiv’s
Russia’s economy contracts for first time since 2023 PRO Members Public
As experts have been predicting for months, Russia’s economy has entered a contraction. On Wednesday, the Economic Development Ministry published the first official GDP figures for the first quarter of 2026, showing that the economy shrank by 0.3% year-on-year. It was the first quarterly fall since early 2023.
Russia’s oligarchs: more money, more problems PRO Members Public
Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy, written by Alexander Kolyandr and Alexandra Prokopenko and brought to you by The Bell. This week we analyze how Russia’s billionaires got richer during the war, but why they find themselves more vulnerable to the whims of the state
Central Bank cuts rates again PRO Members Public
Russia’s Central Bank has cut its base rate for the eighth time running — this time by a cautious 0.5 percentage points to 14.5%. This was in line with consensus expectations, although some economists anticipated a more decisive cut amid high oil prices and falling inflation. * In its
War losses drive Russia’s record low unemployment PRO Members Public
Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy, written by Alexander Kolyandr and Alexandra Prokopenko and brought to you by The Bell. This week we detail our research showing how Russia’s celebrated low unemployment rate is a direct consequence of the huge numbers of men being killed
Runet gets a new boss: The Bell exclusive PRO Members Public
The Bell has managed to find out who is behind the latest wave of repression against the Russian internet — from restricting calls on messaging apps to blocking Telegram and waging war on VPNs. These crackdowns have already caused businesses to lose millions, as we previously wrote about, and have also
Putin wants to boost Russia’s flagging economy. But how? PRO Members Public
Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy, written by Alexander Kolyandr and Alexandra Prokopenko and brought to you by The Bell. After President Putin ordered officials to get the Russian economy moving again, we ask how they can deliver and will it be enough to address the
Russia boosts spending in expectation of oil windfall PRO Members Public
The government is gambling on future oil profits rather than waiting for them to actually materialize, the latest budget statistics published by the finance ministry indicate. * Russia’s budget deficit from January to March was 4.58 trillion rubles ($60 billion, or 1.9% of GDP). That’s almost twice
What happens if Russia loses Orban? PRO Members Public
Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy, written by Alexander Kolyandr and Alexandra Prokopenko and brought to you by The Bell. Ahead of this weekend’s crucial elections in Hungary, we look at what it would mean for Russia if Viktor Orban loses. Orban on the brink.
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The Bell was founded in 2017 by journalists Elizaveta Osetinskaya, Irina Malkova and Peter Mironenko as a news outlet independent from the Russian authorities, after its founders have been sacked as top editors at the largest Russian news website RBC because of pressure from the Kremlin.
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