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Putin vs. Central Bank PRO Members Public
Next Friday’s interest rate decision and press conference by central bank chief Elvira Nabiullina are set to be watched even more closely than usual, after the bank entered into a rare public disagreement with President Vladimir Putin. In an unusual move, Putin argued in favor of lowering interest rates
SPIEF 2026: The economic forum that avoided the subject PRO Members Public
Delegates arrived at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum under columns of smoke rising over the Gulf of Finland. Seventeen kilometers from the venue, the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal had been hit by Ukrainian drones. This year’s official guest country was Saudi Arabia, in keeping with Russia's
Salary arrears up by a third PRO Members Public
Russia has a fast-increasing problem with late salary payments — up a third in April. The government is concerned, telling loyal media outlets not to report official government statistics. From an economic standpoint, the amount of unpaid wages is not enough to pose a real threat. * Wage arrears reached 2.88
Britain softens sanctions PRO Members Public
Britain’s government on Tuesday announced measures to officially levy new sanctions on Russia — but in effect they essentially weakened restrictions on Russian oil so far as to render them pointless. * Britain’s new sanctions law bans the import of petroleum products processed using Russian oil at refineries in third
Oil production down PRO Members Public
Russia’s oil production fell in April, according to figures from OPEC and the International Energy Agency. * According to the IEA production in April was down 140,000 barrels a day compared with March, falling to 8.83 million barrels a day. OPEC reported a 107,000-barrel fall to 9.
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
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.
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
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
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
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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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