
Why does Russia have a yuan shortage? PRO Members Public
Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy — written by Denis Kasyanchuk and Alexander Kolyandr and brought to you by The Bell. This week, our top story is a deep-dive analysis of Russia’s yuan liquidity crisis. We also look at the escalating conflict over online retailer Wildberries

Inside Russia’s budget: Taxes, borrowing, reserves 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. This week we look inside Russia’s record high government budget, detailing the plans for taxes and spending, assessing the solidity of Moscow’s reserves and

Putin edges up the nuclear escalation ladder PRO Members Public
While Volodymyr Zelensky was busy meeting Ukraine’s Western allies in the United States to push for fresh military aid, from halfway round the world in Moscow, Vladimir Putin was doing everything he could to make himself the elephant in the room. On the eve of Zelensky’s meeting with

Secret spending hits record level PRO Members Public
The Russian government on Monday sent its 2025-2027 budget to the State Duma, outlining plans that will see defense spending hit a post-Soviet record at 6.3% of GDP. We wrote about the plans for another ramp-up in Russia’s military spending in Friday’s newsletter. The publication of the

THE BELL WEEKLY: Russia’s unprecedented secret spending PRO Members Public
Hello! This week we analyze Russia’s official spending plans for 2025 — the most classified budget proposal in history with record-high defense spending that neither the government nor business press are talking about. We also look at Vladimir Putin’s latest set of nuclear threats to the West. Secret spending

Russia on track to set new military spending records 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. This week, our top story is a deep-dive analysis of the draft budget for the next three years. We also look at why Gazprom’s profitability

Is Russia’s economy addicted to military spending? 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, our top story is an analysis of whether—and how—Russia’s economy could demilitarize in the event of a ceasefire in Ukraine. We

Is Russia’s overheated economy finally starting to cool? 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, our top story looks at the signs that the economy is finally starting to cool. We also analyze what an oil price of about

The value of a Russian life PRO Members Public
Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy — written by Denis Kasyanchuk and Alexander Kolyandr and brought to you by The Bell. This time our top story is an analysis of the value of a Russian life – both according to economists, as well as wartime compensation payments. We

“Putin's regime could fall if he loses the support of just a few hundred people." PRO Members Public
The author of the book "How Tyrants Fall" on the specifics of dictatorships and how they collapse. Despite their outward monolithic appearance, autocratic regimes have a number of weaknesses, says Marcel Dirsus, a political scientist and author of the book "How Tyrants Fall," released in July