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The reported death in prison of Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent political rival, sent shockwaves throughout Russia and the world on Friday – even if some were unsurprised by the outcome. “There is no doubt that the death of Navalny was the consequence of something Putin and his thugs did,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in remarks at the White House on Friday. The Latest Photos From Ukraine View All 91 ImagesHere is what you need to know about Navalny, his death and Russia’s handling of political prisoners. Who Was Alexei Navalny? Navalny later participated in several mass protests and lobbed criticisms more directly at Putin and other Kremlin officials.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s, Putin, Navalny, Joe Biden, “, ” Konstantin Sonin, ” Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, Navalnaya, ”, Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s, Evan Gershkovich, Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Alexei Gorinov, Maria Ponomarenko – Organizations: White, overdevelopment, Associated Press, Reuters, Washington Post, University of Chicago, Ukraine, Munich, Russia’s Federal, Service, Nenets Autonomous, Tass, Wall Street Locations: Russian, Russia, U.S, Moscow, Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Russia’s, Nenets, Nenets Autonomous District, Kharp, Bucha

But Russia's Accounts Chamber, which oversees budget execution, warned on Monday there were risks the Urals price would fall below $60 in 2024-2026. Russia's forecast sees economic growth of 2.3% in 2024, well above estimates of 1.1% from the International Monetary Fund and 0.5%-1.5% from the Bank of Russia. CHANGING TUNEAt Russia's flagship economic forum in St Petersburg in June, Siluanov said increasing expenditure was difficult, as budget spending had already increased by 1-1/2 times from 2019 to 2022. Now, even as the government outlines plans for spending to jump to 36.7 trillion roubles in 2024, he is more relaxed. Renaissance Capital's Donets and Melaschenko said Russia could create temporary taxes, permanently increase rates of VAT, or adjust Russia's budget rule to permit more spending of energy revenues.

Persons: Evgenia, Anton Tabakh, Vladimir Putin, Anton Siluanov, Denis Popov, Yevgeny Suvorov, Suvorov, Sofya Donets, Andrei Melaschenko, Dmitry Polevoy, Siluanov, Melaschenko, Alexei Sazanov, Sazanov, Konstantin Sonin, It's, Sumanta Sen, Mark Trevelyan, Alexander Marrow, Catherine Evans Organizations: U.S ., Russian, REUTERS, Washington, Finance, International Monetary Fund, Bank of Russia, Capital, Reuters Graphics Russia, University of Chicago, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, Ukraine, West, St Petersburg

☆ Ukraine's NATO membership would be bad for Putin, but great for the Russian economy, professor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's economy could return to global markets if Ukraine joins NATO, Konstantin Sonin wrote. The Russia scholar said Kyiv's membership in the alliance would make it harder for the Kremlin to justify outsized military spending. Such rhetoric typically prioritized high military spending over economic welfare, a factor in the Soviet Union's 1991 downfall, Konstantin said. "To be sure, bringing Ukraine into NATO would not undo the damage Putin has inflicted on the Russian economy," he said. And the growth of military spending has been difficult to track because an increasingly larger portion of it has been determined a state secret.

Persons: Konstantin Sonin, Putin, Vladimir Putin, Long, Konstantin Organizations: NATO, Service, University of Chicago, Project Syndicate Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Wall, Silicon, Soviet

☆ Russia's economy has gone from bad to worse in a matter of months. Here's where the country is feeling pain the most.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Zahra Tayeb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's economy is going from bad to worse as Western sanctions hammer the country's key sectors. From plunging car sales to a dramatic collapse in its current-account surplus, there's no way to hide Moscow's troubles. Some have even blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for inflicting so much pain on the nation, with Yale researchers saying he's "cannibalizing" Russia's economy in his urge to conquer Ukraine. Insider's Phil Rosen reported that car sales in Moscow have tanked by nearly 75% since the Ukraine war broke out. Plunging exportsAnother sign that Russia's economy is flailing is the dramatic collapse in its current-account balance.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, he's, Putin, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Steven Tian, Insider's Phil Rosen, Tian, Konstantin Sonin, Wagner Organizations: Service, Yale, Energy, Russia's Finance Ministry, University of Chicago Locations: Russia, Wall, Silicon, Ukraine, Russian, Moscow

☆ The Fed warned of a looming credit crunch. Americans say it’s already arrived.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

We just saw a more extreme distribution play out in the stock market, too. Just 20 names drove 90% of the gains in the S&P 500 over the first three months of the year. The Fed has been warning of tightening credit conditions since last month's handful of bank failures, but policymakers spoke as if it were some future event. Remember, a so-called credit crunch means lenders raise the bar for borrowers, and people have to meet stricter parameters to get a loan. "The credit crunch has started," Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, said in response to the report.

☆ Russia's economy is becoming more 'primitive' and war could push it to the same fate as the Soviet Union, says economist targeted by Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Economist Konstantin Sonin said the Russian economy has become more primitive since the war began, Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta reported. The economist, who Moscow placed on its wanted list, said Russia could follow the Soviet Union's path toward "complete economic implosion." "Everything that is happening makes the Russian economy more primitive, more backwards." "Everything that is happening makes the Russian economy more primitive, more backwards," Konstantin said. And I think we are seriously going to follow the Soviet Union's path from the 1970s to the complete economic implosion of the late 1980s."

☆ The Russian economy is much worse than it appears as Moscow's data is a 'collection of lies and distortions,' economist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's economic data is full of 'lies and distortions,' economist Alexei Bayer wrote. "Russian economic statistics are a collection of lies and distortions," he wrote in the Jerusalem Post. But those estimates are based on official data from the Russian government, said Bayer, who pointed to consumer inflation numbers. "During the Cold War, the CIA concluded, using Soviet statistics, that the Soviet Union had the world's second-largest economy," he wrote. "When communism collapsed, Russia's economy turned out to be not much larger than Portugal's."

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