Western sanctions on Russia are not causing any political problems for Vladimir Putin, who runs the country with an iron hand, and have not yet had very negative effects on the population, according to the interesting work published today by our correspondent in Moscow , Gonzalo Aragonés, who is still at the foot of the canyon in the Russian capital. It would be a mistake to make a light exercise and try to compare the situation in Russia with the problems of inflation that exist precisely on the other side, in our West, which does feel the effects of the war. No matter how much help it receives from China and India, Russia will end up feeling the consequences of the sanctions, especially due to the lack of supplies to develop some key aspects of its industry and the difficulties in exporting and importing all kinds of products.
The Kremlin had been preparing its adaptation to the current circumstances for a long time, since Russia has been suffering from Western economic sanctions for many years, starting with the war with Ukraine in 2014. And the Russian population has nothing to do with the European population. Its citizens are very used to restrictions and scarcity, so to venture that the economic impact could generate a movement that would topple Putin is not to know the Russian mentality. A very different thing would be a resounding military defeat that could affect the wounded pride of the country, but the conflict in Ukraine looks like it will drag on over time.
At the same time, it should be noted that many Russians, especially older ones, associate European democracy with the period in which the country was ruled by Boris Yeltsin, when a combination of cases of political corruption and economic crisis unleashed a wave of protests that dissipated Putin’s autocratic regime. Pretending to understand what is happening in Russia with the European mentality is an exercise that leads to error. Putin is hardly going to be brought down by the economic impact of the sanctions. And, on the contrary, if Russia responds with restrictions on its gas to Europe, it will cause serious problems in Western democracies. The path of sanctions is surely the most correct, but perhaps too much hope was generated.
