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Russia's First GDP Contraction in 3 Years: Are Sanctions Working?
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
Russia's economy shrank for the first time in three years — but does a 0.3% GDP contraction plus a $60B deficit actually mean Western sanctions are working? This episode unpacks what the data shows, what it doesn't, and why a single day in the Strait of Hormuz nearly erased months of economic pressure.
Audio is available on Spreaker — see link below.
Russia's economy contracted in Q1 twenty twenty-six. That's the first GDP decline in three years, and it lands precisely as the EU is claiming its sanctions strategy is finally working.
The contraction itself is modest. Zero point three percent.
The financial isolation runs deep. Three hundred billion dollars in reserves remain frozen.
Here's the complicating factor that gets less attention than it deserves. In March, Russia's oil revenues surged to nineteen billion dollars, up from nine point seven billion in February.
The broader strategic picture has another unresolved layer. A three-day ceasefire was announced during the same window as these economic strain reports surfaced.
The honest read on twenty rounds of sanctions is this: they've imposed real cost. The labour shortage is genuine.
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