How much longer can Russia's economy last before it starts folding right over?

PooTin's pivot to China is Backfiring.

Russia's pivot to China has faced multiple setbacks this year as Chinese banks, wary of U.S. sanctions imposed over Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, are rejecting transactions, forcing Moscow to raise fees on yuan (RMB) transfers.

Heavily sanctioned Moscow has benefited from the world's second-largest economy since the Ukraine war began, with bilateral trade rocketing up by 26 percent to a $240 billion high last year, and Russia becoming China's top source of oil.

Last month, Russian media reported that some 98 percent of Chinese banks now reject RMB-denominated settlements. First major, and now also more local, Chinese banks have stepped up compliance with the Biden administration to shield themselves from the secondary sanctions. This limited ability to use RMB has caused a liquidity squeeze, which seems to have driven the recent fee hikes by Russian banks.

Russian companies doing business with China began facing additional hurdles this month, this time from domestic lenders.

Russian commercial bank Expobank JSC dramatically raised its fee for money transfers in RMB last week from 1.2 percent with a minimum 350 RMB ($49) fee to 6.5 percent, Russian financial news portal Frank Media reported on Monday........

Well I bet that that dents PooTin's ego, again.

Satellite Images Reveal Russia's Failed Nuclear Missile Test.

Satellite imagery has revealed that a recent Russian test of the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) ended in failure, according to open-source intelligence analysts.

The test, which took place on Saturday at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwest Russia, appears to have resulted in the missile exploding in its launch silo, leaving a massive crater and causing significant damage to the test site.

An open source analyst active on X, formerly Twitter, @MeNMyRC, first reported the incident on Saturday. "As is readily apparent, the RS-28 Sarmat test was a complete failure. The missile detonated in the silo leaving a massive crater and destroying the test site," the user posted, alongside satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs.......

Profitable business in Putin's Russia: war monuments.

Russia is mass producing new war memorials that glorify death for the motherland
wrote:

Like the many hundreds of memorials currently erected all over Russia, the new soldier statue in the far northern town of Lovozero embodies aggression and continued war.

It shows a soldier with a raised machine gun pointing straight against the local village. On an arch surrounding the warrior are written the names of all regional capitals of Russia, including the partly occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia [...]

The new monument design is firmly rooted in Soviet tradition. But many of the new memorials that now pop up across Russia express a new kind of militarism. And they are made in the middle of a war, not afterwards, as was mostly the case with two world wars.

Hundreds of thousands of young Russian men are either killed of crippled and Moscow is ardently seeking to justify the mass losses. The memorials glorify battle and death for the motherland and are actively used in the authorities’ war propaganda.

Moscow’s accentuated memory policy has led to a boost in the demand for war monuments and dozens of production companies are opening new manufacturing lines.

Preparations for... for what?

Lawmakers greenlight governors’ establishment of regional militias

Legislators in Russia’s State Duma have signed a bill that will allow regional leaders to establish armed structures that are to protect against “extraordinary situations.”

Behind the bill stands Andrei Kartapolov, the hardline Chair of the State Duma Defence Committee. Kartapolov, himself an Army lieutenant general, wants the governors to have the power to establish the militias. They are to help strengthen public law and order and be authorized to carry weapons.

Among the members of the new regional militias could ultimately be many veterans from the war against Ukraine. [...] New members will be offered rewards for participation in raids [...]. They will also take part in street patrolling and provide protection in connection with rallies and events

Russia is a centralized state with a Tsar. All power comes from the Kremlin. There never was a regional military structure or even just a police force without central command authority. These militias should ensure public order in case of... what? Collapsed central authority... a 1991 scenario of rapid disintegration? Or civil war like 1917?

Will such militias, controlled by governors, be more powerful than the dozen private military companies (PMC's) controlled by Russia's oligarchs?

Interesting... NO... frightening times ahead.

Cryptocurrency Exchange Network Accused of Helping Russia Hit with Sanctions

A network of people and virtual currency exchanges associated with harboring Russian cybercrime were hit with sanctions on Thursday, in a government-wide crackdown on cybercrime that could assist Russia ahead of President Joe Biden’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

U.S. Treasury sanctioned alleged Russian hacker Sergey Ivanov and Cryptex — a St. Vincent and Grenadines registered virtual currency exchange operating in Russia. Virtual currency exchanges allow people and businesses to trade cryptocurrencies for other assets, such as conventional dollars or other digital currencies.

Treasury alleges that Ivanov has laundered hundreds of millions of dollars worth of virtual currency for cyber criminals and darknet marketplace vendors for the last 20 years, including for Timur Shakhmametov, who allegedly created an online marketplace for stolen credit card data and compromised IDs called Joker’s Stash. Ivanov laundered the proceeds from Joker’s Stash, Treasury says.

The State Department is offering a $10 million reward for information that would lead to the arrest and possible conviction of the two men and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Virginia has unsealed an indictment against them.

PooTin to take yet another hit.

Blow to Putin's War Machine As Saudi Arabia Ramps Up Oil Production.

Saudi Arabia is set to ramp up oil production in a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin's war machine and his invasion of Ukraine.

Saudi Arabia is prepared to abandon its $100-a-barrel crude oil price target as it moves to increase output, signaling its acceptance of lower prices, according to the Financial Times.

This decision comes despite earlier production cuts by OPEC+ members, which sought to keep prices high. Brent crude prices dipped below $70 earlier this month, the lowest since December 2021.

Despite this, officials plan to boost production starting December 1, potentially extending a period of reduced prices. This marks a shift from Saudi Arabia's previous focus on price stabilization.

Saudi Arabia's ramp-up in oil production, especially if paired with lowered prices, is likely to hurt the Russian economy......

PooTin to take yet another hit.

A dangerous weapon.... one of the main factors leading to the collapse of the USSR was the low oil price in the late 1980s due to global overproduction:

1980: 2nd oil crisis/Iran revolution: $40 per barrel; then... 1986: ~$10 a barrel.

Uhh.... btw. when did the Soviets started to credibly negotiate mutual nuclear disarmament treaties? In 1986/87. One can learn alot from the 1980s.