Dismissing much of Putin's recent state-of-the-nation speech as so much Soviet-style pablum, "The Economist" goes on to argue:
What most Russians really need is news about the unfolding economic crisis that Mr Putin’s message from above largely ignored. The continuing fall in the rouble, eroding living standards and a sharp rise in food prices are worrying people far more than the fate of separatists in Ukraine. Now that sanctions are starting to bite, enthusiasm for war and isolation is diminishing fast. “Cognitive consonance between propaganda and people’s self-feel does not withstand external shocks,” says Mikhail Dmitriev, head of New Economic Growth, a think-tank.
Over the past nine months opinion polls find that support for the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine have fallen from 74% to 23%. Many who dismissed Western sanctions as irrelevant now fret over Russia’s isolation. “The sanctions are working,” says Lev Gudkov, head of the Levada Centre, an independent pollster. The consumers who have emerged in Russia’s big cities in the past decade are “not prepared to tighten their belts,” he adds. This does not mean that such people are prepared to sacrifice their consumption for civic freedoms, either.
None of them have undergone inspection by Ukrainian authorities, it goes without saying.
From our newsroom:
The Russian ruble hit a new low of 57 to the dollar in early trading on the Moscow exchange on December 12.
The ruble's value against the dollar and the euro has continued to decline despite Russia's effort to shore it up by raising a key interest rate by one percentage point on December 11 in the fifth increase this year.
The ruble recovered slightly and was trading at about 56.75 to the dollar at mid-morning in Moscow.
One euro was buying more than 70 rubles on the exchange.
The ruble and Russia's energy-reliant economy have been battered for months by falling world oil prices and sanctions imposed by the United States, the EU, and other nations over Moscow's interference in Ukraine.
Russian share prices were also on the decline on December 12, with the RTS index falling more than 4 percent in early trading.
With reporting by Reuters and TASS
RUSSIAN RUBLE AT NEW HISTORICAL LOW OF BELOW 57 VS DOLLAR ON MOSCOW EXCHANGE -- Reuters