Trade, the western wall against Moscow also affects Beijing’s exports. And the Russian army pays the bill

Russia sits on a stack of money, but is out of breath. After four months of economic warfare, this is the judgment one can cautiously sketch, yespuzzling among heterogeneous indicatorsnews butts, risky deductions.

The Kremlin, in fact, no longer publishes data. An official signal – a healthy ruble – is there, but, in reality, it is a misdirection: the currency is strongbecause Russia is unable to spend on imports, due to sanctions, what it collects, despite the same sanctions, with exports.