Putin has fought enough: Russia may face a critical problem in six months

Putin has fought enough: in six months Russia may face a critical problem Petro Sineoky

Russia is spending literally colossal amounts of money on the war against Ukraine. Their National Welfare Fund has been significantly reduced. And this could turn into a disaster for Putin.

Economist Maxim Blunt told Channel 24 about this, noting that Russia created the National Welfare Fund to stabilize the economy in the event of a crisis. After the freezing of assets in the West, only gold and Chinese yuan remained there.

What problem could hit Russia

As Blunt noted, Russia needs such a reserve fund in the event of a drop in global oil prices. Then they “pull” currency from there to cover the lack of profit from the oil and gas sector. There have already been reports that now the funds in the National Welfare Fund will only be enough for six months to cover government expenses in the event of a drop in oil prices.

Russia will always be able to cover its government expenses with rubles. However, if oil prices really fall and foreign exchange earnings decrease, they will be forced to devalue the ruble. The more the prices fall, the more the devaluation will be, Blunt said.

This will lead to the fact that the prices of imported goods in Russia will rise. They will become inaccessible to the majority of the population. Then Russia will be forced to urgently look for options on how to get currency.

However, it is still difficult to predict whether oil prices will really fall. Trump threatened to organize this. But so far everything is quiet in this direction.

For now, all this is just a hypothesis. Now, all the actions of the US President have not led to a fall in oil prices, Blunt noted.

Recall that as of February 2025, the volume of liquid assets in the National Welfare Fund is approximately 42 billion dollars. Before the start of a full-scale war, there were significantly more funds there.