The Bell

⚖️ President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff visited St. Petersburg today to discuss a new round of talks between the US, Russia ... Show more

🤖 Nobody’s talking about Russia’s supercomputers, crucial components in Putin’s “sovereign AI plan.” The silence is raising suspicions that one or more of them ... Show more

📉❓Following Ukraine’s attacks on Yandex data centers, social media networks were full of reports that the Kremlin’s bots had disappeared from social networks ... Show more

🚰 Rates for utilities rose sharply in Russia last week, according to Rosstat, Russia’s federal statistics service, and the increase has triggered a jump in ... Show more

🛜 Mobile internet traffic — the type of connectivity that lets users order food or a taxi from their phone, or answer emails on the go without a WiFi ... Show more

💸 Russia’s 2027 budget: Tax hikes, spending cuts, more war The Russian government has endorsed the key parameters of the 2027 budget ... Show more

⛓️ Arrests up fivefold: wartime Russia is jailing more corrupt officials Since 2022, the number of arrests of high-level officials has increased more than ... Show more

Putin ordered Russian business to defend itself against drones. How did entrepreneurs become business commanders? Ukraine has fired tens of thousands of ... Show more

📈 Russia’s pro-inflationary scenario has every chance of becoming the baseline This week the Central Bank drafted its annual document outlining the economic ... Show more

💸🏭 What became of former foreign-owned assets years after their sale? More than 500 international companies have left Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in ... Show more

👋 Old Ideas, New Packaging: Russia’s Plans to Save the Economy Having grown used to economic growth of more than 4% in 2023-2024 ... Show more

How did Russia’s elite handle the 2022 mobilization? In September, Hurst Publishers will release the long-awaited English edition of From Sovereigns to ... Show more

🔉 Top Russian state bank economist fired over dire forecast Andrey Klepach, a prominent macroeconomist, long-time former government official ... Show more

How will the strikes on Wildberries impact the Russian economy? The broader Russian economy is beginning to feel the ripple effects of Ukrainian drone strikes ... Show more

💻🔍 SCOOP: The Russian security services’ ability to surveil citizens is far less comprehensive than previously believed In 2016 ... Show more

🔥💸 How the Kremlin makes everyone pay for its war Ukraine intensifies its campaign of retaliatory drone strikes, and the warehouses of Wildberries — one of ... Show more

In January, we published 10 hidden vulnerabilities that could destabilize Russia's economy in 2026. 🧵Halfway through the year ... Show more

This analysis comes from The Bell's independent coverage of Russia's war economy. Subscribe to The Bell PRO for twice-weekly English-language ... Show more

The Bell.Pro — Insider Analysis of Russian Business and Politics

◼️High government borrowing costs The state is borrowing at 16.5%+ with a 14% key rate, struggling to issue OFZ bonds on normal terms ... Show more

◼️Squeezed Central Bank Vladimir Putin openly demands interest rate cuts, but inflation keeps rising and platforms like Wildberries hike fees ... Show more

◼️Low oil prices A temporary spike from Trump's actions in Iran and the Hormuz crisis offered brief relief, but Russia gained little ... Show more

◼️Civilian manufacturing slump Data from CMACP (run by minister of defense Andrey Belousov's brother) shows civilian industry balancing between ... Show more

◼️Stuttering trade with China Trade turnover recovered thanks to oil shipments during the Hormuz crisis and fading auto protectionism ... Show more

◼️Slowing lending & investment slump Corporate lending is sluggish as civilian companies prefer repaying debt over expanding ... Show more

◼️Prolonged labor shortage Unemployment sits at a record-low 2.1%. Per Kommersant, labor scarcity remains Russia's primary growth bottleneck and the ... Show more

◼️Moral hazard The state faces a major test in handling systemic private players. If e-commerce giant Wildberries falters ... Show more

◼️Uncertain tax revenues Federal budget revenues are growing at 5.8% so far — well below the Kremlin's planned 8% target ... Show more

Three key takeaways: 1️⃣High state borrowing yields and labor shortages are choking civilian sector growth. 2️⃣Political pressure on the Central Bank ... Show more

Three takeaways: 1️⃣ Ukrainian strikes cut Crimea's local power generation by 86%, causing a full blackout. 2️⃣ A sanctions-evading Siemens turbine ... Show more

This analysis comes from The Bell PRO — two weekly English-language newsletters on Russia's economy. Try our full coverage here for $1: The Bell