Mary Dejevsky

How close is Russia to collapse?

The economy is tanking, dissent is being crushed

(Getty)

Russia is now as closed off to the world as the Soviet Union was before Mikhail Gorbachev made his first tentative steps towards glasnost more than 40 years ago. Pretty much all the progress that post-Soviet Russia had made towards becoming a ‘normal’ country has been reversed within the space of two weeks. Vladimir Putin’s presumed legacy – of stability, predictability and hugely improved living standards for the vast majority of Russians – is vanishing before their eyes.

In recent days, Netflix and TikTok have joined what had already become a mass western boycott of Russia. American Express followed Barclaycard and Mastercard in leaving the Russian market. Western supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s, are pulling out; fashion chains such as Zara and Mango have closed, and – perhaps most emblematic of all – the Swedish household and furniture giant, Ikea, has shut the doors of its 17 stores across Russia.

Almost all independent news has now collapsed. Access to Twitter and Facebook has been banned. International broadcasters Deutsche Welle and Radio Liberty were also blocked last week. The BBC has resuscitated its war-time and Cold War standby, short-wave radio, as the means of getting its message to Russians.

Russia’s own best-known – and most agile – independent broadcasters, the radio station Moscow Echo and the television channel TV Rain, have closed in response to restrictions. These include new laws criminalising the spread of information deemed detrimental to Russia’s armed forces and the banning of terms such as ‘invasion’ and ‘war’. The editor of Novaya Gazeta announced that they too would stop their news service but would not stop collecting information:

The Washington Post’s first post-war publisher, Philip Graham, said news is the first draft of history. We, the first generation in Putin’s Russia, say: we cannot leave this Russian reality without at least some sketches of history. 

The rouble has lost half of its value, interest rates have doubled and the stock market has been closed since Russia’s military action against Ukraine began

When they will be able to publish freely again, he does not know. Street

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in