The problem for Russia is that their economy goes up/down mostly with natural resources (especially hydrocarbons). Their second biggest export are arms. They inherited most of these things from the Soviet Union.
To give you perspective, Texas has a way larger economy than Russia with 1/5th of the people. There hasn't been much growth in Russia in the last decade, yet he managed to get himself reelected till 2036.
It's obvious that Putin is good at intelligence because that's his trade. Given that Putin or his crownies control almost all of the media (except for parts of the internet) in Russia, I don't know what is a mirage or not.
My grandfather was from Lithuania and escaped from the Soviet Union. It was never as good as Pravda claimed.
The problem for Russia is that their economy goes up/down mostly with natural resources (especially hydrocarbons). Their second biggest export are arms. They inherited most of these things from the Soviet Union.
To give you perspective, Texas has a way larger economy than Russia with 1/5th of the people. There hasn't been much growth in Russia in the last decade, yet he managed to get himself reelected till 2036.
It's obvious that Putin is good at intelligence because that's his trade. Given that Putin or his crownies control almost all of the media (except for parts of the internet) in Russia, I don't know what is a mirage or not.
The problem for Russia is that their economy goes up/down mostly for natural resources (especially hydrocarbons). Their second biggest export are arms. They inherited most of these things from the Soviet Union.
To give you perspective, Texas has a way larger economy than Russia with 1/5th of the people. There hasn't been much growth in Russia in the last decade, yet he managed to get himself reelected till 2036.
I'll say that it's obvious that Putin is good at intelligence, but given that Putin or his crownies control almost all of the media (except for the internet, but they are trying to censor it too) in Russia, I don't know what is a mirage or not.