War is twisting Russia’s demographics

Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy, written by Alexander Kolyandr and Alexandra Prokopenko and brought to you by The Bell. This week our top story is an analysis of Russian wartime budget and demographic paradoxes. We also look at why new Western sanctions are less and less effective.

The Kremlin’s obsession with boosting the birth rate

Over more than three years of war in Ukraine, the relationship between the Russian state and society has fundamentally changed. The Kremlin is spending billions of rubles on both boosting the birthrate, and on paying soldiers, as well as compensating the families of those killed at the front. This combination is not just deeply cynical—it’s also fashioning a new social reality.