Russia Loses $300 Billion

From the MT:

“Russia Loses $30Bln a Year in Post-Crimea Investment Climate – Economist”

Russia is losing at least $30 billion every year due to the investment climate that has followed its annexation of Crimea, economist Sergei Guriev said in an interview published Monday. Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine has weakened Russia’s relations with the West, launching multiple rounds of sanctions from the U.S. and the EU as well as a drop in foreign investment. Each percentage point that doesn’t go into GDP growth equals a loss of $15 billion, Guriev told Russia’s The Bell business outlet. The Russian economy grew by 2.3 percent in 2018, according to official data. “If it’s 2 [percentage points lost], then [Russia’s losses total] $30 billion a year,” the chief economist of the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said.  Up to $300 billion has been lost since Russia annexed Crimea, the Bell cited Guriev as saying, adding that Central Bank data puts the losses at $320 billion. “In total, something like $1 trillion has fled Russia in 20 years,” he told the outlet. He forecast Russia’s economic growth of 1.5 percent to 2 percent with a general lack of reforms.

^ In case you thought the US (and Canadian, European Union, Australian and Ukrainian) sanctions against Russia in place since Russia invaded, occupied and annexed Crimea in 2014 aren't doing anything. Russia is losing $30 Billion US Dollars a year for the past 5 years because of the sanctions on Russia.  Before 2014 Russia was on track to bring the standard of living for its citizens up to Western levels (which was never accomplished during Czarist or Soviet times) but now Putin has slashed every Government program including raising the Pension Age to several years above the average Russian life expectancy which has caused ordinary Russians to finally stop supporting him and his approval ratings are the lowest ever. The only way for Russia to fix the huge hole it has created itself is to return annexed Crimea to Ukraine, stop their international activities (ie. poisoning people outside of Russia, hacking computers, etc.) and start opening itself to the international community. They need to stop being the aggressor and start being the equal. ^

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/05/13/russia-loses-30bln-a-year-in-post-crimea-investment-climate-economist-a65555