Matthew Murray (Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs) wrote an article for Eurasianet about the effects of US sanctions. The headline reads “Putin’s system seems indestructible, but so did Soviet communism before it suddenly collapsed in 1991” and in the article, Murray describes:

“Average Russians are waking up each day to new economic realities, including a steep decline in the ruble’s value, a steady erosion of their personal savings, rising inflation, lost jobs and emptying store shelves. The government, meanwhile, has few means to revive the flatlining national economy. It cannot access sufficient hard currency reserves or secure new financing, and it is increasingly difficult to generate fresh revenue through energy exports. Foreign investors are fleeing.”

Photo credit: Sergey Bezgodov via Shutterstock.