April 04, 2024

Russia's War Economy


Russia's War Economy
A Russian government building. Moscowjobnet, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Soon after the beginning of Russia's War on Ukraine, economists around the world began to speculate that the Russian economy would crash. These predictions were counterbalanced by claims from Russian economists that Russian industry would, in fact, greatly benefit from the war. While the economy did not crash, seeing only a 2.1% economic decline in 2022, the effects of the war have nonetheless been noticeable, especially in industrial regions. 

Economic geographer Natalya Zubarevich found that the regions that have benefited most from the war have been, unsurprisingly, areas where high percentages of the local economy are tied to the military-industrial complex. These include Tula, Ryazan, Yaroslavl, Tver, Penza, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Omsk regions, where there was higher demand and higher salaries for factory workers in 2022 than there was in 2021. But do these combined factors mean better lives for workers in these regions?

A report from Cherta found that the higher salaries advertised for factory jobs are tied to heavier-than-usual workloads or long shifts. Employees at these companies describe longer hours and high demand, but no change in salary or benefits. Long-time factory workers complain of under-educated and under-trained new employees being brought in to speed up production, leading to an actual increase in work for more experienced workers. 

While it may be true that industries in these regions are doing better business than before the war, it is evident that the workers themselves bear the negative consequences of this success. 

You Might Also Like

Occupation Is Expensive
  • December 03, 2023

Occupation Is Expensive

An independent Russian news outlet reported that Russia is worse off economically because of its actions in Ukraine since 2013.
600 Days of War
  • October 16, 2023

600 Days of War

Russia's War on Ukraine has been going on for 600 days. Some Facts & Figures.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

Woe From Wit (bilingual)
June 20, 2017

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955