Thread by @FortuneMagazine

🇷🇺 An action by Vladimir Putin could be the catalyst that plunges Russia’s economy into real catastrophe.

A top Russian economist warns it will “die by winter.” 🧵bit.ly/3UGn0Vv

2) ➡️ Last Wednesday, Putin announced a “partial” mobilization ordering 300,000 able-bodied men aged 18 to 30 in the military reserves to fight in Ukraine.

It sparked widespread protests across the country.

3) “I consider it necessary to make [this] decision, which is fully appropriate to the threats we face…to protect our motherland…to ensure the safety of our people and people in the liberated territories,” Putin said last week.

4) In the days that followed, Russian police arrested over 2,300 citizens for protesting, and tens of thousands of Russians have now fled the country to avoid the draft. bit.ly/3UGn0Vv

5) Now, Russian economist Vladislav Inozemtsev is warning that Putin’s mobilization will have “truly catastrophic consequences.”

Including the death of the Russian economy and the downfall of Putin’s regime.

6) 🗣️ “The Russian economy is going to die by winter, I wrote in early March. Now I think I was right,” Inozemtsev said. bit.ly/3UGn0Vv

7) Putin’s mobilization decree has already proved highly unpopular in Russia, prompting mass rallies and protest actions.

8) “The mobilization announced on Sept. 21 was a milestone that really divided Russian history into ‘before’ and ‘after’—an event that began the final countdown of Putin’s era,” Inozemtsev said. bit.ly/3UGn0Vv