Thread by @kamilkazani

How sanctions are killing Russia?

Russia's falling. Old sanctions of 2014 sabotaged development of new innovative weaponry. New sanctions of 2022 are undermining Russian military efforts, destroying its technological chains and communications lines, thus breaking country apart🧵

Western analysts greatly overestimate the robustness of Russia. Russians themselves are now talking about the imminent end of this state. Consider a Peskov's slip of tongue: "Special Operation launched to get rid of Russia"

End of Russia - that's what is on the table right now. Consider this talk show of Solovyov - top Putin's propagandist. Their point is - *any* treaty Russia signs with Ukraine will mark its defeat. That gonna be beginning of the end, not of Putin's regime but of Russian state

Medinsky, Putin's negotiator in Ukraine, claims that "the very existence of Russia is on stake now". Well, then the question arises - how did these guys put Russia on stake? Is it compulsive gambling disorder or what?

Well, they were sure of Russian victory. We have absolute military superiority and can easily crush Ukraine. We may not invade, but if we do, we'll 100% win. This was based on assumption about the invincibility of Russian army. Compare vibe of Russian TV in late February and now

The assumption that Russia gonna win was based on three elements. First, on the mythos of WWII. They conveniently forgot that in WWII Russia fought on the side of greatest economic power and now it's fighting against. See Soviet soldiers on American Studebakers

Many talk of Serdyukov's military reforms. However, efficiency-maxer Serdyukov made interest groups angry and was fired. His successor Shoygu was a court-maxer and PR-maxer more interested in building his personality cult than the army. His flatterers even portray him as Subedei

Many talk of Syrian war, where Russia got "so much experience" proving its fighting capacity. Putin believed in it. Russian generals believed in it. Western "expers" believed in it. Only Russian soldiers didn't. Consider this interview with a Wagner mercenary who fought in Syria

On February 26 Wagner mercenary debunked a myth of "real combat experience" Russian army got in Syria. Aviation got a real experience, air defense too. But the land troops didn't. Those who expect a victorious march through Ukraine are wrong. Ukraine got much stronger since 2015

Other Russian military sources which I'm not gonna quote even argued that Syrian experience was negative for Russian army. For example, much of their role was convoying Syrian and Irani supply caravans through a flar desert where it's difficult to set up an ambush unnoticed

In Syria Russians learnt that convoying caravans is easy. Now they try to repeat this Syrian experience in Ukraine. Being used to convoying caravans through desert, they now convoy them through forests or residential areas. There they get into ambushes and are exterminated

That's why Russian military are so pessimistic about their perspective in Ukraine. Consider Strelkov. For 29 days Russia didn't achieve strategic success on any directions

"My worst fears came true, we get involved into a long, bloody, and very dangerous war"

That's why Russia is losing so many generals. Why are they even being present on frontline? Because Russia is losing and Putin's knows it. He's furious and sending his generals to the frontline to take direct control in order to improve the situation. And there they get killed

Putin launched a war, expecting an immediate victory. Russian propaganda leaflets literally boasted that Kyiv gonna be captured in one day. Yes, that's propaganda. But it reflected a widespread Russian conviction that Ukrainians wouldn't resist

What consuequences will it bring for Russia? Western analysts exaggerate how robust Russia is. Consider this recent article by Nial Fergusson. I think he's wrong. Putin won't be able to reach a result that Russian people will view as a victory. Any treaty will mark Russian defeat

That's why smarter ones of the Russian elite are already trying to get off the sinking ship. Here is Chubays cashing out at an ATM in an Istanbul airport. Chubays is *the* major architect of modern Russia and he's running away

In 1990s a St Petersburg liberal economist Chubays designed Russian privatization. He purposefully organised it in a most shady and non-transparent way to quickly create lots of rich people owing everything to the regime. That's how oligarchs fortunes were created

By the late 1990s crony "systemic liberals" like Chubays got tired of democracy. They didn't want parliamentarian, didn't want public politics. They wanted a Tsar who'll defend them from the public opinion (which hated them). So they chose Putin and boosted him out of nothing

In 2010s Chubays turned to Russian ethnonationalism. He funded nationalist media such as "Sputnik and Pogrom" who advocated building the "Russia for Russians" in these borders. Chubays is personally responsible for building oligarchy, Putinism and jingoist delusions in Russia

There is hardly any other living person who bears so much responsibility for what is happening in Russia now than Chubays. He created oligarchy, promoted Putin to power, boosted Russian ethnonationalism. He was all powerful and now he ran away. Because he knows Russia is over

Well, Chubays made a good decision - run while you still can. MPs from the United Russia ruling party already can't leave the country without permission. Only smarter ones who escaped before the prohibition are now safe abroad, like Milonov. Others are trapped in Moscow

Now let's finally outline a scenario of collapse. First, sanctions will destroy its technological and supply chains. Many believe in self-sufficiency of Russia. But Russia is not autarkic. It's not an evil empire but a Trade Federation totally dependent on technological import

Machinery is the first victim of sanctions. It's using foreign components on all levels from microchips to bearings. Thus sanctions are destroying:

1. Military industry
2. Transport and communication lines
3. Production of consumer goods

Thus they're breaing Russia apart

Sanctions won't make Putin back off. They won't make Russian people rebel. That'd be a collective action of a huge scale which isn't gonna happen. They will undermine Russian military efforts and incentivize a much smaller scale, easier to do collective action - local separatism

Let's start with military industry. Counterintuitive it may sound, it is *especially* import dependent. Why? Well, because it's relatively complex. For example, it is the main consumer of precision manufacturing industrial machines in Russia - buying over 80% of these machines

Annexation of Crimea was a major blow on Russian military industry. As Sverdlovsk Oblast minister of industry Sergey Perestorin admitted, Ural plants, including tank producing ones, started having problems with components supply immediately after 2014

Thus new types of Russian weaponry, for example, the Armata tank were never mass produced. Mass production was supposed to commence in 2015 but in 2022 it still didn't, because of the sanctions. Electronic components import, transmissions import, everything sopped after Crimean

There's another aspect of the problem. It seems Russia lost many technological competences and capacities it used to have under the USSR. In the USSR a job of engineer was prestigous and highly paid. Military engineers were kings. But now they're losers with no respect or salary

As a result construction bureaus and engineering institutions didn't get new competent engineers. Some would come after a college but than had to leave, because they had to feed their families. Average age of an engineer in tank industry is now around 55-60 years

That means that while old engineers were dying and retiring, too few capable youngsters came to learn from them. So many competences of old engineers died with them. As then deputy minister of defense Makarov pointed out Russia lost Soviet technologies of producing a tank barrel

No wonder that all the production on Uralvagonzavod, the only producer of tanks in Russia, is now stopped. Old sanctions introduced in 2014 didn't allow to develop new innovative tanks. New sanctions of 2022 don't allow to build any tanks at all

Russian military industry is fully reliant on Western equipment and components. Consider Motovilihinskie Zavody - the major producer of MLRS and artillety systems in Russia. As you see, they are using a turn-mill industrial machine of an Italian company Tacchi Giacomo e Figli SpA

Consider an interview with a CEO of Baltic Industrial Company that supplies Russian military plants. We don't produce industrial machines, bearings, ball screws, spindles. Yeah, Russia can produce lots of "cool" weaponry. But it will fall because it can't produce any boring stuff

Non military industry is dying, too. Car and vehicles plants are stopping for the lack of details and components. They are laying off their workers. Of course some try to find solutions and built new vehicles "from Russian components". Sounds good doesn't work

See this order of Yekaterinburg police. Policemen are not allowed to use their foreign produced cars anymorebecause under the sanction regime they can't re repaired. There are no components for that

Another victim is the railways. Russia switched its railroad cars production from the roller bearings to the cassette bearings. That's more efficient, but all 3 cassette bearing producing plants in Russia are both foreign owned and import dependent. Railways gonna have problems

The railways are the main carcass keeping the country together. Unlike North America they are crucially important not only for transporting goods, but also the people. Most of Russian autoroutes are horrible. It's the railways that connect this country. Soon they'll be disrupted

Russian airlines are disrupting right now. Russia isn't getting new components for its Boeings and Airbuses, won't be able to maintain them. That's why Pobeda airline for example gonna reduce its fleet by 40%. There are so few details that you can't keep all the planes working

Yes, Russia has its own aircraft industry. But the aircraft factories are working on foreign components, too. Rostov aircraft plant closed for the lack of import, so Russian-produced Ан-24 and Ан-26 planes gonna be impossible to repair. They'll function for 5-6 months the most

Consider this interview where a minister and his aides aides discussing that they won't be able to repair the stolen planes abroad. Yeah, they'll try to do it in Russia. Good luck repairing them with the import of components stopped

Third aspect of Russian fall will be the decrease of supply in literally all consumer goods. Mutually exclusive collectively exhaustive, there are two options: prices can rise or there will be deficit. At this point both phenomena take place. People are shocked by new prices

There's of course a deficit in consumer goods, like sugar. You can see lots of videos of people shouting, fighting, arguing over this precious deficit good

As sugar becomes deficit, incentives to steal and stock it rise exponentially. Here you supermarket workers stealing sugar from its stocks and loading into a car trunk. A woman is commenting:

"That's why they don't have sugar on shelves"

Many will try to enrich on sugar trade. Here a man got arrested for selling a 50kg sack with sugar for above market price. The government is already fighting against the profiteering. Such things will only increase

As you see Russian supermarkets are already restricting the purchases of "socially important goods". Too many try to buy as much as possible to stock it and create the shortage

Now let's think in higher orders. People trying to stock as much as possible is indeed exacerbating the existing deficit. But the thing is - regions and towns *are doing the same*. It's not individuals stocking sugar that will kill Russia, it's that governors are doing the same

When we think about Russian state we are usually operating in dichotomy Putin vs People. Will people support their leader? Will they rebel? They won't but it's irrelevant. The state is not homogenous. Putin can ignore sanctions but his subordinates can't

Yes, the core electorate of Putin, is standing by their President and will stand by the end. Putin is sacred, they're not gonna blame him for anything. Whom they're gonna blame for their problems, for the lack of food? A corrupt mayor and governor of course

I am not joking. Lots of Putin's supporters are fully supporting Z-invasion. They're also already suffering from the economic problems. Whom they're gonna blame? The governor, that corrupt scum, guilty of everything. Putin is sacred but governor is not

This Russian political culture makes position of regional authorities unbearable. Putin is sacred, innocent, unaccountable. That's the local authority who's responsible for the quality of life. The life quality is deteriorating because of Putin, but governor will be blamed

Now what they're gonna do? Some are trying to encourage return to subsistence farming. Sounds good, doesn't work. Indeed, in the past Russians survived economic crises via their dachas and private gardens. But that culture is gone. Boomers are the last generation who could do it

Subsistence farming is extremely unproductive. It's also extremely laborious and time consuming. It also requires competences that the youngsters simply lack. In the good economy expensive oil years they never learnt how to garden from their babushka and now won't learn quickly

The current economic crises is unique in Russian history. First of all, it's now uniquely old. During the previous crises it was much, much younger. Even more importantly, it is the first crisis that happened *after* most of population forgot how to do subsistence farming

Russian economic situation is awful. It's a catastrophe which local authorities will be blamed for. What they're gonna do? Stock up. Stock as much as possible. That's already happening. Stavropol doesn't have sugar shortage. Why? They don't allow exporting it to other regions

That will be the major factor of Russian collapse. It's not that regional authorities will suddenly declare independence. They won't, at least for now. It's that they will act in the best interest of their regions. Because if a catastrophe happens there, they'll be blamed for it

In acting in the best interest of their regions under the deficit of literally everything they'll inevitably stock up, thus breaking supply lines and technological chains. With the communication lines deteriorating due to sanctions it will be easier and easier to do

Russia won't fall because of collective morally justified action. It's cohesion will be broken by its own officials aiming to avoid catastrophe in their own region. That will be a de facto economic separatism, political one will come much later

In discussing the collapse of Russia and rise of separatist states on its ruins, many focus on ethnic conflicts and identity politics. That's not completely wrong. I'll argue however that the main drivers of collapse will be geographic and socio economic

The best benchmark for Russian collapse isn't Yugoslavia or Austro Hungary. It's a fall of Spanish Colonial Empire with all of its creoles vs peninsulares divisions. Russia is much more of a Latin American country politics, economy, culture wise than many think. End of 🧵

I'm gonna post long reads on my substack. Here's a text on how did Russia get so big and so cold. It's outlining the logic of Russian imperial expansion political economy-wise. It explains why Russia expanded northward much earlier than southward kamilkazani2.substack.com/p/how-did-russ…