Russian President Vladimir Putin. Getty Images
- The “real situation” in Russia’s economy is bad, Russian economist Igor Lipsits told Reuters.
- Russian authorities’ rosy announcements are aimed at making the Kremlin happy, he said.
- Around 14% of Russians live below or are on the brink of poverty, he added.
The Kremlin has been painting a rosy picture of the country’s economy even amid a swathe of Western sanctions — but “the real situation is bad,” Igor Lipsits, a prominent Russian economist, told Reuters.
Official rosy pronouncements on the Russian economy are not a good gauge of how the Russian economy is doing because authorities are just trying to make the Kremlin happy, Lipsits added.
The economist confirmed the comments to Business Insider.
Lipsits’ comments shed some light on Russia’s seemingly resilient wartime economy, which is booming on the back of massive military…
