Praised by American conservative leaders for his toughness, Russian President Vladimir Putin has grabbed onto another favorite pastime of the US Republican Party: deficit spending. Thanks to continuing stress brought on by sanctions and boycotts of its petroleum products by the European Union and other countries, Russia’s federal tax revenue from its top import was nearly cut in half in January, a rough start to the year for the nation’s economy, Reuters reports.
Russia counts on about 9 trillion rubles (roughly $130 billion) in annual tax revenue from its petroleum and natural gas industry to fund its government; Russia’s overall GDP in 2021 was $1.8 trillion. Russia collected just over 400 billion rubles in gas tax revenues in January, well below the previous year and economic predictions. EU sanctions, including a cap on prices paid for Russian products including gas, designed to cripple Russia’s ability to continue its invasion of Ukraine.