From Moscow (AFP)
Despite the Kremlin’s assertion that Ivan Gershkovitch, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained by the Federal Security Service in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage, was caught red-handed, the newspaper denied the matter outright.
She also expressed her deep concern regarding the Russian authorities’ dealings with journalists.
However, some observers indicated that the reason for the arrest may be due to the latest report published by Gershkovich on the Russian economy, which is now suffering from the weight of Western sanctions.
What is included in this report?
This report sheds light on the recent decline in the economy in Russia, and the difficulty of returning it to its former state
After the first months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 of last year witnessed an increase in oil and natural gas prices, which brought unexpected gains to Moscow, those days seem to be over.
As the war entered its year and the harshness of Western sanctions increased, the Russian government’s revenues came under pressure and its economy shifted to a low growth path, which is likely to continue in the long term.
The country’s biggest exports, gas and oil, have lost key customers, making the government nervous.
Especially since the ruble has fallen by more than 20% since November once morest the dollar.
The labor force also shrank as young men were sent to the fronts or fled the country for fear of conscription.
In addition, anxiety and uncertainty have curbed business investment
long-term decline
Alexandra Prokopenko, a former official at the Russian Central Bank who left the country shortly following the invasion, predicted that “the Russian economy will enter a protracted downturn”.
In addition, the shortfall in state revenues appears to create a growing dilemma of how to reconcile bloated military expenditures with the subsidies and social spending that helped protect civilians from hardship.
bleak picture
In turn, Maria Shagina, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, suggested that the picture would be bleak in the long term, pointing to Moscow’s increasing excessive dependence on China.
The report concluded, blaming Putin for a large part of the responsibility for the deterioration of the situation, because he bet last year that he might use Russian energy supplies to reduce Western European support to Ukraine.
But European governments, instead of reducing their support for Kiev, moved quickly to find new alternative sources of natural gas and Russian oil.
As a result, energy revenues fell by regarding half in the first two months of this year compared to last year, while the budget deficit deepened. The fiscal deficit reached $34 billion in the first two months, equivalent to more than 1.5% of the country’s total economic output.
This will force Moscow to dip further into its sovereign wealth fund, which is one of its main reserves to fight the crisis.
It is noteworthy that the Kremlin had denied any connection to Gershkovich’s arrest with his journalistic work.
In turn, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, considered that the correspondent’s activity is far from journalistic activity. And she said in a comment on her Telegram channel that “it is not the first time that the status of a foreign correspondent, an entry visa, and a journalist’s accreditation have been used by foreigners in Russia to cover up non-journalistic activities. It is not the first known Westerner to be caught red-handed.”
The Public Relations Center of the Federal Security Service had announced earlier today, Thursday, that the security men had detained in the city of “Yekaterinburg” the American citizen, Ivan Gershkovitch, the correspondent of the Moscow office of the “Wall Street Journal”, accredited to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and he was born in 1991. accused of espionage and information gathering.