Russia is known on the world stage as a great power, they have one of the world’s strongest and largest militaries. They have over a million active personnel and an additional two million in reserve. 

While Russia may have a strong military, they are nowhere near prosperous. Russia is ranked 11th place in terms of economy. The United States economy is nearly 10 times the size of the Russian economy, while having a little over double the population size. 

Due to recent events in the world, Russia’s economy has taken a big hit. Russia Invaded Crimea in 2014 and many countries-imposed sanctions on Russia for doing so. Russia’s economy took a big hit because of this. 

Russia later began an invasion of Ukraine. In response to this event, the United States and the EU have imposed many economic sanctions. Many western companies are also imposing penalties on Russia. Major tech giants such as Apple and Microsoft. 

If there was a Russian that was looking to build a gaming pc, they cannot now because AMD, Intel and Nvidia are suspending sales in Russia. Because of the crash of the Ruble due to the economic sanctions, foreign goods have become more expensive. 

A Russian Youtuber known as NFKRZ said “I’m not like starving or anything, I have savings which are burning down” As a Russian enjoying goods of the west is now much harder. 

Banks in Russia are running out of foreign currency. NFKRZ then went to a bank. A woman working at the bank said “What do you not understand? There is no money!” 

 The security guard then said “Everyone, leave the area! No need to stand around here!” Many protests in Russia erupted as war broke out. The Russian government cracked down hard on the protest arresting many of them. 

Things are bad when despite Russia being an authoritarian regime, protest are breaking out. The Russian people do not support the invasion of Ukraine. The people of Russia are not allowed to speak out against the government. 

Many Russians are having challenging times because the leader of Russia, Vladmir Putin is invading Ukraine. The people of Russia are now paying for his mistakes. It is unfortunate that this has happened, human history is full of tragic events.