Mastercard and Visa Block in Russia Does Not Stop Domestic Purchases (theguardian.com) 95
Consumers will still be able to use Mastercard and Visa-branded cards for domestic transactions in Russia, the country's state-backed payments network has said, reducing the impact of the US firms' decision to pull services over the invasion of Ukraine. From a report: Russia's homegrown payments system Mir said the cardholders would still be able to access their funds, make withdrawals and domestic transfers -- at least until their bank cards expire. Mir has processed most domestic payments in Russia since 2015, while foreign operators such as Visa and Mastercard continued to run international transactions. The operator -- which is 100% owned by the country's central bank -- was established on government orders to protect the economy against sanctions imposed over Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
"All cards of these payment systems already issued by Russian banks will continue to work within our country as before," Mir's operator said in the early hours of Sunday. "Until the expiration of their validity, Visa and Mastercard cardholders have access to all the funds on their accounts, as well as all the usual payment transactions -- paying for purchases, transferring funds from card to card, withdrawing cash, etc." Further reading: Visa Discloses Russia, Ukraine Exposure.
"All cards of these payment systems already issued by Russian banks will continue to work within our country as before," Mir's operator said in the early hours of Sunday. "Until the expiration of their validity, Visa and Mastercard cardholders have access to all the funds on their accounts, as well as all the usual payment transactions -- paying for purchases, transferring funds from card to card, withdrawing cash, etc." Further reading: Visa Discloses Russia, Ukraine Exposure.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Yikes, I just cringed so hard I pulled a neck muscle and possibly strained my rhomboid.
You guys need to get some new material, that's some strong boomer energy.
Re: (Score:2)
But life was so much better in the 1950's and 1960's for the boomers. Sure there was political unrest at extreme levels, a much more higher chance of nuclear attack (even now)... However Mom and Dad tried to keep all those problems hidden from you, and put up a white picket fence so your neighbors don't see their problems, and we don't see our neighbors.
Sure it was somewhat common that a Teenage girl will get the Flu or Pneumonia that takes her out of school for 4 months, and her mother just happens to hav
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Why should he get new material? Calling out virtue signalling is still valid. It's still a problem because those who do it are still promoted in mass media.
The bigger concern is calling everybody who disagrees with you "racist", which may never have been true and definitely isn't today.
Re: (Score:2)
Virtue signalling is about wearing a flag lapel pin and a bumper sticker that says "support our troops". Virtue signalling is wearing a MAGA hat. Virtue signalling is openly carrying a weapon in public. But also, all of that must be done while doing nothing else to actually improve the situation or society. Put on the bumper sticker but never send money to veterans groups, for example.
Virtue signalling is just branding. It says "I belong to this group". It means you can do something trivial without do
Re: (Score:2)
Like passing a resolution to accept an application to one day eventually join the EU if Ukraine even still exists while continuing to buy oil and gas from the aggressor. That kind of virtue signalling?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
RTFA, or RTFS even.
Re: (Score:2)
Inevitable (Score:5, Insightful)
Instead of blocking all, they'll only block those customers stuck in foreign, and hostile, parts.
Either way, these cards will expire eventually and the replacements will use a Chinese system instead. Smooth move, visa and mastercard.
Russia moving to a different system was inevitable. We might as well get some utility out of sanctions while we still have it.
Awhile back Russia mandated that all internal CC transactions be processed internally, so there's really no way Visa and Mastercard can stop those. That was a security decision that they made precisely to avoid the effects of future sanctions.
One way or another, Visa and Mastercard adds to the financial friction in Russia, and every little bit helps.
The Chinese credit card comes with it's own disadvantages, in that this means China gets to data mine all Russian citizen financial transactions. Ten years down the road it's not clear whether this will be good for Russia or not, or whether China will be in some sort of dispute with Russia and impose similar sanctions.
The ruble has dropped 30% [google.com] *today*, roughly 50% total since the start of the war, attempts by Russian banks at shoring it up aren't working, and the day's not over. The Russian stock market has been closed for a week and counting.
The official end of the Russian economy will be when they default on loan payments. This *would* have happened last week, but it turned out to be a corner case (Russia paid, but the money couldn't get out due to sanctions) so the overall opinion was that Russia *didn't* default.
Yet.
That payment was in rubles, but rubles are a floating currency and Russia can just print more of them.
There's a payment coming up (about a week?) that has to be paid in either euro or USD, and all of Russia's foreign currency reserves are frozen. If Russia can't somehow make that payment then their credit rating will be gone and their economy will have officially collapsed.
The war is costing an estimated $15 billion each day, the total Russian economy is only about $1,500 billion in a good year, and their economy is expected to contract 25% this year. (On Friday - probably be more now.)
Russia's economy is going to zero, and there will probably be a more shallow worldwide recession as well.
At this point, it's inevitable.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Didn't Russa get a lot of Venezuela's gold a while back. I am sure that is helping them out right now.
https://www.voanews.com/a/myst... [voanews.com]
Re: (Score:2)
So, how do they sell their gold for dollars (and deliver it to the buyer)?
They might find some dodgy traders who would try to do this at a huge discount but hard to see how they can raise the hundreds of millions of dollars they need this way.
Re: (Score:2)
The official end of the Russian economy will be when they default on loan payments.
I don't quite see how defaulting on loans is a end to the economy at all, really they just need to say we your country is putting sanctions on us we are not paying our loans, too bad. All that defaulting on loans does is it means nobody will lend Russia any more money, I don't see how that's going to happen anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Nice post.
Putin will be very worried if China winds up being his only option financially. The Chinese drive a hard bargain, and would be negotiating from a position of strength.
Re: (Score:1)
"There's a payment coming up (about a week?) that has to be paid in either euro or USD, and all of Russia's foreign currency reserves are frozen. If Russia can't somehow make that payment then their credit rating will be gone and their economy will have officially collapsed."
LoL. It's like your bank freezing your account, and the next day sending you a bill for overdraft. Would you pay it? No? You wouldn't pay a nickel until they resolve their own issues and reinstate your account with no charges, plus what
Re: (Score:1)
Re: Inevitable (Score:1)
The US war on Afghanistan was at one point estimated to cost about $300 million per day on average, using our expensive ass munitions and high cost of maintenance jets, highly paid (relatively) soldiers and stuff. That war was waged halfway across the globe. I highly doubt Russia is paying anywhere near $15 billion a day to wage war on its literal neighbor. 15 billion rubles, with the way that currency is devaluating on the world market... Maybe.
Even then, I doubt that means all that much to Russia, as they
Re: (Score:2)
I think it's actually brilliant. The more we can eliminate all dependency on Russia the better. The best solution is just to completely stop all goods and services to and from Russia forever, because nothing ever good comes from Russia and never has.
Re: (Score:2)
The best solution is just to completely stop all goods and services to and from Russia forever
This type of solution is what will cause the next war. Sure make their war effort harder now by placing sanctions, but in perpetuity? This will also mean they are not dependent on the US and they have less to loose by going to war with the US. Don't forget they have the ability to destroy the world do you really want to put them in a position they have nothing to loose. Also don't forget Russia was on the US side in both world wars. From https://worldpopulationreview.... [worldpopul...review.com] Russia had 13,950,000 (pop aprox 200
Re: (Score:2)
This type of solution is what will cause the next war. Sure make their war effort harder now by placing sanctions, but in perpetuity? This will also mean they are not dependent on the US and they have less to loose by going to war with the US. Don't forget they have the ability to destroy the world do you really want to put them in a position they have nothing to loose.
One of the problem why Putin is invading Ukraine is because he has always gotten away with anything he does especially because of this attitude. Even when he did a nerve agent attack on British soil nobody did anything or when he annexed Crimea. He knows that nobody will stand in his way and even this war in Ukraine will be over soon and nobody will do anything to really to stop him, besides these minor sanctions that will eventually go away.
Also I think a major reason why Hilter came to power is the Germans where made to suffer after the first world war. We don't fear Germany or Japan now, why? Because they are successful countries and have a lot to loose by going to war.
Actually we should fear any country with a large army and a histor
Re: (Score:2)
Yup, Russia will become a vassal state of China as a result.
If the people of Russia think things are bad now not being able to protest the war, just wait until China starts imposing its will.
Re: (Score:2)
If you RTFA, or even the Slashdot summary, you'd see that Mastercard/Visa don't have the ability to block domestic purchases because, in 2014-2015, following the sanctions imposed for Russia attacking and annexing Crimea, Russia took over those transactions and they now go through the state bank's financial system.
Re: (Score:2)
Out of all sanctions, this is the most idiotic one - it hit nearly 100% USA and West supporters from the Russian oppositions. They are either getting money from abroad or they are abroad and relying on assets in Russia for their upkeep. They got a dick on a stick nicely. Almost to the standard of a "first class seat on a Galaxy aircraft's wheel".
It has zero effect on Russians - the local payment system is fully functional.
It has zero effect on any trade between Russia, Ch
Re: (Score:2)
I do wonder what options you imagine they have.
With most of Russian banks under various sanctions affecting international money transfers, how exactly do you imagine Visa and Mastercard could continue doing cross border transactions in/out of Russia if the money isn't going to be transferrable?
Re:Cancelling Russia (Score:5, Insightful)
How does penalizing everyday Russians, who didnt vote for Putin (elections are rigged in Russia), is going to help Ukraine?
Maybe they will revolt and kill Putin with out us needing to do it. Very easy to say we will stop once your leader stops. Very hard to run a country when 99% are after your head.
Does anyone seriously think that Putin is putting the bill for his invasion on his personal credit card?
No, but he could be using something stashed for a rainy day.
Does anyone think that the Red Army using IKEA furniture to bomb Ukrainian cities?
I don't know, some of those memes....
Causing misery like that isnt justice, it is retribution
Welcome to war
Re: (Score:2)
Or alternatively it can really backfire. While the average Russian might not trust state controlled media much they certainly will be showen ample evidence the West is cutting them off from a lot of things. At some point they might just decided their lives might be better if Russia had more international shot-calling authority, regardless of if Putin is a bastard or not.. Most people just want something better for themselves or their children at the end of the day. To much of cutting off their access to th
Re: (Score:2)
While the average Russian might not trust state controlled media much they certainly will be showen ample evidence the West is cutting them off from a lot of things. At some point they might just decided their lives might be better if Russia had more international shot-calling authority, regardless of if Putin is a bastard or not.
Not likely. People don't generally lose access to something and look inward when the entire rest of the world continues to have access to said thing. You have a very messed up view of how people work. Sure your comment applies to *some* people, but you said it yourself, the average Russian doesn't not trust state controlled media.
Actually it goes far beyond that. The average Russian isn't too happy with their government at all, much less the war they are fighting.
Re: (Score:2)
The polling I saw said the Russian population is in over whelming favour of the war. Now whether that poll can be trusted, I have no idea but as the war is being spun as saving Ukraine, it may well be. Look at the support the US had with their wars in the Middle East, especially Iraq which was all based on lies. Nationalism can make people pretty blind to reality.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think my view is as off as you think it is. I agree people don't generally lose access to something and look inward. They may or may not recognize the problems in their own nation; but they are very likely to look at the rest of the world (or at least the American sphere of influence) and decide; this isn't fair. They will come up with all kinds of justifications - "we didnt do this to them when they invaded Iraq..." etc. Again accurate or not that is what people do.
Second there is this western not
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Also, if a country goes to war then it should feel some pain. It only makes sense. There should never be a pain-free war, because war is a terrible thing.
If you have a painless war, then what's to stop the next series of wars? If the leadership thinks that nothing went wrong previously then nothing will go wrong with the next one. And if the citizens maintained their normal life style they won't put any pressure on leadership, or the next leadership, to do anything differently. You don't want people to
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe they will revolt and kill Putin with out us needing to do it. Very easy to say we will stop once your leader stops. Very hard to run a country when 99% are after your head.
Or maybe they will blame the other countries for imposing sanctions on them, especially since Putin controls their media. I don't know which but both seem to be likely outcomes.
Causing misery like that isnt justice, it is retribution
Welcome to war
Yeah but I don't like wars and we should be better than that. Wars have been happening though out history perhaps we should try a different way? Whats that definition of insanity quote attributed to Einstein?
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah but I don't like wars and we should be better than that. Wars have been happening though out history perhaps we should try a different way? Whats that definition of insanity quote attributed to Einstein?
What does history have to say about appeasing tyrants?
Re: (Score:1)
"What does history have to say about appeasing tyrants?" - Lets ask Saddam Hussein (he trained at fort Benning, same place I went to basic, when he was appeasing tyrants). Well if he's not available we could ask Muammar Gaddafi?
Willing to make you a little bet, I bet Zelenskiy (current Ukrainian president) doesn't get captured by Russians. Nor does he get to escape to some NATO country. Just give it a few weeks, a month tops. You'll see if my prediction is true. Then you'll see the results of siding with ty
Re:Cancelling Russia (Score:5, Insightful)
Causing misery == not being able to buy with CC? What about causing misery == slaughtering innocent women and children?
Whenever the people have had enough of him, they can remove him. He is mortal. A stable Russian economy gives Putin stability and the power to continue the slaughter.
Re: (Score:2)
Whenever the people have had enough of him, they can remove him. He is mortal. A stable Russian economy gives Putin stability and the power to continue the slaughter.
You know, or ought to know, that in Russia "remove him" is a very large ask. They can't exactly vote him out. Dissidents in Russia tend to get 'disappeared'. Protesting carries a jail term.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Whenever the people have had enough of him, they can remove him. He is mortal. A stable Russian economy gives Putin stability and the power to continue the slaughter.
You know, or ought to know, that in Russia "remove him" is a very large ask. They can't exactly vote him out. Dissidents in Russia tend to get 'disappeared'. Protesting carries a jail term.
He has bodyguards. Bodyguards have guns. So they can remove him any time they want to.
Re:Cancelling Russia (Score:5, Insightful)
1) This is not virtue signaling. Virture signaling is when you pretend to do something but your actions have no real effect. Like when you say you will stop supporting politicians but send the money to a PAC that supports them. This has a real effect, penalizing everyday Russians (preventing them from making international purchases with Visa/Mastercard), as you go on to state.
2) Penalyzing everyday Russians helps destroy their economy which does have a direct effect on the nation, including the oligarchs that rule it.
3) Causing misery to an attacking country is often the only to convince them to stop. Yes it affects the innocent more. Does not matter. You are correct it is retibution, not justice, but retribution often works. If only to discourage China from considering following Russia's lead and attacking Taiwan. I guarantee you China is watching what happens to Russia closely.
4) This does not reinforce Putin's narrative in any way. Among other things, Russia blocks real news and lies to their own people, so nothing we do at all reinforces anything.
5) The West is not out to get Russia, we are trying to cancel the WAR, not Russia. Your belief that the West is out to get Russia is entirely 100% Russian Propaganda.
P.S. Cancelling is simply a new word for something that has been going on for 100 years. It got internet famous because the conservative decided to promote it, seeing a chance to use the new slang as propaganda. In the 1880s (140 years ago), blacksmith, postmen, laundresses and others refused to do business with an Englishman called "Charles Boycott" because he was serving eviction notices to poor Irish farmers. While the press raised money for him, eventually Charles Boycott had to leave Ireland and return to England. He had been "cancelled". But everyone called it "Boycotting" for a hundred years until modern slang arrived.
Re: (Score:1)
This is not virtue signaling. Virture signaling is when you pretend to do something but your actions have no real effect. Like when you say you will stop supporting politicians but send the money to a PAC that supports them.
No, virtue signaling is when you are signaling virtue. Which is precisely what this is. It's not particularly effective, but it signals "good" intentions, it signals in-group membership.
This has a real effect, penalizing everyday Russians (preventing them from making international purchases with Visa/Mastercard), as you go on to state.
This action is much less effective than it sounds at first listen, which is literally what the story is about.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No, virtue signaling is when you are signaling virtue. Which is precisely what this is. It's not particularly effective, but it signals "good" intentions, it signals in-group membership.
Don't think so, virtue signaling is more along the lines of boasting about how virtuous you are, not through taking action.
From: https://www.dictionary.com/bro... [dictionary.com]
"the sharing of one's point of view on a social or political issue, often on social media, in order to garner praise or acknowledgment of one’s righteousness
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It goes back longer than that, well over 200 years at a minimum. In the late 18th century the Abolitionist Movement in the UK was encouraging British people, especially women, not to buy or use goods especially sugar produced by slaves. Around 300,000 people in the UK boycotted sugar and sales dropped dramatically.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
And this is the history of war, not just the history of US wars. Look at Soviets invading Afghanistan, it is having repercussions even today. Or the decision to invade Iraq. War is just wrong, and it's a lesson that never gets learned. It's even worse when it's war being held thousands of miles away and everyone is supposed to just go about life as normal so that we don't object to the wars that come later. The big countries have tried to have the war-without-consequence-for-us style and that needs to s
Re: (Score:2)
And illegal? (Score:2)
A lot of what is happening in response to unprovoked and unjustified Russian invasion of Ukraine [...]
I have no quarrel with the rest of what you're saying, but "unprovoked" is itself propagandistic characterisation. Putin feels he was provoked, as he's been saying for, oh, a decade or two. This is well-known in diplomatic circles, and as studiously ignored.
If not unprovoked, then how about illegal?
Russia (under Yeltsin) signed treaties recognizing the sovereignty of Ukraine. Russia has been documented using vacuum bombs and cluster bombs. And Russia has been flinging missiles at civilian targets.
If Putin feels provoked, there are a ton of actions he could have taken prior to invading. None of which he took.
Hell, just laying out a definitive "if you do this, we will attack" statement would have probably averted the current war.
Re:Cancelling Russia (Score:5, Insightful)
The only way putin/russia could have been "provoked" is if you assume and accept that he has the right to dictate Ukraine's fate to it in the first place. That is something that I would think that anyone and everyone aside from Putin would and should categorically reject out of hand. And without that unjust assumption, these claims of "provocation" are nothing more than made-up-from-whole-cloth propaganda.
There is exactly one nation in all of the world that has any business or rights deciding if Ukraine joins the West/EU/NATO, remains a putin/russian satellite state, or becomes some sort of neutral ground or "buffer zone". That one nation is Ukraine.
Re: (Score:1)
There is exactly one nation in all of the world that has any business or rights deciding if Ukraine joins the West/EU/NATO, remains a putin/russian satellite state, or becomes some sort of neutral ground or "buffer zone". That one nation is Ukraine.
An alliance against someone is certainly their business, maybe they don't have a right to do something about it, but doing nothing is not justified either.
Re: (Score:1)
NATO isn't an alliance against Russia. It's a self-defense pact. If any nation is attacked militarily, the others treat it as an attack on themselves and act accordingly (and should invest 2% GDP in military, for example.). It doesn't obligate any nation to participate in an offensive attack against any other nation. And in fact, it doesn't override sovereignty. How they respond to being attacked, in defense, could be nothing. No nation is obligated to participate in any war, defensive or not.
In fact
Re: (Score:2)
You've fallen into Putin's rhetorical trap (unintentionally, I'll presume.) The real provocation in Putin's mind is that Russia is not the world power he thought it once was. He is trying to establish Russia as the big bully that can't be dismissed. He will invent whatever provocations he needs to serve that ambition.
Re: (Score:2)
I have no quarrel with the rest of what you're saying, but "unprovoked" is itself propagandistic characterisation.
If you actually believed that rather than simply wanting to troll you wouldn't have posted AC. Sorry Comrade, you're going to have to tell Putin no one is buying your bullshit.
Inquiring minds (Score:2)
How does penalizing everyday Russians, who didnâ(TM)t vote for Putin (elections are rigged in Russia), is going to help Ukraine? Does anyone seriously think that Putin is putting the bill for his invasion on his personal credit card? Does anyone think that the Red Army using IKEA furniture to bomb Ukrainian cities?
Does anyone think that these actions put NO pressure on Putin?
Inquiring minds want to know...
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe, maybe not. But I'm pretty sure it puts pressure on future governments around the world that perhaps war isn't a good thing and that there can always be consequences.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
There aren't going to be NATO bases in Ukraine, there never were. NATO refused the request already when Ukraine asked. There had been NATO expansion after the breakup of USSR when all those Soviet block nations wanted to be free of Russian dominance finally and wanted some muscle to back it and keep them from being swallowed up again. And this was ok with Russia at the time, pre-Putin. Then expansion slowed.
However, Putin is doing a good job increasing the interest in NATO again, Finland and Sweden are
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Causing misery like that isn't justice, it is retribution
What is justice? Tell me what justice that the civilians that died yesterday because of Russian action are going to get? You worry about misery not being able to buy stuff while people lost their whole families and have injuries that will cause pain for the rest of their lives. If the misery of the everyday Russian puts pressure on its leaders that faster this will resolve itself.
Re: (Score:2)
You worry about misery not being able to buy stuff while people lost their whole families and have injuries that will cause pain for the rest of their lives.
In your analysis you failed to ask if these penalties target the same people that are responsible for the pain and suffering in Ukraine. Essentially, you are assigning collective guilt to the entire Russian nation. Not even Nuremberg trials went that far.
Re: (Score:2)
" Causing misery like that isnâ(TM)t justice, it is retribution."
Fuel for the army is extracted by civilian workers in an oil field, and is refined by civilian workers in a refinery. It is then transported most of they way by train, or by some pipeline - which are operated by civilians.
Food for the army is produced in one or another farm, then processed in a factory. It is then transported by civilians most of the way.
Once Russia retreats from Ukraine and offers some assurances that it won't attack aga
Re: (Score:2)
misplaced overreaction driven by the social media clickbait-outrage machine. This is just another example of corporate virtue signaling that makes no sense morally or politically. How does penalizing everyday Russians, who didn't vote for Putin (elections are rigged in Russia), is going to help Ukraine?
On the subject of click-bait, let's step back and read what Visa and Mastercard actually announced two days ago https://www.theguardian.com/wo... [theguardian.com]. "Cards issued in Russia would not work abroad as well as foreign issued cards in Russia." This therefore is not affecting everyday Russians; it's affecting jet-setting and internationally-travelling Russians.
And let's read the 5-day-old link in this current slashdot article https://www.wsj.com/livecovera... [wsj.com]. "Visa Discloses Russia, Ukraine Exposure. Roughly $1.2
Re: (Score:2)
Ronald Reagan had the answer. (Score:1)
Rack up debt (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
It also could be near its lowest...
Re: (Score:2)
Westerns can take advantage too. Get a VPN with Russian servers and you can buy all sorts of products and services for a fraction of the Western price even in normal times. Right now it's a bonanza, assuming that the thing you want hasn't been hit with sanctions.
Sheesh! (Score:1)
Don't bother us with silly details like whether it worked or not!
Virtue has been signaled; in-group membership assured. That's what matters. Sheesh!
Re: (Score:2)
Breach of contract (Score:2)
Wait, doesn't that means that they just have the Visa and Mastercard credit card numbers already stored locally on some Russian server? But then this must be a permanently major breach of contract for Russia and these cards? They are basically just creating their own credit card platform with the same name and credit card numbers as Visa and Mastercard.
Re: (Score:2)
No, that system was already in place, since 2015, expressly created buy Russia to avoid future sanctions.
iirc from the space station, (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
actually, "mir" means both "peace" and "world". (the two words used to be spelled differently before the orthography rules changed shortly after the bolshevik revolution, but they have always been homonyms.) in this case it's much more likely the intended meaning is "world". not that it matters, but still.
Makes sense (Score:1)
The government of Russia goes insane and attacks another country with an ill-prepared military, meanwhile lets punish the Etsy sellers in Russia!
Re: (Score:2)
Russia has a vast nuclear stockpile. Ukraine is not a NATO country. As much as I would like to see NATO just going in an actively defend Ukraine militarily it could create a really bad worst case scenarios.
While those Etsy sellers and rather innocent little people in Russia suffering, could weaken the power base in Russia over time, as well limit the upward flow of money.
I am not saying this is ethical, but it is understandable. The whole Ukraine and Russia conflict is really bad, with no right answers, e
More Power, not Less (Score:1)
While those Etsy sellers and rather innocent little people in Russia suffering, could weaken the power base in Russia over time, as well limit the upward flow of money.
The power base in Russia exists by keeping the lower class poor, so poor people being a little poorer and relying even more on the state to survive gives Putin more power over time, does not weaken at all.
Dear Chinese (Score:2)
Haa (Score:1)