"Black Monday" on the Russian stock exchanges demonstrated: the present sanctions of the West are capable of ruining "Putinomiku" without any fluctuation of oil prices.
The ruble fell, shares of leading companies fell, investors fled - and oil prices even grew. It should be noted that the self-confidence of Russian leaders left no trace.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev promised to help the victims - obviously, for the state budget. And Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the sanctions "a blatant trampling of everything and everything". The question arises - why exactly are these sanctions? And the previous ones were not trampling?.
And because they are real sanctions against real oligarchs.
Against the system that was built by Boris Yeltsin and retained by Vladimir Putin - the system of a mafia-oligarchic state. This state has its own "authorities" - such as Deripaska or Vekselberg. And their state-forming companies. American sanctions affected them. And it is clear that the process can be continued, its figures will be other oligarchs and companies.
And in this case, the Russian state will lose its main function - a defender of oligarchic interests.
One can, of course, say that Putin no longer wants to defend these interests, that he is just interested in the money of the moneybags returning to Russia. But, on the other hand, Putin's son-in-law, Kirill Shamalov (he is considered the manager of Putin's resources) is also a figurant of the sanctions list. And he is an oligarch, not an employee of the Prosecutor's Office or the Investigative Committee.
And Putin himself, in fact - also an oligarch. And also interested in preserving the existing system. A system that boils down to a simple formula: stealing in Russia, investing and living in the West. For Putin and other officials, of course, living in the West is not the main thing. But the main thing is to invest, store and increase. Russia is clearly not adapted for this.
American sanctions were a blow to this system. You can, of course, create a new, hermetically sealed. But will it be effective, will the population feed?. And most importantly - and why such a system is necessary for the oligarchs - those whose interests are protected by the state and Putin?.
The Kremlin does not exclude that Putin will meet with the victims and explain why. But so far, Roman Abramovich went not to Russia, but to the US. And this, too, says a lot.
Perhaps, if the West acted also resolutely immediately after the annexation of the Crimea, much could be prevented. The policy of appeasement of the aggressor has never led to positive results - did not, and this time.
But to discuss what would have happened if Washington realized in time that an attack on Ukraine - not some kind of internal conflict in the post-Soviet space, but a blow to the whole West, is now meaningless. The main thing is that the Putin regime, after the new US sanctions, clearly revealed its vulnerable place, the very "Achilles' heel", which should be beaten up to the collapse of the regime or, at least, until it is completely tamed.
Original.