No economic disaster in Russia

As I was reading the issue of June 7, 2020, I discovered a strange article, titled “China’s wolf warrior diplomacy” by Mr. Elfren S. Cruz. The piece in question is not specifically about Russia, rather about China’s approach to foreign policy. However, for some reason, right in the middle of his musings about governments using nationalism to distract their citizens from economic problems the author suddenly declares that the Russian President Vladimir Putin is still in power because the people think that he is responsible for making Russia respected as a world power. My first thought was that this statement wound up in the article by accident because it has nothing to do with the Chinese foreign policy or anything that came afterwards. In addition, I was quite surprised by how the author managed to squeeze two misleading notions into one single sentence.

First, I do not understand how it occurred to Mr. Cruz to bring up some kind of “economic disaster” that is allegedly unfolding in Russia. This statement reminded me of how back in 2015 the then US President B. Obama was once so smug to say that the Russian economy was in tatters. Up to the present day, no one was able to find those tatters anywhere because that statement was pure wishful thinking on the part of the ex-President. I can only hope that this is not the case with the author of the article in question.

While there is no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the global economy, Russia is hardly a good example. Fact is that in the first quarter of 2020 Russia’s GDP grew by 1.8% in spite of the falling oil prices. Just to give you something to compare it with – in the same period of time the US GDP shrank by 5%, China’s GDP - by 6.8%, both Germany and Japan lost about 2.2%. By now, Russia’s GDP has declined by 1.9% only.

While unemployment in Russia has grown by 4.6% during the last six months, the income of the population has actually grown by 0.9% regardless of the global crisis. Inflation in Russia has amounted to roughly 3%. The year 2020 is certainly not shaping out to be an easy one, but I cannot understand why my country was chosen to be the area of an “economic disaster” and how it is related to President Putin who, last time I checked, was not responsible for the pandemic. Furthermore, Russia is still among the countries with the lowest national debt in the world (Russian national debt amounts to 490.8 bln. USD). Thanks to the sanctions imposed by the collective West Russia has considerably increased its industrial potential, ensured its food and energy security and significantly lowered its dependence on foreign trade. Very few nations can say the same about themselves. Another fact that proves that the Russian economy is doing fine is that last year Russia has become the world’s second biggest arms exporter. In addition, Russia maintain substantial reserves in currency and precious metals.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also proven the resilience of both the Russian economy and society. A number of preemptive measures that were in place before the pandemic and very quick response including the construction of additional hospital facilities has allowed us to maintain a very low mortality rate (1.3%) and, ultimately, to preserve our senior citizens – the most vulnerable members of our society. In addition, Russian scientists managed to develop a COVID-19 test and carried out the second highest number of tests in the world. A medicine against COVID-19 has also been developed and is in the finishing stage of clinical trials.

As for the high approval rating of Russia’s current leadership, I have to say that unfortunately Mr. Cruz does not see the full picture. Ironically, President Putin remains popular because it was he who put an end to a true economic and political disaster back in the 1990-ties. When he was first elected President, my country was sliding deeper into a systemic crisis with each passing day. It was under President Putin that Russia rebuilt its economy and restored political stability. His work prevented us from becoming a third world country and yes, he made some of our foreign partners understand that Russia is entitled to its national interests.

Everyone appreciates it when others respect their country. This is the part that Mr. Cruz actually got right.

Russia has been among the main players on the international arena for centuries. At the same time, my country never pretended to be the hegemon, never spoke of its exceptionalism and never pretended to be “the shining temple on the hill” or “the only indispensable superpower.” National pride and self-consciousness are essential for Russians, Filipinos and all other nations. However, President Putin is not only associated with restoring them or the Russian people, but for preserving the country itself and this is the cause of his popularity. Nevertheless, up to this day not a single member of the Russian Government has ever mentioned any intentions of turning Russia into a world power.

I hope that you will publish this letter simply because the statement made by Mr. Elfren S. Cruz in his article is quite misleading and therefore needs an explanation. As a diplomat, I am confident that mutual understanding is the most important thing we can ever achieve but it can be ruined very easily by spreading such half-baked notions. – NATALIA LINOVITSKAYA, Press Attaché, Russian Embassy Manila