Der russische Wirtschaftsminister gibt zu, dass „die Reserven weitgehend aufgebraucht sind“, während der kommunistische Gesetzgeber vor einer Revolution im Stil von 1917 warnt, da das BIP schrumpft

The Kremlin offered more indications that it’s acknowledging Russia’s economy is in trouble after years of relying on military spending for growth.

Last week, Economy Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov told a business conference that the economy “is not easy” and called for reallocating the workforce, which has been tight as Russia’s war on Ukraine and the boom in defense production have created labor shortages.

“Of course, it’s not easy to find staff, and salaries are rising,” he said. “But nonetheless, we coped with all of that somehow because somewhere in the economy there were reserves. Our current records show that these reserves have largely been used up; this truly is the situation and the macroeconomic situation is substantially more difficult.”

Reshetnikov added that the ruble has appreciated more than he would prefer and that interest rates are still too high despite a series of rate cuts from the central bank.

Businesses will have to figure out how to mange costs and spending while also boosting productivity, he said, citing advances in artificial intelligence.

Read more: [https://fortune.com/2026/04/25/russia-economy-reserves-labor-shortage-inflation-gdp-financial-crisis-revolution/](https://fortune.com/2026/04/25/russia-economy-reserves-labor-shortage-inflation-gdp-financial-crisis-revolution/)

Why would an minister of economy of totalitarian state that always tries to posture themselves a strong ecc.. admit to something like this? Something is going on behind the scenes, is it a bluff? Some internal power struggle? Because if this man is openly speaking that economy is in a bad shape, he might be better be staying away from the windows unless it’s somehow intended as some communications manoeuvre