Page 9 - RusRPTAug24

With cash in their pockets and foreign travel difficult and expensive, Russian have gone on a shopping spree, with domestic tourism being the number one expenditure item and restaurants and cafes doing a booming business. Muscovites say the town is alive and war in Ukraine is having little impact on daily life.
The feel-good factor has pushing Putin’s approval rating above 80% and the majority of Russians believe that the country is going in the “right direction.” The UN upped Russia’s standing to “high income country” in July as a result of the rising wages and economic growth.
The war is going Russia’s way too. The six months hiatus in US support left Ukraine’s energy infrastructure undefended and Russian missiles have destroyed 90% of the non-nuclear installed capacity - about half the total.
Russian forces have been making modest advances along the entire front line, but thanks to the swarms of Ukrainian drones have not been able to make a decisive break through. However, as Ukraine is suffering from the lack of men, money and materiel time is on Russia’s side and Russian President Vladimir Putin is happy to continue his war of attrition.
The calls for a negotiated ceasefire were rising in volume in July and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for a second peace summit in November to follow on from the failed Swiss peace summit held on June 16-17. A deal will be difficult to do as Putin will demand concessions of territory and Zelenskiy will likely refuse, but the start of talks would be welcome.
9 RUSSIA Country Report August 2024 www.intellinews.com