The group has been heavily involved in Russian efforts to capture the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine. Wagner is believed to be operating in several African countries, including Libya, Mali, and the Central African Republic. “I think it is now safe to say that the exponential increase in the migratory phenomenon departing from African shores is also, to a not insignificant extent, part of a clear strategy of hybrid warfare that the Wagner division is implementing, using its considerable weight in some African countries,” Crosetto said in a statement. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said on Monday that the rising number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean is part of “hybrid warfare” waged by Russia using mercenaries as proxies on countries supporting Ukraine. Very refreshing to see traditional rightwingers in power again instead of newly bred putinist bootlicker “right” with the help of RF money: Russia has stopped disclosing net capital outflow data. The central bank in February lowered its 2023 current account surplus forecast to $66 billion from $123 billion. Russia’s 2023 budget is based on a Urals price of $70.10 per barrel, but its average price in February was $49.56 a barrel, 1.86 times lower than in February 2022. Higher commodity prices throughout 2022 helped push the current account last year to $227.4 billion, up 86% from 2021.Ī slow recovery in imports in the second half of last year, combined with the drop in the value of exports, seen starkly in the lower price for Russia’s Urals blend URL-E, has put pressure on the rouble currency, which late last month slid to its weakest level since last April.

The current account, a measure of the difference between all money coming into a country through trade, investment and transfers, and what flows back out, had stood at $37.7 billion in January-February 2022.

Slumping revenue combined with soaring expenditure pushed Russia’s federal budget to a deficit of 2.58 trillion roubles ($33.8 billion) in the first two months of the year. Russia’s current account surplus hit a record high in 2022, helped by a fall in imports and by robust oil and gas exports that kept foreign money flowing in despite Western efforts to isolate the Russian economy over the conflict in Ukraine.īut Moscow is now contending with sharply lower export revenues, down 24.8% year-on-year in the first two months of the year, in part due to price caps and embargoes on Russian oil and gas products.Įnergy revenues have been particularly low, down 46.4% in January-February. MOSCOW, March 10 (Reuters) – Russia’s current account surplus shrank to $12.9 billion in January-February, the central bank said on Friday, a more than 65% drop on an annual basis as reduced export revenues and recovering imports squeeze the country’s capital buffers. Leaving 2023 start economic RF data for the future reference:

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