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War & Profit

Inside Moscow, the war economy is booming: restaurants are packed, businesses have pivoted to Asia, and, somehow, elites are richer than ever. But with prices rising and the ruble plummeting, insiders worry the good times are a mirage.

The ruble’s troubles in recent weeks are just the most obvious indicator that all isn’t totally well under that glittery façade.
The ruble’s troubles in recent weeks are just the most obvious indicator that all isn’t totally well under that glittery façade. Photo: Contributor/Getty Images
Julia Ioffe
August 23, 2023

Last week, the ruble punched through a psychologically important threshold: 100 rubles to the dollar. When I left Moscow a decade ago, the exchange rate was about 30, and on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, it was just under 80. When Russian tanks crossed the border in February 2022, the ruble crashed to 120 before stabilizing for months at the head-scratching low of 60 for the second half of the year. Since the beginning of 2023, it’s been creeping steadily upward, and has been scratching at the 100 ceiling for a good part of the summer.