Oil Price Makes Putin Nervous

• Leonid Nevzlin
• 22.12.2025, 21:05

Sanctions are finally working the way they should have been working all along.

Russian oil has dropped in price to $34 a barrel, Bloomberg writes. This is already so low that it could make Putin nervous. The Russian budget continues to depend on the sale of raw materials, and there are more and more problems with that process. The sanctions are finally working as they should have all along.

Urals at $34 is the level at which exports remain formally possible, but economically almost meaningless.

Even with tax readjustments and manual management of the ruble exchange rate, oil revenues no longer cover rising military spending. This means the need for constant additional financing - through domestic borrowing, through emission mechanisms.

Leonid Nevzlin, Telegram