Trump Has Found Putin's Pain Points
- 8.02.2026, 15:57
The situation is "very, very bad" for the Kremlin.
Recently, the British newspaper The Telegraph drew attention to the complex situation with a sharp rise in the price of gold in Russia at the beginning of a full-scale war with Ukraine, which increased the value of Russian reserves by more than $200 billion. At the same time, there has been an 18% drop in the price of gold in recent weeks, which has called into question the viability of this resource for Russia, especially against the background that Russia has already sold off 71% of gold from the National Welfare Fund since 2022.
So the Russian economy now looks absolutely weak and problematic. This was stated by Russian opposition activist Olga Kurnosova in an exclusive interview with OBOZ.UA.
Russian economy and nuclear weapons
She said the collapse of the Russian economy is a more complex story than the gold price alone.
"Based on what we see, based on recent events, the situation in the Russian economy is very, very bad. Therefore, when we talk about the possibility of a truce, it is first of all connected with the problems in the Russian economy," the oppositionist said, and added that such actions on the part of US President Donald Trump are "pressure on some pain points" connected with the Russian economy, which is a higher priority issue.
At the same time, according to Kurnosova, the termination of the Strategic Arms Control Treaty will have more unpleasant consequences for Russia than for the US, as witnessed by the US and Russia, which is the most important issue in the world. World science has advanced far, and naturally, nuclear weapons are also experiencing innovation - they are also being modernized and are also changing," she summarizes.
Russian nuclear development is destroying Putin's entourage
Kurnosova emphasizes that despite the fact that Russia has a large nuclear potential, it does not have a qualitative component. This is mainly due to the fact that nuclear research depends on both the economy and science, which is also in decline.
These industries, as Kurnosova explains, are controlled by Vladimir Putin's entourage: Rosatom is controlled by Sergei Kirienko, and the Moscow-based Igor Kurchatov Institute is controlled by the under-sanctioned Mikhail Kovalchuk.
"Therefore, one should not expect any innovative solutions in the field of nuclear weapons, Russia simply does not have any capabilities. While the United States has such capabilities are enormous. And if we talk about what the United States is concerned about in this context, it is much more concerned about the fact that China is rapidly building up its nuclear arsenals, while having the opportunity, first of all economic, to build them up in their modern form," she said.