Kremlin secret paper paints a bleak picture of the economy

Dusseldorf, Moscow Russia could face a long and deep recession as Western sanctions widen. Industrial sectors will suffer the most, according to an internal report prepared by Kremlin officials.

The document shows that the state of the Russian economy is far worse than the Russian authorities officially portray.

For months after Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine began, officials and pundits have studied the impact of Russia’s economic isolation. The experts prepared the report for a meeting of top officials on August 30. Financial news agency Bloomberg was able to view the report and had it corroborated by people familiar with the deliberations.

The document describes three scenarios of how the Russian economy could develop. Two of them predict that the Russian economy will contract massively next year and will not recover before 2030 at the earliest, when it could return to pre-crisis levels.