(MOSCOW) – Russia’s economy continues to be presented as resilient but beneath the surface the cracks are becoming harder to conceal. In a recent conversation on the podcast The Global Gambit, analyst Konstantin Samoilov provided a detailed assessment of the situation in 2026, highlighting worsening regional budget crises, rising inflation, declining public services, labour shortages, hidden deficits and growing pressure on the wartime system maintained by the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. While official data still suggests stability, Samoilov and other analysts argue that the economic model now relies heavily on secrecy, state spending and shrinking reserves. Life outside Moscow tells…