Putins banker feels the heat as Russias elite turn on each other [Video]

The wartime economy that Russia spurred into overdrive is slowing, causing tensions among the country’s economic elites as the war with Ukraine approaches its fourth year.

Many Russian civilian industries have stopped growing, and some had even gone into decline by October, according to the latest official data. The country’s currency, the rouble, dropped to its weakest level in two years last week, and businesses say they are struggling to get new loans or to get paid by clients.

The central bank sharply raised the country’s benchmark interest rate in October to 21 per cent, the highest since the end of …