Putin’s Weaker Than He Looks. Seize the Opportunity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to project an image of economic strength while prosecuting the war in Ukraine, as if he could easily outlast the West’s efforts to counter his aggression. If President-elect Donald Trump and other Western leaders want to negotiate a prudent peace deal, they shouldn’t buy it.

More than most autocrats, Putin understands the importance of economic resilience. Before invading, he built a fiscal fortress to protect his regime. It included a balanced federal budget; minimal foreign borrowing; hundreds of billions of dollars in central bank reserves; and a $175 billion national wealth fund, designed to smooth the effect of volatile energy prices on the country’s fossil-fuel-dependent revenue.