The West found Russia’s “shadow reserves”: where did the $80 billion come from

According to Bloomberg, Moscow managed to keep about a third of its income abroad

During the year of sanctions, Russia has accumulated $ 80 billion of “shadow reserves” received in 2022 from the export of raw materials, Bloomberg reports. According to the agency, the amount is distributed in the form of cash, real estate and investments in companies abroad. Meanwhile, independent experts emphasize that Bloomberg is different in that it often creates artificially different bright news stories, which are later duplicated and discussed by other world media. Oftentimes, these claims are not backed up.

Now there is news about Russia’s supposedly accumulated “shadow” income: it’s just the difference between exports and imports, and literally such reserves are expressed in cash reserves, real estate and investments, says Ivan Samoylenko, managing partner of the communications agency B&C Agency.

“Such “calculations” are extremely difficult to evaluate – these are not clear statistics, not accurate cash flows, etc. Therefore, you should not particularly believe the statements of Bloomberg. Earlier, the same agency issued a forecast that the Russian GDP would collapse by 10-15% by the end of 2022 (did not come true), oil production would fall by 10-15% (this also did not happen), etc. “There are many examples,” continues Samoylenko. “To assess the income and expenses of the state, it is worth relying on the data of the Federal Customs Service (they are currently open and give a real picture of deliveries abroad), Rosstat, and the Ministry of Energy.”

According to the interlocutor of MK, what the Western media publishes often has no factual basis, but at the same time it is an act of anti-Russian propaganda and pursues purely political goals.

“These statements have practically nothing to do with the internal Russian life and the real state of the economy of our country,” the expert concludes.