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Ars Technica May 20, 2026 at 14:28 Big Tech Rising Hot

Russia's plan to advertise on rockets and spacecraft takes off

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By Eric Berger Original source
Russia's plan to advertise on rockets and spacecraft takes off

It's difficult to know the true state of the Russian economy, both because the country's financial reporting is sparse and because official figures are unreliable. But things probably aren't great. This week, Sweden's minister of foreign affairs, Maria Malmer Stenergard, shared her country's assessment that the Russian economy has likely contracted over the last five years amid the war in Ukraine. Inflation is also high, and international sanctions have cost Russia $450 billion since the onset of the war in February 2022. Russia's economy is currently smaller than that of Texas, Stenergard said. By most measures, then, the economy is not in tip-top shape. Moreover, the war is draining a large amount of the country's financial resources, with defense spending reaching a post-Soviet record of about 7 percent of government spending. Read full article Comments

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May 20, 2026 at 14:28 Ars Technica

Russia's plan to advertise on rockets and spacecraft takes off

We now pause for a word from our sponsors.

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