Far Crimea: war comes to Russia’s door
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What warning did Zelensky give about Moscow after the recent bombardment?
The Economist.
Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. I'm Rosie Blore. Today on the show, how the value of SpaceX affects you and me, and remembering Alan Greenspan, the maestro of monetary policy. But first
Last week, after Ukraine suffered a particularly massive overnight bombardment, President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a warning: if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn too. Since then, the intensity of Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory has been stepped up. Smoke obscured Moscow's skyline as oil refineries were set ablaze. The Crimean Peninsula, which has been under Russian occupation since 2014, has also been attacked. The campaign aims to bring war to Russian's doorstep. The question is whether it will alter the course of the conflict or simply provoke further escalation.
Криміна has been under attack from Ukrainian drones for months now.
Matt Steinglass is our Europe editor.
Most recently, drones have hit power lines causing blackouts. The Ukrainians blew up an oil terminal in Kerch, and they have repeatedly hit ferries, which served as one of the peninsula's main arteries of supply. Lorries are having a lot of trouble getting through. They have to take a long highway, but that highway is also vulnerable to Ukrainian drones. It's littered now with the hulks of burnt-out cars. trucks. And last week Mikhailo Fyodorov, Ukraine's defense minister, said that Crimea could, in effect, become an island. That's what he's trying to accomplish.
Matt, why is it that Crimea has been so heavily targeted?
Crimea is an extremely significant place for both countries. The military conflict between Ukraine and Russia really got started back in 2014 when Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Crimea. The reason why Putin was so eager to get Crimea was partly military. It served as a huge naval base for the Black Sea fleet, but it was also spiritual. Crimea is a place that Russians claim was the Site of an important conversion to Christianity a thousand years ago, which uh they see as a civilizational marker. It was also a region that they tried for hundreds of years to seize from the Ottoman Turks, hence the Crimean War in the 1850s against England and France. And it became sort of a jewel of the empire, both for the Russian Empire and for the Soviet Empire.
It boasts absolutely beautiful beaches and becomes became a resort area under the Soviet Union. It still is a resort area. Putin thinks of it as the spiritual source of the Russian nation.
Why is Crimea being targeted so heavily by Ukrainian drones?
So it is no surprise that he has been very reluctant to talk about the latest Ukrainian campaigns to make it all but unlivable.
You say that Putin's been reluctant to talk about the campaigns. How much do Russian people actually know of what's happening in Crimea then?
One reason why the Ukrainians are eager to attack Crimea is because when you attack a resort area that many Russians are familiar with, it registers more deeply in the Russian consciousness than if you just attack random areas of regions that border on Ukraine. Uh Russians are starting to get the news that you can't travel easily to Crimea, that you can't buy fuel there anymore. Uh, they shut down all fuel sales at petrol stations last week. Because they can't effectively get petrol into the peninsula. And that's extremely important for the Ukrainians because Vladimir Putin's control over his country's media system is so tight that it has not been clear until now just how much Russians understand about how badly the war is going at the front and about the costs that Ukraine is imposing.
Now, Crimea is not the only area where fuel is rationed. About half of Russian's recions now have rationed. And petrol because Ukraine's drone strikes on refineries have been so effective. But nevertheless, Crimea is a very good place to hit if you want Russians to understand that there really is a war going on.
And Matt, do we know how people in Crimea itself are responding to these attacks?
We've had reporting from inside Crimea, and the reports that we're getting vary substantially, depending on who you're talking to.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What warning did Zelensky give about Moscow after the recent bombardment?
0:03–3:21
2
Why is Crimea being targeted so heavily by Ukrainian drones?
3:21–6:49
3
How aware are ordinary Russians of the fighting in Crimea?
6:49–10:22
4
What effect do Ukraine’s long‑range strikes on Russian cities have on public perception?
10:22–13:22
5
How did SpaceX’s historic IPO unfold and why was it so unusual?
13:22–15:43
6
What drives the near‑trillion‑dollar valuation of SpaceX?
15:43–18:49
7
How will SpaceX’s inclusion in major stock‑market indices affect everyday investors?
18:49–23:25
8
Why is Alan Greenspan’s legacy still relevant to today’s monetary policy?
23:25–27:25