Putin on brink as Russian leader faces major internal revolt – 'Patience has run out'

Putin is under pressure from business elites (Image: Getty)

Vladimir Putin is facing a major revolt from Russia's big business elites, who have seen sales plunge to their lowest level since the 1998 financial crisis. A lethal combination of tightening sanctions, rising interest rates and a sharp economic slowdown have pushed Russian industry to the brink of catastrophe.

Top managers at some of Russia's major industrial companies say sales in 2025 are the worst since the rouble devaluation fiasco of 27 years ago. The currency crisis of 1998 led to a banking collapse that wiped out people's savings, hyperinflation (84%) and plunging real incomes. Latest economic data for November from the Kremlin's statistics agency Rosstat show the extent of problems facing Russian industry and the economy in general.

Last month, production volumes in Russia fell by 0.7% year-on-year: metallurgy fell by 4.1%, chemicals by 1.7%, and mechanical engineering by 5.4%. For the first time in 15 years, food production also began to decline, down 0.8%.

However, the hardest hit sectors were those manufacturing vehicles and agricultural machinery. Production of cars plummeted by 34%, trucks by 43%, tractors by 61% and buses by 28%.

Industry bosses are pessimistic that demand will pick up any time soon and help relieve the huge pressures their businesses are under.

Researchers at Russia's Institute of Economic Forecasting noted that anger at the Kremlin was rapidly growing among business executives.

"Industry endured the initial period of the artificial cooling of the Russian economy with understanding, but in 2025, its patience ran out," they wrote.

The economist Alexandra Prokopenko said Russia's military economy is undergoing "reverse deindustrialisation",

"High-tech sectors are giving way to labor-intensive, low-productivity industries, while the civilian economy stagnates and military production takes priority," she wrote.

She argued that the economy is "frozen" and "unstable", adding: "The closest analogy is a car idling in neutral, its engine overheating.

"The car doesn't move forward or backward, but the longer it sits, the more damage accumulates under the hood."