FactualThe installation of the world’s major manufacturers has earned the city the synonym of an “economic miracle”, but the most dynamic regions which have been able to attract investors are also the most threatened by Western retaliatory measures against the ” special operation” in Ukraine.
If he had known, Dmitri Petrov might not have undertaken this imposing project: the development of a second floor in the charming brick house that he has been decorating, with his wife, for three decades already. The result is convincing, however: the house moves forward, the garden takes on the air of a small English park, with its neat pond, its well-mown lawn and the vegetable garden, very Russian, which waits for summer to produce juicy vegetables.
But there are two problems: since the beginning of the “special operation” in Ukraine, on February 24, inflation is galloping, the price of building materials has almost doubled. And then, explains Mr. Petrov, 50, the time is not for grandiose projects, but rather for uncertainty, in this region of Kaluga, south of Moscow, on which the bad wind of sanctions is starting to blow. .
Dmitry Petrov is a worker at Volkswagen, a lift driver. Tomorrow, he will begin his third month of technical unemployment. His pay, which he usually judges ” very good “, is reduced by one third. So he not only pays attention to the price of building materials, but also to the price of basic necessities, such as milk, which he adores. If he had known what a mess Russia was going to find itself in, with these sanctions that he finds “unjust”Dmitry Petrov would have waited a bit.
At one time, in Russia, we spoke of the “economic miracle” of Kalouga, a city of 330,000 inhabitants specialized, during the Soviet era, in the defense industry. It was at the end of the 2000s, when, one after the other, car factories settled: Volkswagen, Volvo Trucks, Stellantis, which produces Peugeot, Citroën, Opel vehicles… The city budget has exploded. We redid the sidewalks and, in schools, young people dreamed of going to work in the car. Today, the factories employ some 7,000 people, to which must be added subcontractors and induced activity.
Sudden disconnection
But the strength of Kalouga is now turning against her. Here is another “unfair” : the most dynamic Russian regions which have been able to attract investors are the most threatened by Western sanctions and, more broadly, by their sudden disconnection from the circuits of globalization, mainly logistics, up to the refusal of container operators to work in the country. Volkswagen and Volvo were the first, between the end of February and the beginning of March, to suspend their activities; Stellantis held out until April 19.
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