It is funny to see them show up every few months, buckets in hand, still trying to rewrite the parts of history they don't flat out ignore. Still unwilling to acknowledge Ukrainian sovreignty, still addicted to the GQP tripe where NATO is the instigator of, well, everything. Putin the warcriminal, who even treats his own like worms, always gets a pass. It might be old but it's still funny.
But since that muppet brought it up, in my experience, an easy way to tell if the economic prospects of a mafia group are good is to look for signs of people being cut from the take. Also life. The misery of the public also tends to indicate important details I think, and rightfully so, Russians indeed have a firm grasp on misery (and vodka).
Ruble is still a joke, much like their military. Quickly built tanks that lack the equivalents of Western optics/thermals/fire control/barrels, all manned with poorly trained conscripts who don't want to be there is not the asset some think it is. I mean think about it, that kind of recipe could lead to situations like, idk, a modern Russian tank getting taken out by IFVs run by gamers and a $4k drone.
"It's not about winning or not"