00:00Right. And you just touched on what I was going to ask you next, which is about this economic Achilles heel.
00:06You mentioned a couple of indicators there, another couple of economic indicators that are flashing red in Russia.
00:12Q1 GDP is down very sharply, down to, I think, 1.4 percent.
00:19Manufacturing activity declining. Consumers tightening their belts.
00:23I saw the car sales were down 30 percent in June year on year.
00:27Inflation is high. There's a recession looming and the budget is strained.
00:30I mean, it could be, couldn't it, that if current sanctions, I mean, you seem to be suggesting perhaps they're not adequate.
00:37But if they were cranked up a bit, I mean, could this be the way to end the war?
00:42I think, again, to get to a ceasefire. Yes, I think that is the way to go.
00:46All of the indicators you just mentioned are indeed out there. They're real. They're flashing lights.
00:52Just last week, there was an economic conference in St. Petersburg where the head of the National Bank was talking about some of these indicators.
01:00And President Putin felt he had to step in and say, well, actually, things may be a little bit worse, but we are taking measures to deal with it.
01:09So even Putin was acknowledging that they are facing some of these issues.
01:14And if you're a consumer, OK, maybe Putin doesn't care about you that much, but your means are going to be really limited by inflation.
01:22And that that is a corrosive thing over time.
01:26And there are the official estimates of inflation perhaps are 11 to 13 percent.
