Report by murdered politician estimates Russians lost over $54 billion since Crimea's annexation
The 64-page report alleges that Russia indeed played an active part in the war in Ukraine, despite the Kremlin's ongoing denial of any involvement.
It also noted that the Russian people paid a very heavy cost for the Kremlin's involvement in Ukraine and Crimea.
"Thus, the price for a confrontation with Ukraine for the citizens of the Russian Federation was an additional price increase of 5.5% in the year following the annexation of Crimea. This 5.5% inflation means that Russians lost about 2 trillion rubles from their salaries and about 750 billion rubles from their savings," according to the report.
That's $39.5 billion and $14.8 billion, respectively, according to today's ruble-dollar conversation rate.
Nemtsov and his co-author, the director of macroeconomic research at the School of Economics, Sergei Aleksashenko, write that the ban on US and EU companies to provide loans and credit, and to purchase shares and bonds of Russian banks and entities controlled by the state led to the "most profound effect on our economy."
"As a result, for the payment of foreign debts of Russian borrowers had to increase the demand for foreign currency on the domestic market in the autumn of 2014, which led to a precipitous drop in the ruble exchange rate and an inflation surge," according to the report.
Furthermore, Russian ban on Western food and raw materials imports contributed to the acceleration of inflation, they write.
"In 2013, consumer price inflation in Russia amounted to 6.5%. In the 12 months since the annexation of Crimea, it accelerated to 17%, [which led to] a decrease of 11.5% in incomes and savings of Russians," the report notes.