From a percentage of GDP, they're minor in comparison. Wheat is the top non-fossil fuel export from Russia, and it was 5th on their list, as of 2019 (https://oec.world/en/profile/country/rus). That year, wheat was a little over $8.1B in export value. The total value of the top 5 Russian exports (including wheat) was $241.2B. So wheat was about 3.4% of the value of the top five exports.

Macroeconomically-speaking, Russia is a gas station.

The only person in the fucking world saying the ukranian government is full of genocidal Nazis is Putin. There's literally zero evidence of a genocide in ukraine.

they are a key supplier for multiple metals, that are essential for a lot of industries even if the overall monetary value is not big

This post was edited by JohnnyMcCoy on Feb 22 2022 04:29pm

They're about as economically diversified as Canada. Less than most of the west, far more than a true gas station like Nigeria. There's something to be said about the self-sufficiency of any economy that can feed itself without imports, meet its own energy needs, build its own military and develop its own technology. Just because its weighted heavily to one end doesn't mean the country is economically precarious like some mideast oil kingdom that can't even get its own potable water. I'd figure their biggest risk is political instability after Putin dies, more than exports drying up.

"literally zero evidence" and yet I could write you a 100 page book detailing all of Ukraine's crimes against civilians in Eastern Ukraine, all documented with video and photographic proof if I felt like it.

And it's not just Putin. It's anybody that ignored MSM coverage of the conflict and has actually made a determined effort to find the truth. This includes Americans, Europeans, anyone of any nationality that has bothered to do their own research. It's not my fault you haven't ran into one before.

The fascist meth'ed out freaks in Ukraine burned 40 people alive in Odessa, received protection from police prosecution after the murders. They have a literal national holiday celebrating the life of Stepan Bandera. If you don't know who he is, look it up. Both of these things are facts that can be quickly verified by anybody with an internet connection.

There are pictures all over the internet taken by Right Sector, Azov, Aidar and others of themselves. Pictures of armed men covered in Nazi tattoos and swastikas. Also easily verified by anyone with an internet connection.

Their airstrikes and artillery slaughtered thousands more. Any place they managed to take over, they brutalized civilians, and openly massacred anyone they thought were pro-Russian, dumping their bodies into unmarked graves all over Eastern Ukraine.

They tortured POW's, and arbitrarily executed them until they realized that they could be used in prisoner exchanges and stopped doing it. Captured rebels, after being released told stories about how they were all brutally beaten into an inch of their lives. In some cases, the Ukrainians had cut off their trigger fingers before releasing them.

Just yesterday they use a roadside bomb to kill an entire family that just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ukraine has become totally Nazi-fi'd, and just like how water is wet, it's easily verifiable information.

At any rate, I won't let anyone downplay their warcrimes. I'm pissed and tired of watching the victims, whom suffered under horrible conditions for years, who lost family and friends to shelling, continue to be blamed for something that isn't even their fault, or for that matter, be ignored as if they never existed and never brutalized.

The best you came up with the last time I asked was a few tweets showing bullet holes in buildings.

Never said they weren't. But if you had to use a general term that described the Russian economy, "gas station" applies. Hell, the top three exports are all petroleum products (#4 is coal), and those three alone comprise 53% of their total exports.

Jeebus, look at all the arguments I'm not making that you're mentioning.

One of the first videos I ever watched about Ukraine was taken in the aftermath of an airstrike from a Ukrainian SU-25 on a local government administration building in Donetsk.

A woman, just a random civilian had been in the area at the time. She was literally torn in half, both legs and her pelvis completely missing, her intestines splayed out on the ground.. I remember the scene well. She had red hair covered in dust.

She was still alive as the cameraman had started shooting mere moments after the airstrike. She raised her hand out towards the cameraman in her dying moments.

That video has probably been removed from youtube by now, but that should give you an idea of the brutality these people suffered through. I certainly won't forget it..

I remember a video I once saw of Chopstickz777 licking putin's boots. I can't find it on the internet now but I'll never forget it.