His war on Ukraine has caused both high and rising prices and labor shortages, because many workers have been mobilized or killed, while many others have fled the country.Heading into the Russian Central Bank’s regularly scheduled board meeting in late December, most observers expected monetary authorities to raise the policy rate from 21% to 23%. Yet the Russian Central Bank kept the rate unchanged, despite an increase in the official annual inflation figure, from 8.4% to 9.5% in the space of two months. It is easy to guess what happened. Just a day before, Putin said he had spoken with Russian Central Bank Chair Elvira Nabiullina, and it is safe to assume that he told her to leave the policy rate where it is.