Russia didn't collapse after 2022 — and the Kremlin never stops saying so. But beneath the stocked supermarket shelves and the headline GDP figures, independent economists describe something slower and far more dangerous: a war machine consuming the very foundations it stands on.

In this episode of The Veritas Brief, we go beneath Russia's surface stability to the structural crisis its own budget documents reveal — the GDP illusion built almost entirely on war spending, a sovereign wealth fund nearly drained, an oil paradox where Russia sells more crude and earns less money, a labour shortage even Putin's closest allies now call a threat to national survival, and a deliberate blackout of official data.

This analysis draws entirely on independent institutional research: SIPRI, the Bank of Finland's Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT), Chatham House, the Kyiv School of Economics, and the IMF.

📖 Read the full investigation — every figure, source, and chart:https://www.veritaseuropaea.eu/2026/05/the-real-russian-economy-war-budgets-and-structural-decay/

🎙️ The Veritas Brief is a slow-journalism podcast on European and world affairs. No noise. No rush. Just context, evidence, and clear analysis.

▶️ Subscribe for new episodes — and support independent, reader-funded journalism for just €2/week at https://www.veritaseuropaea.eu

Germany’s far-right AfD is no longer just a protest movement. It is now leading national polls, gaining historic strength in eastern Germany, and moving closer to real political power.

In this episode of Veritas Brief, a slow-journalism podcast by Veritas Europaea, we examine what the AfD’s rise could mean not only for Germany, but for Europe and the wider global economy.

This is not only a story about party politics. It is a story about markets, the euro, German industry, energy policy, supply chains, investor confidence, and the future of European integration.

We look at why the AfD is gaining support, how Germany’s economic stagnation has created political volatility, what a potential AfD breakthrough could mean for the DAX, German Bunds, the euro, the Mittelstand, and why the debate around “Dexit” could become one of the most serious risks facing Europe in the coming years.

Rather than following the daily news cycle, this episode takes a deeper look at the structural forces behind Germany’s political shift — and why the consequences could reach far beyond Berlin.