Vladimir Putin is running Russia’s economy dangerously hot

The history of Russian inflation is long and painful. After revolution in 1917 the country dealt with years of soaring prices; it then faced sustained price pressure under Josef Stalin’s early rule. The end of the Soviet Union, the global financial crisis of 2007-09 and then Vladimir Putin’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014 also brought trouble. Fast-forward to the present, as the war in Ukraine nears its second anniversary, and Russian prices are again accelerating—even as inflation eases elsewhere.