Putin is on a road to nowhere with the Soviet-era Moskvitch Business

But even if there was some logic to reviving a car that was confined to the dustbin of history long ago, the practical hurdles make the project an absolute non-starter.

First, there’s the capital needed to essentially create a new brand of car from scratch. A project of this nature would cost billions, in a country on the verge of financial ruin.

Second, importing the necessary components and materials would be next to impossible given the collapse of trade between Russia’s pariah regime and the rest of the world.

One of the main reasons Renault and other manufacturers have stopped production or pulled out altogether is that it has become increasingly difficult to import the necessary parts. Chief executive Luca de Meo told the Financial Times the company was “forced to decide” because it was no longer able to build cars in the country.

This shows that the regime is rapidly running out of ideas, friends and, perhaps most importantly, time to avoid a shortage of goods and basic commodities that the Russian people take for granted.

In many ways, Russia is more excluded from the international system than it was under communist rule. At least the USSR was still able to trade with the rest of the Eastern bloc. Yet Putin is already so isolated that he is forced to try to revive the disastrous economic planning of the Soviet era.

Sooner or later, ordinary Russians are going to realize that their quality of life is going down, no matter how much propaganda is pushed down their throats. It will be a turning point in Putin’s grip on power.