The UK's Sun newspaper reports:
[https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/38292605/wests-vow-cripple-moscows-rich-lies-tatters/]
'WHAT SANCTIONS?'
How the West's vow to cripple Moscow's rich lies in tatters 4 years on with shops full, imported cars & displays of wealth.
First of all, any article that begins with a phrase about Putin's 'full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022' is immediately suspect as even armchair generals know there was no full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Why?
Well, because:
1. A full-scale invasion would have been proceeeded by an aerial bombardment that would have flattened Ukraine.
2. A full-scale invasion would have required at least 5-10 times the number of men and materials (Hitler launched 1 million or so men in his full-scale invasion of Russia in 1941).
3. A full-scale invasion of Ukraine would have most likely triggered a nuclear war in Europe and even Putin isn't that daft!
That's why Putin called it a Special Military Operation (SMO) because it wasn't a full-scale invasion and was never meant to be but the MSM persist in their mischief-making.
The hilarious Sun article shows a photo of a couple of obviously wealthy Russians, decked out in the latest designer brands, checking the quality of apples piled up in a store.
In the photo, the supermarket shelves are stacked with produce - unlike the shelves of UK supermarkets when COVID ravaged supplies and people fought over the last few rolls of toilet paper and other essentials - something reported by The Daily Mail at the time.
[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/coronavirus/video-2133844/Video-Horrific-footage-shows-people-fighting-toilet-paper-Asda.html]
We are told that Russia relies on imported food - as does the UK of course - and that their food prices have risen by 18.5% in two years.
Lucky Russians!
According to the UK's ONS: In the last two years, food prices in the UK have risen by approximately 25% from January 2022 to January 2024.
And that's without sanctions...
Perhaps the UK should re-introduce rationing and resurrect the 'spirit of the Blitz' to get through its own 'cost-of-living' crisis?
Russia's rich are partying at Courchevel whereas the elites in the West, including the UK's former Ambassador to the USA, have spent the last few decades partying with Epstein!
Poor Lyudmila is paying £110 a month for her typical Moscow flat, something you could do in London ... in 1950.
And the Sun also points out:
In January, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) downgraded its growth forecasts for Russia to an estimate of just 0.8 per cent in 2026.
While neglecting to mention that, according to The Telegraph: UK faces worst living standards growth in the West, warns IMF
[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/10/14/imf-downgrades-british-growth-weeks-before-budget/]
The Sun article quotes a casualty ratio of 6 to 1 between Russian forces and Ukrainian forces (325,000 to 55,000) which hardly seems credible given that we are always being told by Ukrainian sources that Russia has more artillery shells, missiles, drones - you name it.
A weaponry superiority that presumably is not being used against Ukrainian troops.
This jolly 'SMO anniversary' article provides some nice comedy - Carry On Kiev style - but is a clear indication that the Sun should have stuck with its buxom page three girls and not tried to venture into balanced reporting.