In other words, the CBR is one of the very few independent institutions left in the Russian Federation.

Central banks worldwide have been redoubts of technocratic resistance against national-populism, in part because even tyrants and would-be tyrants need a functional financial system to be able to pay their muscle.

Even Donald Trump, I'm told, was reluctant to replace Janet Yellen at first---ditching her for Jerome Powell was the suggestion of his advisors. And even the Powell Fed pushed back much harder against Trump than almost any other civilian institution in DC.

But seriously---the job of a central bank is to issue currency and regulate its value, not to be the last refuge of sanity when the government falls into the hands of lunatics.

Fireproof: MikeyFuccon: Central banks worldwide have been redoubts of technocratic resistance against national-populism, in part because even tyrants and would-be tyrants need a functional financial system to be able to pay their muscle.

Yep, otherwise you end up like Mugabe's Zimbabwe.

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Yeah, this, pretty much.

And Zimbabwe wasn't at war, just really badly governed. There's a limit to how much money you can raise for your war by printing it, as the Confederacy found out.