PPP is good for measuring purchasing power domestically, but you can still have high purchasing power without having a strong industry. I find steel production is a good proxy to look at. The US produces around 80 million tons while Russia 70 million tons. In terms of military production, Russia is far ahead in key areas like artillery shell production pumping out 3x as many as the entire west combined. Russia also exports more raw materials by value. I’d argue these are the two main factors in terms of the war. Russia is able to hold its own in terms of military production and their massive commodity exports give them a lot of geopolitical leverage.
PPP is good for measuring purchasing power domestically, but you can still have high purchasing power without having a strong industry. I find steel production is a good proxy to look at. The US produces around 80 million tons while Russia 70 million tons. In terms of military production, Russia is far ahead in key areas like artillery shell production pumping out 3x as many as the entire west combined. Russia also exports more raw materials by value. I’d argue these are the two main factors in terms of the war. Russia is able to hold its own in terms of military production and their massive commodity exports give them a lot of geopolitical leverage.