October, 1936

With Germany's piracy against neutral shipping entering certain Russians via the implementation of a pacific blockade - but not actually a blockade - of Russia and the stopping of overland trade between the Russian State and German-influenced Eastern Europe continuing to be prolonged, both Russia, Eastern Europe and Germany have suffered economically.

Russia

Russia, burdened with a direct reduction of trade with the closure of Eastern European markets has tried to circumvent the pacific blockade of the Gulf of Finland and the Black Sea has seen it try to make trade agreements with the rest of the world. However, without the ability to transport goods into and out of Petrograd and Rostov-von-Don - two of Russia's biggest existing ports, Russia has seen its recovery falter and virtually grind to a halt as most shipping has turned to the White Sea ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk and recently established trade through Georgia and the Caspian Sea to Persia and beyond. While these ports were underutilized in the era of the Russian Republic, the sudden influx of trade and material northward in order to buy and sell has created a queue of goods waiting to be shipped overseas as dockworkers are pressed to rush the loading and unloading of goods. Scheduling for the export and import of most goods is virtually impossible to the backlog and the further this goes on, the more the Russian economy will suffer long-term. While improvements and expansions of the White Sea will mitigate some of these effects, those improvements will take time to be constructed and shipping in the White Sea will still be subject to seasonal ice-flow.

Eastern Europe

Probably hardest hit by the spat between Russia and Germany, the blockade of goods across the joint Mitteleuropa-Russian border has seen a tumbling of futures following the dismal outlook on Russia and Germany reaching an agreement in the near future. While Mitteleuropa was designed to make the German economy be self-sufficient and built around the German economy, the concerns of Eastern Europe's economy was not factored into the creation of Mitteleuropa. While bailouts have helped Eastern Europe's economy from not fully faltering,As such, the United Baltic Duchy has seen pressure against the German dominated government as the Forest Brothers - Latvian and Estonian partisans fighting against the German settler state, have seen a dramatic surge in support as the Forest Brothers seek to take advantage of this continued economic downturn and are blaming the Rigan government for its heavy reliance on the German economy.

Ukraine

Hit the worst out of the Eastern European area, Ukraine is already on the verge of going into an economic depression, continued adherence to the German led blockade would mean that Ukraine would just fall into an economic depression for the immediate future. While Western Ukraine and Kiev aren't as hit as hard due to the availability of trade with the Austrian economic sphere, Eastern Ukraine has seen a battering as local businesses are forced to either cut hours even more and the industrial hubs of the Donbass have fallen silent, with a good portion of their economy reliant on trade with Southern Russia. While some industrial activity is still present, a good portion of industry has been either shut down or heavily scaled back as there isn't enough demand for both German and Ukrainian goods.

Germany

Arguably hit the least in terms of relative economic impact due to its domineering presence and economic influence over the rest of Mitteleuropa, Germany has still been hit. With the economic downturn in Eastern Europe creating a knock-on effect on the German economy, most German producers have been unable to find an available market to sell their goods due to depreciated demand, or are unable to compete with larger German businesses who are able to better exploit economies of scale and utilize their higher efficiency in producing products to undercut their business rivals. In major industrial centers - particularly in the Ruhr Valley - laid off workers primarily from primarily small to medium sized businesses have begun to protest, demanding an end to the pacific blockade of Russia, better working conditions, higher wages, subsidies and government support for small to medium sized businesses and a suspension on further layoffs. In addition to this, some of the protests are openly calling for the lifting of restrictions of the Freie Arbeiter Union Deutschlands (FAUD) imposed since the Weltkrieg.