The Kremlin said Thursday it expects the West to impose even tougher sanctions over the war in Ukraine, but there is a growing sense that such sanctions harm Western interests while Russia’s economy is adapting well.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing the $2.1 trillion economy for a long war, and Western hopes of stoking a rapid Russian economic crisis with some of the toughest sanctions ever imposed have failed to materialize.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Russia to grow 2.2% this year – faster than the United States or the euro zone – although the IMF last month cut its forecast for 2024 growth to 1.1%.
Asked about the expectation that the United States will impose more sanctions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
“The United States and the European Union are expected to continue inventing new sanctions, even though they are clearly out of ideas.”
“Both in the US and the EU, in fact, there is an awareness that the current packages affect the interests of the same states that imposed these sanctions,” Peskov said.
Western leaders say the sanctions imposed on Russia, the world’s largest holder of natural resources, are the toughest ever imposed on a major economy.
The West has frozen hundreds of billions of dollars of Russian money, but Putin joked that the sanctions have not stopped the import of Western goods, such as luxury Mercedes, into Russia – and that Moscow will work to weaken the sanctions by buying whatever he wants in global markets.
Peskov said the Russian economy has adapted well to the sanctions and is having some success operating in the new conditions.
“Let’s not wear pink glasses: the pressure of sanctions will continue and attempts will be made to strengthen it,” Peskov said.
Source: Terra
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