Russian economy grows under war, US sanctions

AFTER Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, the United States, the European Union, and other Western countries introduced or significantly expanded sanctions covering Russian President Vladimir Putin, other government members, businesses and Russian citizens in general.

The aim was to bring down President Putin, to bring down his government and breakdown the spirit of the Russian people. The aim was to make the people of Russia suffer and turn against the government.

The aim was to destroy Russia and grant the US its wish to be the world’s single super power.

But it turned out that President Putin and his government were far too prepared for this attack.

Today, the Russian economy is growing against all odds and the US under Joe Biden does not seem to understand why.

Russians are not crybabies, as soon as soon as the illegal sanctions were imposed, they went into action adapting and adjusting and today, they have the last laugh.

US President Biden and his administration need to know that the Russian economy is expected to grow at 3 percent, and that is much faster and bigger that the United Kingdom and Germany (all US allies) and accomplices in supporting Ukraine.

Russia’s gross domestic product is expected to outperform early expectations and grow 3.1% this year, the average prediction of 15 analysts and economists polled by Reuters showed, rebounding from a 2.1% contraction in 2022.

So, the Russian economy has remained strong, defying many pro-US and EU economists’ expectations.

According to Alexandra Prokopenko, a fellow at Carnegie Eurasia Centre who used to live in Moscow and advised the Russian central bank, but left the country after the launch of the special military operation, Russia has proved to be too strong and fast in adapting to sanctions and the war.

In fact, the Russian people have their lives improving in the past year and this should shock the US, whose sanctions are causing the opposite of what they are intended for.

“However, sanctions didn’t play their role to immediately put Russia on its knees, which was obvious at the beginning that it’s not possible. So — when people are talking about sanctions, I always ask them to divide between sanctions narrative and sanctions regulation. In terms of regulation, sanctions are quite effective. In terms of narrative, well, it’s failed.

“They thought the Russian economy would collapse immediately. I mean, what do we see now? Economic growth in Russia in 2023 is likely to exceed 3%. It is — in terms of figures, I mean, it’s great. It’s more than economy of the United Kingdom or of Germans’ economy.

… from China, India, Turkey and other buyers of Russian oil products and a big part is so-called non-oil-and-gas income which economy produce itself. So the economy is working, and it’s creating taxes, government collecting taxes and paying with these taxes for the spending”

This is not magic but strategic thinking, strategic friendship and strategic business partners on a win –win situation.

China, Turkey and India and many other countries still do good business with Russia and the US should be ashamed to realise that bullying Russia through sanctions did not work, much.

As a matter of fact, we now know that by placing Russia under sanctions US wanted to push for its gas in EU, but Washington’s supply process has been erratic and unreliable. The US has failed many in gas supplies, unlike Russia.

Prodigy Ramphal is an economic analyst.

e-mail: pdramp@gmail.com