The White House noted the resilience of the Russian economy to sanctions

The Russian economy is showing a certain resilience to Western sanctions due to the extraordinary measures taken by Moscow, John Kirby, White House strategic communications coordinator, said at a briefing. About it writes “RIA News”.

“The[RF]economy is showing a certain resilience in some way, but this is due to extraordinary steps,” he said. At the same time, Kirby added that he does not exclude the introduction of additional sanctions against Russia.

Earlier today United States expanded restrictive measures against the Russian economy. The sanctions lists included both Russian and foreign legal entities, as well as individuals. The US also plans to increase export duties on aluminum products made in Russia.

Currently, the EU countries are discussing the tenth package of sanctions, which will be aimed at correcting the shortcomings made in the development of previous packages. On January 17, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen during her speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos said that the purpose of the EU sanctions is “plunging the Russian economy into recession for decades.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin during his address to the Federal Assembly on February 21 declaredthat the West has deployed not only a military, informational, but also an economic front against Russia. Western countries have tried to disconnect Russia’s financial system from communication channels, deny access to export markets in order to hit revenues, collapse the ruble and provoke devastating inflation, the president said. At the same time, according to Putin, the Russian economy and governance system turned out to be much stronger than expected in the West. Already in March 2022, a package of measures to support business and the economy was launched for a total amount of about 1 trillion rubles, the head of state pointed out.

The decline in GDP at the end of 2022 amounted to 2.1%, although back in February-March, Russia was predicted to collapse the economy by 20-25%, Putin said. According to him, Russian business has rebuilt logistics and strengthened ties with predictable partners, while the share of the ruble in foreign trade settlements has doubled and amounted to a third, and together with the currencies of friendly countries – more than half.

Against the backdrop of the start of a special operation in Ukraine, the EU has already adopted nine packages of sanctions against the Russian Federation. Restrictions have affected many sectors of the economy, including energy, high-tech sector, aviation, banking and mining, automotive, etc.