Volodin: in ten years Russia has become the largest European economy

In the ten years that the US and EU imposed sanctions on Moscow, Russia has become Europe’s largest economy. About it declared State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin in his Telegram channel.

“10 years ago, Washington and Brussels began illegally imposing sanctions against Russia. <...>. Russia, despite more than 17,500 sanctions imposed, over these 10 years has become the largest European economy, entered the top five world leaders. The challenges have made us stronger,” he wrote.

For comparison, Volodin cited the ranking of the largest economies in the world according to the World Bank in 2012. The first place in it was occupied by the United States, the second and third by China and India, respectively. Russia in 2012 was on the sixth line, Germany was ahead of it.

At the end of 2022, Russia rose to fifth place, overtaking Germany and thus becoming the largest economy in Europe. China took first place in 2022, while the United States moved to second place.

Volodin stressed that “the sanctions boomerang hit their initiators.” As a result, the US ceased to be the economic leader. Volodin accused Washington of trying to “keep its hegemony” at the expense of other countries. In particular, Ukraine dropped from 38th place in the ranking in 2012 to 50th in 2022.

Despite the fact that Russia has entered the top five world leaders, the work remains to be continued. In particular, it is necessary to develop a proactive economy, including by supporting domestic producers, strengthening technological sovereignty and creating new industrial capacities and advanced technology industries. In this regard, the State Duma plans to hold hearings on the development of small and medium-sized businesses in October, Volodin said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin during his address to the Federal Assembly in February 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. In particular, the decline in GDP in 2022 amounted to 2.1%, although back in February-March, Russia was predicted to collapse the economy by 20-25%, Putin said.