The unprecedented Western sanctions on Russia have failed to destabilize the economy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
According to Peskov, Russia’s “macrostability is ensured and the economy has entered a growth trajectory – this is a fact that cannot be ignored.”
His comments were in response to a question about a recent piece from Politico, in which it named the head of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, the ‘disrupter of the year’. According to the publication, “Nabiullina’s hawkish monetary policies have repeatedly saved the ruble and kept the country’s economy afloat,” despite Western efforts to destabilize the Russian economy with sanctions due to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine.
Western politicians realize that the sanctions have been ineffective and have boomeranged on the countries that imposed them, the Kremlin spokesman said. He added that though the West can survive without Russia, it may not be as successful as it could be if economic ties with Moscow had not been severed.
“Hypothetically speaking, Europe can do without Russia, but then Europe loses its competitiveness, because then it has to buy the same goods, be it energy or something else, from other countries, but at exorbitant prices. And this pushes the entire European industry, its specific manufacturers and so on, into a pre-bankruptcy state,” Peskov stated.
Russia has faced unprecedented economic sanctions from the EU, US, and their allies over the past 20 months over the Ukraine conflict, with billions worth of the country’s foreign assets frozen and its access to most Western markets effectively closed. Due to the sanctions, the country’s GDP fell by 2.1% in 2022. However, thanks to timely economic policy decisions and the redirecting of much of its trade to Asia, Russia’s economy has since recovered and is on track to grow by 2.8% by the end of 2023, according to the Kremlin.
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