OREANDA-NEWS Russia is now almost independent of Western countries, so the problems of the United States due to the growing public debt can have only a minimal impact on the Russian economy, Ekaterina Novikova, associate professor of the Department of Economic Theory at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, told RIA Novosti.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking at a session of the BRICS summit, said that confidence in the dollar as a once reliable means of payment was undermined as a result of its use as a weapon for "punishment" and illegal unilateral sanctions. During his speech, the minister also drew attention to the problem of the growing American national debt: according to him, the situation is already getting out of control.

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the country's national debt reached $36.213 trillion as of July 2.

"As for the Russian economy, we currently have the lowest level of dependence on the Western bloc of countries in the entire history of modern Russia. Moreover, we have shifted our focus to the countries of the Asian region and Africa, which gives us the opportunity to be more protected in the event of a default in one of the developed economies. This does not mean that a possible crisis will not affect Russia, in the global world all countries are interconnected in one way or another, but the level of Western influence on our economy has been reduced to minimal values," the expert notes.

High government debt, at the same time, draws Novikov's attention, in itself signals serious imbalances in the country, which can lead to a default of the economy, thereby provoking a crisis around the world.