OREANDA-NEWS Economic sanctions against Russia imposed by the European Union and the United States have caused Moscow much less harm than initially expected. This was stated in an article for the German edition of Tagesspiegel by journalist Albrecht Meyer.

"According to forecasts, in the coming year, Russia's gross domestic product may return to the level it was before the conflict in Ukraine," the observer suggested.

Meyer also noted that a year ago, the German rating agency Scope predicted that Moscow would not be able to recover from the consequences of the restrictions imposed for ten years. According to him, "everything looks different now." The observer also stressed that Berlin is closely following the developments.

Earlier, the German publication Der Spiegel wrote that the sanctions adopted by the West against Moscow could not break the Russian economy, which is able to withstand the imposed restrictions for years.

According to experts from Germany, despite the weakening of the Russian ruble, the Russian economy has not fallen into recession.

At the same time, earlier Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the sanctions imposed by Western countries are a payment for freedom and for the right to be independent. He recalled that Russia refuses to "dance to someone else's tune, sacrifice its national interests and traditional values."