Sanctions Hit Russian Economy, Although Putin Says Otherwise

People do shopping at the Russian retailer "Magnit" store, one of the country's major supermarket chains, in Podolsk, outside Moscow, Russia, 21 April 2022. (EPA)

Nearly two months into the Russian-Ukraine war, the Kremlin has taken extraordinary steps to blunt an economic counteroffensive from the West. While Russia can claim some symbolic victories, the full impact of Western sanctions is starting to be felt in very real ways.

As the West moved to cut off Russia’s access to its foreign reserves, limit imports of key technologies and take other restrictive actions, the Kremlin launched some drastic measures to protect the economy. Those included hiking interest rates to as high as 20%, instituting capital controls and forcing Russian business to convert their profits into rubles.