Is the Russian economy “stabilizing”, as Vladimir Putin puts it?

THE QUESTION. Put in place to put pressure on the Kremlin, have Western sanctions failed to weaken Russian activity? Despite these measures, which have multiplied since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to convince that his economy has suffered little. The latter even affirmed on Monday that the economic situation of his country was in the process of “stabilize“. Putin thus evokes a slowdown in inflation, and prices “which have already started to decline“.

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In front of his government invited for a meeting devoted to economic issues, the Russian president also welcomed this development linked, according to him, to the “healthy rubleand the return to normal of consumer demand, which had rushed to stores in February and March to stock up, when several Western groups had decided to close shop in Russia.

This message is eminently political, as Western countries maintain pressure on Russia. A sixth package of sanctions is also being discussed at European level, and could relate, according to the Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, to imports of Russian oil and would take the form of a “kind of embargo“. Faced with this threat, Vladimir Putin aims to prove that his economy is now resilient and will be able to withstand the measures decided in Brussels in the long term, after the upheavals of February and March. But what is it in reality?