Russian economy in ‘shock’ over Western sanctions, says Kremlin

The Kremlin says Russia’s economy was experiencing a shock amid ‘unprecedented’ economic sanctions by Western nations.

According to Reuters, Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson, told reporters during a conference call on Thursday that measures were being taken to curb the effect of the war on the country.

The United States and its allies had imposed several sanctions on Russia’s vast sectors to deprive the country of income. 

Last month, they removed “selected” Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system

“Our economy is experiencing a shock impact now, and there are negative consequences, they will be minimised,” Peskov said. 

He described the situation as tumultuous but said measures were already being taken to calm and stabilise it. 

“This is absolutely unprecedented. The economic war that has started against our country has never taken place before. So it is very hard to forecast anything.”

Vladimir Putin had said the sanctions imposed on Russia by western countries over the invasion of Ukraine are like a declaration of war.

On Tuesday, the US banned the importation of coal, gas and oil from Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine.