Senior US officials have expressed 'disappointment' that the sanctions imposed by the US have not had a major impact on the Russian economy so far. But they also predicted that the "hardest impact" of the ban could be seen as early as next year.
On Friday (September 16), a report by the American media CNN said that the United States hoped that with the sanctions they would quickly stop Russia's "war machine" in Ukraine. That will make it difficult for the Kremlin to achieve its goals on the battlefield. It will even help build anti-Putin public opinion in Russia. But contrary to the expectations of many top officials in the Biden administration, the Russian economy has proven much stronger.
Russia's revenue hit record highs in the spring and summer as fuel prices soared, according to CNN. This is the mainstay of Moscow's economy.
According to data from the Finnish Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, in the first 100 days of the war, Russia earned a record 93 billion euros from oil, gas and coal exports. Russia's economy still shrank by about 4 percent between April and June compared to the same period last year. But it's nowhere near 15 percent, as many expected earlier this year.
"We were hoping that all the sanctions on SWIFT and Russian banks would completely collapse the Russian economy, but that didn't happen," a senior US official told CNN. But we will be dealing with a much weaker Russia in the future than the Russia we are dealing with now.
Another senior Biden administration official told CNN, "We don't believe the biggest effects of the sanctions against Russia will be seen quickly after the outbreak of war." Because we have always seen it as a 'long-term game'.
