SOCHI (Sputnik) – The Russian economy has not been in a recession for more than six months, Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Friday.
“The assessment of the GDP taking into account the season is not exactly a plus…This is so close to zero that I won’t change my position that from the beginning of the third quarter of last year, we came out of recession,” Ulyukayev said.
In 2014, the European Union and the United States sanctioned Russia's key defense, energy and banking sectors following Crimea’s reunification with Russia and accused Moscow of fueling the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. The Russian economy suffered a setback as the ruble lost about half of its value against the dollar amid low global oil prices and the sanctions.
