"The main achievements in the economic area over the past year are related to business support measures and limiting the economic downturn within the framework of a relatively moderate decline in GDP," Professor Yaroslav Lissovolik, founder of "BRICS+ Analytics" and member of the Russian International Affairs Council, told Sputnik.
"Measures to stabilize the economy and financial markets, including the stabilization of the ruble exchange rate, also played a significant role in curbing the economic downturn."
Lissovolik emphasized that to ensure long-term economic growth, Russia should focus on the implementation of national projects. He highlighted that the financing of national projects was maintained at a high llevellast year despite sanctions pressure. According to the Russian scholar, this created prerequisites for more sustainable and better economic growth.
When it comes to foreign trade, Moscow needs to increase the share of settlements in local currencies and proceed with taking measures to facilitate sectoral and geographic diversification of trade flows.
"I want to thank the [Russian] government for speeding up the passage of many legislative initiatives that business has long been waiting for. And it was done very quickly, in the shortest possible time,"
Nikolay Solabuto, a financial markets analyst, told Sputnik, commenting on
Team Mishustin's efforts to reduce the negative consequences of the Western sanctions and lay the groundwork for further economic growth.
As per Solabuto, Russian businesses have managed to adapt to the sanctions in a year, which is faster than in 2014 when the nation was slapped with tough restrictions over Crimea's reunification. At that time, it took roughly two years to withstand the pressure of Western sanctions, according to the analyst.
According to the analyst, foreign companies are likely to try to circumvent sanctions in order to resume their work in Russia. Presently, everyone is assessing the potential risks, Solabuto noted, suggesting that if Moscow resorts to counter-sanctions, many foreign firms could opt to return in order to save their businesses.
At the same time, unlike the collective West, Russia is neither suffering from the energy crunch nor galloping inflation.
The West's sanctions have failed because Western experts have largely misread Russia, Solabuto believes. What's more, Western sanction designers also appear to have completely overlooked the potentiality of a blowback: their restrictions hit their respective economies much harder than they hit Russia, according to the analyst.
"The prosperity of the Western economy was based on cheap energy from Russia," Solabuto said. "And they will come back for cheap energy sources from Russia, but it will be a kind of deja vu, because they will come to Russia and say: 'We need cheap energy resources' and we will answer: 'There will be no more cheap energy' (…) Ultimately, they will come back to [Russia] for investments, so that Russian investors come to their countries and start buying up their assets. It will not happen soon, but nevertheless, most likely, this is how it will all end."