Financial Times: War Against Ukraine Hits Hard Russian Economy

The US Finance Ministry has announced the figures.

The war against Ukraine is significantly affecting the economy of aggressor country Russia, raising domestic prices and forcing the Kremlin to spend at least a third of the state budget on military expenses. The Financial Times writes about this with reference to a document of the US Treasury Department.

According to Reichel Lingaas, chief sanctions economist at the US Treasury Department, the economy of aggressor Russia would have grown by more than 5 per cent - if Putin had not started the war.

Lingaas separately noted that the aggressor country is lagging behind other energy exporters, including the US.

According to the FT publication, Moscow spent more than $100bn (or almost a third of its total budget expenditure) on military purposes in 2023.

The backbone of the Russian economy - oil and gas revenues - has suffered this year, although there has been a modest recovery in recent months as oil prices have strengthened. In addition, Western sanctions on Russia's oil trade have not affected Russia as much as initially predicted, experts say.