American decisions six years ago helped Moscow prepare for the worst-case scenario.
The punitive measures that the Western community brought down on Russia only helped Moscow prepare for the global financial crisis, which struck against the backdrop of the COVID-19 coronavirus infection pandemic.
This writes the American edition of The New York Times.
In the USA, they came to the conclusion that now neither the spread of the disease, nor the collapse of oil prices can seriously harm Russia. This is because the country and its economy over the years of sanction pressure have adapted to existence in isolation. Moscow has huge financial reserves and a self-sufficient agricultural complex.
At the moment, it is difficult to talk about further trends in the pandemic, about how governments will respond to this, the article says.
“However, certain states seem to be better prepared than others. Russia is just one of them, and Western sanctions contributed to this, ” the publication notes.
In particular, the authors draw attention to the fact that over six years of pressure, Russia has reduced the rate of state and corporate external debt from $ 713 billion to 455 billion. Moscow’s position is to save money, not invest it. The media explain this approach by the Russian opinion that “no matter how bad it is today, tomorrow could be even worse.” Such excessive conservatism in economic circles has been criticized for years, but now it has acquired a salutary meaning.
“Russia has prepared [for the crisis] better than ever,” commented Vladimir Osakovsky, Bank of America’s chief economist for Russia and the CIS.