There are apparently about a million ways to look at the Russian economy. This article seems to be about as good as any.
Actually, they have had some effect—just not one that Vladimir Putin cares about.
www.theatlantic.com
China is part of the problem:
>>>To be truly effective, sanctions need to be global (or as close to it as possible). In the case of Russia, though, the second-biggest player in the global economy, which is China, is not only
not participating in the sanctions but
is actually helping weaken their impact. China was already Russia’s biggest trading partner before the war in Ukraine, and in the past two years, trade between the two countries
has soared, with China importing more and more Russian oil and gas.<<<(emphasis added)
Some other countries are helping Russia as well, including NATO member Turkey:
>>>Countries such as Turkey, India, and the United Arab Emirates
have also helped Russia circumvent sanctions by serving as trade intermediaries that permit the transshipment of Russian oil and the importation of important technological products such as microchips.<<<
Military spending is helping the economic numbers, but a lot of this activity isn't helping average Russian citizens:
>>>Finally, Russia’s economy has gotten a big stimulus from a sharp increase in government spending. . . . most important, Russia has ramped up military spending. . . . But this comes with a price. . . . the modern Russian economy look strangely like the old Soviet economy—highly dependent on exporting raw materials and on military spending, technologically limited, and generally unfriendly to consumers. A lesson of the 1980s
Gorbachev era was that an economy that looks like this ends up as a lumbering giant of inefficiency and stagnation.<<<
Basically, the Russian economy is becoming even less capable of improving the standard of living of people there, but Putin can maintain his grip on power because he murders anyone who criticizes him.
