The Impact Of Western Economic Sanctions On Russian Economy

Pursuing their own political,economic and ideological goals,manystates often use different kinds of unmilitary methods to force other actors to perform some actions,even against their own will.Such methods include restrictions,prohibitions,blockades and sanctions of all kinds.Russian Federation and former Soviet Union have always been an object of military,political,economic and information pressure of other countries,which pursued certain goals.Sanctions have already become a common mean of economic and geopolitical struggle.Nowadays Russia is facing the difficult and unstable international situation.After the Ukrainian crisis happened in March 2014,The United States of America began the next round of anti-Russian sanctions.Following the United States other countries,mainly NATO members and countries that under political and economic influence and patronage of the United States,imposed a number of sanctions against Russia.Western economic sanctions led to serious consequences for Russian economy.Sanctions have become a key reason of further socio-economic and technological gap between Russia and foreign countries,including emerging markets.Since the imposing of sanctions,the growth rate of the Russian economy has decreased markedly.However,it should be noted that in addition to the sanctions,the economic situation was also influenced by other factors(lower oil prices,the fall of the ruble course,Russian countermeasures etc.).Therefore,it is very difficult to assess the damage caused by economic sanctions to the Russian economy,since all these factors are interrelated.In addition,an important consequence of sanctions is the transformation and modification of Russian foreign economic relations.Russia's main trading partner for a long time has been the European Union.But in the current circumstances,Russiawas forced to look for other markets.The imposition of sanctions to some extent influenced the rapprochement between Russia and China.The main way to resist the negative impact of sanctions is import substitution,which,unfortunately,did not bring the desired results.In a number of industries,the policy of import substitution did not ensure the growth of their profitability.In modern conditions,it is necessary to take comprehensive measures to counteract sanctions,stimulate the development of the domestic market and expand external relations.This thesis analyzes the reasons of western sanctions and their consequences.Also it includes a detailed theory review of sanctions,the analysis of the international experience and the analysis of the Russian countermeasures.