Reshetnikov said that the Russian economy withstood the "first blow" of

The Russian economy withstood the first blow from the sanctions imposed against it, said Maxim Reshetnikov, HEAD of the Ministry of Economic Development. He stated this at a meeting of the presidium of the government commission to increase the stability of the economy in the face of sanctions, the government said in a TELEGRAM message.

“The economy has withstood the first blow of the sanctions. We have received the necessary time to rebuild production chains, logistics and structural changes in the economy. In many ways, this is the result of the measures that were promptly taken and implemented on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation by the government and the Bank of RUSSIA,” Reshetnikov said.

According to him, this is evidenced by the strengthening of the ruble, the disappearance of excessive demand and the slowdown in inflation. “For the week from April 2 to April 8, prices rose by 0.66%. Let me remind you: in early March, prices increased at a rate of more than 2% per week,” Reshetnikov said. According to him, Rosstat will provide data for the past week on April 20, however, one can judge a significant slowdown in inflation based on the data of cash registers.

Western countries imposed new  sanctions against Russia after it recognized the independence of the DPR and LPR and launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. By the beginning of March, Russia had  bypassed Iran, Syria and North Korea in the number of restrictive measures imposed against it .

Now the European Union is working on the sixth package of sanctions, said the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. The measures could include further restrictions against the banking sector, she said. “Especially [we are studying] Sberbank, which accounts for 37% of this sector,” she said. In addition, Brussels is considering issues related to energy.