When asked whether Russia could withstand the economic pressures brought by the Ukraine conflict and Western sanctions, Putin cited a Mark Twain joke in response: "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
Despite past Western statements openly claiming that the Russian economy had been "shattered into pieces," he emphasized that over the past three years, Russia's economic growth has been more than three times faster than that of the European Union.
Russia has been forced to make some "difficult decisions" to combat inflation, such as raising interest rates, but "these measures are proving effective," Putin said. Russia's industrial production and citizens' real income continue to grow; when measured by purchasing power parity—i.e., the cost of a basket of identical goods across different countries—Russia has already surpassed all European nations.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1867124058805252/
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