MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/. The sanctions imposed against Russia have only strengthened and enhanced its economy instead of ruining it as was expected by Western governments, American economist, professor at the Columbia University Jeffrey Sachs said in an interview with TASS.
"Broadly - yes," he said when asked whether Russia managed to cope with the sanctions pressure. "Obviously, the sanctions regime did not crush the Russian economy, despite all of the claims that the sanctions would have that effect. So the sanctions regime did not work. It didn't produce the results that the Western governments expected. It did not have enormous deleterious effects, and in some ways, it really strengthened the Russian economy," Sachs added.
Sanctions have hurt "in some ways," but they have also helped in some ways as Russia's relations with China and India improved, and many sectors, in which Moscow previously depended on imports, were enhanced through domestic economic growth, the economist explained.
There's the idea in society of challenge and response, he noted. "Sometimes you're challenged, even with the harmful means, but the response strengthens you in the end. It doesn't weaken you. I think Russia has gone through a lot to overcome the sanctions," Sachs concluded.