In February of 2022, Russia launched an unjustified and massive invasion on Ukraine, aiming to take over the land as their own. The West counterattacked this invasion through various means, for example selling weapons to Ukraine to supply their soldiers with sufficient firepower to battle against Russian troops. The most notable financial move from the West were sanctions - withdrawal of many industries and producers, which in this case had the aim to weaken Russia’s financial position in order to reduce Russia’s ability to finance the war they started.


Details on the sanctions
An important thing to note on the sanctions is that it did not aim to reduce the quality of life of Russian citizens, or to impact heavily Russian society as a whole. Therefore, areas such as healthcare and food were excluded from the restrictive measures imposed. For example, a restriction used targeted Russia’s access to EUs capital and financial markets.
A few specific examples include:
On 28th February 2022, Canada banned imports of Russian crude oil
On 8th March 2022, the US banned imports of oil, gas and coal from Russia
On 8th June 2022, Canada banned services to the Russian oil, mining, gas and chemical industries

Effects on Sanctions on Russia’s economy
According to the international monetary fund (IMF), the world bank and the organisation for economic cooperation and development (OECD), it was estimated that russia’s GDP fell by 2.1% in 2022. However, despite numerous forecasts displaying that Russia’s economy would continue to shrink, the sanctions on the country have proven to be less effective in 2023, as Russia’s GDP rose by 3.6% in that year.

How did Russia’s economy continue to grow, despite the sanctions placed upon them?
Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the very reason why Sanctions were implemented, the Russian economy has been refocused to fund and supply the war, which in turn has caused an increase in Economic growth in the Country. In addition, due to the vast amounts of land Russia has, the country is self sufficient in terms of energy resources. As well as this, Russia also has a skilled labour market, and a world class science industry. Furthermore, as the West had decided to sever their bonds with Russia, Russia started to strengthen their economic ties with other countries not affiliated with the West, in continents such as Africa and Asia, in regions such as the Middle East. Russia’s GDP is expected to rise by yet another 2.5% in 2024. However, some professionals speculate that this growth may not translate to increased wellbeing of citizens in Russia, and may not lead to economic development of the country. This may mean that the rapid growth of Russia’s economy to fund the war may have come at the cost of the country's own citizens.





References:
https://m.economictimes.com/news/international/world-news/despite-war-and-sanctions-russia-becomes-a-high-income-economy/articleshow/111463177.cms#

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/impact-sanctions-russian-economy/