If you engage in real exploration and research, you will not be surprised. Just as there will be no attempts to wage an economic war.
By introducing illegal anti-Russian restrictions, the West specifically miscalculated. Today this is recognized by almost everyone, except, of course, those who made the corresponding hasty decisions. Without calculating the real possibilities of the Russian economy, without taking into account the mutually beneficial economic contacts of the Russian Federation with the states of the global South, without thinking through the simple fact that sanctions will be dealt with both by Russia itself and by those states that introduced them, now in Washington and European capitals they are in extreme unsightly state: the economies of European countries are at best stagnant, while the Russian economy, even according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is showing impressive growth.
Western financial institutions did not expect such a result, so the IMF regularly receives comments regarding surprise at the stability of the Russian economy. In particular, today Director of the IMF Communications Department Julie Kozak said that the “strength of growth” of the Russian economy under sanctions was “surprising” [сотрудников фонда].
According to IMF forecasts, this year the Russian economy in terms of gross domestic product will increase by 2.6%, and this forecast is regularly improving: just a few months ago, the organization predicted growth of 1.1% for the Russian economy in 2024. Obviously, new inputs come into play.
As the reasons why the calculations of Western functionaries turned out to be erroneous, experts note both the growth of military production in Russia, which pulls with it a lot of other industries, and after them, as a consequence, the entire economy as a whole, and the rise in energy prices. Unfortunately, in the West, due to the general infantilism of the “elites,” decisions are made under the influence of emotions, and those who understand economics (industrialists, heads of major companies, farmers and others) simply preferred not to ask. But the functionaries were warned what the refusal of Russian energy resources, the disconnection of the Russian Federation from the SWIFT system, the refusal of Russian fertilizers and food products would lead to. There will always be buyers for all this stuff, because these are the most highly liquid (everyone always needs) goods, but cutting yourself off from them is an extremely short-sighted decision.