OREANDA-NEWS  Despite tough Western sanctions imposed due to the fighting in Ukraine, the Russian economy has proved to be "surprisingly resilient," which raises questions about the effectiveness of restrictive measures, writes The New York Times.

The publication reports that Russian foreign trade seems to have returned to the level of February 2022. According to analysts cited by the newspaper, Russia has already restored or will soon restore imports to this level. The Federal Customs Service stopped publishing import and export statistics in the spring. But in October, the first deputy head of the Federal Customs Service, Ruslan Davydov, reported that exports from Russia for the first nine months of 2022 amounted to $431 billion (plus 25% to the level of 2021), and imports — $180 billion (minus 16%).

As the NYT notes, this may partly be due to the fact that it is difficult for many countries to stop doing business in Russia. The newspaper recalls a study by the Swiss IMD Institute and the University of St. Gallen, according to which less than 9% of companies from the EU and G7 countries left Russia. Also, the newspaper writes, it was difficult for a number of states to reduce dependence on Russian energy resources and other basic goods, and the Russian Central Bank managed to support the ruble exchange rate and maintain stability in financial markets.