how does the country resist economic sanctions?

Walking into a supermarket in Moscow (Russia) is like walking into any other Western supermarket. The shelves are well stocked. Customers can easily find French products or bottles of wine from Europe. The shortages that some Russians feared a few months ago have not happened. “There are items that have disappeared but they have been replaced”assures a Russian. “I’m not going to lie to you, there is everything”confirms another.

The Russian economy seems to be resisting economic sanctions, almost six months after the start of the war in Ukraine. The decline in GDP this year would be 4%, far from the 8% expected. Russian companies would actually manage to circumvent the restrictions. A mechanic, for example, buys Chinese parts instead of the usual French parts. Russian airlines collect parts from other planes to repair their own.