Russian Economy Recovers Despite Earlier Gloomy Predictions

Although most Western experts predicted the downfall of the Russian economy in 2015, the reality turned out to be a lot brighter than expected, famous French journalist Alexandre Latsa told Sputnik.

Western experts interviewed in the early 2015 said Russia's GDP would shrink by at least 5 percent as a result of the economic recession and sanctions imposed against Russia.

"The ruble has not collapsed, but returned to the level of 50 and 55 against the dollar and the euro, respectively. At the same time, oil prices continue to rise slowly, reaching $65 a barrel today," said Latsa, adding that the economic forecast for Russia is a lot more optimistic than six months ago.

The country's GDP only shrank by 1.9 percent, as opposed to the predicted 5 percent, during the first quarter of 2015.

The significant improvement is probably due to the strength of the Russian economy, which proved to be far more resilient than foreign experts expected, Latsa said.

Western sanctions against Russia actually helped Vladimir Putin to gain even more popularity in his country. Sanctions are seen as "unjust" means imposed by the West and they had the effect of unity among ordinary Russian people, Latsa continued.