Russia was also named the second most powerful country, with first place taken by the United States, according to the survey.
The study, which ranked 80 countries in terms of global performance, listed Russia eighth among "up and coming" economies, 24th among the best countries for entrepreneurship, and 28th in terms of cultural influence.
Russian economy effectively comes out of 2 decade long recession as indicated by growth in 4 quarters. Time ripe 4 investment entry. pic.twitter.com/rrlRoxdaAu
— C.P. THOMAS (@chenath944) 8 марта 2017 г.
On the whole, Russia ranked 27th in the 2017 Best Countries rating released by US News and World Report.
Vladimir Markin, deputy general director of RusHydro, one of the largest Russian energy holdings, was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying that if the rating had been reworked to eliminate subjective biases, Russia's 27th position could actually mean that Russia was among the top five.
"Russia's 27th place in the Western rating is tantamount to the country's position in the top-five [list of countries] if the rating was objective and relied on long-term benchmarks," Markin said.
He also remained optimistic about Russia's economic growth in the next few decades, something that he said is reflected in "real figures."
Early indications that the #Russia economy has returned to growth & will see good performance this year: https://t.co/SYRpqVLoPz
— Joe Watt (@JoeWatt_CIS) 3 марта 2017 г.
"The next twenty years will see Russia's sustained economic growth, which will be based not on virtual speculative parameters, but on real figures related to electricity output, industrial and agricultural production, as well as housing and the construction of roads and bridges, among other things," he said.
Independent Russian expert Ilya Popov, for his part, drew attention to the fact that foreign investors often single out Russian as one of the most promising countries when it comes to financial injections.
"The Russian market remains one the few such venues that can allow an investor to obtain a very significant income when making a non-maximum investment," Popov was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.
He added that foreigners are still confident that Russia's economic growth will depend on the energy sector, which is why they prefer to invest in this industry.
However, other sectors of the Russian economy also deserve to be mentioned, Popov said, referring to the pharmaceuticals, biotech, information technology and telecommunications sectors.
"Drawing investors to these industries and their development will help ensure Russia's long-term economic growth," Popov pointed out.
Russia reacted to the sanctions by strengthening its domestic production, especially with respect to metallurgy and agriculture, the article said.
The newspaper cited German economic expert Dietmar Fellner as saying that Russia's economic recovery, which is happening in spite of ongoing Western sanctions, "boosts the country's self-confidence."
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