 People shop in a supermarket in Moscow, Russia. (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
Countries have had difficulty reducing their reliance on Russia for energy and other basic commodities, and the Russian central bank has managed to prop up the value of the ruble and keep financial markets stable, according to The New York Times.
It quoted statistics from the International Monetary Fund which expects the Russian economy to grow 0.3 percent this year, a sharp improvement from its previous estimate of a 2.3 percent contraction.