A major war is taking place on the European continent with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Bringing you a series of special episodes to help you understand the crisis as it unfolds.

This is Doomsday Watch.

Hello, and welcome to Doomsday Watch, I'm Arthur Snell, I'm delighted to be joined

today by Maria Shagano, who is a diamond-brown research fellow for economic sanctions, standards

and strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, double I, double S. Maria,

welcome.

Thank you for having me.

Maria, we want to talk today about the Russian economy, and it is possibly one of the great

mysteries of the situation surrounding Russia's war on Ukraine is the impact on its economy.

The basic facts are very well known, Western countries have imposed an unprecedented degree

of sanctions both on high-profile individuals connected to the regime, but also on Russia's

economy itself, Western countries with one or two fairly minor exceptions are stopping

their alliance on Russia's exports, and they're stopping the supply of components that

could be used by Russia in important manufacturing processes, particularly for weapons.

In spite of all of that, Russia's economy seems to be quite resilient.

It seems to be finding other markets.

Of course, it has very low levels of debt for a large industrial economy, and in some

ways seems to be riding out this storm.

Let's try to understand what's going on.

What is your understanding of the situation of Russia's economy right now, September

2022?

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