Russia looks unhindered, regardless of sanctions and 2 years of war with Ukraine.

Russian banks ended 2023 with a record RUB3.3 trillion ($33.3bn) in profits (adjusted for dividends). this was published by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR). As intellinews reported, This is up by about half from the 2021. This was due to the last year of normal operations, .

This is significant news as Russia is currently facing heavy sanctions, imposed by US and European countries. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This makes it clearer that the western sanctions have failed to deliver any significant impact on the Russian economy. As recently, another report claimed that Russia became the 5th largest economy in the world, in terms of PPP (purchasing power parity.)

In the PPP terms, Russia has overtaken Germany, to become the fifth-wealthiest economy in the world and the largest in Europe, worth more than $5 trillion.

Reports say the CBR governor Elvia Nabiullina took over in 2013, and brought positive changes in the banking sector that allowed the country to go in the war in robust health.

This made Russia able to stand tall against the tough western sanctions, including SWIFT sanctions, also known as "nuclear" sanction.

Russia was excluded from the global financial network, which is based on Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT.)

Banks earned monthly profits of around RUB250bn consistently throughout the year, and earning around $180bn a year from oil exports alone, according to reports.

The Russian markets and day to day life looks largely uneffected regardless of the war and sanctions as well, as many reports claim that prices for food and essential commodities haven't risen dramatically. While copies, lookalikes, and rebrand of popular western brands are all available for customers in the markets.