With gas and oil exports accounting for 30 to 40 percent of Russia's budget, Switzerland's position in this wartime equation cannot be underestimated. This is how Switzerland is helping Russia avoid sanctions.
Putin recently went on record by calling the Ukrainian conflict a "tragedy" and stating that economic sanctions against his nation had "failed." He was not precisely bluffing, it turns out.
Russia's economy has proven difficult to break three months after the most harsh and coordinated sanctions imposed by Western nations. Moscow has withstood the West's sanctions significantly better than predicted thanks to continued oil and gas exports and a propped-up ruble.
JPMorgan Chase said in a note to clients last week that business sentiment polls in the nation "are signaling a not very deep recession in Russia, and therefore imply upside risks to our growth forecasts. The data at hand therefore do not point to an abrupt plunge in activity, at least for now."
JPMorgan ...