NEW YORK, November 16. /TASS/. The anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the West will remain in the next few years, but some of them are likely to be eased during that period, a former Russian finance minister said Tuesday.
"The impact of sanctions has reduced. I think that the core of the sanctions will remain for the next few years. But some them will start to shrink earlier," Alexei Kudrin said.
The former minister, who now heads the country’s main think tank on economic policy, said that in the first two years of sanctions, their influence on the Russian economy amounted to 1% GDP.
According to Kudrin, the sanctions seriously restrict Russia’s actions on global financial markets and, if they are eased, Russian financial institutions will be able to expand their activities.
Kudrin earlier said that the sanctions against Russian companies continue to have a negative impact on the Russian economy, although Russia has gradually adapted to them.
The United States and the European Union started to impose sanctions on Russia in March 2014, following the events in Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. Russia responded with its own economic restrictions.