MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. Russia has become Europe's largest economy, which is right in hot pursuit of Japan in the race for fourth place, Russian presidential aide Maxim Oreshkin voiced such an opinion in an interview with the Expert magazine.

"The so-called economies of the global North - the USA, Japan, the EU - are slowly losing their role, their significance. China has become the leading economy, Russia has become the largest economy in Europe, which is already right in hot pursuit of Japan in the race for fourth place. Asian economies have risen very seriously in the rankings. India took third place, Indonesia rose to seventh and will soon begin to storm the position of Germany, which ranks sixth," he said.

Oreshkin drew attention to the growing instability of the economies of the global North, citing as an example the speech of the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, at the conference of European ambassadors in November on the role and factors of economic prosperity of the European Union.

"He directly said that all prosperity was based on two prerequisites: comfortable access to energy resources from Russia and the use of cheap production in China. In addition to that, European companies used the markets of Russia and China, which provided sales volumes," Oreshkin said.

He stressed that the gradual loss of all these elements leads to long-term stagnation of the European economy.

According to the aide to the Russian President, the economy is not the only factor of instability in the global North, but social factors are also very strong, which are manifested in the growth of stratification and inequality of opportunities.

"Social factors give rise to political problems in the countries of the global North. We see very serious political polarization, the growth of right-wing parties and their ratings. And, of course, we cannot help but notice the cultural and value crisis, which, among other things, leads to a change in the structure of society, depopulation of indigenous residents, an increase in the share of migrants, and so on," Oreshkin said. He added that this "gradual degradation of the countries of the global North and the continued gain of power by the countries of the East and South is something that will further shape the changing landscape of the global economy."

Russia among five largest economies in the world

As TASS reported, at the end of 2022, Russia entered the top five of largest economies in the world and overtook Germany in terms of purchasing power parity and economic volume. This assessment was published by the World Bank in August 2023, updating the assessment of the world’s GDP at the end of 2022.

According to the World Bank, Russia is among the five largest economies in the world. The economy of China ranks first, the United States comes second, India is on the third place, Japan is on the fourth place, and Russia closes the top five.