MOSCOW, February 8. /TASS/. Western sanctions imposed against Russia have been largely ineffective, having a "reverse effect" on the economy, RBC reported citing a study conducted by Sberbank’s Center for Financial Analysis.

"Some sanctions even helped the Russian economy," the authors of the study said. And at the same time, they somehow hit the economies of the sanctioners themselves, "fragmenting the global economy and decreasing the West’s clout," they added.

The Russian economy is able to cope with the sanctions pressure as the country’s dependence on foreign capital is low, its commodities are highly important for the world (Western countries themselves keep buying them, though in smaller quantities) and the process of establishing local production for the purpose of import substitution is underway, according to the report.

Researchers from Sberbank’s Center for Financial Analysis gave three examples showing that Western sanctions were having the "reverse effect." In particular, the voluntary or enforced withdrawal of Western companies from Russia encouraged the growth of domestic production, organization of parallel imports and imports of alternative products from third countries. Restrictions on capital pullout make the ruble stronger and leave currency inside the country, though persecution of Russian businesses in the West mean that "Western countries are no longer seen as a ‘safe haven’ for the funds of rich Russians (same as citizens of other friendly countries)," RBC wrote.

Despite this, the authors of the study admit that difficulties with developing new production sites without access to Western technologies may arise in the future. Sanctions carry challenges, including in the context of "relatively low level of geopolitical stability in countries that are new allies of the Russian Federation," analysts noted.