By Tass

Copyright tass

WASHINGTON, September 15. /TASS/. Russia has adapted its economy to Western sanctions despite the fact that in some sense there is an economic war going on between the US and Russia, head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (AmCham Russia) Robert Agee said in an interview with TASS.

“It seems to me that in some sense there is already an economic war going on: trade turnover between Russia and the US has fallen to an all-time low, investments are prohibited. The activities of those companies that continue to work in Russia are seriously restricted by US and EU sanctions on the one hand and Russian counter-restrictions on the other,” he said.

Agee was commenting on the words of US President Donald Trump, who on August 26 declared his readiness for an “economic war” with Russia in the absence of a settlement in Ukraine.

“We conducted a study called ‘Pulse,’ surveying our member companies. The results showed that, in terms of negative impact, American and European sanctions were rated at 8 points, while Russian counter-sanctions were rated at 5. This indicates that sanctions are hurting primarily foreign businesses that remain in Russia, whereas the Russian economy has adapted to the restrictions and continues to feel relatively resilient,” Agee stressed.

He cited the results of a study conducted by AmCham Russia, according to which in 2021, 70% of companies that were its members considered the Russian market strategic for themselves.

“Apparently, they would have continued to think so if many of them had not been forced to suspend their activities here,” he noted.