US says Ukraine conflict is damaging Russian economy – FT

Russia's economy would have expanded by over 5% if Putin had not launched the war in Ukraine, the newspaper reported quoting Rachel Lyngaas, the chief sanctions economist at the department. The U.S. Department of the Treasury did not respond to Reuters' request for a comment. Moscow was spending more than $100 billion, or almost a third of its total expenditures on defense in 2023, according to the FT report.