Two years after the Kremlin's forces invaded Ukraine, US-led sanctions have certainly changed Russia's economy – but they haven’t stopped the war.

The US Treasury’s chief sanctions economist contends the effort is working. But an analyst who worked at Russia’s central bank before fleeing in 2022 counters that the economy is very much alive. In this episode of the Big Take DC, we find out about Russia’s “brain drain,” how an economy that was shrinking is projected to beat earlier expectations in 2024 and whether Russia will ever regain global prestige.

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