(This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine.)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's economy shrank by 5% on an annualised basis in September, the economy ministry said on Thursday, a sharper contraction than the 4% recorded a month earlier.
Western sanctions and the fallout from Russia sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February have pushed the country into recession, but Moscow says the West has failed to destroy the Russian economy.
Earlier this year economists were predicting a double-digit recession for 2022. The economy ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the country was on track to posting a 2.9% contraction this year, and that September's slump was due to a high base effect in comparison with the same month last year.
Central bank officials have said Moscow's call-up of 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine, in what the Kremlin calls a "partial mobilisation" drive, could further hit the Russian economy by sapping demand, pulling workers out of businesses and knocking consumer confidence.
The ministry said Russia's economy was 4.4% smaller in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the same three-month period of 2021.