Vasily Astrov, expert on the Russian economy at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, told Newsweek that "inflation has really subsided markedly over the past few months. The outcome of this policy has been a marked cooling of domestic demand, with the welcome side effect of rapid disinflation.

The European Union and Britain on Friday sought to ramp up economic pressure on Russia to halt the war in Ukraine by slashing a price cap meant to choke off revenues from key oil exports.The EU and Britain said they would lower the cap on Russian oil exported to third countries around the world to 15 percent below market value.

Europe will not back down in its support for Ukraine. The EU will keep raising the pressure until Russia ends its war,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement.