Russian President Vladimir Putin must thank the US Treasury Department for helping his country prepare for the global economic crisis.

The flow of economic sanctions and the constant threat of new restrictions have prompted Russian authorities to increase their reserves and reduce debt over the past five years. And while governments around the world are gearing up for the biggest economic downturn since 2008, Russia’s approach to taking all possible precautionary measures, which is pushing the Russian economy to stagnation, no longer seems such a bad idea.

On Thursday, S&P Global Ratings maintained Russia’s credit rating at BBB- with a stable outlook, although the company lowered its rating to a number of emerging markets.

“Previous crises have taught the Russian Treasury and the Central Bank to be prepared for this”, said Karen Vartapetov, an analyst at S&P Global Ratings. “They have a lot of experience with crises”, he added.

Certainly, Russia’s dependence on raw materials means that the country will not escape the global recession. The budget has already suffered a heavy blow from the collapse in oil prices to an 18-year low, with the ruble writing off 21% since the beginning of the year.

Also in Russia, there is a force and ban on residents from leaving their homes, except in case of emergency due to the spread of the new coronavirus. The measure is effective from Monday for Moscow and some other areas. The country’s economy could shrink by 5% to 10% this year if a complete blockade comes into effect – at least that shows the worst-case scenario seen by the government.

In the meantime, sanctions imposed by the EU and the US for annexing the Crimea in 2014 have stopped many state-owned companies from collecting debt abroad. That left Russia with one of the lowest debt-to-gross domestic product ratios among emerging markets. However, last year, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the country had enough reserves to afford to survive without debt for at least a year.

At the same time, the Treasury is pouring additional tax revenue and oil exports into a large-scale “rainy days” fund, making Russia’s currency reserves the fourth largest in the world. So far, Vladimir Putin has not shown a particular inclination to use these funds to stimulate the economy. Instead, he announced a plan to boost the budget through taxes on dividends and bank deposits.

However, continuing preparations for the crisis in Russia are costly to the economy, which has been stagnant for the past five years. Before the coronavirus pandemic and the collapse in oil prices, Putin promised to improve the standard of living of Russians this year, rising costs.

One way for Russia to respond to the 2014 sanctions was to restrict imports of certain foods from the US and Europe. This, on the one hand, led to a sharp jump in prices but also to an increase in agricultural production, which in turn made Russia more resilient to the turmoil in international trade.