Russia's economy shrunk by 3.7 percent in 2015 compared with the previous year, the country's state statistics service said on April 1.

The hardest-hit were wholesale and retail sectors with a 10 percent contraction while the construction sector declined by 7.4 percent.

The report said the agriculture sector showed a 3.1 percent increase.

Russia's economy has been struggling since the middle of 2014 because of Western sanctions over Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea and its role in the military conflict in eastern Ukraine.

It has also been hit by the sharp decline in global prices for oil, Russia's key export commodity.

The statistics service said economic output in 2015 totaled 80.8 trillion rubles ($1.2 trillion).

Based on reporting by TASS and AP