Russian economy holding up but the road back to prosperity may be long

Analysts see a substantial and long-lasting opportunity cost from what Moscow calls its ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine MOSCOW, Russia - Russia's economy proved unexpectedly resilient in the face of tough Western sanctions last year, but a return to pre-conflict levels of prosperity may be far off as more government spending is directed towards the military. Even internal forecasts made soon after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine a year ago had predicted the economy would shrink by more than 10% in 2022, exceeding the slumps seen after the Soviet Union collapsed and during the 1998 financial crisis. But statistics agency…