Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said earlier during the St. Petersburg Economic Forum that the economy is “on the verge of going into a recession.”

Russia's economy must under no circumstances slide into recession, President Vladimir Putin told an economic forum on Friday, in a clear instruction to assembled government ministers and central bankers.

Russia's Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting said in a statement this week: "It seems that an 'an economy of stagnation' has formed." What Happens Next. T