Western sanctions, which were considered to be beneficial and thought to help to restore domestic production just a month ago, appeared to be beyond Russia’s economic capacity. Recently, citing Russian policy makers, every one used to say that Russia would be able to live without parmesan and would boost domestic agricultural industry. Currently, the situation is changing dramatically. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated in his official report that the country is losing over $40 billion a year due to sanctions and twice as much from oil prices decline. "We are losing around $40 billion per year due to geopolitical sanctions and we are losing some $90 to $100 billion per year due to a 30% slump in oil prices," Siluanov said in a speech at an economic forum in Moscow. This is just the beginning. Russia has not estimated the full scale of sanctions imposed by the European Union and the U.S. on its economy yet. In addition, the official said that capital outflow could reach a record level of $130 billion this year. Panic is enhanced by the fact the majority of people, having any surplus funds, started to buy the U.S. dollars and euros. "The main capital outflow takes place through conversion of savings of the population and economic agents from rubles into foreign currency at the moment when the exchange rate is volatile," Siluanov said. However, this is not the major concern. A slump in global oil prices came as a real blow for the Russian economy. "The oil price fell by 30 percent, and the ruble weakened by the same 30 percent. When people ask me about the future ruble rate, it is impossible to answer this question, as there are a lot of factors. Usually I advise to follow oil prices. Prices’ behavior will be the same as the ruble’s one," the Minister said. This means, it will be lower, and lower, and lower.