AFP, Moscow

Russia reported strong economic growth for 2024 on Friday as record spending on the military offensive against Ukraine outweighed the impact of Western sanctions.

Moscow’s massive ramp-up in outlays on soldiers and weapons has helped it defy predictions of a deep recession after it launched its military campaign in February 2022.

But fast growth has triggered high inflation and deep labour shortages at home, worrying the Kremlin.

The economy expanded by 4.1 percent in 2024, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting, citing data from the Rosstat statistics agency.

That was the same as the pace of growth in 2023, Mishustin said -- revising up the previous figure of a 3.6 percent expansion for that year.

Putin hailed the economic performance, but ordered Mishustin to get a grip on rising prices.

“Overall, the result is good,” Putin said.

“The task for the current year is to reach a more balanced growth trajectory and achieve a reduction in inflation,” he said.

Mishustin said it was “absolutely clear that the main challenge is inflation”, which came in at 9.5 percent last year.

Surging prices for staple goods have become headline news in state media -- usually uncritical of the Kremlin -- in recent months.

The cost of butter rose 36 percent in 2024, the Rosstat statistics agency said, with overall food prices more than 11 percent higher.

Prices have been pushed higher by a rapid increase in state spending amid the Ukraine offensive.

State expenditure is set to be two-thirds higher in 2025 compared to 2021, before Russia’s military offensive.

Putin said last year that Moscow is spending almost nine percent of its GDP on defence and security.