A top Russian official has said the country's economy is "not in tatters," as President Barack Obama claimed earlier this year.
"The Russian economy is not in tatters, despite what several of our partners have said, but I can't say the economy is feeling well," Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told the Russian parliament on October 21, according to Russian news agencies.
Russian officials were angered by President Barack Obama's claim in his State of the Union address that Russia's economy was "in tatters."
The Russian economy has been hit by Western sanctions over the Kremlin's actions in Ukraine as well as lower oil prices.
The government predicts the economy will contract by 3.9 percent this year, and grow by only 0.7 percent next year.
The average income has declined this year for the first time in President Vladimir Putin's 15 years in power.
"Of course we are expecting a slump and a curtailment of real incomes for Russians," Shuvalov said, but the situation is "completely under the government's control."
