Putin said Russia has the largest economy in Europe?

Claim:

In January 2024, Vladimir Putin said that Russia was the largest economy in Europe.

Evaluation:

context

Although Putin stated that the Russian economy had surpassed Germany's and was the largest in Europe, he was referring to purchasing power parity and not nominal GDP.

On February 15, 2024, X user (formerly Twitter) @jacksonhinklle wrote: “Russia is now the LARGEST economy in Europe.” The tweet received more than 2.8 million Views and 54,000 likes as of this writing.

(@jacksonhinklle)

The post was based on a statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin and was published by some news outlets Headlines in mid-January 2024 like “'We are Europe's largest economy, despite pressure from all sides': Russian President Putin” and “Russia has become Europe's largest economy, despite US and EU sanctions, says Putin.”

Putin actually made this claim, but the post on actual quote.

According to the Russian state news agency TASS, Putin met with a group of entrepreneurs January 11 in Khabarovsk – a remote city in the southeast Russia, near the Chinese border – and stated (emphasis added):

Purchasing power parity, or GDP PPP, is essentially a way to compare the prices of goods in different locations. It is different from nominal gross domestic product – the value of all goods and services produced by a nation in a given period of time – and is used to account for differences in exchange rates between countries.

In terms of nominal GDP, Germany was at the top Europe with $4,429.838 trillion in 2023, according to IInternational Munitary Fand. Russia ranks Fifth with $1,862.470 trillion.

But in 2022, Germany's GDP PPP was $5.32 trillion and Russia's was $5.33 trillion, according to the World Bank. Therefore, Putin was right when he said that Russia has surpassed Germany in terms of gross domestic product (PPP).

On February 8, the Russian leader conducted a sit-down interview with political commentator Tucker Carlson in which he reiterated the claim:

Again, this statement refers to GDP PPP and not nominal GDP.

Since Putin has publicly stated more than once that Russia has the largest economy in Europe, we classify this claim as “true.”

Sources

“GDP of European countries 2022”. Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/685925/gdp-of-european-countries/. Accessed February 21, 2024.

“Https://Twitter.Com/Jacksonhinklle/Status/1758325070785642694”. X (formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/jacksonhinklle/status/1758325070785642694. Accessed February 21, 2024.

Russia will become Europe's most important economy despite “pressure from all sides,” says Putin. TASS, https://tass.com/economy/1730891. Accessed February 21, 2024.

“Vladimir Putin has arrived in Khabarovsk”. President of Russia, January 10, 2024, http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/73249.

“We are the largest economy in Europe, despite pressure from all sides”: Russian President Putin. The Economic Times, January 12, 2024. The Economic Times – The Times of India, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/we-are-the-largest-economy-in-europe- despite-pressure-from-all-sides-russian-president-putin/articleshow/106759531.cms?from=mdr.

“What is purchasing power parity (PPP) and how is it calculated?” Investopedia, https://www.investopedia.com/updates/purchasing-power-parity-ppp/. Accessed February 21, 2024.

“World Bank Open Data.” World Bank Open Data, https://data.worldbank.org. Accessed February 21, 2024.