Trade sanctions mean that an economy must become more self-sufficient, and self-sufficiency in this case has grown the economy because Russia has expanded the production of input resources - the U.S. gambled that the Russian economy would collapse without trade in required precedents but they have managed to supply them themselves or through trade with less belligerent powers

by lying!

Last I heard (several months ago, admittedly), Russia had stopped sharing the data needed to validate their economic reports. As a result I immediately distrust anyone saying anything definitive (up or down) about Russia’s economy.

Additionally, this is the first I’ve heard of either site you’ve linked to, so I call bullshit. This doesn’t fully track and can’t be verified.

Yeah, but it's a house of cards. Infrastructure, education and other key social programs have been stripped bare to keep the house afloat.

If they can keep it up long enough to win it may not collapse....that's a big if, especially if they're bringing in N. Korean fodder.