Inflation remained high regardless of the rate hike, speeding up to over 1 percent in the first three weeks of November and pushing the year-to-year numbers to over 8 percent.In the wake of the economic challenges the country has faced over the past year, the U.S. government's Nov. 21 decision to impose new sanctions on dozens of Russian banks has proven hard for the country's economy to swallow."Russia is currently facing an impossible economic conundrum because of the rapid increase in military expenditures and the Western sanctions," Anders Aslund, a Swedish economist specializing in post-Soviet countries, told the Kyiv Independent.However, economists and analysts are divided on how much of an impact Russia's economic problems will have on its war effort.Some argue that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Russia to finance its war.