Russia's economic recovery sped up notably in the second quarter, increasing the possibility that growth will exceed the 2 percent target the government set for 2017, Moscow claimed Wednesday.

Finance Minister Maxim Oreshkin said the country's gross domestic product, which went positive at the end of last year following a two-year recession, rose in the second quarter of 2017 by 2.7 percent year-on-year, compared with just 0.5 percent in the first quarter.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, Russia recorded its first increase in GDP (0.3 percent) after two years of recession triggered by the collapse of hydrocarbon prices and Western sanctions linked to the Ukrainian crisis.