Moscow.Westend61/ Getty ImagesRussia's GDP growth slowed to 4% in Q2, while inflation continued to rise.Economists have long been warning that the Russian economy is showing signs of "overheating."Russia's central bank raised its key interest rate to 18% last month in an attempt to combat inflation.Russia's economic growth slowed to 4% in the second quarter of 2024, down from 5.4% in Q1, AFP reported, citing official data released on Friday.While the Russian economy continues to expand, it marked the lowest quarterly GDP growth result since the beginning of 2023, the report said.It comes as the Kremlin battles rising inflation and warnings that the economy is overheating.Russia's economic growth has come off the back of huge Kremlin spending on its military campaign in Ukraine, which it launched in February 2022.While that spending helped quell earlier predictions of an imminent recession linked to Western sanctions, it has led to rampant inflation.Inflation hit 9.13% year-on-year in July, the AFP report said, citing data from the Rosstat statistics agency.The country has also been going through a consumption boom, driven by the state's heavy defense spending and labor shortages."Consumer activity remains high amid a significant increase in households' incomes and positive consumer sentiment,'" Russia's central bank said in July."Labour shortages continue to grow.