European Union (EU) sanctions against Russia’s central bank came into force after being published in the union’s official journal in the early hours of Monday.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the sanctions include a ban on transactions with the Russian financial institution.

The bank’s assets in the EU will also be frozen in a bid to block financing for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.

The measure is considered hefty as the planned exclusion of Russian financial institutions from the SWIFT banking network.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Sunday evening that the EU sanctions combined with those of its G7 partners mean around half of the financial reserves of Russia’s Central Bank will be frozen.

Experts said this means Russia would, for example, no longer be able to use its foreign currency holdings to stabilise the ruble.

The Russian currency has already been weakened, which will bring further hardship to Russians.

According to Mr Borrell, not all Russian central bank’s reserves can be blocked because they are not all in western nations. The EU cannot block reserves in Moscow or China, for example.

He added that Russia had stashed its reserves in countries where they could not block them.

The EU also plans to impose further sanctions against Russia’s ally Belarus, Russian oligarchs, business people, and politicians.

(dpa/NAN)