U.S. considers freezing $650 billion reserve of Russian central bank
The United States government is considering freezing the $643 billion in reserves of the Russian central bank amassed by President Vladimir Putin following his invasion of Ukraine.
Bloomberg reports that while decisions on the fresh sanction were yet to be finalised, the President Joe Biden administration was urgently exploring options to severely limit Russia’s ability to advance its military operations in Ukraine.
Sources familiar with the matter told the New York-based media outlet that U.S. was aiming to impose the fresh sanctions in conjunction with allies across Europe to maximally incapacitate Moscow.
Despite steadily reducing its foreign currency dependency, Russia’s central bank at the end of June 2021 was reported to still have 16.4 per cent of its holdings in dollars.
The consideration for stiffer sanctions come days after Mr Biden announced sanctions targeting Russian assets in response to the expanded invasion of Ukraine on Thursday.
The earlier announced sanctions include export blocks on technology, which the Biden administration said would severely limit Russia’s ability to advance its military and aerospace sector.
Mr Biden also applied sanctions on four Russian banks and “corrupt billionaires” and their families who are close to the Kremlin. These banks hold over $1 trillion in assets, including the country’s largest bank.
Also, European leaders on Friday decided to impose a second batch of sanctions to incapacitate the Russian economy, setting its target on banks, state-owned companies and individuals. However, at first they had been undecided about blocking Russia from SWIFT.
France had supported cutting off Russia from the global SWIFT payment system and was also ready to supply weapons and military equipment to Ukraine.
However, Germany’s finance minister, Christian Lindner, said on Friday that his government was “open” to cutting Russia from Swift.
Peoples Gazette had earlier reported Hungary’s support for cutting Russia off the banking network.
On Saturday, the EU began the process to cut off Russia from the Swift banking system according to reports from European media.
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette
Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices
Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”
Hot news Home top
Burna Boy ranked as Africa’s best-selling artiste with 14.46 million equivalent album units
The 14.46 million equivalent album units were derived from a combination of album sales, physical and digital single sales, and streaming equivalents.
Economy
Investors gain as market capitalisation crosses N159 trillion mark
The performance marked the third consecutive trading session of gains.
Abuja
ICPC hands over forfeited $65 million housing project to FMBN
The ICPC handed over 27.92 hectares of forfeited land linked to a diverted $65 million housing project to the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria.
States
Police arrest seven suspected pipeline vandals in Adamawa
Police recovered 285 pieces of vandalised NNPC pipelines.
Heading 2
NIHSA issues flood alert for 1,841 Bauchi communities, 16 other states
The agency urged state governments, local authorities and residents of flood-prone communities to take immediate precautionary measures.
Economy
Lagos govt seeks assembly’s approval for ₦200 billion bond, FAAC-backed initiative for infrastructure financing
Speaker Mudashiru Obasa referred both requests to the Joint Committee on Economic Planning and Budget and the Committee on Finance for detailed scrutiny.
