Vladimir Putin and the Russian authorities established a list of countries “hostile” to the countryto which individuals and companies will be able to repay their debts in rubles, a currency that has lost 45 percent of its value since January, the government said on Monday.
Under this premise, the debtor may ask a Russian bank to create a special account in rubles in the name of the foreign creditor and send him a payment in Russian currency for the amount due, at the exchange rate of the day in question, as indicated by the Bank. Central.
(Also read: Donald Trump ‘jokes’ and proposes to bomb Russia and blame China).
This measure will apply to payments exceeding 10 million rubles per month. It is one of the first Russian responses to the sanctions imposed by numerous foreign countries after its military intervention in Ukraine.
(Also: The dangerous similarities between Putin’s strategy and Hitler’s)
The sanctions caused the historical depreciation of the ruble and are accompanied by the freezing of part of the funds of the authorities abroad, which prevents the Central Bank from supporting the Russian currency.
(Keep reading: The European Union agrees to start the accession process of Ukraine).
The Russian currency reached 140 rubles per dollar on Monday. This potential Western embargo, which would be a major setback for Russia, also sent oil prices soaring and stock markets reeling on fears of a global economic slowdown.
The Russian stock market has been closed since February 25, the day after the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Since that date, the Russian currency has lost almost half its value. The United States is considering the option of banning imports of Russian oila possibility that is under discussion with the European Union.
About the Solaris yacht, by Roman Abramovich, one of the ships sanctioned by the West to Russian oligarchs.
These are the foreign enemies, according to Putin
This list of countries, prepared following a Russian presidential decree referring to an “interim procedure”, includes, among others: Australia, United States, Canada, United States, Switzerland and Japan.
To these are added all the members of the European Union: Spain, in addition to Australia, Albania, Andorra, Great Britain (including the island of Jersey and other overseas territories that it controls: such as the island of Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and Gibraltar ), Iceland and Liechtenstein, Micronesia, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, San Marino, North Macedonia, Singapore, Taiwan, Montenegro, Switzerland, Japan and Ukraine itself.
The situation is deteriorating every day in Ukraine and this Tuesday, the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, accused Western countries of not fulfilling their “promises”. “We have been listening to promises for 13 days.
Thirteen days that they are telling us that they will help us (…) that there will be planes, that they will deliver them to us,” he declared in a video posted on Telegram. “But the responsibility for all this also falls on those who have not been able to take a decision in the West for 13 days. On those who have not protected the Ukrainian sky from Russian murderers,” she added.
The launch of the humanitarian corridors was the focus of the third round of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations on Monday, but on the ground, Russian forces continue to deploy around large cities, and in some cases bomb them, according to Ukrainian officials.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths told the Security Council that civilians must be able to flee in any direction they choose and safe access to medical and humanitarian supplies must be guaranteed.
After months of amassing troops around the former Soviet republic,
Putin ordered the invasion claiming to want to protect the Russian-speaking population of the rebel territories in eastern Ukraine, which have been fighting Kiev since 2014.
The Kremlin leader calls for the demilitarization of Ukraine, a neutral status for the country now leaning towards the West and guarantees that it will never join NATO.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP
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