Central Bank of the Russian Federation February 28, 2022 in Moscow (Natalia KOLESNIKOVA/AFP/Archive)
Russian authorities have drawn up a list of countries “hostile” to Russia to which Russian individuals and legal entities can repay their debts in rubles, a currency whose value has lost 45% since January, the government said on Monday.
This list of countries includes the countries of the European Union, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, Monaco, South Korea, USA, Switzerland and Japan and others.
The text was prepared following a presidential decree on Friday that, in vague language, established “interim arrangements” for repaying debts to “certain foreign creditors.”
To do this, the debtor will now be able to apply to a Russian bank with a request to open a special account in rubles in the name of a foreign creditor and send him a payment in ruble equivalent at the Central Bank exchange rate for the day.
The new temporary procedure applies to payments exceeding 10 million rubles per month in foreign currency terms.
This is one of the first Russian responses to the unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia by many Western countries after its military intervention in Ukraine.
The sanctions caused a historic depreciation of the ruble and are accompanied by a freeze of part of the authorities’ funds abroad, which does not allow the Central Bank to support the Russian currency.
On Monday, the market fears were focused on the possibility of economic sanctions aimed directly at Russian oil.
The first victim in the foreign exchange market, the Russian currency melted 10% on Monday around 1100 GMT to 137.70 rubles to the dollar, touching 142.18 rubles, a new all-time low. Since January 1, the ruble has fallen by 45%.
■