{"id":62049,"date":"2022-02-28T09:43:38","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T14:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=62049"},"modified":"2022-02-28T09:43:38","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T14:43:38","slug":"us-bans-transactions-with-russian-central-bank-freezing-nearly-half-of-russias-630bn-in-reserves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=62049","title":{"rendered":"US Bans Transactions With Russian Central Bank, Freezing Nearly Half Of Russia’s $630BN In Reserves"},"content":{"rendered":"
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US Bans Transactions With Russian Central Bank, Freezing Nearly Half Of Russia’s $630BN In Reserves<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/header>\n
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Following in the footsteps of Europe, on Monday the Biden administration banned U.S. people and companies from doing business with the Bank of Russia, the Russian National Wealth Fund and the Ministry of Finance. The moves by the U.S. Treasury\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control will \u201ceffectively immobilize\u201d any Russian central bank assets held in the U.S. or by U.S. nationals, according to a Treasury department\u00a0statement.<\/p>\n

According to the Treasury release, the U.S. also announced new penalties on a key Russian sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and its Chief Executive Officer, Kirill Aleksandrovich Dmitriev, a close ally of Russian President\u00a0Vladimir Putin. The announcements marked the latest blow in the West\u2019s financial retaliation against Russia following Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and are designed to shake an already staggering Russian financial system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unprecedented action we are taking today will significantly limit Russia\u2019s ability to use assets to finance its destabilizing activities, and target the funds Putin and his inner circle depend on to enable his invasion of Ukraine,\u201d Treasury Secretary\u00a0Janet Yellen\u00a0said in a statement.<\/p>\n

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