The US Treasury banned operations with the Bank of Russia | News from Germany about world events

The US Treasury Department on Monday, February 28, announced new sanctions against the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and state investment funds in response to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. “The unprecedented actions we are taking today will greatly limit Russia’s ability to use assets to fund its destabilizing activities and hit the funds that Putin and his inner circle depend on to carry out their invasion of Ukraine,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. which are given in the message of the department.

According to the Treasury, the move “virtually immobilizes” any assets of the Bank of Russia located in the United States or held by US persons, wherever located. According to the administration of US President Joe Biden, the punitive measures could affect “hundreds of billions of dollars” of Russian funding, reports AP. Biden administration officials said that Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan and other countries will join the US sanctions against the Russian Central Bank. In addition, the United States imposed sanctions on the National Welfare Fund (NWF), the Russian Ministry of Finance, as well as the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and its head Kirill Dmitriev.

New EU sanctions against Russia

Earlier in the day, the European Union limited the ability of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation to use its international reserves. The decision was made within the framework of sanctions against Russia for its military invasion of Ukraine, which caused sharp condemnation of many countries. In addition, the new EU-agreed punitive measures include cutting off a number of Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment services system and the fight against “golden passports”.

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Author: Irina Filatova, Vitaly Kropman