On February 28, the Central Bank of Russia did not conduct foreign exchange interventions due to restrictions on the use of gold and foreign exchange reserves in dollars and euros, said Central Bank Chairman Elvira Nabiullina.
“Due to restrictions on the use of gold and foreign exchange reserves in dollars and euros, we did not intervene today,” Nabiullina said on the air of the Rossiya 24 TV channel.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a military operation in the Donbass, the purpose of which is to protect people who “are subjected to bullying, genocide by the Kiev regime.” In addition to the territory of Donbass, hostilities are taking place on the territory of other cities of Ukraine, in particular, on February 25, the Ministry of Defense announced the blockade of Kyiv from the western side. Putin said that Russia did not plan to occupy Ukraine, but would seek to demilitarize and denazify that country.
The start of the operation and the imposition of severe economic sanctions by the US, the EU and their allies led to a weakening of the ruble, in connection with which the Bank of Russia began to conduct foreign exchange interventions for the first time since 2014. On the night of February 27, the US and the EU imposed sanctions on the international reserves of the Central Bank, thereby limiting the regulator’s ability to curb the fall of the domestic currency. The Central Bank then raised the key rate to a record level in history. In addition, together with the government, from February 28, the regulator introduced for residents – participants in foreign economic activity the obligation to sell foreign currency in the amount of 80% of the proceeds due to residents under all foreign trade agreements.
At the opening of today’s trading, the dollar cost 90 rubles, the euro – 101.192 rubles. During the day, they rose in price to historically record 109.18 and 122 rubles. respectively.