The United States and its Western allies will extend their sanctions to all $630 billion of foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. This was announced to journalists on Saturday by a high-ranking representative of the Washington administration at a special briefing on restrictive measures against Russia.
The official said that the United States and other Western countries intend to collectively impose sanctions against the Central Bank of the Russian Federation so that it cannot use its reserves to support the ruble. One of the journalists asked to clarify what part of the 630 billion dollars will be subject to restrictions. “Everything,” the administration official replied.
“Now all 630 billion dollars of foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Federation can theoretically be used for their sale and purchase of rubles. This would offset some of our sanctions. <…> Such a measure, among other things, does not allow Russia to make transactions with Western banks, <…> which is necessary for it to conduct foreign exchange interventions. She needs to buy rubles <…> to support her currency,” the official added.