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Vladimir Putin: Within a few days, tough sanctions were imposed on Russia because of the war in Ukraine
Photo:
Andrei Gorshkov / picture alliance / AP
Russia does not see itself threatened by the sanctions imposed by numerous countries.
"Russia is not isolated," says presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
"Russia is too big to be isolated by the US and the European Union."
The world is much bigger than just the West, Peskow continued.
Western-oriented states behaved like bandits towards Russia.
Russia will react to this “economic banditry”.
Russia hopes that one day its position will be understood by the EU, the US and NATO.
And the country wants to be attractive to investors.
Times changed again, says Peskow, and companies and investors returned.
International companies had withdrawn from Russia within a few days.
Cultural institutions and universities are turning away from their Russian partners.
International tournaments only take place without Russian athletes.
The Russian currency is in freefall.
Long queues formed in front of ATMs.
people tried to empty their accounts;
often without success.
A large part of the foreign exchange reserves is currently unattainable
The crash fueled the already high inflation.
Under normal circumstances, Putin's central bank could take countermeasures.
It has accumulated around $630 billion worth of foreign exchange reserves, the sale of which could stabilize the ruble exchange rate.
But the alliance of Putin's opponents has frozen Russia's billions abroad - it is unclear how much money the government can still dispose of.
(Read more about how the sanctions work here and here.)
In fact, the sanctions against Russia do not only affect Russian companies, but numerous companies around the world.
Billions are at risk for international companies, banks and investors.
EQUITIES AND BONDS:
According to data from the financial analysis company Morningstar, international funds alone are invested in Russia with shares and bonds worth at least 60 billion dollars.
US money managers like Capital Group, BlackRock and Vanguard have been hit the hardest.
According to publications from September 2021 to the end of February 2022, the commitments of the 100 largest funds add up to more than 60 billion dollars.
DEBT SECURITIES:
According to an analysis by US investment bank JP Morgan, foreigners own around $79 billion in Russian debt securities.
BANKS:
According to data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), foreign financial institutions have a Russia risk of around $120 billion.
In Europe, Italian and French banks have been hit hardest - at just over $25 billion each.
US banks' exposure totals $14.7 billion.
Of the individual institutions, the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International is particularly at risk - with 22.85 billion euros.
More than half of this is accounted for by business with private corporate customers.
At the French Société Générale, which controls the Russian Rosbank, it is 18.6 billion euros.
The Italian UniCredit had a Russia risk of 14.2 billion euros in mid-2021.
Of the US institutes, Citigroup is involved in Russia with almost ten billion dollars.
OTHER COMPANIES:
BP wants to give up its stake in the Russian oil giant Rosneft.
Rosneft accounts for around half of BP's oil and gas reserves and a third of its production.
According to the British company, the sale of the 19.75 percent stake will lead to charges and cost up to 25 billion dollars.
Exxon Mobil withdraws from the Russian oil and gas business.
This has so far been valued at more than four billion dollars.
Shell ceases all operations in Russia.
The decision to leave Russian joint ventures will lead to write-downs.
The oil company had around $3 billion in assets there at the end of 2021.
NORWAY SOVEREIGN FUND:
Norway's sovereign wealth fund - the world's largest - has mostly written off the value of its roughly $3 billion in assets held in Russia.
At the end of 2021, the fund held shares in 51 companies in Russia.
The most valuable of them were Gazprom, Sberbank and Lukoil, i.e. a bank and two energy companies.
jul/rts
