In both cases, the decisions stem from the impact of economic sanctions imposed by the international community following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Sberbank group, the main Russian bank, has announced its exit from the European market, after being hit by massive international financial sanctions.
“In the current situation, Sberbank has decided to withdraw from the European market. The group’s subsidiary banks face abnormal cash outflows and threats to the safety of employees and offices,” the group said in a statement. quoted by Russian media.
The Bank of Russia also said in a statement that it had decided not to resume trading in the securities on the Moscow Stock Exchange, adding that it would review the decision at 6 a.m. Thursday.
The Moscow stock exchange has been closed since Monday after the EU, US, Canada and other partners excluded some Russian banks from the SWIFT international interbank communication system, an unprecedented move to isolate the country from the financial system. global.
The ruble then recorded a sharp fall. By shutting down the Russian stock exchange over the past three days, Russia has tried to avoid a bigger drop than the MOEX index suffered, with the stock market now down 45% and major stocks losing more than 58% .
The Bank of Russia hopes that the measures taken to stabilize the market will reassure Russian investors.
Among other measures, he decided to allow the banks affected by the sanctions to use the accumulated capital reserve to continue operating and raised interest rates to 20%, while the government decided to use up one billion rubles (8.9 billion euros) to the National Provident Fund. – fueled by oil revenues and a kind of “cushion” to use in times of crisis – to be used to buy shares in Russian companies.
Russia launched a military offensive in Ukraine early Thursday morning, with ground forces and bombing targets in several cities, which killed more than 350 civilians, including children, according to Kiev. The UN has reported more than 100,000 displaced people and more than 660,000 refugees in Poland, Hungary, Moldova and Romania.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says the ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine aims to demilitarize the neighboring country and is the only way for Russia to defend itself, with the Kremlin saying the offensive will last as long as necessary .
The attack was condemned by the international community as a whole, and the European Union and the United States, among others, responded by sending arms and ammunition to Ukraine and tightening sanctions to further isolate Moscow.
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