Media: new US sanctions will be directed against the public debt of Russia

The new US sanctions, which the presidential administration Joe Biden is going to announce, will be sent against the sovereign debt of Russia, reports The New York Times with reference to sources. Reuters also writes about this.

According to The Wall Street Journal , the authorities are going to expand the restrictions for Americans to conduct operations with the Russian public debt. US financial institutions will not be able to buy state -owned bonds from the Central Bank of Russia, the Ministry of Finance and the National Welfare Fund after June 14. At the same time, US institutions will still be able to trade bonds in the secondary market, while maintaining some foreign investments that are important for the Russian economy.

As Bloomberg and Reuters previously transmitted, restrictive measures will be introduced in response to the alleged unlawful actions by Russia, including cyberwinds on government networks through the software of SolarWinds and attempts to intervene in the elections. Officially, they can be announced before the end of the day.

- The ruble exchange rate fell against the background of news about the new sanctions of the United States

According to agencies, both individuals and legal entities will fall under the new US sanctions: officials in the government and intelligence, as well as dozens of organizations, including companies that operate outside Russia in the interests of Moscow. Also, measures can be introduced in relation to the media, which, according to Washington, distributed misinformation during the 2020 election campaign.

The sources of Bloomberg and Reuters did not exclude that ten Russian diplomats would be sent out of the United States. Nyt and WSJ are also written about this opportunity. According to the latter, this measure will be accepted not only in response to the alleged cyber attacks and interference in the elections, but also because of the “occupation” of Crimea and reports that Moscow offered the reward to Taliban* for attacks on American soldiers in Afghanistan. Russia has repeatedly denied these accusations.

On March 26, it was reported that the administration of President Joe Biden has not yet developed a single sanctions policy against Russia. Representatives of the radical position advocate the most serious measures against the Russian leadership, while more cautious opponents from the State Department and the US Ministry of Finance insist that the sanctions are as neat as possible. Otherwise, restrictions may hit American interests.

As an example, “moderate” leads the introduction of sanctions against Oleg Deripaska and Rusala, when the Americans began to suffer from the sharp drop in the capitalization of this company - due to the malfunction of aluminum, as well as rising prices for this product.

A restriction directed against ruble public debt will become a nuisance for the Russian administration, but will not cause a critical blow to the Kremlin. Skeptics recall that the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of Russia amount to almost $ 600 billion, while foreigners' investments in Russian bonds are about $ 40 billion.

Sources call the most likely scenario of deploying sanctions by the Biden team: first - visa prohibitions for Russian officials and oligarchs, then - freezing assets involved in violations, and only then - a ban on the purchase of Russian assets by Americans.