Over the past 40 years, Iran lived under thousands of various sanctions and was a world leader in terms of their number. But in March 2022, Russia overtook it according to this indicator. Iranian experience with a similar set of sanctions allows you to imagine that the Russian economy and the stock market are waiting ahead.

On March 8, McDonald's announced leaving the Russian market due to the "military special operation" in Ukraine and temporarily closed all 850 restaurants in the country. The famous critic of the American chain of fast food, the founder of the Pancake Teremok, Mikhail Goncharov, responded to this news by resonant post on Facebook (more than 4 thousand “likes”), in which he noted the inability of local competitors to repeat the success of McDonald's.

Russian investors are now extremely limited in their actions - trading on the Moscow exchange stock market is suspended, access to foreign currency deposits is limited, the ruble is depreciating, and inflation is growing. Given the abolition of the VAT, interest in precious metals, and especially gold, has grown sharply. Some banks have also begun offering deposits in Chinese yuan, access to which is not restricted by sanctions.

The latest version of the government plan for supporting the Russian economy for 1 trillion rubles was open. There are no big surprises and breakthrough measures in the plan - he largely repeats the anti -crisis initiatives introduced during the pandemic in 2020–2021.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on additional measures in the field of currency regulation. The document is published on the website of legal information. According to it, in particular, the board of directors of the Central Bank is empowered to: limit the amount of currency purchases by non-residents in the domestic market of Russia, give permission to exporters not to sell foreign exchange earnings, determine the size of transactions in favor of non-residents.

The Russian Ministry of Finance reported that it had fully fulfilled its obligations to pay coupon income on two issues of Eurobonds. The London branch of US Citibank received $117.2 million, according to the agency.

The Central Bank kept the key rate at 20%, according to the website of the regulator. Key points from the message: An increase in the rate from 9.5% to 20% on February 28 supported financial stability and prevented uncontrolled price increases.

The American grocery delivery service Buyk, launched by the founders of Scooter, has filed for bankruptcy, Bloomberg reports citing its statement. It notes that the company has stopped operations and plans to sell off the remaining stock. Buyk CEO James Walker said this month that the company is trying to find funding after withdrawals were restricted in Russia and are considering a sale.

"United Russia" has prepared amendments that involve responsibility for fakes about "state bodies operating abroad," State Duma deputy and United Russia Alexander Khinshtein wrote on his Telegram channel. According to him, the amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code will expand the previously adopted rules on fakes regarding the Armed Forces.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich will step down as chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation, according to the foundation's website. The report notes that he “decided <...> to focus on the development of educational projects, including within the framework of the Greater Skolkovo”. Dvorkovich, as president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), criticized the "special military operation" in Ukraine in an interview with Mother Jones on March 14 .

President Vladimir Putin submitted to the State Duma the candidacy of Elvira Nabiullina for appointment to the post of chairman of the Central Bank, according to the Telegram channel of the lower house. The report notes that speaker Vyacheslav Volodin instructed the relevant committee on the financial market to submit this issue to the State Duma Council on March 21.

Russia has more and more problems with normal foreign trade - and not only because of the countries recognized as unfriendly The House of Representatives of the US Congress on Thursday almost unanimously (424 votes to eight), under an accelerated procedure, adopted a bill announced by President Joe Biden to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus. There is no doubt that the Senate will also approve him.

The Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the governing structure of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), held on March 17-18, is all devoted to topics related to the sanctions of most developed countries against Russia and Belarus, Kommersant .