Facebook ban, the conditions of the EU oil embargo and news from negotiations The main event of the day is the recognition of the MTA with an extremist organization in Russia: Facebook logo on the site now becomes forbidden symbols, and paid promotion on Instagram is the financing of extremism. The EU countries, who met in Brussels, did not predictly made any decisions about the embargo of the import of Russian oil - but, according to the media, this idea receives more and wider support.

President Vladimir Putin gave a speech Wednesday about a “fifth column” that, he said, should be spat out “like a mosquito swallowed by accident”. As the political atmosphere in Russia gets darker, investigators are opening cases under new laws, and opposition activists are finding the letter ‘Z’ (a patriotic symbol promoted by the authorities) daubed on the doors to their apartments. Voices of dissent are rare.

OFZ trading resumed on the Moscow Exchange after a three-week break. From 10:00 to 11:00 Moscow time, an opening auction was held to reduce volatility, from 13:00 to 17:00 Moscow time, trading took place in the usual mode of the main session. The yield on short securities reached 20% - almost twice as high as before the start of the "military operation". But at the close, the yields turned out to be significantly lower than the key rate.

Over the past couple of weeks, Russian users have lost the opportunity to pay for foreign services and use cards abroad in the usual ways. But loopholes still remain. We spoke with market participants and experts and found out how to deal with money in a world where Visa and Mastercard do not work. Mir and Unionpay cards, bank accounts The most obvious solution for making payments abroad is to use the Mir card and the Chinese UnionPay payment system. But there are nuances.

Bidding in the Mosbirzhi stock market has not been held for the third week in a row - this is the biggest break in the latest history of the Russian market, which had not worked for almost 80 years before. The S&P 500 index increased from 4225 to 4412 points during this time. And the greatest influence on him is now not Russian “military operation” in Ukraine, but by the Fed’s actions, which last week has begun the promised raising rates.

The Bell continues to conduct online, dedicated to the consequences of the "special military operation" in Ukraine, which began on February 24. Online The Bell since March 28, read here . 19:37 The RKN demanded that the Russian media not publish an interview with Vladimir Zelensky and announced the start of a check “to determine the degree of responsibility and take response measures” against the media that interviewed.

The European Union should impose sanctions against the Russian energy sector, Foreign Ministers of Ireland and Lithuania Simon Coveney and Gabrielius Landsbergis said before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, reports . Reuters “Looking at the scale of destruction in Ukraine now, it is very difficult to decide that we will not interfere in the [Russian] energy sector, especially oil and coal,” Coveney said.

The weekend brought Russia the threat of a European oil embargo, the departure of key companies to maintain oil production and serious problems with import substitution in a variety of industries EU foreign ministers will discuss a new, already fifth package of sanctions against Russia this week. According to Reuters, in addition to new personal restrictions, it may also include an extremely painful oil embargo for Europe itself.

Russia’s trade turnover with countries that did not support Western sanctions has grown at a faster pace in recent years, but even in 2021 it only approached half of the total, according to a study by Finexpertiza (available from The Bell). Last year, turnover with now "neutral" and "friendly" countries reached $360 billion, or 45.8% of all foreign trade. In 2013, before the annexation of Crimea, they gave noticeably less - 32.4% of trade.