Russia, big news!

Russia, more big news!

On June 22 local time, Russia’s visa centers in Washington and New York received a notice from the U.S. side asking for closure.

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said that the United States did not provide any explanation for the decision to close the Russian visa center in the United States, but Russia will continue to provide consular services.

In addition, Russia’s Moscow Exchange announced on June 21 that some of the exchange’s customers’ foreign exchange deposits were frozen by the United States sanctions.

The Moscow Exchange said that in order to fulfill its obligations to customers, the State Clearing Center decided to convert the frozen US dollars and euros into Russian rubles by June 28, 2024, at the rate of June 13, 2024, as determined by the Central Bank of Russia.

Earlier, the US Treasury Department announced a new package of sanctions against Russia on the 12th, targeting components of the Russian financial system and “transnational networks” that provide raw materials to Russian gold producers to support Russian weapons manufacturing. Among them, the Moscow Stock Exchange and its State clearing Depository company and the State Clearing Center are on the list of sanctions.

On the evening of June 12 local time, the Moscow Exchange announced that, affected by the sanctions, from June 13, the exchange will no longer use the US dollar and the euro for foreign exchange and precious metals trading, in addition to the stock market, currency market and standardized derivative financial instruments market will no longer trade in the US dollar and euro settlement of financial instruments. The announcement said that trading in the forward market will not be affected and will be conducted according to the previous rules.

The central bank of Russia issued a notice on the same day, saying that over-the-counter transactions in dollars and euros are not affected and can proceed as usual. The central bank will use information from bank statements and over-the-counter trading platforms to determine the official exchange rate for the dollar and euro against the ruble.

The central bank stressed that companies and individuals can continue to buy and sell dollars and euros through Russian banks, and that dollar and euro funds in personal and corporate accounts and deposits are safe.

On June 13, local time, the Central Bank of Russia released the first official exchange rate after it stopped using the US dollar and the euro for floor trading. On June 14, the official exchange rate for the dollar was 88.21 rubles to the dollar and 94.83 rubles to the euro.