Despite this fall, the local currency is still far from the level of 80 rubles per dollar and 90 rubles per euro that triggered an intervention by the Central Bank at the end of January.
Russia accused Ukrainian forces of bombing a Russian border post in the Rostov region, a charge denied by Kiev.
Shortly afterwards the Moscow military claimed that they killed five “sabotage” who entered from Ukraine, a statement that was also contradicted by the neighboring country.
Western countries and Ukraine have been denouncing for weeks that an incident, whether concrete or staged, is a pretext for Russia to launch an offensive against its neighbor. They also accuse Russia of having nearly 150,000 troops deployed ready for an invasion. For three days, fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels has increased in eastern Ukraine, on the border with Russia.
Another reason that reinforced the falls is the package of sanctions that the US could carry out if Russia decides to invade Ukraine. Specifically, according to Reuters, the Joe Biden government plans to ban US financial institutions from processing transactions for major Russian banks. As a consequence, the price of the Sberbankthe largest bank in the country and in Eastern Europe, sinks 18%, while the VTB Bank down about 16%. Other banks affected by the escalation of tension between Russia and the West would be the state bank VEB or Gazprombank, a subsidiary of the Russian gas company Gazprom.
Despite the increase in tensions, the French Presidency has assured this Monday that the summit between the presidents of the United States and Russia, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, respectively, is “possible”. The White House has confirmed in a note that Biden has accepted “in principle” this face-to-face with Putin, which would aim to reduce tensions around Ukraine, but the Kremlin has been more elusive. Putin’s spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, “does not rule out” the possibility of contacts, but for now he prefers not to talk about preparations already underway, according to the Sputnik agency.
Source: Ambito
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
