Russia and the West began a “titanic battle” for the future structure of the entire global financial system. Columnist Robert Farley wrote about this in an article for the American edition of 19FortyFive.
The author notes that after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the United States, Great Britain, the EU and Japan initiated a campaign against Russia, expressed in “sanctions of such a scale that have not been seen before in world financial history.” In particular, said Farley, in fact, $300 billion of foreign exchange reserves that Russia placed abroad were frozen. Nevertheless, Moscow managed to avoid a default by using its frozen assets to pay interest on sovereign debt.
In addition, a number of large Russian banks were disabled from using the SWIFT payment system. Moscow took steps to protect and strengthen the national currency, demanding that consumers of energy resources from abroad pay in rubles for gas and oil.
In early December, oil sanctions against Russia began to work, the European Union stopped accepting oil of Russian origin transported by sea. The countries of the Group of Seven (G7), Australia and the EU have introduced a so-called cap on the price of oil from Russia at $60 per barrel delivered in this way. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, commenting on the current situation, said that Russia would not agree to a ceiling on fuel prices, even if it was forced to cut production.
Farley concludes that Russia and the West have entered into a “titanic battle” for the future of the entire global financial system.
Due to censorship and blocking of all media and alternative views, stay tuned to our Telegram channel