I think it is way too unreasonable to expect Putin to do everything. He is not Stalin. And he never wanted to have a centrally run economy anyway. I think it is quite obvious by the way he is reacting even under the current situation. I do not think his generation quite get the technological issues right. And he is making some wrong moves. But he has managed to take care of the most fundamental issues.
Ukrainian War Developments
- Thread starter james smith esq
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Europe blocks payment to Russian investors
A major clearing house has frozen the country’s depository account
Russia’s National Settlement Depository (NSD) said on Friday that Clearstream clearing house, which processes payments for many of the country’s corporate and sovereign bonds, has blocked its account.
This means that Russian holders of European stocks and bonds cannot receive dividends on their investments through Clearstream.
According to Interfax, the clearing house had informed the NSD that it was blocking its account and was waiting for a decision from the regulatory authorities in Luxembourg.
Operations haven’t been going through since the freeze on March 24, the NSD said in a statement on its website.
Earlier, another European settlement and clearing organization, Euroclear, announced the suspension of transactions with Russian securities due to sanctions.
Britain sanctions Russia’s gold
The measure follows a similar move by the US
The UK has added a ban on transactions with Russian gold to their list of restrictions placed on the country’s central bank earlier this month. This was announced in an updated version of the sanctions guidance published on the website of the British government on Friday.
“Guidance updated to clarify that the prohibition on providing financial services for the purposes of foreign exchange reserve and asset management also applies to transactions involving gold… It is prohibited to provide financial services to carry out transactions with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation involving its gold,” the guidance document said.
The document, initially published on February 28, states that British entities are restricted from conducting any transactions with the Russian Central Bank, Finance Ministry or wealth fund. The addition of the clarification on gold came after concerns arose that Russia could be using gold transactions to evade sanctions.
On Thursday, the US Treasury also issued a guidance on its website warning that gold-related transactions involving Russia may be subject to sanctions by the US authorities.
The restrictions affect the trade of Russian gold on the metals exchanges in Britain and the US. They do not stop Russia from selling its gold to other countries or exchanges.
A major clearing house has frozen the country’s depository account
Russia’s National Settlement Depository (NSD) said on Friday that Clearstream clearing house, which processes payments for many of the country’s corporate and sovereign bonds, has blocked its account.
This means that Russian holders of European stocks and bonds cannot receive dividends on their investments through Clearstream.
According to Interfax, the clearing house had informed the NSD that it was blocking its account and was waiting for a decision from the regulatory authorities in Luxembourg.
Operations haven’t been going through since the freeze on March 24, the NSD said in a statement on its website.
Earlier, another European settlement and clearing organization, Euroclear, announced the suspension of transactions with Russian securities due to sanctions.
Britain sanctions Russia’s gold
The measure follows a similar move by the US
The UK has added a ban on transactions with Russian gold to their list of restrictions placed on the country’s central bank earlier this month. This was announced in an updated version of the sanctions guidance published on the website of the British government on Friday.
“Guidance updated to clarify that the prohibition on providing financial services for the purposes of foreign exchange reserve and asset management also applies to transactions involving gold… It is prohibited to provide financial services to carry out transactions with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation involving its gold,” the guidance document said.
The document, initially published on February 28, states that British entities are restricted from conducting any transactions with the Russian Central Bank, Finance Ministry or wealth fund. The addition of the clarification on gold came after concerns arose that Russia could be using gold transactions to evade sanctions.
On Thursday, the US Treasury also issued a guidance on its website warning that gold-related transactions involving Russia may be subject to sanctions by the US authorities.
The restrictions affect the trade of Russian gold on the metals exchanges in Britain and the US. They do not stop Russia from selling its gold to other countries or exchanges.
Which is why I think Russia needs some protectionism and focus on internal market first. By protectionism I mean subsidize prospective industry where Russia still have some competitiveness and attract foreign investment (mainly China) into these areas.
Putin is a big part of this exact problem though and it is my biggest criticism of him as a leader. When he was first elected president and started his war against the oligarchs they should have all been thrown under the bus; instead he allowed those that would be loyal to him to retain their wealth and has put other yes men in charge of powerful companies, all whilst probably making himself the wealthiest of them all.
His speech aimed at oligarchs who live abroad has a stench of hypocrisy about it when his own mistress and kids (and that of other top officials) are galivanting all over Europe with wealth they clearly don't deserve in earnest.
I wonder, before this war started, how much support small businesses in Russia receive which have interests outside of oil/gas/metals in comparison to how much oligarchs have spent abroad on trophy assets like property, football clubs, yachts.
tl;dr When it comes to corruption in Russia specifically, the system that Putin set up is way more to blame than anything the West could have hoped to accomplish.
The gift that keeps giving. If US starts targeting third-part countries dealing with Russia, India will be on the list.
I can't believe it but the possibility of China-Russia-India bloc has risen.
WOW. Forget Trump, Biden may be the best thing that happened to China.
From the last article.
Lol,
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Russia first needs internal reforms in order to take advantage of protectionism. Otherwise it will be another mini Soviet Union rerun
The people responsible for the genocide of Iraq are well known as they have no shame and do not hide their complicity. As NATO isolates itself more and more they will find the world around them shrinking and soon there will be no place for them to run to. They won't feel safe even in their own countries.
Yup, one usually keep your ace in the hole for critical moments when history is decided. See the Americans (and Europeans as pawns) throwing those one after another is quite a spectacle.
No commodity-export orientation country has been able to successfully transform to a manufacturing powerhouse so far，they all suffer from dutch disease to certain degree. Latin America tried protectionism and domestic substitution but failed, It's going to be a tough task for Russia.
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