The US has taken its most aggressive step yet to cripple Russia’s economy and financial system, announcing a ban on transactions with Russia’s central bank and new sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund and its chief executive Kirill Dmitriev, a key ally of President Vladimir Putin.
The move by the US Treasury on Monday morning follows a joint pledge by western nations on Saturday to block Russia’s ability to access roughly $630bn in foreign reserves and impose huge costs on its economy in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
A senior Biden administration official said the new measures would take effect immediately and were unveiled before US markets opened on Monday to prevent “asset flight”, after learning that the Russian central bank was trying to “move” some of its foreign reserves around.