The West imposed sanctions on Russia. Still, the ruble appears to be bouncing back to pre-war levels. Currently, the ruble is 80 rubles to the dollar.

At least 4,000 sanctions have been imposed on Russia by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) since the start of the invasion. International transactions of major banks have been blocked; 300 Russian companies as well as 500 institutions and more than 3000 people have been blacklisted. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also sparked an economic war. Due to the refusal of the West and EU countries to buy fuel or gas from Russia (the EU imports 40% of its fuel from Russia), fuel prices worldwide have increased .

Russia avoided a debt default by making a last-minute payment using its precious dollar reserves located outside the country, US Treasury officials said.

The amount of the payment was not disclosed, but earlier this month the Russian Finance Ministry said it had attempted to make a $649 million payment due April 6 for two bonds to a Anonymous US bank previously reported as JPMorgan Chase.

Investors and rating agencies, however, disagreed and did not expect Russia to be able to convert rubles to dollars before a 30-day grace period expired. next week, suggesting that Moscow was headed for a historic default on its debt.

Russia has not defaulted on its foreign debts since the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, when the collapse of the Russian Empire led to the creation of the Soviet Union.

Since the United States sanctioned the Central Bank of Russia at the start of the conflict, Russia was only able to use new revenues from activities such as oil and gas sales or currency reserves. existing foreign companies located outside the country.

“We are going to wage a total economic and financial war against Russia,” said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. March 2. “We are going to cause the collapse of the Russian economy.” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the country had paid a $565 million eurobond that was due this year, as well as an $84 million eurobond that was due to mature in 2024. Both payments were made in US dollars. Sovereign Eurobond service obligations are performed in accordance with the conditions set when the bonds were issued. Russia’s payments to the dollar bonds are a last-ditch effort to avoid a default.

The ruble fell when the war started on February 24. As of March 7, it was 139 rubles per dollar. In recent days, however, the ruble has been one of the best performing currencies in the world.

Putin has taken measured steps to help the ruble rebound. Russia has made restoring the value of its currency a major goal. “Hostile countries” that imposed sanctions on Russia were asked to pay for fuel in rubles. While most EU countries and the United States refused to comply with the request, four European countries paid for the supplies in rubles, which contributed to the revival of the ruble. Russia supplies gas through pipelines to 23 European countries.

The Russians manipulated the market for the benefit of the Russian currency. They restrict how foreigners or anyone who has invested in the country can sell rubles. The country’s central bank – The Bank of Russia pumped out $1 billion on the day of the invasion to prop up the ruble. The country has also banned all Russian residents from transferring foreign currency abroad.

The Bank of Russia on March 25 announced that it was resuming gold purchases at a fixed price of 5,000 rubles per gram. He banned foreigners from selling securities and forced exporters who earn foreign currency to convert it into rubles. On February 28, the Bank of Russia doubled the benchmark interest to 20%, and on April 8 lowered its benchmark rate from 20 to 17%.

Russia is currently operating on a giant trade surplus. He manipulates all probabilities to prevent the ruble from falling.