- By Faisal Islam
- Economics editor
1 hour ago
It was March 2022. The Russian rouble crashed, the value in London of corporate giants Gazprom and Sberbank fell 97%. Queues began to form at cash machines in Moscow. Oligarchs’ yachts, football teams, mansions and even their credit cards were seized.
Russia crashed into a major recession.
This was the immediate result of the most extraordinary attempt by the West at financial containment of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
At its heart was the seizing of the Russian state’s official foreign exchange assets and, in particular, the unprecedented freezing of the central bank’s $300bn (£238bn) in reserves.
Western governments pointedly shied away from using phrases like “economic war”, but it certainly seemed like there was a financial theatre of battle with the Kremlin. It was better than the alternative of direct confrontation between…
