Russian Finance Minister, Anton Siluanov, has declared that due to sanctions, Russia cannot use almost half of its gold and foreign exchange reserves, about $300 billion.
“That’s about half of the reserve we had. We have about $640 billion in total. About $300 billion of the reserve is now in such a state that we cannot use it,” Siluanov said.
He said this on TV Channel Russia 1.
He noted that Russia holds a part of the gold and foreign exchange reserves in yuan.
As a result, the West is trying to get China to also limit Russia’s access to its currency.
Siluanov stated that, because these funds are frozen, the Russian Federation is facing problems fulfilling its financial obligations, including servicing debt.
He said Russia will service its sovereign debt, including the one denominated in foreign currency, in rubles until its gold and foreign exchange reserves are released.
“We need to pay for critical imports – Food, medicine, and several other vital goods. But, I repeat once again, the debt that we have to pay to those countries that have treated the Russian Federation in an unfriendly way and imposed restrictions on the use of gold and foreign exchange reserves, we will pay these countries in rubles,” the minister said.
However, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who is set to meet with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Rome today, warned Beijing that it would “absolutely” face consequences if it helped Russia evade sweeping sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
