Russia list “Unfriendly Countries”, considering actions against them

The Russian government issued on Monday a list of countries “taking unfriendly actions against Russia, Russian companies, and citizens,” referring to the economic sanctions introduced amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

According to a decree published on the Government’s website, the list includes Albania, Andorra, Australia, Great Britain, including Jersey, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Gibraltar, EU member states, Iceland, Canada, Liechtenstein, Micronesia, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, San Marino, North Macedonia, Singapore, US, Taiwan, Ukraine, Montenegro, Switzerland, and Japan.

The Government allowed Russian citizens and companies, the state itself, its regions and municipalities that have obligations in foreign currency to foreign creditors from the list of unfriendly countries to pay back their debts in rubles.

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For that, a debtor may ask a Russian bank to create a special ruble account “C” in the name of a foreign creditor and transfer payments to it in ruble equivalent at the exchange rate of the central bank on the day of payment.

The new order is temporary and is valid to payments exceeding 10 million rubles (around $72,202).

Russia’s war on Ukraine has been met with outrage from the international community, with the European Union, UK, and US, among others, imposing a range of economic sanctions on Moscow.

At least 364 civilians have been killed and 759 others injured in Ukraine since Russia launched a war against the Eastern European country on Feb. 24, according to UN figures, with the real toll feared to be higher.

More than 1.7 million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, according to the UN refugee agency.