Within two weeks, the Moscow exchange index dropped by 12%
After the attack on Ukraine, Russia faced economic problems and sanctions from a lot of countries and international organizations. In the Russian Federation itself, the authorities call it an economic war. The Page has prepared a compilation of the latest reports about this as of April 16th.
Economy
Within the past two weeks, the key indicator of the Russian stock market, the Moscow Exchange Index, has dropped by 12%. The main sector indexes also decreased as well. The main reasons for the current dropl: sanctions pressure and geopolitical instability.
Putin signed a law that prohibits placing depository receipts for securities of Russian companies on foreign exchanges and obliges the delisting of the existing ones.
The discount of Russian Urals oil to the benchmark Brent increased to almost $30 per barrel. Back in mid-March, the discount on Russian raw materials was less than $10, and traditionally was in the range of $1-2.
The Board of Directors of Severstal recommended not to pay dividends for 2021. If the decision is made, shareholders will not get payments for the first time in more than 10 years.
Thousands of Russian and Belarusian trucks are stuck in long queues at EU borders before a new package of sanctions. Since April 16, they have been banned from entering the EU. The border crossing time now takes up to 10 days.
Sanctions have complicated the supply of components for the equipment of Russian bakeries. Up to 90% of bakeries in Russia, as well as the restaurant industry, use European equipment. Alternative suppliers are already being looked for in China and Turkey.
Restrictions on collecting money that the Russian authorities imposed amid sanctions destabilized the Russian market for selling debts. Experts and collectors report that the value of portfolios has dropped by half, sellers and buyers walk away from the deals.
GitHub, the largest web service for hosting IT projects and their joint development, has blocked the accounts of Sberbank and Alfa-Bank, as well as individual users from Russia. According to a service representative, access to accounts is limited in accordance with the US sanctions.
From April 17, Romania, Italy, and Belgium prohibit ships flying the Russian flag to enter their ports. The ban will also apply to ships that have changed their Russian flag or registration after February 24. But the restrictions have a lot of exceptions. They do not apply to ships that transport gas, oil and oil products, iron ore, some chemical products, food, agricultural products, fertilizers, coal, etc. Previously, such sanctions were imposed at the EU level.
Cosmetics brand L'Occitane closes stores and an online store in the Russian Federation, stops investments and plans to expand in the market.
Society
The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation added blogger Yury Dud, political scientist Yekaterina Shulman, journalists Karen Shainyan and Roman Dobrokhotov, cartoonist Sergey Elkin and others to the list of foreign media agents. This is the most massive update of the list since October 2021.
Pobeda Airlines has canceled all flights to Anapa from Moscow and eight other cities for the summer. The company explains this by operational need and the impact of external factors.
The concert of stand-up comedian Nurlan Saburov in Chicago was canceled after the Consul General of Ukraine had appealed to the owners of the venue.