Financial Times: The EU proposed to limit Russia’s access to IMF funds

Several EU countries have proposed restricting Russia’s access to IMF funds in the event of a military invasion of Ukraine. This is reported by the Financial Times.

As Forbes explains, we are talking about freezing Russia’s access to special drawing rights (SDRs), which are the unit of account of the IMF. States can use SDRs to service debt obligations to the Fund, or convert them into any currency and use them to reduce external or service domestic public debt.

The publication indicates that the largest Russian banks, including Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, Alfa-Bank, as well as the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), may fall under the impact of the sanctions being developed by the US and the EU.

Washington and allies are also discussing the possibility of disconnecting Moscow from the SWIFT international interbank system. At the same time, the newspaper adds, the European Union is not so decisive about this measure, as it worries about the reputation of the service and the consequences of disconnecting Russia from it.

Recall that the Russian authorities have repeatedly denied plans to invade the territory of Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier that they consider “even the thought” of a war between Moscow and Kiev unacceptable.

However, the United States and a number of other countries proposed several options for possible restrictions against Russia in the event of aggression against Ukraine.

More on the topic – here.