Kremlin does not believe in the US sanctions against Russian national debt
According to RIA Novosti, thanks to the demand of domestic investors, state borrowing program will be fully implemented, the Finance Ministry announced, noting that the previous initiatives of the senators to impose sanctions against the Russian state debt “did not proceed”.
The department is cautious about the plan of American congressmen to introduce the most severe sanctions. “This news is definitely painful for foreign holders of the OFZ bonds. At the same time, the previous initiatives of this kind with regard to Russian government bonds did not have further development”, the agency quotes the report of the Ministry. In a report to the Congress in winter, the US Treasury Department pointed to the negative impact for US investors in the event of imposing restrictions on the Russian national debt.
Against the backdrop of the news about upcoming sanctions, the Russian financial market "once again turned out to be under pressure". Nevertheless, the ministry and the Central Bank believe that the implementation of state borrowings in the planned volumes is possible even without the active participation of foreigners in the OFZ market.
"According to the latest data, apart from Russian banks, pension funds also gradually increase investments in OFZs, which is promoted by the Bank of Russia's purposeful policy to minimize the risks of pension funds investments," the Finance Ministry said. This tendency "facilitates the replacement of foreign investors who leave OFZ," the agency explained.
The reason for the collapse of the Russian market was the publication of the full text of the new draft law on sanctions against Russia introduced by senators Robert Menendez and Lindsey Graham. In particular, the document implies a ban on operations of Russian state-owned banks, as well as restrictions on buying Russian Federal Bonds. Against the background of these reports, ruble fell to the minimum of the last two years. Investors began to sell government securities and bonds.