JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. Sanctions Tighten Putin’s Circle, Extend Kremlin’s Reach; Russian businesses cut off from foreign funds turn to state banks” – Wall Street Journal/ Thomas Grove, Alan Cullison

Cash, Calculator, Pen

“… Deripaska’s debt shuffle is part of a shift in the Russian economy that accelerated when the West began to impose sanctions … after Moscow annexed the Crimean Peninsula and launched a covert military operation in eastern Ukraine. Though some sanctions were meant to split Russia’s economic elite fromKremlin and River the Kremlin, they have pushed sanctioned individuals closer to the Russian government – … [Russia’s] largest creditor …. The Kremlin’s growing [economic] role … is part of a longer-running trend under … Putin, who vastly expanded state ownership of industries in his 20-year reign, and often appointed longtime allies as managers. Many of those now facing sanctions grew rich under his rule. … Russian Central Bank file photo U.S. sanctions targeted Russian state-run banks, [yet] the government is awash in cash from oil and metals revenues, and the Russian central bank has more than $500 billion – one-third of the country’s GDP – in currency reserves and gold, according to central bank data. …”

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