The European Commission has proposed an 18th package of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, aimed at Moscow's energy revenues, its banks and its military industry, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The new package proposes banning transactions with Russia's Nord Stream gas pipelines, as well as banks that engage in sanctions circumvention.

Russia’s central bank on Friday lowered its key interest rate for the first time since late 2022 despite an inflation rate that remains well above target, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Bank of Russia cut its key rate to 20% from 21%, and said it expects the economy to return to a more “balanced” growth path after a surge in activity and prices as workers and resources were employed for the war in Ukraine.

One of Microsoft Corp's subsidiaries in Russia plans to file for bankruptcy, according to a note published on the official Fedresurs registry on Friday, Reuters reported. President Vladimir Putin said this week that foreign service providers like Microsoft and Zoom should be "throttled" in Russia to make way for domestic software solutions. Microsoft continued providing key services in Russia after Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but in June 2022 it said it was significantly scaling down its operations due to changes to the economic outlook and the impact on its business there.

Russia’s successes on the front lines in Ukraine are a big reason why Vladimir Putin isn’t yet ready to sign up to President Trump’s peace efforts. Some of his neighbors fear the success of the war machine now driving its economy means he never will, the Wall Street Journal reported. In the early stages of the war, the Russian president put the country on a footing for a long conflict. Putin retooled the economy to churn out record numbers of tanks and howitzers, while using sizable signing bonuses of up to a year’s salary to raise a massive army.

The Russian economy is in an increasingly precarious state as a result of a shift to a war mode and of Western sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a report by the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The report, prepared for talks of European Union finance ministers, said that while still relatively stable, the Russian economy was only superficially resilient and that underlying imbalances and structural weaknesses were growing.

The Russian central bank will keep its benchmark rate on hold at 21% at a board meeting on April 25, all 25 analysts who took part in a Reuters poll predicted on Monday, as global economic turbulence adds to concerns about the state of the Russian economy. The government maintained its growth estimate for 2025 at 2.5%, a new set of forecasts showed on Monday. The government said it does not see a big risk of a global recession, but cut its estimate for the price of oil, Russia's main export, by 17%.

Former presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin was forced to declare bankruptcy following a court order related to past campaign debt, the business newspaper Kommersant reported Thursday. Nadezhdin, 61, sought to challenge President Vladimir Putin in the March 2024 presidential race on an anti-war platform but was barred from running. Though unsuccessful, his short-lived campaign drew support from Russians opposed to the invasion of Ukraine despite a wartime crackdown on dissent.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has authorised Armenian investment fund Balchug Capital to buy shares in nine major companies owned by Goldman Sachs' Russian subsidiary, a decree published on Wednesday showed, Reuters reported. Balchug Capital was given the green light to purchase Goldman Sachs' subsidiary in Russia in January, according to a separate decree, paving the way for the U.S. bank to withdraw from the Russian market and extract some capital stranded there.

Russia's central bank has proposed regulating certain cryptocurrency investments for wealthy individuals, it said on Wednesday, outlining plans for "specially qualified" investors to trade crypto assets, Reuters reported. The bank has gradually softened its strong opposition to cryptocurrencies, backing a law last year that allowed businesses to use cryptocurrencies in international trade, part of efforts to skirt Western sanctions imposed against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.