Russia

Some holders of a $1.3 billion Gazprom PJSC bond due Monday said they received payment in dollars, even after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave issuers the option of repaying foreign-currency debt in rubles, Bloomberg News reported. Bondholders said they received cash to pay off the bonds Monday. The bond paid Monday was among those snapped up at distressed prices last week as Wall Street investors eyed buying opportunities amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Textile and leather goods' makers in Istanbul's garment district are feeling the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine as customers in Moscow and Kyiv have canceled $200 million in orders in the past week, industry officials say, Reuters reported. The loss of trade adds to strains on Turkey's economy, with officials estimating that more than $1 billion is directly at risk to the textile industry alone if the conflict in Ukraine continues.

Bonds issued by the Ukrainian government hit new lows Wednesday despite assurances from foreign governments and global institutions that they would continue to buttress Ukraine’s wartime finances, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. On Wednesday, a Ukrainian government bond coming due in September was quoted between 36 and 40 cents on the dollar, down from 65 cents on Friday, according to data from FactSet. A 2033 bond was quoted between 23 to 26 cents on the dollar Wednesday, down from 45 cents Friday.

Swiss-based Russian gas pipeline operator Nord Stream 2 AG said yesterday that it has not filed for insolvency, Reuters reported. "We do not confirm the media reports that Nord Stream 2 has filed for bankruptcy. The company only informed the local authorities that the company had to terminate contracts with employees following the imposition of U.S. sanctions on the company," Nord Stream 2 AG said in emailed comments.

Germany will have to forfeit an economic upswing in spring as Russia's invasion of Ukraine, sanctions and high energy prices hurt companies and households, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Thursday, pledging state support to keep firms afloat, Reuters reported. "The consequences of the sanctions and war are noticeable and the situation remains tense," Habeck said after talks with German business leaders, adding that hopes of a return to pre-pandemic levels of growth in the second quarter had been dashed. We had hoped that we would experience an upswing this spring, a recovery phase.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance on Thursday said cardholders of sanctioned Russian banks would not be able to use them on their platform and confirmed that sanctioned individuals have had their access restricted, Reuters reported. Some of the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchanges are staying put in Russia, breaking ranks with mainstream finance in a decision that experts say weakens Western attempts to isolate Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine. Read more.

The European arm of Sberbank, Russia's biggest lender, has been closed by order of the European Central Bank, which had warned it faced failure due to a run on deposits after Russia invaded Ukraine, Austria's Financial Market Authority said, Reuters reported. The European Central Bank's Single Resolution Board (SRB) determined earlier this week that Sberbank Europe, which is based in Vienna, was failing or likely to fail. That prompted Austria's FMA on Monday to impose a moratorium on the bank's activities.

The harsh sanctions imposed on Russia and the resulting crash of the ruble have the Kremlin scrambling to keep the country’s economy running. For Vladimir Putin, that means finding workarounds to the Western economic blockade even as his forces continue to invade Ukraine, the Associated Press reported. Former Treasury Department officials and sanctions experts expect Russia to try to mitigate the impact of the financial penalties by relying on energy sales and leaning on the country’s reserves in gold and Chinese currency.

The eurozone’s inflation rate jumped to a new high in February, presenting the European Central Bank with a difficult choice between supporting flagging growth and clamping down on accelerating prices driven by the threat to energy supplies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported. Russia accounts for around 40% of the European Union’s imports of natural gas, a key source of energy for the bloc. It also supplies around a quarter of the bloc’s oil imports.