Russia

Airlines world-wide are altering routes and canceling flights to avoid Russian airspace, changes that will lengthen journey times and raise costs for carriers that were starting to bounce back from their pandemic slump, the Wall Street Journal reported. With Russia banning many European airlines from its skies, flying around the giant country may add hundreds of miles and up to two hours to some flights, incurring higher fuel, labor and maintenance costs, according to airlines and analysts.

Russia demanded the U.K. sell its stake in satellite startup OneWeb Ltd. and threatened to cancel a launch planned for Saturday if it didn’t, retaliating against Western sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported. Kremlin space agency Roscosmos made the ultimatum in a statement on its official Twitter page on Wednesday and blamed “the U.K.’s hostile stance toward Russia.” It also demanded guarantees that OneWeb’s satellites wouldn’t be used for military purposes and gave a deadline of 9:30 p.m. Moscow time March 4 for answers.

The Swiss-based company which built the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is considering filing for insolvency, two sources familiar with the situation said, as it attempts to settle claims ahead of a U.S. sanction deadline for other entities to stop dealings with it, Reuters reported. The United States sanctioned Nord Stream 2 AG last week after Russia recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine prior to its invasion of the country, which has prompted a wave of economic sanctions by the West.

The U.S. and European Union blocked Russia’s central bank from using its emergency reserves to protect the economy from the Western pressure campaign, a salvo the bank’s governor said risked triggering a financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported. The coordinated action blocks the central bank from selling dollars, euros and other foreign currencies in its reserves stockpile to stabilize the ruble. Announcing the move Monday in Washington before U.S. markets opened, U.S.

The presidents of eight central and eastern European nations on Monday called on European Union member states to immediately grant Ukraine a EU candidate country status and open membership talks according to an open letter published on Monday, Reuters reported.

Russia's central bank more than doubled its key policy rate on Monday and introduced some capital controls as the country faced deepening economic isolation, but its governor said that sanctions had stopped it selling foreign currency to prop up the rouble, Reuters reported. The admission that restrictions had effectively tied the Bank of Russia’s hands underscores the ferocity of the backlash to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and Western allies' success in restricting its ability to deploy some $640 billion of foreign exchange and gold reserves.

The European arm of Sberbank (SBER.MM), Russia's biggest lender, faces failure, the European Central Bank (ECB) warned on Monday, after a run on its deposits sparked by the backlash from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported. Western allies have taken unprecedented steps to isolate Russia's economy and financial system, including sanctioning its central bank and excluding some of its lenders from the SWIFT messaging system, used for trillions' of dollars of transactions.

Lessors are set to terminate hundreds of aircraft leases with Russian airlines following Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine that require the contracts be cancelled, Reuters reported. AerCap Holdings, the world's biggest leasing company, said on Monday that it would cease leasing activity with Russian airlines, while BOC Aviation said that most of its leases in Russia would now have to be terminated by March 28. Russia warned the West it would retaliate against sanctions targeting its aviation industry.

Russia's central bank announced a slew of measures on Sunday to support domestic markets, as it scrambled to manage the fallout of harsh Western sanctions over the weekend amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported. The central bank said it would resume buying gold on the domestic market, launch a repurchase auction with no limits and ease restrictions on banks' open foreign currency positions. It also increased the range of securities that can be used as collateral to get loans and ordered market players to reject foreign clients' bids to sell Russian securities.