NY Stock Exchange and Nasdaq HALT trading of US listed Russian firms after Biden imposed new sanctions to cripple Russian central bank and target Putin’s $600BN Ukraine war chest

  • The U.S. Treasury Department has revealed major new sanctions against Russia
  • The sanctions will effectively cut off Russia’s central bank from the dollar
  • It also is aimed at stopping Russian President Vladimir Putin from accessing his $600 billion financial reserve to stabilize his country’s economy in light of new sanctions 
  • Move comes after the central bank raised interest rates from 9.5% to 20% as the ruble plunged amid a barrage of sanctions from the US and EU
  • Senior administration official described the move as the most ‘significant action’ Treasury has taken against an economy of Russia’s size
  • The State Department suspended operations at the Embassy in Minsk, Belarus
  • Also authorized the ‘voluntary departure’ of non-emergency employees and family members at the embassy in Moscow, Russia

The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market halted trading of Russian stocks listed in the U.S. Monday morning as President Joe Biden’s administration implemented new sanctions against Moscow’s financial institutions.

The hold on trading, which stops short of a full delisting, is temporarily imposed while the NYSE and Nasdaq regulatory teams study newly imposed U.S. sanctions, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. 

The Treasury Department announced Monday implementation of new sanctions targeting the Russian central bank and state investment funds, which essentially leaves Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ‘war chest’ unusable in the latest retaliation for his invasion of Ukraine.

The White House freeze, according to two senior administration officials, is effective immediately and is aimed at stopping Putin from accessing his $600 billion financial reserve to stabilize his country’s economy in light of new sanctions.

The move was described as the most ‘significant action’ that Treasury has taken against an economy of Russia’s size, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the sanctions on the condition of anonymity.

The Russian bank announced its main interest rate will rise to 20 percent – its highest this century – from 9.5 percent to counter the risks of the ruble’s rapid depreciation and higher inflation, which threaten Russians’ savings.

People wary that sanctions would deal a crippling blow to the economy have been flocking to banks and ATMs for days, with reports on social media of long lines and machines running out of paper currency.

The latest sanctions are likely to tank the ruble once again, triggering an even greater economic crisis for Russia.