While the yuan has replaced the U.S. dollar as Russia’s preferred currency for international settlements, it is far from ready to actually fulfill this role.
The Biden administration seems to be having success with new sanctions targeting third parties, according to Russian independent media.
Elvira Nabiullina, the Bank of Russia Governor, visited Tehran on Thursday for talks with Iranian counterpart Mohammad-Reza Farzin. The discussion was regarding improving ties between Russia and Iran’s commercial banks given that both countries are under heavy sanctions from the West. Frazin also said that the talks centered around “increasing banking infrastructure cooperation.”
Among other rather unsavory revelations from the trove of Pentagon materials leaked by Airman Jack Teixeira, it has been discovered that the Biden administration’s efforts to slow Putin’s war in Ukraine by imposing sweeping sanctions on Russia are failing. According to the classified assessments, U.S. intelligence believes that Putin can afford to fund Russia’s war in Ukraine for at least another year. The assessments confirm what many in the West already knew to be true – economic sanctions are having little effect on Russia’s war.
In an effort to garner more support for the war in Ukraine from U.S. allies, the White House has decided to send 2 U.S. Treasury officials to Europe and Central Asia next month to demand that Washington’s allies implement sanctions against Russia.
Speaking in Warsaw on Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced that he intends to implement additional sanctions against Russia “this week.” The announcement came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he is suspending the New START nuclear treaty between Moscow and Washington.