President Vladimir Putin has ordered a ban on foreign exchange loans and transfers by Russian residents to outside of the country.
According to AFP, the Kremlin said this is in retaliation for economic sanctions imposed on Moscow by the West.
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Russian aviation authorities had earlier placed a restriction on the operation of flights by air carriers from 36 countries.
Putin also signed into law an order for exporting companies to sell 80 per cent of their foreign exchange earnings made since 1 January on the market.
Russia made the move after British Foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said Britain was set to lock Russia’s Sberbank out of sterling clearing and slap sanctions on three other banks.
“There will be a full asset freeze on Russian lenders within days,” she had said.
But Kremlin Spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Putin “was indifferent to the actions taken by the West.
“President Putin has no assets abroad,” Russia’s state-run TASS news agency quoted his spokesman as saying.
“Speaking about [sanctions] from the viewpoint of solving problems, of course, the very fact of imposing sanctions against the head of the state is absurd, short-sighted,” Peskov said.
Peskov said Russia planned to ride out sanctions imposed by Western countries that have sent the rouble tumbling.
“The Western sanctions on Russia are hard, but our country has the necessary potential to compensate [for] the damage,” Peskov said.
He said that Putin will be working on “economic questions” and meeting key ministers including the finance minister and Central Bank Governor.
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