biden administration is taking more severe actions against vladimir putin. the u.s. now cutting off russia s central bank from u.s. dollar transactions to move design to ensure russia can t invade and get around sanctions already in place. jeremy diamond live at the white house. joining us now. how significant is this move now? reporter: this is a hugely significant step being taken by the u.s., kate, essentially going at russia s most powerful he means to try to mitigate the effect of the european union and other western allies. this will essentially stop the russian central bank from transacting in dollars, preventing any u.s. persons from engaging in transactions with the central bank of russia as well as its sovereign direct investment fund and essentially freezing many of its assets held here in the united states. this hits at this rainy day fund that vladimir putin has been building up for years. $630 billion in foreign currency reserves that were expected to be used to prop up
what it means for individual businesses and confirmation there of brent crude at nearly $110 a barrel. a quick look at what happened in the us, the state of play at the close and again the nervousness about what impact sanctions could have and individual businesses, banks and financial institutions and travel firms, energy and mining also affected. that is the implication for the market. it is the invasion of ukraine by russia that is driving that market right now. the growing conflict did dominate president biden s first state of the union address. during the addressee told lawmakers that the us is squeezing the russian economy with a raft of stringent measures. together, alonu stringent measures. together, along with stringent measures. together, along with allies, stringent measures. together, along with allies, we stringent measures. together, along with allies, we are - stringent measures. together, along with allies, we are right| along with allies, we are right now along
canceled in russia is also long as well. they re really feeling it. keir simmons, thank you so much. joining me now is senior fellow edward fischman who served as the state department s russia and europe sanctions lead during the obama administration. thanks for being here with us. when you look at the sanctions levied against russia, is there one that stands out to you? the sanctions issued by the united states and europe and japan and other members of the g7 against the central bank of russia i believe is the single most in history. the central bank of russia has about $630 billion worth of assets. when sanctions were first ratcheted up against iran about 15 years ago the iranian economy at its peak was only $550 billion. so the sanctions action is larger in its impact perhaps
president biden and president putin. but you know what, alex, i think we owe it to people to take a step back from the world leaders and the politicians continuing to talk day to day and the warning as you heard there again from secretary blinken that we are looking at a matter of days. let s just look at a graph that shows russia s foreign reserves over the past few decades. when you see that, now up at 630 billion, goes back. it was built after president putin s famous munich speech where he lays out the grievances drop in 2008 for the financial crisis. grew again and fell around the annexation of crimea and have built again. what you see on that graph there is what we re talking about with president putin and the russians is a long-term plan. we know about president putin. he s very unlikely to do what the americans say he s going to do. he s got a visceral reaction to that, but this could be days.
on the slovak ukrainian border. western sanctions have rocked the russian economy with the central bank having to double the key interest rate up to 20% and the value of the russian rouble has fallen to record low. the eu, us and uk have prevented the russian central bank making its reserve useless. let s talk about the sanctioned aspect of the story. 0ur sanctioned aspect of the story. our business correspondence is here. theo, we are really seeing those sanctions announced over the past seven days beginning to have a real impact on the ground. seven days beginning to have a real impact on the ground. absolutely. if ou look at impact on the ground. absolutely. if you look at the impact on the ground. absolutely. if you look at the action impact on the ground. absolutely. if you look at the action taken - impact on the ground. absolutely. if you look at the action taken against | you look at the action taken against the russian central bank, this is kind of uncharted territory. ru