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(Kitco News) Russia is building up its international reserves with assets that the West can't sanction, TASS quoted Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina as saying.
The central bank now structures its investment strategy with that in mind and refers to such assets as a safety cushion.
"We can now feel quite calm - our country has a 'safety cushion' of assets that are not subject to sanctions," Nabiullina said Tuesday. "We are building reserves based on what assets cannot be used for sanction pressure and how our foreign trade is changing."
The central bank governor added that she is working on finding ways to return the frozen dollar and euro reserves back to Russia.
Nabiullina pointed to a presidential decree that restricts "the withdrawal of funds from Russia by non-residents from unfriendly countries … [and] therefore we have a negotiating position on this issue," Nabiullina said.
The statement comes as Russia continues to reevaluate what assets it holds after around $300 billion, about half of the country's international reserves, was frozen due to sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Based on the bank's latest changes, it sees gold, the Chinese yuan, and other foreign currency held in cash as safe options.
In the meantime, G7 pledged to keep Russian assets frozen until the war in Ukraine ends. "We are determined … that Russia's sovereign assets in our jurisdictions will remain immobilized until there is a resolution of the conflict that addresses Russia's violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the G7 statement released Tuesday said. "Any resolution to the conflict must ensure Russia pays for the damage it has caused."
