The article reports that Ivan Chebeskov, who heads the financial policy department at the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, said that private investors hold about 100 billion rubles in foreign deposits that are currently frozen. He indicated that these assets could be released by year-end, a claim attributed to the news outlet News. According to Chebeskov, there are foreigners who seek profit despite their political stance, and there are Russians who are unable to access funds tied up in securities. He suggested that these circumstances may be sufficient to prompt a policy shift and to drive a change in the rules governing blocked assets.
The publication notes that the Bank of Russia, together with the Ministry of Finance, has prepared a draft decree outlining a mechanism for releasing blocked foreign securities. It also highlights that more than 3.5 million Russians have about 1.5 trillion rubles presently frozen. Kirill Chernovol, a research fellow at RANEPA’s Russia-OECD Center, is quoted as saying that if Russian and international regulators can reach an agreement, investors who are not directly affected by sanctions and whose assets are not under sanctions could potentially have access restored in the future.
Earlier, reports mentioned that the Swiss Ministry of Economic Affairs opened up information about the amount of Russian assets frozen within Switzerland. In a separate development, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation conducted an unscheduled meeting and raised the key rate to 12 percent.
Source: News.