A newly-instated sanction from Washington looms to hit Russia in the coming months and according to experts, it could hurt the economy of the Soviet republic this time around. However, a statement from the country's finance minister suggests that this grim scenario is highly unlikely to occur as various preventive measures were already enacted.
A report from the Washington Post indicates that the White House may soon further escalate its punitive measures with a second blow following the initial sanctions it imposed just recently. Washington, however, ensures that Russia will now be able to seriously feel the heat.
As proposed by the US Senate on August, the upcoming sanctions will freeze all dollar transactions made through Russia's state-owned financial institutions.
This new decision from the White House doesn't bode well with President Donald Trump's plans of establishing agreeable relations with his counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
As previously reported, Trump has long been working on rekindling the warm relations between the Western powerhouse and Kremlin with his latest move to invite Putin to Washington.
It remains to be found out how these recent developments could play out on Putin's state visit.
Meanwhile, a statement from Russia's Finance Ministry implies that although the new sanctions will certainly be "unpleasant," it won't be fatal enough to curtail the growth of the country's economy.
As cited at TASS, a Russian news agency, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov assured that Russia is capable to make its economy stay afloat despite the recent threats.
In an interview with a Russian television, Siluanov revealed that the federation should be able to increase its gold and foreign currency reserves sans the US dollar.
Preventive measures have also been done by the ministry to absorb the shock that these new restrictions may bring. According to the minister, they have already started pulling out investments on the American market and they will continue to do so until their economic ties are fully severed.
"...we have reduced our investments to the American economy and American securities to the minimal level and will continue to diminish them," Siluanov said.
Furthermore, the ministry will enforce the ban on the use of the US dollar within the Russian market and instead, promote the use of its national currency - the ruble, along with other currencies such as the European Union's Euro and the Chinese yuan.
Russia has also already started retrieving its funds from the US securities in fear that these too will be affected by the restrictions.
For Siluanov, Washington will actually be shooting its own feet as it seeks to inflict damage on Russia.
