Economic sanctions were imposed on Moscow, Russia after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Signed on March 5, 2022, a presidential decree allows the Russian government, companies and citizens to use roubles to pay foreign currency debts owed to overseas creditors from unfriendly countries and territories.

The arrangement is only temporary. It applies to payments that exceed 10 million roubles ($76,000) a month.

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On March 7, 2022, Moscow approved a list of countries and territories taking unfriendly actions against Russia, its companies and its citizens amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Here is the list:

1. Albania
2. Andorra
3. Australia
4. Canada
5. Great Britain (Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Gibraltar, England, Jersey, Scotland, Wales)
6. European Union (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden)
7. Iceland
8. Japan
9. Liechtenstein
10. Micronesia
11. Monaco
12. Montenegro
13. New Zealand
14. Norway
15. South Korea
16. San Marino
17. North Macedonia
18. Singapore
19. Switzerland
20. Taiwan
21. United States
22. Ukraine

On February 24, 2022, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, 69, ordered his country’s armed forces to invade Ukraine. Russian tanks entered Ukraine via the border in Belarus.

Because of the attack, Putin’s Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 44, declared martial law throughout Ukraine. Amid the ongoing conflict, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania and the United Kingdom closed their airspace to Russian airlines.

On February 27, 2022, Canada, the U.K., the U.S. and the European Union banned certain Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). On March 2, 2022, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission chairman Guo Shuqing (郭树清), 65, said China would not join the group of countries punishing Russia through financial sanctions.