Russian Central Banker Nabiullina Gets Hit With Sanctions

In Business
2022-04-19 17:44:42Z
By Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Canada sanctioned Russian central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina and 13 other "close associates of the Russian regime" in a fresh round of penalties related to the war in Ukraine.

Most Read from Bloomberg

In Defense of Elon Musk's Managerial Excellence
U.S. Stops Mask Requirement on Planes After Judge's Ruling
Putin Calls Time on Foreign Listings in Fresh Hit to Tycoons
Ukraine Update: Russia Assault in Donbas, EU Mulls Postwar Costs
Twitter Has a Poison Pill Now

It marks one of the first instances where Nabiullina has shown up on a country's sanctions list since Russia's invasion of its neighbor in February. Australia previously sanctioned her and the central bank itself has been sanctioned.

Nabiullina had sought to resign after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, only to be told by the president to stay, Bloomberg reported last month.

Putin's daughters, Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova, are also on the expanded list of Canadian sanctions, as is energy tycoon Igor Makarov, whose companies are a major shareholder in Calgary-based energy producer Spartan Delta Corp. Spartan shares fell on the news before paring losses to trade at C$12.12 in Toronto, down 2.9% on the day.

The measures were announced in a news release Tuesday and appear on the Canadian government's website of sanctions related to the invasion.

Russia has been stung by soaring inflation and a plunge in output as trade sanctions batter its economy. Hundreds of foreign companies have curtailed operations or left the country entirely in response to the war.

Bloomberg Economics expects an annual decline in GDP of almost 10% this year. Still, some forecasters are beginning to see signs of resilience: JPMorgan Chase & Co. halved its forecast for a first-quarter contraction to 5%. Tough capital controls and plentiful sales of oil and gas have helped the ruble rebound from massive declines.

Read more: Russia Learns to Roll With Economic Punches as Shock Fades

Canada has generally moved in step with its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies in imposing sanctions on Russia, but there are times when Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland -- who is of Ukrainian heritage and worked as a journalist in Moscow in the 1990s -- has pushed for more aggressive measures.

Freeland was a strong proponent of prohibiting transactions with Russia's central bank and blocking access for certain Russian banks to the SWIFT international payment system. Canada and its allies announced these measures together in late February and early March.

(Updates with Spartan Delta shares. An earlier version was corrected to note Australia's sanctions.)