Bank Rossii raises key rate to 7% on Ukrainian crisis, equity markets plummet

RUSSIA ENERGY / FINANCE - In Brief 03 Mar 2014 by Marcel Salikhov

On Saturday President Vladimir Putin asked permission from upper house of the parliament (The Federation Council) to approve use of military force in Ukraine due to “threat to citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots, the personnel of the military contingent of the Russian Federation Armed Forces deployed on the territory of Ukraine (Autonomous Republic of Crimea)”. The Federation Council which consists of representatives of regional parliament bodies unanimously voted for giving the permission. The official position voiced by Dmitry Peskov, President’s press secretary, is that Russia doesn’t add extra troops to Crimea but only reserves such an opportunity. At the same time according to various sources, since last Thursday different objects of infrastructure and military in Crimea are controlled by military forces without signed marks. Later new Ukrainian authorities put their military on full combat alert and asked international community for support against Russia's ‘military intervention’. Barack Obama in a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin “expressed his deep concern over Russia’s clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity” according to official press release from the White House. Today G-7 issued a statement suspending participation in activities with the preparation of the scheduled G-8 Summit in Sochi in June. Different voices including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called for extra responses including implementing different economic sanctions against Russia. German officials stated that during telephone conversation with Angela Merkel Vladimir Putin agreed to form special group on Crimea under OSCE but it was not...

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