UrBC, Moscow, September 20, 2018. The Russian banks had 62% more foreign currency banknotes imported into the country in July 2018 compared with one month earlier, Prime refers to Vestnik Banka Rossiyi’s updates as indicating.

‘The authorized banks had $3bn worth of foreign currency bills imported in Russia in July 2018, which exceeded the figures for June 2018 by 62%. The amount of foreign currency bills taken by the authorized banks out of the country rose by 84% in July 2018 compared with June 2018 and came to $1.2bn,’ the updates state.

The U.S. Congress put forth an anti-Russian sanctions bill in August; some of its proposals dwell on sanctions relating to the country’s sovereign debt and state-run banks (including Vneshekomombank, Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, Rosselkhozbank, and Promsvyazbank). It was observed that the paper was not very specific about the state banks, which might, in theory, lead to a ban on the use of U.S. dollars in the country.