Central Bank Chair names sanctions that hit Russia most

International payments have become one of the biggest problems that Russia had to deal with against the background of Western sanctions.

Russia has been living under sanctions since 2014, and the Russian authorities have always taken the risk of growing restrictions into account, Elvira Nabiullina, the Chair of the Central Bank of Russia said. A number of stress tests have been carried out with numerous financial institutions. As a result, Russia's major banks that came under sanctions had thus been prepared for the sanctions to hit them. For example, the threat for Russia to be disconnected from SWIFT has been relevant since 2014, but Russia has been building its own national payment infrastructure since then, Nabiullina said.

"International payments have become a problem. This is indeed a problem that preserves to this day, although we are trying to solve it," Elvira Nabiullina, the Chair of the Central Bank of Russia said.

The blockage of private individuals' assets is an extremely painful topic for Russia, she said. The Central Bank is trying to solve this problem in cooperation with the government. Freezing reserves is a negative signal for all central banks, but the floating exchange rate and currency restrictions helped Russia handle this situation well. In general, Russia managed to maintain financial stability, Nabiullina concluded.

Russian President Vladimir Putin noted earlier that Western sanctions stimulate the development of the Russian economy. The restrictions imposed on Moscow cause a number of problems and force the Russian government to rethink many decisions that had been made earlier, Putin said. At the same time, Russia is taking advantage of new opportunities that have emerged for the country in light of its current relations with the West.