The CBR holds international reserves of about USD 630 billion, which could usually be used to back the Russian currency when it is in turmoil. However, these reserves are of little use if they cannot be accessed.
Most of the reserves are held in foreign securities, many of them EUR-denominated securities, which will now be blocked and unusable for the CBR. Another significant part of the reserves is held as foreign currency deposits, mostly EUR.
According to estimations, many of these foreign currency deposits are likely held by the German national bank, the Bundesbank.
It is estimated that the CBR still has access to about a half of its reserves, mainly gold and securities held in the Chinese renminbi. This increases the dependency of the Russian economy on China, which might be exploited by the Chinese government.
The exclusion of some Russian banks from the interbank messaging service SWIFT, might increase this dependency as Russia’s only other international interbank communication system is the one that connects it to the Chinese banks.
Still, the financial sanctions do not yet entirely cut the Russian financial sector off from the European and North-American economies.
Payments for gas and oil deliveries are still possible under the most recent sanctions package, which means that, for the moment, the Russian government’s most important source of revenue and foreign currency remains open.
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