The Times: US ready to deprive Russia of access to Western loans

As senior American officials told the publication, a number of “penal measures against the oligarchs around Putin with their extensive commercial interests” are being discussed in Washington. Among other things, it is proposed to “cut off Russia from Western debt capital markets.” Under the current sanctions regime, "some Russian companies can take out loans for a period of no more than thirty days," but this could be reduced to seven days, according to an unnamed source. If such a decision is made, it will mean “a sharp escalation of financial sanctions against Moscow,” correspondents note.

It is also reported that "in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, the United States is working to create the most comprehensive evidence base ever existing on how Putin and his associates made money from contracts and transactions in St. Petersburg in the early nineties." The search for such information is carried out by “financially savvy intelligence officers,” the article says. As the source said, “this issue has overshadowed all other Treasury matters in the field of national security.”

The influential head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Alexei Pushkov, warned: “If the West imposes new sanctions against Russia, this will not help Ukraine, but will lead to Russia distancing itself from the West in the field of politics and economics.”