Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing a wave of sanctions from the United States and other countries after making the case for annexing parts of Ukraine.
Late Monday night, the United Kingdom and the United States both announced sanctions, according to AFP and CNN. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) also suggested the U.S. should stop exports to Russia, specifically semi-conductors. The European Union also announced "robust" sanctions that will target Russian officials and banks. Perhaps the most significant is that Germany stopped the approval process for the Nord 2 pipeline, which would have sent more Russian gas to Europe.
Russia's economy immediately began seeing the impact of Russian stocks falling. Meanwhile, "the ruble slid closer to a record low on Tuesday as investors reacted" to the invasion. It now stands at 81 to the U.S. dollar, approaching the worst in its history. The CNN report also noted that Russia's central bank is rushing to back up banks with "a provision that will allow them to use last Friday's prices for stocks and bonds when reporting their financial positions."
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"We expect further declines near-term in the Russian stock market," said analysts at JPMorgan Chase in a note to their clients on Tuesday morning. They then downgraded Russian equities to "neutral" from "overweight."
Analysts told CNN that had Russia not invaded, their financial problems would have been "limited." With the invasion, however, they're expected to "pay a higher price."
Experts estimate that Russia could see their GDP cut by at least 1 percent and their economic output reduced "by 5 percent."
