Russia building reserves in assets the West can’t sanction – central bank chief

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Tuesday Russia is building its international reserves with assets that cannot be targeted by Western sanctions, the TASS news agency reported.

Western countries froze around $300 billion – or half – of Russia’s international reserves after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine last year.

The central bank has previously said it considers gold, Chinese yuan and foreign currency held in cash as safe from possible further rounds of Western sanctions.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Heavens)