-Eyes turn to Russia once again
People in Russia and around the world reacted with shock to news of a suicide bombing in St. Petersburg metro on Monday morning. As a result, 14 people were killed and nearly 50 people were injured.
While officials and the Russian public were still discussing this catastrophe, eyes were once again focused on Russia, when news that the U.S. conducted an air strike on an airbase controlled by Russian-backed Bashar Assad in response to the chemical attack allegedly carried out by the Assad regime in the Idlib province.
Due to the escalation in geopolitical concerns, the Russian stock market saw losses up to 3 percent and the Russian ruble lost 2 percent of its value against the dollar, despite the fact that oil prices began rising.
According to the Financial Times, Britain鈥檚 Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, started talking with his counterparts in the G7 group to impose fresh sanctions on Russia due to its support of the Assad regime. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, also told U.S. media that they were also considering additional sanctions against Russia.
Meanwhile, Russian officials voiced that the U.S. bombings in Syria had badly damaged U.S.-Russia relations. The extent of harm to relations between Russia and the West will become clearer during U.S. Foreign Secretary Rex Tillerson鈥檚 visit to Moscow this Tuesday, where he is to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
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- Russia wants investment
While many economists in Russia still underline that the country鈥檚 economy is still in a dire situation, Russian Minister for Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin stated that the Russian economy has entered a phase of active growth, but in order to stabilize this growth, they need investments.
Oreshkin stressed that the country鈥檚 monetary policies should now aim at creating a more predictable and stable business climate in the country to attract further investments.