The United States and Britain would seek to cut off Russian companies’ access to U.S. dollars and British pounds if the Kremlin orders an invasion of Ukraine, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC.
“The plan that we are seeing is for something that could be really the biggest war in Europe since 1945 just in terms of sheer scale,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that sanctions on Russia in the event of an invasion would go much further than previously suggested in public.
He said the United Kingdom and the United States would stop Russian companies “trading in pounds and dollars” – a move that he said would “hit very, very hard” with its impact, the BBC reports.
Given Russia’s position as one of the world’s top exporters of oil, gas and metals – which are largely priced and settled in U.S. dollars – blocking Russian companies from access to dollar markets could have a stinging impact.
Putin has repeatedly called for reducing reliance on the U.S. dollar trade.
Russia’s largest oil company Rosneft fully switched the currency of its contracts to euros from U.S. dollars to shield its transactions from U.S. sanctions, CEO Igor Sechin said in 2019.
Johnson has said the government would target Russian banks and Russian companies. Britain has not spelled out who would fall under the sanctions, but has pledged that there would be nowhere for Russian oligarchs to hide.
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