Contents tagged with Siluanov

  • Russian Finance Minister: China is main supplier of drones to Russia

    Nearly all of the imported drones currently owned by Russia were supplied by China, said the Russian Finance Minister, Anton Siluanov. Speaking during a meeting of the State Duma's budget and taxation committee on October 16, Siluanov revealed the source of Russia's drone imports, publicly disclosing this information for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

    "Today, the majority of drones are from the People's Republic of China. We are grateful to our partners. However, we need to …

  • Kremlin: Russia lost access to 50 percent of its foreign exchange reserves

    Due to sanctions, Russia can not use almost half of its gold and foreign exchange reserves, about $ 300 billion, said the Russian Finance Minister, said Anton Siluanov on air of TV Channel Russia 1.

    "That's about half of the reserve we had. We have about $640 billion in total. About $300 billion of the reserve is now in such a state that we cannot use it," Siluanov said.

    He noted that Russia holds a part of the gold and foreign exchange reserves in yuan. Because of this, the West is trying to …

  • President of Belarus Lukashenko rules out union with Russia, borrows $600 million from China

    The Belarusian government is concluding negotiations to borrow $600 million from China, announced Belarusian Deputy Finance Minister Andrei Belkovets.

    “Initially we were counting on a loan from the Russian Federation,” Belkovets noted, while talking at the Fitch conference in Minsk. The loan would have been roughly the same amount - $630 million.

    But the money was tied up. On April 1, after several rounds of intergovernmental talks following President Lukashenko’s visit to the Kremlin bearing …

  • Russia considers adopting cryptocurrency to bypass sanctions

    Venezuela’s example of trying to bypass US sanctions using its own national cryptocurrency, the “petro”, has proved to be contagious.

    The Russian government is now prepared to consider creating a national gold-backed cryptocurrency, said Elvira Nabiullina, head of the Central Bank of Russia, during a meeting of several parliamentary committees, reports finanz.ru.

    Such a cryptocurrency is needed for BRICS countries to make payments on arms contracts, explained Vladimir Gutenyov, First Deputy …

  • Belarus turns away from Russian oil after quality scandal

    By the end of the year, Belarus plans to start buying oil from sources outside Russia after oil with excess levels of chlorine put Belarusian pipelines and refineries on the brink of technological collapse.

    Deliveries from alternate sources will come in from ports in the Baltic States and Ukraine, Deputy Director General of the Belarusian Oil Company (BNK) Sergey Grib said on Tuesday.

    The company is considering suppliers from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Azerbaijan that have grades of a similar …

  • Russia declares trade war on Belarus

    Tensions between Russia and Belarus are heating up in the wake of a tax maneuver by Moscow that deprived Minsk of millions in oil resale profits. The situation has been further aggravated by  Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s refusal to allow Russia to deploy a military airbase in the country, refusal to transition to the Russian ruble, and apparent refusal to let his country become part of Russia, which would have enabled Vladimir Putin to remain in power after 2024.

    In response to …

  • Putin decides to lend Belarus $600 million

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to grant Minsk a $600 million government loan, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters on Monday. The funds will be used to refinance the repayment of prior loans issued by Moscow.

    Siluanov also noted that, by the end of April, Belarus may also receive a $200 million tranche from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD).

    According to the finance minister, the countries are currently discussing the procedures …

  • Belarus asks Russia for loan to repay $600 million debt

    Minsk has asked Moscow for a loan to refinance the debt of $600 million, said Maxim Yermolovich, Minister of Finance of Belarus, BelTA reported.

    “We have been discussing the possibility of refinancing the entire amount of the payments on Russian government loans in 2019. The amount of these payments is $600 million,” he said.

    According to the minister, the implementation of these plans depends on the decision of the Russian government to approve the loan. Yermolovich added that the funds for …

  • Kremlin: Russian government lost trust in Belarus 

    Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the Russian Federation has lost trust in Belarus. 

    According to him, this is due to the fact that Belarus has been violating the Russian-Belarusian customs regime, including the import of sanctioned and excisable goods into the Russian Federation. 

    “We keep telling Belarus that they are our neighbor, our ally, but we have recently lost trust in Belarus. All those solvents, sanctioned products that come to us, excisable goods, cigarettes that …

  • Russia gives Belarus new $630 million loan

    Belarus has managed to negotiate a new loan from Russia for 2019, the Belarusian state news agency BelTA reported, citing the country’s Finance Minister Maksim Yermolovich.

    “Everything is in order, all the decisions have been made. The question now remaining is the drafting of the agreement. But that is already next year,” he said, adding that Minsk is not expecting any new decisions from Russia or from itself.

    The loan in question will be for $630 million, Russian Finance Minister Anton …