The US Treasury said it would halt Russia’s ability to make debt payments in dollars through American banks, bringing Moscow a step closer to a possible default on its obligations to international investors, the Financial Times reports.

CNN: “The move was meant to force Moscow to make the difficult decision of whether it would use dollars that it has access to for payments on its debt or for other purposes, including supporting its war effort… Russia faces a historic default if it chooses to not do so.”

“Some payments arrived on time. Others hit several days late. And an increasing number are getting stuck in a web of financial intermediaries that are struggling to comply with international sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies,” Bloomberg reports.

“A month since the country’s invasion of Ukraine, investors are starting to realize just how narrow the path is for Russia — and some of its biggest corporations — to avoid default. That’s casting a pall over a country that was once a darling of emerging-market investors and now looks set to lose 15 years of economic gains by the end of 2023.”

“Russia’s highly regarded central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina sought to resign after Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, only to be told by the president to stay,” Bloomberg reports.

“Nominated for a new five-year term last week, Nabiullina’s current views couldn’t be learned. She is left to manage the fallout from a war that’s quickly undone much of what’s she’s accomplished in the nine years since she took office. The people said departure now would be seen as a betrayal by the president, with whom she has worked closely for nearly two decades.”

“Russia’s stock market is set to have a partial reopening Thursday, nearly a month after it shut down following the invasion of Ukraine,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The challenge for Moscow is that the resumption of trading could simply send Russian stocks back into free fall.”

“To limit the fallout, Moscow has turned to some heavy-handed policies. It blocked foreign investors from dumping local stocks—a move that some market participants saw as retaliation for a Western freeze on Russian central bank assets since a big chunk of the Russian market is owned by foreigners. The Russian government ordered its sovereign-wealth fund to buy billions of dollars worth of shares.”

“Russia’s finance ministry said on Thursday that it had made a $117 million payment on interest due on two U.S. dollar-denominated bonds. The payments are due this week to prevent Russia’s first default on foreign debt since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution,” the New York Times reports.

“The ministry said the payment had been made to a ‘foreign correspondent bank’ on Monday, but it was unclear whether the bondholders will receive the money.”

BuzzFeed News: “Between 2001 and 2016, a secretive network of 10 offshore companies plunged a whopping $1.3 billion into American investment firms and hedge funds.”

“The money, sent through the high-secrecy jurisdictions of the British Virgin Islands and Cyprus, was difficult to trace. But with the help of confidential banking records, investigators at State Street, one of America’s oldest banks, stumbled upon the identity of the mystery investor: Roman Abramovich, the oligarch famous for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

“Russia has threatened to pay international bondholders in roubles rather than dollars just days before a key interest payment on its external debt comes due,” the Financial Times reports.

“Moscow is scheduled to make a combined $117 million in interest payments this Wednesday on two dollar-denominated bonds… Neither bond’s contracts gives Russia the option of paying in roubles.”

“The Moscow Exchange said Saturday the country’s main stock market will stay closed next week, through March 18,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The stock market hasn’t opened since Feb. 25, the day after the invasion and just before the West unveiled a punishing round of sanctions on Russia’s financial system.”

Deutsche Bank said it is not “practical” to close its Russia business, despite similar moves by major corporations seeking to distance themselves from the country over its invasion of Ukraine, CNBC reports.

“Goldman Sachs, the giant New York investment bank, is cashing in on the war in Ukraine by selling Russian debt to U.S. hedge funds — and using a legal loophole in the Biden administration’s sanctions to do it,” NBC News reports.

“As the Western world scrambles to defend Ukraine by locking down Russian money, the company is acting as a broker between Moscow’s creditors and U.S. investors, pitching clients on the opportunity to take advantage of Russia’s war-crippled economy by buying its debt securities low now and selling them high later.”

“The international financial sanctions against Russia are driving the country toward a credit crisis, as restrictions on Moscow’s access to foreign currency stoke concerns about defaults on external debt,” Nikkei Asia reports.