The U.S. and its Western allies, including the EU, Canada, and the U.K., announced new sanctions against Russia on Monday. The Biden administration announced sanctions against Russia’s central bank, a Russian sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), and Russia’s Ministry of Finance. The sanctions ban Americans from doing business with the entities and freeze any assets held in the U.S. More: - The U.S. also added Kirill Dmitriev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to the list of sanctioned Russian elites.
- On Saturday, the allies agreed to remove selected Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), essentially cutting off Russia from the global financial system.
- SWIFT is an independent entity located in Belgium. It serves as an internal messaging system that connects over 11,000 banks and financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories.
- The allies also announced they will impose restrictive measures that will prevent Russia’s central bank from deploying its international reserves.
- Russia has $630B in reserves held in various currencies, including the U.S. dollar.
- Switzerland, known for its neutrality, announced it will join the EU in imposing sanctions against specific Russian banks and individuals.
In related news: - Russian billionaires have lost over $126B in wealth since Feb. 16 amid sanctions imposed against the country.
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 People outside a branch of Russian state-owned bank Sberbank in the Czech Republic on Friday. |MICHAL CIZEK | AFP via Getty Images Russia’s central bank raised the country’s main interest rate from 9.5% to 20% Monday. The ruble, Russia’s currency, fell almost 30%, to 118 rubles to a dollar, following a cascade of sanctions from the U.S. and its Western allies. It later recovered, trading at 93.04 rubles per dollar. Russia’s largest foreign bond, a $7B debt, lost half its value on Monday. More: - Russia shut down its stock and derivatives market, the Moscow Exchange, on Monday.
- Russia’s central bank released 733B rubles ($8.76B) in local bank reserves to help boost liquidity.
- The country’s state-run Sberbank reported experiencing a “significant outflow of deposits” in a short amount of time, raising fears of a run on banks.
- There have been reports of long lines at ATMs as Russian citizens queue to withdraw money from their banks.
- The central bank early Monday morning put some capital controls in place to limit the amount of money leaving the country.
In related news: - On Sunday, President Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces to be on high alert, citing aggressive statements from NATO and the tough financial sanctions imposed against the country.
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 The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency (SDA) awarded $1.8B in contracts to three companies to develop a next-generation military communications network. Aerospace companies Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman received $700M and $692M, respectively, and spacecraft company York Space received $382M. The companies will build 42 satellites each for the SDA’s Transport Layer Tranche 1 (T1TL). More: - The Pentagon aims to build its own low-latency, high-volume data transport communication satellite internet system.
- The Transport Layer will be built in “tranches,” with an iterative design of small, low-cost satellites to make the network more robust and adaptable.
- The SDA awarded Lockheed and York the first Transport Layer contracts in 2020 to build Tranche 0. The companies built 10 satellites each, which are scheduled to launch later this year.
- Satellites for Tranche 1 are expected to be delivered in 2024.
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Western businesses are looking to close their operations in Russia as the country faces several sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, oil giant Shell announced it would exit all its Russian operations, including its 27.5% stake in the Sakhalin 2 LNG plant, owned and operated by Russian gas group Gazprom. Shell CEO Ben van Beurden in a statement said his company is talking to governments about securing energy supplies for Europe. More: - British oil firm BP said it will abandon its 20% stake in Russia’s state-run petroleum refinery company Rosneft at a cost of $25B.
- BP is Russia’s biggest foreign investor; the move will cut BP’s oil and gas reserves by 50%.
- British bank HSBC said it would start shutting down its business with Russian banks, including VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank and one of the banks sanctioned by the West.
- Norwegian energy firm Equinor said it would divest from its joint ventures in Russia.
- Nasdaq and Intercontinental Exchange’s NYSE have stopped trading in stocks of Russian-based companies listed on their exchanges.
- Volkswagen, GM, and Volvo said they would suspend exports and deliveries to Russia.
In related news: - Russia has banned airlines from 36 countries, including all 27 EU member countries, from its airspace in retaliation for the countries banning Russian planes from their airspace.
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 People fleeing Russian invasion of Ukraine stand at a temporary camp in Przemysl, Poland, February 28, 2022. |REUTERS Yara Nardi Airbnb announced on Monday it will offer free short-term housing for up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine. The stays will be funded by the company, donations to its Airbnb.org Refugee Fund, and help from its hosts. People interested in opening their homes to support the effort can learn how to get involved at Airbnb.org. According to the Associated Press, over 500,000 Ukrainians have fled since the war started. More: - On Monday, Airbnb co-founders Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczk sent letters to leaders across Europe offering support in welcoming refugees within their borders.
- This is a continuation of the company’s efforts to support refugees through its nonprofit arm, Airbnb.org.
- Last week, CEO Brian Chesky tweeted that the company has surpassed its goal of housing 20,000 Afghan refugees and would double its goal to 40,000.
- In the last five years, Airbnb has provided temporary housing for 54,000 refugees from Syria, Venezuela, and Afghanistan.
- The company started its refugee fund last year.
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Toyota plans to halt operations in its factories in Japan on Tuesday after a supplier of plastic parts and electronic components was hit by a suspected cyberattack. The pause at 14 plants in Japan will cost the automaker about 13,000 cars of output. No information has been released on who was behind the possible attack. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his government would investigate the incident and determine if Russia was involved. More: - The supplier, Kojima Industries, said it appears to have been a victim of some kind of cyberattack, which Toyota labeled as a “supplier system failure.”
- Toyota factories in Japan account for about a third of its global production. The company does not know yet if the halt will last more than a day.
- On Sunday, Japan announced it would join the U.S. and other countries in banning Russian banks from SWIFT.
- Kishida also said Japan would give Ukraine $100M in emergency aid.
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- President Biden is scheduled to deliver his first State of the Union Address on Tuesday, March 1, at 9 p.m. ET. Biden’s team has had to make major changes to the speech after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- Estee Lauder fired CEO John Demsey after he posted a meme containing a racial slur on his personal Instagram account last week.
- FIFA and UEFA have indefinitely suspended Russia’s national and club soccer teams from international play, citing the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The ban means that Russia’s national team would not be able to participate in the 2022 World Cup.
- Russian and Ukrainian officials held the first round of talks on Monday near the Belarus border. The talk ended with no agreement but with a commitment to keep talking.
- President Biden sent a delegation of former U.S. senior defense and security officials to Taiwan on Monday as a sign of support for the island claimed by China.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or through email at vanessa@inside.com |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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