Enrique Carrasco, Editor

As Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine goes on, various different countries across the world have decided to place sanctions on Russia, and oftentimes, refusing to do any business with anything Russian-related. Several companies, such as: Apple, ExxonMobil, Ford and many others, have decided to shut down all of their operations in Russia, something that has had detrimental effects on the Russian economy and the Ruble. 

According to various Kremlin officials, including spokesman Dmitry Pskov, “Russia’s economy is taking serious blows… But there is a certain margin of safety, there is potential, there are some plans, work is underway.”

Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has decided to stop all operations within Europe, as various regulators and sanctions across Europe have caused depositors to withdraw all their money, in order to try and avoid the sanctions placed by the West on Russia. These sanctions only prove to be a bigger part of the response by the West in order to slow Putin’s plans of Ukraine’s invasion. Global experts have estimated that nearly $1 trillion of Russia’s assets have been frozen as a response to the invasion. As the invasion of Ukraine continues, so do the international sanctions placed on Russian businesses, banks and assets. Russian banks have been cut off from international trade, further tanking the economy and the price of the Ruble. At the time of writing this, the Russian ruble is valued at .0099 U.S dollars. That is to say, one Ruble is the equivalent to $.0099, less than a penny. Weeks ago, the Ruble was trading at $.013 per Ruble, a significant decrease in price. Experts have estimated that the Ruble has fallen by approximately 40 percent since the invasion started. In fact, the Ruble has gotten so low, that various other currencies are valued at a much higher price. Take for example, the “Robux.”Robux is an in-game currency for the kid’s game “Roblox.” Robux, although having no use or value outside of the video game, is valued at approximately $.0125. One can buy 400 Robux for $4.99. This comes to show how decimated the Russian economy has become because of the invasion. Many experts believe that many more sanctions are to come to Russia if the invasion continues, and these sanctions will do anything but help the already struggling Russian economy.