We’re not going to pretend to understand what relationship there is between this Wall Street Journal article titled “Russia Suspends Dollar, Euro Trade on Flagship Stock Exchange” and that #RussianBankCollapse is trending on Twitter with a whole bunch of (apparently) pro-Ukrainian accounts claiming that major bank websites are crashing and people are lining up outside branches.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also announced a new sanctions package on Wednesday in a press release headlined “As Russia Completes Transition to a Full War Economy, Treasury Takes Sweeping Aim at Foundational Financial Infrastructure and Access to Third Country Support,” which would seem important, especially because the sanctions are mentioned in the Journal article that also contains the sentence “Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in comments carried by Russian state news agency TASS that the central bank is able to ensure stability in all markets.”
So yeah, we cannot say definitively that there’s an exigent financial crisis going on in Russia right now. We also can’t say there isn’t and, more importantly, that we would not have written this lame “article” if we thought it was all just Ukrainian propaganda. Something’s definitely going on there and it’s worth keeping an eye on for those rooting against the Putin Regime as we await more reliable and easier-to-parse info on the extent of the damage. Whatever it is, it’s not nothing.